where is the christine charger

[Fred]

Crazy Larry
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Re: christine

« Reply #16 on: March 05, 2006, 04:10:25 AM »

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Ok, I know what happened to the Charger from "Christine" and I am not making this up.

It was the summer of 2002, and we were In the middle of filming a movie, with a 68 Charger as the main car. We had a mishap. The temp stunt driver lost control of the Charger during a scene on a gravel parking lot and the Charger slammed nose first into a Ford Taurus stunt car that was not being driven at the time. Well, to make a long story short, the Charger's front right fender buckled outwards on impact and looked like black crumpled up tin foil. The movie was delayed for 2 weeks as we set out to find a new front right fender for the Charger.

After half a week of searching I came across an all-Mopar auto and salvage yard 3 hours north of Toronto called "National Moparts". Since we were filming in Rochester, NY - that was only 5 hours away - I was definitly within driving distance. In just so happened that they were working on Jim Caviezel's 68 Barracuda from the movie "Highwaymen". They were all out of Barracuda parts, but they had 2 Charger fenders - all original steel from the South (rust free). I purchased one on the phone and went to pick it up.

As I arrived at National Moparts, I turned in to what was a Mopar Oasis out in the middle of nowhere - not only was there rusted out/part car/waiting for resto mopars as far as you could see, but they also had a line of fantasic Mopars being fully restored in their small but professional complex of garages. You see, they have a sister all-mopar yard down south (Georgia I think) and they get a tractor trailer full of new bodies and parts a few times a year.

Well, as we were walking over to the fenders, the main guy behind the phone (I think his name was "Mike"), pointed out a burned 1958 Plymouth Fury. He told me it was one of the original cars used in the movie "Christine" and it was also one of the cherry show cars they used for the close-ups in the film. In more detail he also explained what happened. He said that after the production was over, a collector with ties to the production company purchased that '58 Fury and the '68 Dodge Charger used in the film. After a few years of owning them, the owner and his wife had a serious falling out - of which the wife left him and demanded a divorce. Later, the man, in a drunken rage, set fire to his house so the estranged wife wouldn't get anything - the entire house burned, along with the show cars in the garage (including the '68 Charger and '58 Fury from the movie). The man ended up dying in the fire as well. So, the burned carcas of the 58 Fury found its way up to National Moparts were it stayed for a number of years until the muscle car boom.

I was all set and the editor of "Mopar Action" was ready to give me a green light to write an article on the burned Fury and the National Moparts, but when I called there last month, I was informed that the burned Fury was sold to a Canadian collector for $2,000 Canadian dollars and then re-sold for bigger money to a resto shop/collector in the US somewhere. Without the Fury in place, the editor scrapped the article.

So, the '68 Charger from the movie is now probably a charred body sitting out in a field somewhere.
oh, and we were able to get the fender back to Rochester, repainted, and installed in 2 weeks - the movie production was fired back up and we finished the chase scene. The title of the film is "And I Lived"

You know that's so interesting, some years back when I first  heard about that movie (And I lived) I tried for ages to get hold of a copy. Saw an ad for it in one of the muscle car mags and there was even a video clip available. I tried to order it but never got a response. I finally gave up.  I thought it was made all those years ago? So what's the story, is it available on DVD now? I'm very interested and would appreciate any info you can give me.
Thanks, Fred

[darkside]

Hi guys, As the Admin of the ChristineCarClub" as well as the owner of a "Christine" 58 Ply being built with original documented Movie Parts including the L350 BB used in the "Show Me Scene" I have some info on the cars. The 58 was never a Fury, however 23 58's were purchased and used for the filming. The original "Christine" coming down the assembly line in the begining of the movie was sold to a private collector overseas in 2004 at Barrett-Jackson for $170K plus percentages. The next survivor is owned by Martin Sanchez of California who bought it in 1984 directly after the filming ended. The next survivor"Ram Car" belongs to a man in Santa Maria, Calif. There is a possible another survivor however the documentation is shady, no real proof other than word of mouth. The rest were destroyed.

The Charger was a 68, 318, Flowmaster Mufflers, Auto in the console, power windows and was privately owned and only used for that Movie and returned to the owner after being repaired due to door damage.    

flowmasters in 1983?

[bill440rt]

Dennis Gilder's Charger was a 1968 Charger, for sure. 

It is plausible that others might have been used, but the 68 is given credit as his "official car" by the Danbury Mint, who replicated the car, and by the Christine Car Cub 

AFAIR, according to the actual "story" the original owner (aka the "a$$hole brother") special ordered the car (Fury) in red. This is stated in the book as well.
Also, did you know in the book Dennis Gilder actually drives a Duster??  

[Budnicks]

Hi guys, As the Admin of the ChristineCarClub" as well as the owner of a "Christine" 58 Ply being built with original documented Movie Parts including the L350 BB used in the "Show Me Scene" I have some info on the cars. The 58 was never a Fury, however 23 58's were purchased and used for the filming. The original "Christine" coming down the assembly line in the begining of the movie was sold to a private collector overseas in 2004 at Barrett-Jackson for $170K plus percentages. The next survivor is owned by Martin Sanchez of California who bought it in 1984 directly after the filming ended. The next survivor"Ram Car" belongs to a man in Santa Maria, Calif. There is a possible another survivor however the documentation is shady, no real proof other than word of mouth. The rest were destroyed.

The Charger was a 68, 318, Flowmaster Mufflers, Auto in the console, power windows and was privately owned and only used for that Movie and returned to the owner after being repaired due to door damage.    

flowmasters in 1983?

