Beside seeing John Travolta in an unusual kind of role for him and with Bruce Willis’ trademark haircut, From Paris with Love promises some good car chases and plenty of explosions. The critics haven been pretty mixed, but it might be worth a shot. We have the trailer right here, so tell us what you expect!

January 18-24 the 39th Barrett-Jackson Collector Car Auction took place in Scottsdale, AZ, and a few well-known movie vehicles crossed the stage and found new owners. One of them was the Ford A that was used my the infamous John Dillinger to escape the FBI in of the darkest moments of its history. On top of that, the car starred in the movie about John Dillinger, played by Johnny Depp, Public Enemies. The all-star cast also included Marion Cotillard, James Russo, Channing Tatum, and Christian Bale.

In a statement, Barret-Jackson president Steve Davis declared: “Dillinger, it is said, smashed the Ford’s rear window with his Thompson [submachine gun] and sprayed his pursuers with bullets,” In 2007 it was restored for Public Enemies, while keeping the original bullet holes. The car comes with meticulous documentation, including “transfer paperwork, articles, books, before-restoration photographs and a selection of documents copied from the federal files.”
It could have fetched a bit more money a few years ago but it still reached the nice sum of $165,000. Not bad.

Here’s a little summup found on the Barret Jackson website:

Summary: Original car used by John Dillinger, Hommer Van Meter and John Hamilton to escape from Little Bohemia, Wisconsin and the largest FBI crack down in history.

Details: This car was used by John Dillinger, Hommer Van Meter and John Hamilton to get away from Melvin Purvis and 17 other FBI agents that were sent to Little Bohemia, WI on April 22, 1934 to take John Dillinger, dead or alive, by President Roosevelt and J. Edgar Hoover. This was the largest crack down in all of FBI history and most famous incident, it was reported in newspapers all over the U.S. and in other countries. When the gang had escaped, they had driven the car to St. Paul, Minnesota and had gotten into a running gun battle with police, exchanging gun fire for over 45 minutes. They finally got away, but this paid a toll on John Hamilton because he was shot during the gun battle and died in Chicago three days later from his wounds. During this incident, two FBI agents and one CCC worker were killed and eight more people were wounded. After this incident, President Roosevelt was so upset that had Melvin Purvis and J. Edgar Hoover failed to capture Dillinger one more time, it would have been the end of the FBI as we know it today. This car is considered the rarest Dillinger car, there is no other like it.

Checked out the gallery after the jump

|Source: Barret-Jackson |

The auction might be over on eBay but it still is fantastic to look at. The guy behind this Tumbler (and Batpod, and 80’s Batmobile etc) spent hours giving it as many details as possible and making it functional, but he also made comic strips and videos… insane!

Thanks Gabriel for the tip!

Want to see an 80’s Batmobile montage with “Push it to the limit” (Top Gun) as soundtrack? Watch it after the jump!

Hot on the heels of Tron (1982) came Automan, a TV show so successful only 12 episodes aired. Watching the intro I wonder why… although the kid in me knows I would have been all over it if I had known about it back then.

Being able to seat in the A-Team van was a childhood dream came true.

Last Saturday, August 15th, a big movie props and vehicle auction was held at LA Center Studios. Most of the movie cars came from Picture Car Warehouse, Hollywood’s biggest provider of wheeled heroes, villains, stars and extras. PCW was founded by Ted Moser and has supplied vehicles for hundred of movies and TV shows, including the Fast and Furious franchise, Knight Rider, Grindhouse, XXX, Mad Men, Transformers and Indiana Jones. Up for auction were, among others, the green chopper from Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen that Megan Fox liked so much, along with the “Barricade” Saleen Mustang and the “Landmine” sandrail, the van from Little Miss Sunshine, some Challengers fromThe Bucket List, the ‘32 hot rod from the latest Indiana Jones, KITT from the TV movie Knight Rider 2000, a pair of humongous H2s from Dragonball , an F-Bomb Camaro from Fast & Furious… and an A-Team van replica! A few cars from other collectors and a lot of props were there as well.

Cars + Movies was there and we had the chance to meet and chat with the excellent Ted Moser, who proved to be a very approachable and knowledgeable car guy. He also gave a lot of explanations about the cars and the work that goes into them during the course of the event, whenever one of them went up.
A lot of effort is put by his crew to fabricate the vehicles in record time and with a lot of attention to details. And most of the time they make several copies of them, for instance one for close-ups, a few for the stunts and chase scenes…
Now, we don’t go to auctions very often and the atmosphere is electric, very fun. Unlike when you watch Barrett-Jackson on Speed, you really get caught up in the tension and the enthusiasm from both the buyers and the the auctioneer.

Seeing the stars in person is a bit like spotting a celebrity: some are just as beautiful, and some are better in makeup. But all around it was fantastic to see them up close and see a bit of what goes on behind the scenes. Call it nerdy, but being able to seat in the A-Team van was a childhood dream came true… and we’re dedicating an article and a gallery to it! So stay tuned.

The steal of the day was a ‘74 Challenger made to look like a ‘70, equipped with a 5.7L 360hp Hemi crate engine that went for $12,500. Keep reading for more prices and our huge photo gallery!

To learn more: iCollector.com, Picture Car Warehouse

Among our cult car movies, Disney/Pixar’s Cars ranks high. Very high. The way it pictures the car industry and culture, the characters, the photography, the design, even the storyline… it’s a fantastic movie. So ever since Cars 2 has been announced we’ve been giddy like schoolgirls. Only problem is: we have to wait until 2012.
To help us wait, John Lasseter’s team had come up with a mini-series of shorts featuring the beloved Mater. The Cars Toons: Mater Tall Tales air on the Disney Channel, Toon Disney, and ABC Family and include: “Rescue Squad Mater”, “Mater The Greater”, “El Materdor” and “Tokyo Mater”, that we’ve embedded below for your viewing pleasure. This fourth installment premiered in theaters in December 2008 before the movie Bolt and is our favorite. It’s a great parody of the Fast and Furious franchise, mainly of the second and third movies.

|Source: Wikipedia|

Click on “Read more” to watch Tokyo Mater in its full length!

Farrah Fawcett and Burt Reynolds

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.

|Source: Inside Line|

Watch her in the intro and of The Cannonball Run right after the jump.

Intro

Trailer

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!

Street Custom’s page on TLC

The excellent Rotten Tomatoes Show on current tv recently aired an episode where they reviewed the new Fast and Furious (2009) and gave a list of the Top 5 Car Chases of All Time. Their review of Blues Brothers, who came in at fourth place, is absolutely hilarious and well worth watching.

Here’s their Top 5:

#5 Cobra (1986)
#4 Blues Brothers (1980)
#3 Death Proof (2007)
#2 Ronin (1998)
and…
#1 Bullitt (1968)

Wanna watch the episode? It’s right after the jump!