Raridade? Bom, então só pode ser coisa do Rafinha Rodrigues!

CLICK HERE to view the syylish new smoked blackout tail light covers for the 2006-2008 Dodge Challenger.

Product Information

2006-2008 Dodge Charger taillight blackout covers by GTS.

The GTS Charger taillight covers, also known as taillight blackouts, are the perfect matchup for the GTS Dodge Charger headlight blackout covers SOLD SEPARATELY HERE..

Easy installation with no tools required. Easily removeable for cleaning. Sold as a set of 2 Dodge Charger taillight blackout covers.

No returns allowed on this product. Check your local laws for street legality. The GTS decals are not included with the covers as they are for product marketing identification only.

NOTE: This product will not fit the 2009 Dodge Charger.

Auto Accessories Now: Bringing New Life To Your Vehicle

The blog is written by:

Larry Hayden, President
Hayden’s Auto Accessories Group
201 Oak Ave Suite C, Carlsbad, CA 92008
Toll Free (800) 871-8062

Chevy Avalanches: www.AvalancheAndAccessories.com

Cars, Trucks, Jeeps, SUV’s : www.AutoAccessoriesNow.com

CLICK HERE to view product.

Product Information

2006-2009 Dodge Charger headlight blackout covers by GTS.  Also available are smoked blackout tail light covers for Dodge Charger. Buy the set and dramatically improve the already cool look of the Dodge Charger!

The GTS Charger headlight covers are the custom touch the Charger enthusiast is looking for!

Dark smoke in color, also known as headlight blackouts, these covers are easy to install with no tools required.

Removeable for cleaning.

Sold as a set of 2 Dodge Charger headlight covers. GTS logo is a decal for marketing photography only and is not included with the headlight covers.

Don’t forget to match up these smoked GTS headlight covers with the smoked GTS taillight covers also found on this website in the Dodge Charger section.

No returns are allowed on this product. Check your local motorvehicle laws for street legality in your area.

Auto Accessories Now: Bringing New Life To Your Vehicle

The blog is written by:

Larry Hayden, President
Hayden’s Auto Accessories Group
201 Oak Ave Suite C, Carlsbad, CA 92008
Toll Free (800) 871-8062

Chevy Avalanches: www.AvalancheAndAccessories.com

Cars, Trucks, Jeeps, SUV’s : www.AutoAccessoriesNow.com

Hi Tyler,

I just wanted to let you know again that we appreciated everything that you did to get us in the vehicle we wanted.  It’s just like you said yesterday, “It’s not only about getting the deal you want, it’s the whole experience.”  You all made our experience very pleasant!!  THANKS AGAIN!!

Sincerely,

Carole Ann & Brian G.

http://lakekeoweecd.com

Tyler,

We just wanted to take the opportunity to once again thank you for all your hard work & dedication to make sure we walked away happy with our brand new Dodge Charger.  You went above and beyond the expectations & it did not go without notice & was truly appreciated!  Once again, thank you!

Jay & Tiffany H.

Seneca, SC

http://lakekeoweecd.com

Nem tentem: este já foi vendido. Mas vale o registro. Fotos de Jéfferson Velho, Lages-SC.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Police said a man who smashed a window at a car dealership claimed he was following a higher calling. Police said a 36-year-old man was collared by a security guard at Freedom Dodge before he could get inside the showroom. WLEX-TV reported the man told the guard that God wanted him to steal a Dodge Charger.

When police arrived, the suspect initially told them his name was “Seven.”

The man faces charges including criminal mischief.

This is why I’m hot.

September 19, 2009

Bullit: Steve McQueen plays the straightest cop on earth, desperate to get the job done no matter how many superiors he pisses off. The film’s most notorious part, and only real action scene, is the awesome car chase in which a Ford Mustang and Dodge Charger take a proper beat down as they tear through the steep streets of San Francisco. The big let down was that there wasn’t much more action, and the film moves along at a slow-ish speed, especially the first 40 minutes. The Mustang gets a lot of good shots, so Ford certainly got their money’s worth. Although it’s famous for the chase scene, there’s frankly not that much else on offer, other than a staple story and a lot of close ups of a solemn and confused McQueen. Middle of the road cop film.

Score: 6/10

I’ve watched a lot of people playing Left 4 Dead and Left 4 Dead 2 and they seem to make a lot of damn mistakes, n00b to advanced gamers alike. Some of the things I’ve seen would piss me off if I was playing with them.

