Subject: Renting your Imperials to the movies - warning!
From: GeoWH@aol.com
Sent: 10/29/96
WARNING:
I rented my car to: Gold Dust Production Services this summer for a couple of months (got paid for three weeks at $300 week). They ruined the finish on the car. Paid me $150 to have the car detailed.
They (the movie guys) used fuller's earth on it to make it appear aged and to keep the mirror like black finish from reflecting too much light.
They also broke the driver's side door handle for which they paid me $125. Not enough to cover the replacement and repair.
The car is to be in the production "Day of the Locust" or something like that. A woman by the name of Kate Capshaw, who's claim to frame is being married to S. Spielberg, plays the character who, in the movie owns my car.
The pay was not worth having the car out in the elements and having the damage done to it.
No "detailing" will restore what the abrasive material did to the finish. It is like giving your car a rubdown using Ajax or Comet.
So, if you really like your car don't let the movie guys near it.
Gold Dust Production Services sets up the cars for many productions including, recently, "Twister".
Btw, I have washed the car three times, driven it 200 miles in the rain and polished it three times and still the damage is evident and the fuller's earth lingers in creases and crevices and at the glass-rubber gasket juncture.
Don't let the movie guys near your car.
George
I have also heard bad things about movie-production companies. One guy with a '58 Edsel convertible rented it to a movie crew, who drove it over a center-divider and bent the frame and suspension bigtime. I've also heard stories where beauty-queens in spike heels punctured the back-seat leather. In the good cases, the owners stayed WITH the cars and drove them. Nobody else is going to show as much respect for a car!
Subject: Re: Renting your Imperials to the movies - warning!
From: fwdlook@mail.emi.net (Brett C. Snyder)
Sent: 10/29/96
Hey, the movie folks think nothing of blowing up a brand new $65,000 car. So, your Imperial means nothing to them. :-( If something breaks, they don't care how rare it is, or how many hours it will take to find a replacement. They'll just stroke a check. It's only a business, ya know.
If the "Hollywood" bug really gets to you, make sure you are always with the car and compensated for your time. (Film making is pretty dull, boring and repetitious after the first couple of hours.)
The most creative movie deal I've heard was with "Crime Story"... The guy who provided the '57 300-C convertible sold the car to Micheal Mann's production company with the clause that they sell it back to him for the same price. The car was then completely restored (to film making standards) and became famous. It has been recently advertised in Hemmings for $35K.... If you think about it though, a properly restored 300-C would be worth a bunch more.
Keep in mind that show biz is not limited to films. Magazine and fashion shoots also use coloful props. Sometimes organizations pay just to attract attention or decorate an event. Always ask if the photographer plans to use any dulling product on your car and test the stuff if you can.
I wouldn't under any circumstances PAY to have my car registered with an agency. Art directors usually buy what they want or contact local car clubs to fill up "period" street scenes. You can also look for businesses that specialize in props. A photo and information for their files could turn into something down the road.
Subject: Re: Renting your Imperials to the movies - warning!
From: Imperial67@aol.com
I couldn't agree more about letting strangers all over your car. If you wouldn't treat your baby that way yourself, why trust it to someone whose personal investment is far less and whose goals are far more short-term than protecting a vintage car? The car means less to most people than the hordes of extras, and they're human!
I speak from experience on both sides. I had a few chances to put my Imperial in TV and films, living in LA as I do, and I finally pulled out of the whole idea after my historical sense was as offended as much as my protective nature.
An agent called me looking for "grey or black large American sedans" to be used as FBI agent's cars in the movie version of TV's "The FBI." I explained that an Imperial was never, ever, ever, EVER an FBI agent's car. Agents usually had plain-jane Fords, Chevrolets and occasionally Mercurys and Buicks -- my own dad (not an FBI agent, just an assistant attorney general) had state-of-NJ-issued black LeSabres with blackwalls and pie-plate hubcaps that were scary looking to a 4-year-old kid! No way was I going to let Hollywood revise history by putting my Imperial in a movie as a cop car. (Anyone who feels the same way as I do about things like the use of 1956 Chevrolets in the July 4, 1955, parade in Oliver Stone's "Born of the Fourth of July" will understand.)
