To celebrate the 40th Anniversary of its Monaco watch, TAG Heuer has gone down the fantasy road and imagined who would have won the race between Steve McQueen and Lewis Hamilton. They’ve used footage from McQueen’s Le Mans in which they’ve inserted Hamilton, a technique we remember getting great results in movies like Forrest Gump. It’s not as well done as the latter and the 3D cars could have used more work. Thinking about it, excerpts from Bullitt were used in a Ford ad in 1996 (!) for the Puma and, even though it’s much older, the transition between newer and original sequences seems much more seemless! Same for the 2004 Ford Mustang ad (also starring Steve). What happened TAG Heuer? All the money went to Hamilton and the McQueen family and you couldn’t afford a good producer? Anyway… it’s always nice to see old Steve. Considering he left us years ago, he’s been getting a lot of work in commercials lately.
Michael Bay’s new summer blockbuster flick seems to be off to a good start. The film is getting a lot of attention, the shelves are full of toys and merchandise, the critics are alright and… according to, the movie had “shattered the Wednesday record, raking in $60.6 million on approximately 9,700 screens at 4,234 sites (including a record 169 IMAX venues) in its first day“! We have to admit, we’re a bit skeptical after seeing some of the trailers, but that’s quite an achievement and we’re still impatient to go see it.
Farrah Fawcett has died today after a long battle with cancer. Best known for her leading role in the 1970’s TV show Charlie’s Angels, she was an iconic figure of Hollywood and glamour. In the 1981 cult movie The Cannonball Run, written by Brock Yates and directed by Hal Needham, she co-starred Burt Reynolds, Roger Moore, Dom DeLuise, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Terry Bradshaw and Jackie Chan. She was the first character to appear on screen, getting out of a fantastic Lamborghini Countach.
Iron Man 2 is still being shot but we’ve got a little preview of one of the new car star thanks to the folks at Road & Track. They got their hands on a spy photography showing a Formula 1 proudly sporting the Stark Industries livery. It looks more like an Indy car, but that’s actually pretty close to some vintage Formula one models. It will be used for the historic race that the billionaire superhero participates in, the Grand Prix de Monaco Historique. The production recreated the circuit instead of going to Monaco to shoot the scene.
Apparently Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) will this time be facing Whiplash (Mickey Rourke), his weapons designer. The cast looks even better than in the first movie, with Gwyneth Paltrow returning as Pepper Potts, and Scarlett Johansson, Don Cheadle and Samuel L. Jackson joining the crew.
This second episode of the Ironman series is expected to hit theaters in April 2010.
What do you do if you love the Camaro from Michael Bay’s Transformers but can’t afford or can’t wait for it to be available in dealerships? Well if you’re really, really passionate you look at other cars that could fit the bill and you get to work. That’s what happened to a Chinese fan who bought a Chevy Cruze (at least its from the same brand) and transformed it into a Bumblebee look-alike. From the look of it the owner not only worked on the exterior but also made some mechanical modifications and it’s faithful to its sibling.. Might be a bit geeky, but the effort is appreciated.
Despite GM’s financial turmoil, the launch of the Camaro is in full steam and the
video section of the dedicated website focuses on the new Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen movie.
But, of course, if you’re a real die-hard fan you’ll be waiting for the upcoming Bumblebee edition of the Camaro!
Street Customs, the TLC show starring Ryan Friedlinghaus and his crew from West Coast Customs in Corona (CA) recently had a huge opportunity: create a custom truck for Sly’s next movie, The Expendables (2010).
Shot most notably in New Orleans, the movie has an impressive cast of action movie stars such as Arnold Schwarzenegger, Mickey Rourke, Jason Statham, Sylvester Stallone, Jet Li, Forest Whitaker, Dolph Lundgren and UFC champion Randy Couture.
First Ryan shows up at Sylvester’s office to show him some sketches for his 1955 Ford F100. Sly is impressed and decides to go for the 50’s style Merc grill design. He loves the idea of a vintage truck with modern capabilities, one that would be able to endure a “wild chase with Dolph Lundgren”. The truck has neat tricks up its sleeve, like hidden compartments for guns.
Ryan is then off to work and produce 3 similar trucks: 1 hero car that Sly will drive after the movie, 1 stunt car that will end up in a crash and 1 green screen truck that only needs to look similar on the outside.
It’s a real treat to see a movie car being made, and also to get to see the legendary Edelbrock facilities when Ryan goes there to check on the 421 hp custom built by their experts down in Torrance (CA), with a visit by Vic Edelbrock himself.
It was surprising to see them try and figure out the interior design as they go, instead of following the design of a concept artist, but the truck looks pretty darn good at the end!
We always thought it would be fun to build a car a la Mad Max, but using that car to shoot at other remote-controlled vehicles with REAL weapons seemed like a wild dream… until we heard about Discovery Channel’s new show, Weaponizers. It pitches two teams of fabricators against each other, using old clunkers as a base to fit a given set of weapons… The result is explosive and some of the vehicles would have looked real good in movies.Tune in soon!
M.A.S.K (Mobile Armored Strike Kommand) is one of our favorite cartoon ever, definitely in the top 3. It had everything a kid of the eighties could want: transforming vehicles, action-packed episodes, a cool theme song and an awesome line of toys to go with it.
With Transformers on its second instalment already and G.I Joe coming soon in theatres, we have good hope to see the a live-action movie in the next few years (but should we…?) and that’s what some fan thought too when he put a trailer together on his computer. Yeah it’s a bit amateurish, but still it’s still cool that he spent the time and energy to make it!
With the rise in abductions and attacks, armored cars sales are booming. CNN takes a look at Texas Armored Cars and the results are impressive! Windows that can resist heavy weapons, tacs thrower and smoke screen, they’ve got it all.