1. Running and shooting at a Jockey on one of the survivors back just to run up on him to melee him. I’ve seen this countless times, instead of shooting and missing because you can’t aim and you know you’re just going to go up to it and melee, just go up to it and melee the jockey instead of wasting bullets.
2. Shooting at an already dead infected and special infected. You saw the infected or special infected go down for the count, why are you still shooting at it? Its not going to get back up. Waste those wonderful bullets on that hunter that has incapped your friend that’s mauling him/her right next to you.
3. Splitting up because you want to find the Witch or chase down a Charger. I’ve seen this happen numerous times and it didn’t turn out well most of the time. They kill the Charger or Witch then try and high-tail it back with the other survivors just to get snatched by a Smoker or mauled by a Hunter. Now the other survivors have to come all the way back and save you. What happens then is the possibility of it being another horde because you the idiot who wanted to be Rambo was in that area for too long.
4. Setting traps because you think its fun to make other gamers miserable. I just hope this never happens to me but I’ve seen other players open and close the safe door rapidly so the other survivors cannot get inside after that one idiotic player wanted to set off a car alarm and provoke a horde. I’ve seen people in versus push a garbage dumpster down the sewer opening so the survivors cannot get up the ladder. I’ve also seen in versus where gamers would push a generator in front of the elevator in the finale of No Mercy so when the elevator opens up and the survivors that want to evacuate the premises, they can’t. It might be fun and hilarious the first few times but leave that retarded bullshit with your friends that play the game, not random players that just want to play.
5. Trying to help a survivor up knowing there’s a horde beating you half to death. People defeat the reason of helping someone up. I know you’re trying to help and all but just let me die or kill the horde, the smoker, the hunter, and the tank off first. You could have a full bar of health but you want to help me up while there’s a tank hot on your ass. Its call paying attention to the health bar if that person you’re trying to help up is that close to death when they’re incapped and a horde comes; kill the horde and see the outcome.
6. Running ahead and leaving the other survivors because you’re impatient. This is not NASCAR, yes the finish line is the safe house but the point in the game is to survive. No I don’t mean stick around and wait for an ass kicking but if there’s someone trying to fight a horde off which in fact happens all of the time, don’t just say “screw this” and Speedy Gonzales your ass to the safe house. The other players will hate you forever. If you’re illiterate or dyslexic and you can’t understand “stick together to survive” then sucks for you.
7. Looking for short cuts and glitches in the game just to end up dying anyway. First of all, looking for an easy way out in a game just means you’re an idiot and lazy. Look for easier ways to get out shit in real life, stop taking the fun out of the game because you think its cool to waste your time leaving the survivors because you found a glitch and or a short cut only you got down to a Science.
8. Camping because you think its the right thing to do in this type of situation. People can still camp in Left 4 Dead 2 believe it or not. Others are killing zombies trying to live and here one person is off in the corner some where camping or hiding. You know he or she is not shooting anything because you can see the outline. He or she is  just waiting for it to be over. Then without warning [it never is one] a hunter incapacitates he or she and he can’t get immediate help because the others are still killing a horde or dying themselves. So now he or she is pissed and rage quits. Camping is only good in a group not solo. Even then camping isn’t good, camping is just waiting for a Chuck Norris type ass kicking to come your way.
9. Using a health pack then taking another leaving other survivors vulnerable. There is one for everyone, no need to get greedy because 9 times out of 10 you’re going to wish you gave that guy who was on his last leg that health pack. Especially when the odds are against you; meaning two of the other survivors was killed and its only you and the guy you neglected to help. Remember, sharing is caring!
10. Getting on the mic screaming at another player that they’re “n00bs“. Come on! If you want to play with gamers you like, find some friends or make some. People will cringe and get this feeling of wanting to falcon punch your ass when they see your gamertag or your steam name when you’re in a lobby waiting to play after a while. No one likes a dumb ass with a mic. I’m pretty sure those that’s always bitching about others being n00bs were once n00bs themselves.
11. Seeing a tank then running all the way back to the beginning of the map. I don’t how many times I’ve seen this happen. They see a tank, then run all the way back to the safe house or a room with a door that they just so happened to find that a tank cannot open. What is the point? Just shoot the got damned thing! Oh if you haven’t noticed, throwing a Molotov Cocktail just pisses it off more and some has said that the tank moves faster once its on fire. I don’t know how much of that is true but its better than running away or into something worse.
12. Replenishing ammo, shooting zombies then coming all the way back to get more ammo. I get sick of that, people be at times so far away from that pile of ammo the next pile would be right next to them but they go all the way back to get more ammo. If you aim right your bullets would be of good use and you wouldn’t have to worry about wasting them to the point you have low self-esteem about it.
13. Healing someone during a crescendo. Who the hell waits til then to want to heal someone? Those few precious seconds between crescendo’s is when you’re supposed to do that. Not when there is a car being launched at your torso or when a hunter is playing finger paint with your insides.

Charger, Gran Torino (Starsky&Hutch edition!), ‘Cuda, Mustang Mach 1, Firebird Trans Am … ahhhh, ho appena avuto un paio d’orgasmi

Totally ass kickin’

Per altri video di classiche americane, visitate il seguente canale:
http://www.youtube.com/user/SuperTato75

Qui il proprietario del canale YT di cui sopra (Tato) mentre viene intervistato da Rai 3. Ma quanto e’ coglione quell’inviato? Ma sopratutto, che cazzo di domande fa!?!? Seriamente, mi sono sentito imbarazzato per lui. Ma va ad arare i campi, vah!

Foto de Anderson: “Tá aqui em Ji-Paraná/RO, num sítio.”

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To say that Bullitt had a car chase scene is like saying Steve McQueen was a good actor.  Both are arguably gross understatements.  The history-making car chase from Bullitt is still considered the gold standard for which all such scenes are held to today.