Now, I also work in the field of automotive advertising, and I probably seek out and find one or two vintage cars each season (usually Mercedes models but I met my best friend ever by hiring his 1959 Electra convertible for a brochure photo). The people I hire to transport them carry a $2,000,000 insurance policy, as does the photographer (we require it) and I'm present for the pickup of the car, the entire shoot, and its return. If I knew someone who looked after these people's cars like I do, maybe I'd be more comfortable letting it be in a movie, but for a couple of hundred dollars, it's not worth the risk!
So be careful, think twice, and if you take the plunge, know what you're getting into! Just because your car is on their set does not mean some production assistant can do anything the director says to your car. It's still your car and you're free to draw the line or even pull it out of the shot if it's being mistreated (and don't sign anything that waives that right).
Hope that gives a clearer picture!
-Christopher Hoffman
Subject: Re: Renting your Imperials to the movies - warning!
From: KhlnbrgA@aol.com
Sent: 10/31/96
[The following message is from Aaron Kahlenberg, who is a longtime friend of mine and an excellent car-club president. I gave Aaron an honorary membership in the IML, even though he doesn't own an Imperial. If you live near the Los Angeles area, please contact Aaron about joining the San Fernando Valley Region WPC Club. - Tony]
I had the 'pleasure' of working for a picture car company... In the time I worked there, there were two vehicles that I saw damaged. Both were on the same commercial and the production company was new to the business.
I tracked down two brand new Mazda RX7's -- both with less than 5 miles on their odometers. One car was taken care of. The other was used as a stunt car -- without the knowledge of the dealer we borrowed the cars from or most of the crew members -- until they jumped the car off of a three foot high ramp at about 35 miles per hour. Needless to say... the car was almost totaled. The production company eventually bought the car... but that should have been done BEFORE the jump. That one incident halted nearly all movie car rentals -- from dealerships -- to every production for a long time. Can you blame them?
There was another vehicle in the same commercial that was damaged. It wasn't an imperial... but it could have been. There was a teeter-totter type of rig bolted to the bottom of the car. It was supposed to look as if it was ready to fall off a cliff. What it did to the car was pretty severe. The rear shock mounts were sheared off of their mounts. It seems the special effects crew found those mounts to be in the perfect position for mounting the rear of the teeter-totter!
My advice to all of you. If you want to make some extra money... renting your car can be a lot of fun, a great way to see movie making in action and can be quite profitable. But DON'T EVER leave your car unattended. If they want someone else to drive it... walk away. Of course there are bad stories... but there are some pretty good ones too. I'll save those for another time.
Aaron Kahlenberg
Subject: Re: Renting cars to the movie studios
Sent: 11/9/96
To provide something GOOD to say (after all of the bad things we've shared so far):
My friend Charles says that he knows of one guy in the Great Autos of Yesteryear car club (the gay Los Angeles club) had a '59 Series 62 convertible completely repainted in Vegas Turquoise (and the bumpers were re-chromed) as a a benefit of renting his car to one of the studios.
Subject: Re: Renting cars to the movie studios
Sent: 11/9/96
From: Tony Lindsey
To provide something GOOD to say (after all of the bad things we've shared so far):
My friend Charles says that he knows of one guy in the Great Autos of Yesteryear car club (the gay Los Angeles club) had a '59 Series 62 convertible completely repainted in Vegas Turquoise (and the bumpers were re-chromed) as a a benefit of renting his car to one of the studios.
Subject: Re: Renting cars to the movie studios
From: KhlnbrgA@aol.com
Sent: 11/10/96
OK, like I promised, here's one of my positive stories about renting the cars out to the studios. When I bought my '55 300 in 1985, someone at Universal found out about it. It was a real mess. The original black paint was worn through on all of the top surfaces of the car and there was a bb gun hole in the driver's window. Mechanically it was fine, but it was in need of a new set of tires. At the time, being only 17 years old, I couldn't afford the tires.
I received a call from Universal with a request to rent the 300 for a day, maybe two. I forget the exact amount of money, but, when they needed the car for three days total, the money more than paid for five new wide whites.
I figured there was nothing more they could have done to the car to worsen its condition. They were happy, I was happy.
Aaron
Subject: Re: Renting cars to the movie studios
From: WmWhite@worldnet.att.net (Bill White)
>From: KhlnbrgA@aol.com
>OK, like I promised, here's one of my positive stories about renting the
>cars out to the studios. When I bought my '55 300 in 1985, someone at
>Universal found out about it. It was a real mess. The original black
>paint was worn through on all of the top surfaces of the car and there
>was a bb gun hole in the driver's window. Mechanically it was fine, but
>it was in need of a new set of tires. At the time, being only 17 years
>old, I couldn't afford the tires.
