The Drive Angry Charger

[Ghoste]

I've seen a lot of pics of Amber Heard sitting in or standing in front of the car and there is no way I could complain about that!  But, have we ever discussed the car itself on here?  I don't recall doing so and a search turned up nothing.  Does anyone know any more about the car?  Who it belongs to, where is it now, how many did they use?  I notice the beat the hell out of it for the film (of course  ) but it seems like it should have survived??

[Khyron]

It's getting jumpped at the next Duke Fest *chuckle*

[Ghoste]

I'd laugh but it's within the realm of possible.

[kab69440]

I've read they are repaired Death Proof leftovers.

[Ghoste]

Makes sense, it looks to have a flat black paint scheme.

[Drache]

Amber Heard Interview

Popular Mechanics: Did you have a favorite car in the movie?

Amber: Yeah, you know, I really love that Charger. I'd kill for that Charger.

Popular Mechnics: They get banged up in the movie, though. Was it painful to watch what was being done to them?

Amber: Yeah, it hurts a little, especially when they're such beautiful machines.

Popular Mechnics: Patrick told me that the Chargers were pretty much okay, at the end of filming.

Amber: Yeah, remarkably so. Those old cars, they were made so differently before the industry was super regulated and confined. They made these hunking pieces of steel machinery that are so much sturdier than the modern car. It blows me away.

[Drache]

Anyone else notice too there were no vent windows on the charger?  

[elanmars]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLeeHoOPvc4

^the car seeing action. i don't mind it getting banged up, at least it wasn't DESTROYED! it was a very awesome awful movie overall, I could see it gaining a cult status among b-movie aficionados.

[morepower]

Amber Heard Interview

Popular Mechanics: Did you have a favorite car in the movie?

Amber: Yeah, you know, I really love that Charger. I'd kill for that Charger.

Popular Mechnics: They get banged up in the movie, though. Was it painful to watch what was being done to them?

Amber: Yeah, it hurts a little, especially when they're such beautiful machines.

Popular Mechnics: Patrick told me that the Chargers were pretty much okay, at the end of filming.

Amber: Yeah, remarkably so. Those old cars, they were made so differently before the industry was super regulated and confined. They made these hunking pieces of steel machinery that are so much sturdier than the modern car. It blows me away.

That interview makes me love her even more

[xpbprox]

Anyone else notice too there were no vent windows on the charger?  

I like the custom delete they did 

[kab69440]

Anyone else notice too there were no vent windows on the charger?

Anyone notice that the Death Proof Challenger had vent windows?

[THE CHARGER PUNK]

Anyone else notice too there were no vent windows on the charger?

Anyone notice that the Death Proof Challenger had vent windows?

Had window frames so that they could use it for the scene in the script.

[doctor4766]

Anyone else notice too there were no vent windows on the charger?  

I like the custom delete they did 

Look at pic two.
That plexiglass window looks sucky with the door shut

[knitz01]

Just seen the movie tonight. Liked it very much  . I like the no vent windows too.

[Kern Dog]

I prefer the vent windows in the 68-70 Chargers. The ventless car in "Drive Angry" looked okay though. The Tarantino POS movie car Challenger looked really stupid with the fake window frames. I noticed it right away and thought... What the hell??
I like seeing our classics onscreen, but I cringe when they feel compelled to destroy them.

[MRCHARGER]

If the Charger is going to be a tough car, which it is, it has to scrap it up now and then. Studios only use total junkers anyway, so I say " they bought their tickets, let 'em crash".

[Mike DC]

The Tarantino POS movie car Challenger looked really stupid with the fake window frames. I noticed it right away and thought... What the hell??

The chick-riding-on-the-hood scene necessitated that.  The belt straps for her hands are only possible with a car that had window frames or vent windows to attach the belts.

[morepower]

they should have just did the whole movie w/o the side windows that'd look better. I think the car could look good w/o the vent windows. I like them though

[bull]

Not sure now how I didn't notice that this 69 had no wing wondow, Drache. Or maybe I did and just forgot. Anyway, nice car.

[Kern Dog]

The Tarantino POS movie car Challenger looked really stupid with the fake window frames. I noticed it right away and thought... What the hell??

The chick-riding-on-the-hood scene necessitated that.  The belt straps for her hands are only possible with a car that had window frames or vent windows to attach the belts.

Thanks, but I WAS aware of that. QT could have used another car, maybe a Chevy, Buick or Mercury with window frames.

[kab69440]

Thanks, but I WAS aware of that. QT could have used another car, maybe a Chevy, Buick or Mercury with window frames.

Unfortunately, none of those cars work with the Vanishing Point fantasy sub-plot. Oh well, what can you do?

[elanmars]

my 2nd Charger and 1st '69 had that look going...

[XS29L9Bxxxxxx]

...just rented this flick tonight, not what I expected 

Interesting movie, but glad I only paid a dollar at the automated DVD dispenser/rental box 

[aussiemuscle]

I've read they are repaired Death Proof leftovers.

i doubt that, not much but a pile of junk after tarentino. plus there's been a few on here claiming THEY bought them at the end of deathproof.

Anyone else notice too there were no vent windows on the charger? 

kinda like the aussie 73 charger (they had a vent window for 71-72)

[MaximRecoil]

Anyone else notice too there were no vent windows on the charger?  

I like the custom delete they did 

Look at pic two.
That plexiglass window looks sucky with the door shut

I watched this movie again last night, and those door windows aren't plexiglass, at least not generic plexiglass sheet from the local glass shop. They have a slight curve like real door windows and they are functional (there is a scene that shows the passenger window being rolled down).