McQueen hadn’t planned on a driving double– in fact, he firmly insisted on doing all the Mustang stunt driving himself.  But that all quickly changed– while shooting an early scene (that can be seen in the film), he missed a turn pretty hard and nearly lost it.  The studio exec’s immediately pulled the plug on McQueen’s plans and tapped professional stunt drivers with a little more practical experience and skill. As fate would have it, main driving duties were handed over to none other than McQueen’s good buddy (and auto and motorcycle racing legend) Bud Ekins.

The story behind the filming of this ground-breaking scene (I hate to say it) is more fascinating to me than the whole of the film itself.  Read on for great behind the scenes details on how history was made in pulling-off this incredible piece of work– the likes of which had never been attempted before.

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THE GREATEST CHASE OF ALL–

An inside look at how they filmed BULLITT, the granddaddy of car pursuit movies.

BY: Susan Encinas (Muscle Car Review, March, 1987)

Where were you in 1968? You might have opened up the movie section of the newspaper and read a review about the newly released movie BULLITT. One such review, by the National Observer, said, ” Whatever you have heard about the auto chase scene in BULLITT is probably true…a terrifying, deafening shocker.” Life magazine wrote, “… a crime flick with a taste of genius…an action sequence that must be compared to the best in film history.”

With reviews like that, and sharing double billing with the hit BONNIE AND CLYDE, BULLITT devastated audiences with incredible scenes of leaping, screaming automobiles that seemed to fly off the screen. Among all of Hollywood’s road movies, BULLITT unquestionably made film history with its original car chase sequences. There may have been chase scenes before, but nothing before or since has equalled the intensity and impact of BULLITT. The scenes, which were novelty then but classic now, were brilliantly executed. Over the years, fans have asked questions about the two cars used in the movie, a 1968 Dodge Charger and a 1968 Mustang GT. Of all the musclecars offered in the late sixties, why were these two cars chosen, and how were they modified to survive the torturous driving?

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It’s been 19 years since BULLITT was filmed, however the magic of this special movie has not diminished. We questioned some of the crew who participated in the filming, and asked them how the chase was coordinated and shot, who was involved in the chase scenes and what happened during the filming. Steve McQueen and director Peter Yates brought in some of the best names in the business in preparation for the filming of BULLITT’s chase scenes, and we were able to track some of them down. We interviewed Carey Loftin, stunt coordinator for BULLITT and occasional driver of the BULLITT Mustang; Bud Ekins, the main stunt driver of the Mustang, aside from McQueen; and Loren Janes, who had doubled for McQueen for nearly 20 years and stunted for McQueen during the airport sequence at the end of the film. We also interviewed Max Balchowsky, the man responsible for maintaining the Mustang GT and the Charger throughout the filming. Finally, we spoke with Ron Riner, who acted as transportation coordinator for Warner Brothers on the BULLITT set.

We set out to learn what the recipe is for such a successful chase sequence. What we found out was that there is none; it was pretty much a hit and miss thing and, as Ron Riner put it, “other people have tried to put the same combination together to get the same results and haven’t really done it. Before we’d shoot a scene, everyone, the location people, the police department, the stuntmen, the director and Steve, would get into discussions. We realized we didn’t know what to do because no one had ever done this before.” What hadn’t been done before was a chase scene, done “at speed”(up to 110 miles per hour) through the city streets and not on a movie studio back lot. Bud Elkins said, “I think it was the first time they did a complete car chase at normal camera speed. What you saw is what really happened. It was real!”

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McQueen was determined to have “the best car chase ever done,” recalls Carey Loftin. “I told Steve I knew a lot about camera angles and speeds to make it look fast. You can undercrank the camera so you can control everything in the scene. Then when it’s run, it’ll look like high speed and the car will appear to be handling real well.” McQueen refused to hear of it, and advised Loftin that money was no object. “Fine,” Loftin replied. “Until you run out of money, you’ve got to stop me!”

In an interview with Motor Trend magazine, Steve McQueen related his desire to bring a high speed chase to the screen. “I always felt a motor racing sequence in the street, a chase in the street, could be very exciting because you have the reality objects to work with, like bouncing off a parked car. An audience digs sitting there watching somebody do something that I’m sure almost all of them would like to do.”

BULLITT was also the first picture done with live sound (some of which was added later as needed). For example, additional sound was needed because on occasion a tire squeal was not picked up by the microphones. Bud Elkins remembers blowing the rear end of the Mustang at Willow Springs winding the gears for engine noise to be added to the soundtrack.

To prepare himself, his crew and the cars for the movie sequence, McQueen and company went to the Cotati race course near San Francisco. “Steve handled the Mustang real well,” recalled Riner. “He flowed well with the car.” Also on hand was the late Bill Hickman, the fantastic stunt driver who would handle the menacing Dodge Charger in BULLITT. “Bill came in with the Charger,” Riner said. “And he flipped it around and he slid in backwards. He was excellent.”

