6000 SUX

With the new Robocop film currently in the cinemas and having gone back to watch the original thought it might be good to take a look at one of the cars of the future, the 6000 SUX. Seen in the film in an advert as well as being driven by the bad guys before being blown up!!!

Mr Beep

Mr Beep was a character developed by BP Oil to promote road safety to kids and started with adverts in the late 1950’s. However a real one was built to tour local malls, shows and other events as well as visiting schools around Ontario from 1959 until 1964, and just like the adverts, it talked!!!!

Coca Cola Christmas Trucks

Well it is Christmas and I thought we have to do something with a Christmas twist, so how about this. Can you believe there was a time when this truck wasn’t part of the festive period!!!!! That being prior to 1995, it’s hard to believe since it’s now the signal that “the holidays are coming”. The original truck was built using 30,000 lights for the “Christmas Caravan” adverts in 1995 with artwork depicting Santa by Haddon Sunblom who helped define the image, the special effect were undertaken by Industrial Light and Magic, the ones behind Hollywood’s such as Star Wars and The Abyss, to multiply the number of trucks to an endless line. Following the success four more adverts were made up to 1999 and eventually broadcast in over 100 countries around the world with a slight change in livery.

Judge Dredd Land Rover City Cabs

The year is 2139 and following a world war the worlds population it restricted to massive Mega City's, few car manufacturers remain, one though has thrived, Land Rover.


In 1994 when Hollywood decided to make a film version of the comic book they were looking round for a vehicle to use and Land Rover had won the rights to supply the vehicles. I remember as a lad watching a making off and hearing how the production staff were visiting Land Rover, apparently one of the concept design staff had been sketching an off roader with some inspiration from a ice hockey ski mask. Not only that it just happened to be yellow, the rest they say is history and the taxi's and in fact most cars in this Hollywood future were all Land Rovers.

Commander Strakers UFO Car

This car didn't just appear in one Gerry Anderson projects but two, initially the 1969 film "Dopplegander" then the TV series that made it well known as Commader Strakers Car in the 1970's, "UFO". The car was design by Len Bailey and built by the famous Alan Mann Racing Company, builders of the GT40 and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang!!!! It was not the only one built a sister car was also built with a slightly modified body. The car was sat on Ford Zephyr Mk 4 chassis with a hand made aluminium body fitted with gullwing doors. The cost for all this customisation??? £12,000.

The Highwayman Truck

I looked at this a few years ago that went on to be the “buddy” truck in The Highwayman in the late 1980’s. But this though is the main truck, for those who can remember the series know apart from looking awesome it had a major trick up its sleeve, with a change of the steering wheel it would transform into a helicopter!!!!! How awesome was that. (2 mins in video below)

Cannonball Run Lamborghini Countach

There are those iconic moments in your youth when you see something and it’s just right, it’s perfect and that memory just sticks with you through your life. One of those moments for me was the starting credits of the Cannonball Run with “that” Lamborghini Countach, the sound the speed that panning shot as it creeps up behind the cop car, the tan leather interior and of cause the drivers!!!!!

Cyclops, The Big Bus

At the height of the disaster movie rule the spoof of the disaster movie was born. The first (before Airplane) in 1976 was The Big Bus, simply a nuclear powered double decker, bendy luxury bus that could go from New York to Denver non-stop. Equipped with everything that could be needed, bowling alley, piano bar, pool, moving tyre replacement function etc the usual hi jinks happens, sabotage, milk carton fight, pickup being attached to the side!!!!!!

Convertible K.I.T.T.

For those of you that remember the heyday of 80’s TV will already have a soft spot for the black Pontiac Trans Am known as K.I.T.T. but I was recently surprised to find out that in the shows final series a convertible car was produced!!!!! Standard K.I.T.T. with the push of the “C” button on the dash became a summer cruiser.

StreetHawk/ Honda XR500

If you of a certain age ie born in the late 70’s like me self TV was great growing up. It was full of tongue in cheek shows with usually a car or vehicle in the middle of it all such as the A- Team GMC van, Knightriders KITT and for one season Streethawk. Go on you remember the bike bursting out through that billboard and save the world or at least the girl. We all remember the bike was the coolest thing on 2 wheels after all it could go over 200mph and had rockets and machine guns!!!! Now enough of reminiscing, the bike was based on a Honda XL500 (Pilot XR500 for the series),

Turbo Interceptor/ Dodge M4S

In the world of car movies for me theres one that stands out, it started with a ball of light coming down from the sky over a middle state desert on to a long highway picking up speed. Then BAM it blasts in to a sleek black car with a mysterious helmeted driver stood next to it. The film The Wraith, the car the Turbo Interceptor. In my young shaver days this was the car film to have seen. Only a few years a go I deliberately went out to get it on DVD and to my surprise I wasn’t disappointed by the passage of time. Any way enough reminiscing although that’s what cars to, they hang on to a memory and take you back in a flash.

Looking at this car you’d instantly think with its sleek lines, lack of wings and air intakes, that it was made in the 90’s (thinking Jaguar XJ220, Honda NSX etc). Surprisingly it was made in the 1986 years before conservative supercar design. This was still a time of the full body kitted Lamborghini Countach and Ferrari Tessarossa.

You’d also expect that this was designed and built for the movie, but it wasn’t. It was originally built for a single purpose, that though being a pace car for sprint races by Chrysler in collaboration with PPG Chemicals in 1983/4. So it would actually drive as well as it looked. Packing 400bhp from its mid mounted Mopar 2.2ltr 4 cylinder engine. The body work was tweaked for the film but in the original (although not by much) promo pictures for the film the Chrysler badge can be seen on the front of the car. This was filled in for the film its self. The car its self cost $1.5m. 6 were built for the film 4 prop cars and 2 for close up shots. Its unclear how many actually cars were built though, numbers range from a single car to upto 4.

The Dodge M4S-


Promo picture, with Chrysler badge-


I love this car especially the fact that at the time it was something so different and even today its still jaw dropping. To put it in perspective the film also featured the Dodge Daytona which at the time still hadn’t been released for sale and was standard 80’s sports car fodder of the time ie angles.











For more information-

http://www.thewraithcar.com/


http://moviemopars.tvheaven.com/wraith/car.html