Is there any other car they could have gotten those door windows from, or were they definitely custom made?

A few other things I noticed about the car:





I don't know if both of their high beam filaments in their outer headlights are blown or if it is a case of miswiring. Or maybe they are two different cars, with one being wired correctly and the other being miswired.

More electrical oddities:

Six brake lights, plus no backup lights:



1968 gas cap; looks brand new. Did someone order the wrong one?

[Ghoste]

It looks a little like that window roll down shot has the back and front glass rolling down as one piece.  Also, I see backup lights in that shot?

[MaximRecoil]

It looks a little like that window roll down shot has the back and front glass rolling down as one piece.

I see what you're talking about in that picture, but that's just an anomaly/illusion in the photo. If you watch the scene in motion it is just the front glass rolling down, and there are also plenty of shots of the car with the front glass rolled down and the back glass rolled up, like this one:

Also, I see backup lights in that shot?

No backup lights. Here is a closer shot from the same scene (still backing up):

[Ghoste]

What are those things below the bumper in the valance panel where the backup lights are located?

[MaximRecoil]

What are those things below the bumper in the valance panel where the backup lights are located?

By "no backup lights" I mean the backup lights are not working when the car is in reverse.

[Ghoste]

Ah, I see.

[MaximRecoil]

The backup lights were probably bypassed as a byproduct of intentionally defeating the neutral safety switch. My '69 was like that when I got it, and it was done in a strange way. The neutral safety switch harness plug was cut off and grounded through the backup light bulbs. If you removed the backup light bulbs, the car wouldn't start; completely dead when you turned the key. I thought that was a stupid way of doing it, so I grounded it directly to the chassis instead until I got around to fixing it properly. Recently I spliced a new plug onto the harness, plugged it into the neutral safety switch, and luckily the neutral safety switch still worked, so I now have backup lights and the car will only start in park or neutral.

[XS29L9B2]

good searching 

[Dino]

This movie was on a few days ago so I gave it a shot because it has a 69 Charger!  After about 10-15 minutes I realized I do not have to watch this pos garbage to see a beautiful machine, I can just go out into the garage and look at one without the lousy script and acting.  Cage what happened to you man?  He was in some really good movies early on and he definitely has the talent but he should've been put on career suicide watch for the last decade or so.  He's got quite the collection of crapola movies. 

[JB400]

He's doing yet again another National Treasure movie in the next year or so.

[Dino]

I would fall off my chair hearing that news, but I did so when I heard there was going to be a second Ghost Rider.  No I didn't watch it, I couldn't get far into the first one without losing lunch.

[Mike DC]

                       
Nic Cage has a habit of earning a lot of money and spending even more than that.  Then the IRS comes knocking for some of what he earned and he finds himself in deep shit.  

Cage went through a period of years where he was doing basically any garbage project thrown his way in order to get out of debt.  I don't know what his current status is but he may elect never to go back to full respectability.  




Why should he?  
Good quality movies are not always the same thing as fun movies to shoot.  If he's having fun & making money at doing crap then he may not want to change.  He's already done a bunch of critic-pleasing "respect my acting ability" roles a long time ago.  

It's not like Cage would be the only one in Hollywood who goes slumming.  People forgive Samuel L. Jackson for all kinds of steaming-load movies along with the periodic good ones.    

[Ghoste]

Hollywood in general doesn't require it and that is because the viewing public have taught them that you can phone in any kind of garbage and there is a good chance you'll get rich from it.  I can't wait until crap like "Honey Boo Boo- The Movie" becomes the norm.

[wingcar]

TV has gotten the same way....

I Predict that in twenty years all you will be able to watch on TV is reality shows...

(The only thing good about so called reality shows is that it keeps me from watching that much TV and I spend that time in the garage working on my cars...where I should be....) 

[F8-4life]

I never cared for him as an actor he looks too much like a goof-ball.
Amber heard & the charger is what makes the movie decent.

[Ghoste]

AGREED!!!!!!!!

[daveco]

I'm somewhat suspicious that most of the scenes were actually filmed using cardboard cutouts of Nic Cage .
Not really sure how a person could tell the difference though.

[myk]

The cardboard cutouts had more personality?   

[MaximRecoil]

The movie was worth watching for the Charger and William Fichtner's "The Accountant" character.

[spiderjason]

I completely for got that movie had a charger in it...  I guess because I didn't own a charger when I watch a while back...

[C_stripes]

Didn't someone on this forum work on that movie? Iirc, they were on here looking for parts because it was wrecked prematurely.

[MaximRecoil]

Didn't someone on this forum work on that movie? Iirc, they were on here looking for parts because it was wrecked prematurely.

That would be very strange. With a budget of ~$50,000,000 you'd think they'd just go buy another one and throw a quick paint job on it.

I was talking about that movie with my friend the other day; talking about the electrical issues the car seemed to have, and I said that maybe the car died on them for real and they couldn't fix it, so they wrote in that scene where the mechanic says he can't fix the car and Cage's character gets downgraded to a Chevelle. So if they were really on here looking for parts, maybe that's what actually happened.

[C_stripes]

I'm probably thinking of another movie then

[Fred]

I never cared for him as an actor he looks too much like a goof-ball.
Amber heard & the charger is what makes the movie decent.

And the Accountant.  (William Fichtner)    For my part, I think he had the better role.