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The BULLITT chase scenes were shot around Easter of 1968. When city officials were first approached about shooting in the streets of San Francisco, they balked at the proposed high speeds and the idea of filming part of the chase on the Golden Gate Bridge. Eventually, it was agreed to keep the chase within only a few city blocks. McQueen was the prime motivator behind the chase sequence, and then director Peter Yates and Carey Loftin worked out logistics behind the scenes.

McQueen hadn’t planned on having a stunt driver. Relates Carey Loftin:”The first thing Steve said was, he was going to do his own driving. Well, I wasn’t going to argue, so I said, ‘okay, fine’.” McQueen’s stint as a stunt driver didn’t last long, however. “He overshot a turn, smoked the tires and everything. It’s in the film,” said Bud Elkins. “When Steve did that, it wasn’t on purpose. He goofed up, and they said, ‘that’s it, get him out of the car’. The next morning they were spraying my hair down and cutting it. Consequently, it was Elkins who drove the car down hilly Chestnut Avenue. Also, according to the book entitled The Films of Steve McQueen by Casey St. Charnaz, the other reason for McQueen’s removal from the Mustang was that McQueen’s wife at the time found out that he wanted to do all his own driving and apparently SHE had some input into the decision not to have him do all the driving.

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As director Peter Yates prepared to begin filming the chase scenes, there were four drivers, McQueen, Bud Ekins, Bill Hickman, and in a few scenes, Carey Loftin. Loren Janes tells up, “Carey Loftin was easily the best car man in the business. He brought in Bill Hickman to play a part and drive the other car.” Loftin recalls: “I asked (the studio) what kind of guy were they looking for? And they described Bill Hickman, who was working on the LOVE BUG at the same time. Well, I said, he’s sitting right here. They really described Bill Hickman.”

The screenplay of the movie was written by Alan Trustman, based on the novel, Mute Witness by Robert L. Pike. But the story, according to Ron Riner was not the key element to the success of the movie. Riner says, “I think basically the story was long and confusing, so when the chase came along it was so good it gave more substance to the movie. I think it really saved the film, because most people don’t remember the story, they remember the chase. You couldn’t really remember the complete story, if somebody asked you, unless you read the script, because the script was much better and made more sense.”

As filming of the chase progressed, Loftin wanted to see the daily work (rushes). He was told that Mr. McQueen wouldn’t like that. Loftin insisted, and threatened to quit unless he could view the daily work. “It worked out really good,” Loftin said with a smile. “Because as we watched the rushes, you could hear a pin drop. I was sitting 3 or 4 rows in front of him (McQueen) and when it was over, he came down, stuck out his hand, and said, ‘Mr. Loftin, when you need me for a closeup you WILL let me know, won’t you?”

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As for the cars, Max Balchowsky tells us, “I suggested they get a 390 GT. I had suggested using a Mustang, and a Dodge Charger, or else there would be too may Fords in the picture. I thought we’d mix up the cars.” The two 1968, four-speed Mustang GT fastbacks were purchased primarily because, promotionally, they were the best deal at the time. As far as Bud Ekins can recall, he feels the reason they used the Mustang was because “they wanted it to look like a cop car. This was his personal car and he wasn’t a rich guy, he didn’t have a real nice car. And it was Steve’s idea to put the big dent in the fender, to show that it got banged up and he didn’t have enough money or the time to fix it.”

Warner Brothers purchased two four-speed Dodge Chargers… “at a Chrysler dealership in Glendale California,” recalls Ron Riner. He also said the Dodge Chargers had to be purchased without promotional consideration, but after the success of the movie and the increase in Charger sales, Chrysler was more than willing to be generous with their vehicles to Warner Brothers for future projects. Mr. Riner posed an interesting premise: “did you realize that there wouldn’t be an 01 car (the General Lee in Dukes of Hazzard) if we hadn’t done BULLITT and Dodge hadn’t sold so many Chargers?”

Before the filming could be done, the Charger and the Mustang required preparation. One of the best wrenchmen in the movie business, Max Balchowsky, recalls the Mustang in particular needed considerable modifications so it could hold up during the relentless beatings it would take during the filming. “Carey said they were gonna do a lot of jumping with it, and he said it had to be strong. So I was a little hesitant. I didn’t know if they wanted to go over 50 foot cliffs. I had no idea what they wanted to do until I got there.” To beef up the Mustang, Balchowsky started with the suspension, reinforcing the shock towers, adding crossmembers and reinforcements, exchanging the springs for replacements with higher deflection rates and replacing the stock shocks with Konis. All suspension parts were magnafluxed and replaced where nescessary. The engine also came in for some modifications, including milling the heads, adding an aftermarket high performance ignition system and reworking the the carburetor and adding headers.

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On the Mustang, Mr. Balchowsky recalls, “everybody suggested I put a Holley on the Mustang, it was better than the Ford carburetor. I’ve always had good luck with Fords, and didn’t want to spend money if i didn’t have to putting a Holley on. It ran good, needed just a few little adjustments. I changed the distributor and all, but basically never had the engine apart on the Ford.” Ron Riner remembers “the stock Mustang had undercarriage modifications, not only for the movie, but for Steve McQueen. Steve liked the sound of the car and he wanted mags. We hopped it up because Steve wanted the car hopped up. He was still a kid.”