1983 Flowmaster's ?, from Santa Rosa Calif. originally have been around, even before that, If I remember correctly, the originator of Flowmaster mufflers was a regular at Sears Point & Sacramento Raceways, I used them on almost every road car I've owned since the late 70's to early 80's, or 80-81 at least... My memory is kind of bad, I can't for the life of me, remember the guys name off hand...

[68 Bullitt Charger]

      
[/quote]
flowmasters in 1983?
[/quote]1983 Flowmaster's ?, from Santa Rosa Calif. originally have been around, even before that, If I remember correctly, the originator of Flowmaster mufflers was a regular at Sears Point & Sacramento Raceways, I used them on almost every road car I've owned since the late 70's to early 80's, or 80-81 at least... My memory is kind of bad, I can't for the life of me, remember the guys name off hand...
[/quote]

Thats correct, Flowmasters. They have been around since the 70's from what I understand. The Movie is very different than the book in certain ways. The car was a 68 in the Movie.

[nvrbdn]

Hi guys, As the Admin of the ChristineCarClub" as well as the owner of a "Christine" 58 Ply being built with original documented Movie Parts including the L350 BB used in the "Show Me Scene" I have some info on the cars. The 58 was never a Fury, however 23 58's were purchased and used for the filming. The original "Christine" coming down the assembly line in the begining of the movie was sold to a private collector overseas in 2004 at Barrett-Jackson for $170K plus percentages. The next survivor is owned by Martin Sanchez of California who bought it in 1984 directly after the filming ended. The next survivor"Ram Car" belongs to a man in Santa Maria, Calif. There is a possible another survivor however the documentation is shady, no real proof other than word of mouth. The rest were destroyed.

The Charger was a 68, 318, Flowmaster Mufflers, Auto in the console, power windows and was privately owned and only used for that Movie and returned to the owner after being repaired due to door damage.    

so is there an answer to the 69 tail light statement? 
[

[Budnicks]

Hi guys, As the Admin of the ChristineCarClub" as well as the owner of a "Christine" 58 Ply being built with original documented Movie Parts including the L350 BB used in the "Show Me Scene" I have some info on the cars. The 58 was never a Fury, however 23 58's were purchased and used for the filming. The original "Christine" coming down the assembly line in the begining of the movie was sold to a private collector overseas in 2004 at Barrett-Jackson for $170K plus percentages. The next survivor is owned by Martin Sanchez of California who bought it in 1984 directly after the filming ended. The next survivor"Ram Car" belongs to a man in Santa Maria, Calif. There is a possible another survivor however the documentation is shady, no real proof other than word of mouth. The rest were destroyed.

The Charger was a 68, 318, Flowmaster Mufflers, Auto in the console, power windows and was privately owned and only used for that Movie and returned to the owner after being repaired due to door damage.    

so is there an answer to the 69 tail light statement?  
[

I don't really remember a 69 Charger or any 69 Charger tail lights in the movie, I could be wrong, just don't recall seeing that....

[nvrbdn]

I'm with you earnie. That was one nice 68! That would be cool to know. Christine was just on tv again.

On the pre-historic VHS version, when Arnie first sees Christine, when Dennis backs up you catch a quick glimpse of '69 tail light and sidemarker. That second of footage is missing from my DVD version.

bob i guess we need someone with the tape to confirm your sighting

[bill440rt]

I'm with you earnie. That was one nice 68! That would be cool to know. Christine was just on tv again.

On the pre-historic VHS version, when Arnie first sees Christine, when Dennis backs up you catch a quick glimpse of '69 tail light and sidemarker. That second of footage is missing from my DVD version.

bob i guess we need someone with the tape to confirm your sighting

X2   

[moparfan53]

 A while ago there was a post either here or on moparts with a link to a deleted scene that had the Charger in it. I kept the link, here it is;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZNaGWLaBIw&feature=related

[1BAD68]

Very cool, now we know where the door damage came from.

[Cooter]

I have the special edition DVD and have never seen any '69 Tail panel in Dennis' Charger.

[kikgas01]

Here are some RARE photos of the Christine cars in a junkyard. Enjoy.....

[Fred]

Interesting find. 

[Daytona R/T SE]

In the book,

Christine was a four door...

[Mikesmoparperformance]

Cool stuff so the 68 charger is not around any more? and I can't find the movie And I Lived I would love to see it But I did find a trailer Very cool!

Production Company Charger Films Thats cool

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTT-MZr7Weg  

[Fred]

Yes, that's the clip I was referring too, saw it years ago and tried to get hold of the dvd. Even emailed the producer (or whoever it was) advertising the film at the time but got no reply. After about 3 tries I gave up. Still don't know what's happening. Trailer looked good.

Is anybody up to speed on what's happening?  

[nvrbdn]

had never heard of it.

[Fred]

had never heard of it.

Check out the trailer JIm.  

[nvrbdn]

yep i did, then went to ebay to see if it was for sale. no go though.

[Fred]

yep i did, then went to ebay to see if it was for sale. no go though.

I know, the weird thing is though that even though they were advertising it all those years ago............you couldn't buy it then either.
Hopefully 70charginglizard will be able to shed some light on it for us.

[mauve66]

so did we ever find out if the charger was a 68 or 69, in the last clip with the door damage it was too far away for me to tell

[Fred]

You're talking about the deleted scenes right? I cheked it out yesterday and couldn't tell either, even with the zoom, too blurry

[Cooter]

In the book,

Christine was a four door...

And I believe it had four wheel Drive and "Hydromatic" transmisson. King wasn't much of a car guy.

[kikgas01]

It was a 68. Look at the door lock position.