>
>I received a call from Universal with a request to rent the 300 for a
>day, maybe two. I forget the exact amount of money, but, when they
>needed the car for three days total, the money more than paid for five
>new wide whites.
>
>I figured there was nothing more they could have done to the car to
>worsen its condition. They were happy, I was happy.
>
>Aaron
I had a close call with my '55 Chry Windsor when I rented my car for one day in 1984 to the "Birdie" production company. I had answered an ad in paper months before. From sent-in car pictures the movie company selected my car (and others) for $50 a day. When I dropped off my car, I stayed to watch the filming.
My car was positioned next to an early fifties Ford convertible in the jailhouse scene. In the scene the angry father character had to pick up his son and friend from jail with the Ford convertible. The action called for the "father" to slam the car door after the one boy got in the car. Take after take (there had to be 30 takes) the driver's side door kept getting slammed with full force. Also the other boy at the same time had to jump from the parking lot leap feet first into the back seat.
It took one full very hot July day to get the shot right. At the conclusion of the last take several "celebration" water filled balloons were tossed by the production company at actors in the car. I felt badly for the Ford's owner when returned at the end of day to pick up his car. He could not figure out why is interior was soaked, rear quarter panel scuffed, and the window would no longer work.
Bill White
Quoted without comment:
GET YOUR CAR IN THE MOVIES
- Valerie Norman, 818-961-7628
- BILL DANCE CASTING AT 213-286-1901
- Francois or Kathy, Star Cars In Los Angeles, 213-850-1252
From: kcsgold@michcom.com
I am not sure how long this Hollywood Movies and Imperials thing has been going on but this message has encouraged me to ramble about a little trivia concerning the same.
First Elijah, don't fret about the '59 in the movie, I'm quite sure that she is fine. You see everyone, Hollywood has a great way of making something look like one thing when in reality it didn't happen at all. There are "agents for cars" connected to the movie maker. No, really, I'm serious! For all of you in Calif that would like to make some money and have your car in the movies you can list them with an agent and they will make offers of use when a movie part comes up with the need for certain cars.
Sometimes the producers don't really care about the make, they may need what is referred to as a "period/era vehicle". They have you sign waivers and take out insurance policies and all that stuff, most of which they pay for, and on top of it all they pay you to use your car. The price of course varies from studio to studio and agent to agent, but there are only a couple of car agents around so the prices are pretty competitive. A friend of mine in Anaheim has a Mint 1961 Imperial that he leased for a movie, he was paid enough to buy a Mint 1959 Imp. Of course lets face the facts, this was a rare deal but them the deals are what you want and can get.
In the movie that my friends car was in there was a scene where the wind screen would be blown out, now let's get real, would you want your wind screen damaged? Of course not, so the deal was if he could not find a replacement, before filming, then the FX guys would remove the original and install a fake one made out of, guess what? Sugar!
The down side to that was that he still vacuums up sugar from the carpet. The end results to most if not all of the "period/era cars" is that they are almost never damaged (accidents do happen) and the owner has the right to say with pride "my car was in the movie 'SHE LOVED ME, BUT, SHE LOVED MY CAR MORE' which when it come to Imperials is probably not too far from the truth". And of course you end up with a few bucks in your pocket which you can spend on.......what else... Your Imperial!!!!
Does anyone remember the movie "Bullitt" with Steve McQueen (may God rest his soul). That car was owned by Chrysler Corp, there is credits at the end of the movie that states that the car was provided by Chrysler Corp. Oh, I'm getting ahead of myself, I'm talking about the Charger, anyway, it wasn't given to the studio as the credits would have you think. Chrysler leased the car to the movie makers for full retail and then the studio insured the car as well as Chrysler Corp insuring it. The MSRP on that Charger was close to $7000.00, it was insured by the Studio for $14000.00 and by Chrysler for $21000.00. Of course the car was blown-up as we all remember and the Studio made $7000.00 on the insurance and Chrysler made $14000.00, not a bad days work!
Beware if you do find an agent and your car is used in a movie, if you don't want any damage make sure you have a lawyer look over your agreement before signing, hidden clauses or language (legallese) may cause you to own nothing more than paper.