Balchowsky remembers “I hardly had to anything to the Dodge’s engine, but what I was worried about was the strength of the front end.” To shore up the front, Balchowsky revised the torsion bars, beefed up the control arms and added heavy duty shocks. As with the Mustang, all parts were ‘fluxed. For the rear end, Balchowsky told us, “I got some special rear springs, what you call a high spring rate, a flat without any arch in it, and using that spring the car would stay low. It’s similar to the same springs they use in police cars, which makes a good combination. When the police specify a package, they have more spring here, a little bigger brake there, a little bit more happening in the shocks, and it makes a good car. But the director of BULLITT wanted a brand new car instead of an ex-police car, so I got the springs from a friend at Chrysler. We had to weld reinforcements under the arms and stuff on the Dodge. We did lose a lot of hubcaps on the Charger. We’d put the hubcaps back on, but I suppose it probably would have been better if we had lest them off.”

“I’ll tell you this,” said Max Balchowsky, “I was really impressed with the Mustang after I got done with it. I didn’t think it’d make that much difference beefing it up. Later, we took both cars out and went playing around with them over by Griffith Park (near Los Angeles). The Dodge, which was practically stock, just left the Mustang like you wouldn’t believe.” Ron Riner has similar recollections. “The Charger ran rings around the Mustang. We trimmed the tires down (on the Charger), we practically made them down to bicycle tires to try and handicap Hickman, and Bill just run them.” Carey Loftin also recalls,” we test ran the car at Griffith Park near the Observatory, up a long hill. and if you can run a car real hard up and down that hill it’s working pretty good.”

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“The day before the chase scenes were to be filmed, we went up to Santa Rosa and rented the track,”said Balchowsky. “Steve wanted to test the car. A production manager would have cut your throat if you wanted to do something like that. An accident would have ruined the cars, and we were slated for Monday morning, 6:00 a.m. to start shooting. Hickman and Steve were buzzing around the tracks, and it was pretty even. McQueen and Hickman were both tickled with the cars. So, fortunately everything worked out.”

Generally everyone seemed to agree that the chase went smoothly, although filming went a “little bit slow,” Bud Ekins recalls. “Yates and Steve were particular. You would rehearse it once- it’s got to be choreographed- then you would rehearse it again, and if it looked good, they shot it. You rehearsed at about 1/4 speed or 1/2 speed, then you went in to film it at full speed.”

For the in-car scenes, two camers were mounted in the cars and painted black. The jarring landings after the cars were airborne are the result of the cameras being tightly secured and not cushion mounted. The effect was more than McQueen had bargained for. “It’s a funny thing,” he told Motor Trend. “That was what shocked me and I didn’t expect it, because we were using a 185 frame which is a very small frame. We weren’t even using a big super Panavision or anything. Even on the 185, they (the audience) jumped out of their seats. I didn’t do the shots going down the hill, they pulled me out of the car. Bud Ekins did that.”

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In the Motor Trend interview, McQueen recalled there were some close calls and incidents that looked good on film but weren’t exactly planned to happen, some of which occured in the memorable downhill sequences. “Remember that banging going down? That was about 100 mph. I was bangin’ into Bill. My car was disintegrating. Like, the door handles came off, both the shocks in the front broke, the steering armature on the right front side broke and my slack was about a foot and a half. The Mustang was really just starting to fall apart.”

There was an incident which alerted the crew to take extra precautions while doing the car chase. “A child,” Riner told us, “maybe five years old, came out of a building and stepped out on to the street. We stopped and brought in more stunt people and more cars and I think the theory was if anybody had a problem, they’d make a barricade out of the vehicles. The problem never came up again, or I never saw a problem.” Incredible, considering there were only two policemen on the scene as compared to the 40 policemen utilized for the chase in MAD MAD WORLD. Carey Loftin says, “the extras were a big help. If there was an alley or any place that wasn’t covered, they’d come and tell me. They were real good.”

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Because some of the stunts were so well orchestrated, they did not look like stunts at all. Recalls Carey Loftin: “Several years after BULLITT, an extra (on another set) was talking about BULLITT, and he was saying how it was amazing how accidents get into films and he said that the best one he ever saw was the scene where Bud Elkins did the spill off the motorcycle. I let him go ahead and tell it. He said ‘the cops were watching the action and weren’t watching the traffic and this motorcycle guy slipped through, and got into the scene and ended up in the picture.’ I said, ‘you really think that’s what happened?’ The extra said, ‘ I know, I saw it, I was there.’ And I said that’s the way it’s supposed to look, because it wasn’t supposed to look like a stunt.” Ron Riner comments on the scene, “I didn’t know about the stunt and I was supposed to get the information!”

There were THREE cars racing wildly through the streets of San Francisco, making car chase history, although only two are seen in the movie. The third vehicle, a camera car, was driven by Pat Houstis, while cinematographer Bill Fraker manned the camera. Said Ron Riner, “Pat Houstis was excellent and he was in his prime at the time.” Carey Loftin has nothing but praise for Mr. Houstis and an amusing recollection. “Pat Houstis, a terrific driver, had just built the camera car, and he showed it to me. He did a real good job on it. It was a Corvette chassis, and he had stripped all the stuff off and built a good suspension, good engine and everything. But it looked like hell.”

His confidence in Mr. Houstis is evident as he relates another incident. ” We had one scene where Pat was following Steve on Guadalupe Canyon Highway, a beautiful road. We wanted some shots of the Mustang really burning the corners. We did it several times. The operator of the first camera said, ‘Steve’s not getting his foot into it, he’s a better driver than that.’ I went to Steve and said, ‘you know Pat Houstis is a terrific driver.’ Steve said ‘yeah, yeah he is.’ I said, ‘he knows responsibility too. You know what that man would do if I was driving the car in front of him and anything would happen? He’d run into a parked car or hit a tree just to miss me. Now think what he’d do for the star? Now get into that car and get your foot into it!’ We got the shot on the next take.”

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One particular scene that impressed Max Balchowsky was the gunman in the Dodge firing a shotgun blast at the pursuing Mustang that shatters the right front of the windshield. “The guy who did special effects devised the chain balls that bust the Mustang windshield. I thought it was terrific when the guy whips the shotgun out and the way the special effects fellow devised how those pebbles cracked the windshield and it made it so realistic like he really shot the windshield. It sure made Ford glass look good.”

The gentleman in the car, playing Bill Hickman’s partner in crime, was actor Paul Genge. According to Ron Riner, Mr. Genge, who played a very realistic tough guy, “seemed like he had hardly ever seen a gun before. They scared the hell out of him. In the scenes in the Charger with Hickman, he was scared to death. After two or three time we almost had to bodily put tranqiulizers in him, and put him in the car. Mr. Hickman was one of the coolest drivers I’ve ever met.” Max Balchowsky tells us, “there was a scene where the Charger passed a truck, and they only wanted to leave so much room on one side, and Hickman did it perfectly when he came by and took the bumper off the truck. That was a super shot. Throughout the chase sequences, some of them were accidents but, they looked fantastic- Hickman was terrific.”

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To achieve the stunning conclusion to the chase in which the Charger loses control, leaps an Armco fence and plows into a gasoline station, Loftin rigged up a tow and release set up hidden from the camera’s view between the Mustang and the Charger. Dressed to double McQueen, Loftin laterally towed the Charger at 90 mph with its two dummy passengers and at the right moment released the Charger into the nitro-loaded gas station. Unfortunately, the Charger missed the station, but the charges were set off and the explosion, thanks to some deft film editing, had the desired effect and was added to the movie.

There seemed to be a general atmosphere of professionalism and mutual admiration on the set. Loren Janes tells us, ” I loved to see a lot of the little things in Steve’s films. The best teeny things came up in it, the best stuff was Steve’s ideas. Like when they’re (Hickman and Genge) going up the hill and they’re after Steve and all of a sudden he disappears and they can’t see him and the guy (Hickman) looks up and Steve appears in his rear view mirror. In other words, he changed it, now he’s chasing them. Well that was a great turn of events. It was fantastic. It was WILD reckless driving, but it was planned and coordinated. There was class to the BULLITT chase, there was a reason for it, and that’s one of the key things people forget: the greatest stunt in the world is worthless if there isn’t a reason or story to it and BULLITT had a story point all the way through and a reason.

The enduring scenes of the forboding Charger and the powerful Mustang have etched themselves in film making history. The sequences were the brain child of Steve McQueen; He knew what he wanted and how he wanted it to appear on film. No one has duplicated the electricity or the savage ferocity that manifested itself in BULLITT chase scenes, and it’s doubtful any one ever will.

An mix of a 1969 & 1970 Dodge Charger can be seen in The Fast And The Furious, driven by Vin Diesel (Dominic Toretto)

The second car that Vin Diesel drives is a 1970 Chevrolet Chevelle SS

André Luis de Melo, Maringá-PR, foto obtida em edital de leilão… Depois, remetida ao blogue http://carrosantigos.wordpress.com/ , o qual indicamos – muito bacana!

            A name like Boyd Floyd in the books of most people, as the saying goes, would be a cruel choice.  Bobby, Timmy, Joey and so on, would have been better first names that would have fit nicely with the last name of Floyd. 

Boyd’s people left the Deep South in the late 1920’s.  Word got around that in the City of Detroit, in the state of Michigan, a man by the name of Henry Ford, needed help building automobiles and so they traversed their way up north and settled off what would become the Edsel Ford Freeway in Detroit or just plain old interstate 94.  Boyd inherited the modest brick home that belonged to his parents off of Van Dyke in Detroit near the Detroit City Airport, not far from the Plymouth plant belonging to Chrysler Motors.

 Boyd had everything going for him with Chrysler until they decided to close the Plymouth plant and along with it, the Plymouth brand.  Since graduating high school in 1988, Boyd had worked at the Plymouth plant.  His job eight hours a day was to put bench seats in the back of Plymouth Voyager minivans.  Each minivan got two bench seats each.  Twice back in the early days, Boyd got to meet and shake hands with Lee Iacocca.  Mr. Iacocca saved Chrysler from certain death in the late 1970’s and with the development of the K car and minivan, Chrysler was once again productive and viable.  Boyd made a good living and supported a family the way his dad did and his grandfather before him.  That was until they canned Plymouth.

Now Boyd’s wife left him around the time their two children grew up and went on with their own lives.  At the age of 39, on the cusp of 40, Boyd wondered what it was that he was going to do with the rest of his life.  He had no job, no wife, no kids and no future to speak of.  One day while things looked truly bleak for him and he was pumping gas into his light blue Plymouth Voyager minivan at the corner of Livernois and Michigan Avenues, two young black men put a gun to his head and riffled through his pockets.  Boyd had just sold some World War II mementos that belonged to his father who had fought in the Pacific.  Boyd received $250.00 for a Japanese issued revolver.  The two young thugs took that from him, hopped in his minivan and drove off.  It was that day and that moment that Boyd decided to start a life of crime.

It started with small stick ups near the casinos in and around Detroit.  There was the Greektown Casino, the MGM Casino and the Motor City Casino.  People would go into the Casinos and get all liquored up and leave at odd hours.  Boyd would usually try to find the rich cats that pulled up in foreign cars.  People who drove foreign cars really burned him up.  Boyd once went to Disneyland in California when his children were young and was amazed to find that most cars were foreign on the streets.  In fact the foreign car that he was issued at LAX was a Toyota.  When Boyd saw the car parked in the space, he went back in and demanded a domestic vehicle.  He wound up in a Chevy Suburban that cost him twice with the compact car would have cost him and so it goes.  Manufacturer plates on Mercedes was always a sure bet that he was hitting an executive at Chrysler who was probably some German born snob who hated living in Detroit but was sent by Daimler in Germany to make something of their American holding.  The robbing business was hit and miss but it kept food on the table for himself and his cat.

Like most people who opt to rob others for their means to an end, they eventually get caught and Boyd was no exception.  Boyd was charged with a string of armed robberies and was jailed in the state prison near Jackson, Michigan. 

After being in prison for a good long time and witnessing some of the worst things men were capable of doing to one another, Boyd came up with a plan to get himself free.  Every time it was necessary to appear in court on yet another charge for robbery, the deputies that transported him were always quite lax about the whole thing.  How it would work was that one would drive and one would sit next to Boyd.  Now what nobody could have possibly known about Boyd was that he was double jointed.  It was quite easy and possible for Boyd to flip his arms from behind him while cuffed to in front of himself in just over one second.  Boyd practiced this in his prison cell with his cell mate.  His cell mate would take a shoe laces and bind his arms together and watch in awe as Boyd contorted his shoulders and arms in ways that was not possible for most people.  Boyd’s cell mate had no idea why Boyd practiced doing the move over and over again until he watched the local Detroit news about an escaped convict who was on the loose somewhere near Ann Arbor.  The guys who recognized Boyd cheered wildly when they heard that one of their own had over taken not one but two deputies, disarmed them and left them handcuffed to each other around a tree off of a remote country road thirty miles west of Ann Arbor.  Boyd drove the state vehicle for a while until he carjacked a young couple who drove a Dodge Charger.  Boyd saw that the car had a souped up Hemi engine that would make the playing field even for him in the event of a police chase.  Boyd loved the car but hated Michael Bolton CD’s and so those he threw out of the window while driving along route 14 that had a large sign letting drivers know that they were on their way to Plymouth.  How ironic.

Boyd robbed people at gun point in an around Detroit for days and hid out in abandon houses and knew that it would be nearly impossible to find him due to the fact that there were so many abandon homes strewn all over Detroit.  The final plan was to hit the Comerica branch bank in the beautiful posh suburb of Royal Oak.  It was there that Boyd fell in love.

Everyone was face down on the floor of the bank, hoping that the man with the gun would not opt to use it.  A young man of Indian descent, stuffed big bills into a Detroit Tigers pillow case as Boyd unwrapped one of the lollypops in a dish left out for mostly crying children.  Lying on the floor in a skirt was a beautiful young woman with the face of an angel and blond hair.  Boyd ordered her to get up.  He held the gun to her head as he spoke to everyone in the bank.

“I’m walking out this door right now with this young lady…  I will have news radio on and if I hear on the radio that I robbed this bank and took this woman with me, I will blow her brains out…  If any of you squeal, she dies… Am I clear?”

The young woman went by the name of Amber and she lived Southfield with her husband who happened to be a police officer.  Amber had loved her husband dearly for the longest time but had grown to hate him in the last year or so of their seven year marriage.  It wasn’t clear if Amber or her husband was incapable of having children.  They both just quit trying to have children and pretty much quit the act of love making all together.  Amber slept in their big bed alone under a picture of herself on her wedding day in front of the old Tiger’s Stadium with the entire wedding party.  She looked so beautiful in her white gown and all the men and women looked so smart in their attire with the Bengal tiger symbol behind them.  Amber was absolutely terrified of the escaped convict but was absolutely attracted to the attractive man.  Nothing was being said as Boyd drove off in her car while pointing the revolver at her with his left hand which rested on his lap.

“Can I ask you not to point that at me?  I’m not going anywhere and I’m not going to fight you…  If you want to rape me you can but please don’t shoot me or beat me up,” said Amber in a soft sweet voice.

“I’m not gonna hurt you, Miss.  I just needed to get outta the bank…  I’m actually sorry to do this to you,” said Boyd softly.

As time went on, they spoke to each other as humans and as two people who were genuinely interested in each other.  Boyd learned about Amber’s hopeless home life and Boyd told her about he came to become a criminal.  Amber listened to Boyd’s plan to escape into Canada and disappear into some Canadian city and try to start over.

“I could go with you…  I could help you start over and you could help me,” said Amber to Boyd’s surprise.

“Why would you want to attach yourself to a convict on the run?”  Asked Boyd.

“Because I believe that god meant for us to meet,” said Amber.

Whether you believe that god has the time to take small meaningless creatures on one particular planet in the universe who happen to live on Earth, in the northern hemisphere, in a country called the United States in a state called Michigan on the north west side of Detroit, then you can understand where Amber was coming from.  Boyd was her gift from god. 

            Amber went and bought some horned rim glasses and blond hair dye for Boyd as he waited at the Marriott Hotel in Troy off of Big Beaver Road at exit 69 off of interstate 75.  You think I’m making those two things up but I’m not.  Exit 69 at Big Beaver Road is where Boyd was hiding out.  Boyd put his faith in a stranger who he was attracted to and felt that there was some sort of bond growing between them.  Boyd showered and shaved and when he finished, Amber came back with new clothes, hair dye and glasses.  In a matter of a half hour, Boyd was reinvented.  The clothes were stylish and Boyd actually had a European look to him with blond hair.

            “How do you think I look?”  Asked Boyd.

            Amber did not answer him but rather ripped at his clothes and hers until they were without a lick of clothes on either of them and were making passionate love to one another.  It had been so long for both of them that the love making almost appeared to be angry.  There was no anger though.  It would be like giving a steak dinner to a starving person.  They devoured each other over the course of hours.  Boyd woke up suddenly and the room was dark and he could not see a clock anywhere.  Lying on his chest drooling was Amber.  She was sleeping soundly after making love several times over the course of two or so hours.

            “I’ve got to go,” said Boyd as he sat up.

            “Just come back to bed…  We can get up early and head over to the tunnel or the Ambassador Bridge and be in Canada in minutes.  This time of night they are definitely on the look out for people crossing the border,” said Amber.

            Boyd thought about it as he looked out of the window that overlooked the interstate that was mostly quiet except for trucks and a few cars.

            “Yeah… Maybe you’re right,” said Boyd. 

            With that he climbed back into bed and held the warm fit body against his once again.  He kissed her neck and ear and she ran her fingers through his hair as she pressed herself against Boyd.  They made love for a fourth time and fell back asleep unaware that swat teams, local police, state police all were moving into place.  Rather than using cash, Amber used her credit card.  They found that within the span of an hour, she bought food at a Coney Island, clothes, glasses and hair dye as well as a room for the two of them at the Marriott in Troy at exit 69 and Big Beaver.  For a few short hours on one day in Detroit, two trapped people found heaven.  Where was it?  Exit 69 and Big Beaver Road.  It honestly exists.

Perusing through Toys R Us the other day I cam across some pretty cool Green Light police vehicles. I grabbed the 2 cool Dodge Magnums and the Green Machine version of the Ohio Sheriff’s Crown Vic.

They are insurance adjusters, general contractors, small business owners,  teachers, information technology professionals, college students, truck drivers, police officers, and, of course, marketing proessionals.    Members of the NJ Mopar Group come from all walks of life.   Brought together by a common interest,  their cars, the group’s membership stays together because of their relationships with each other.     As Mopar enthusiast and Dodge Charger owner myself, I joined the group exactly a year ago after relocating to the Northeast from Texas.    The 3 year old, 230 member New Jersey group is one of several sister clubs across the eastern seaboard of the United States, including the PA Mopar Group,  as well as groups in Washington DC, Southern Maryland, and soon in New York all united under the Muscle Mopars Clubs of America banner.   Collectively, the group sports a membership of more than 500 Mopar enthusiasts in the region.

The word “Mopar” originated in the 1930s  as an acronym for “MOtor PARts”, the parts producing arm of the Chrysler Corporation.     Enthusiasts who raced Chrysler products of any make over the years have come to refer to their vehicles “Mopar” products rather than by their individual names, Chrysler, Plymouth and Dodge.    Mopar owners boast that the acronym has multiple other meanings such as “My Own Pure Adrenaline Rush”.      

I knew very quickly that the NJ Mopar Group was not a typical car group after attending one of the groups weekly “Meet and Greets”.      The Mopar group recruits new membership by attending car shows and by hand distributing invitations to other Mopar owners,  but it is  through a series of  “Meet & Greets” that take place on different nights throughout the week that prospective members really get a feel for the breadth and depth of the relationships that exist within the family-like organization.    The group’s calendar, updated daily on their website,  includes something for everyone:   car shows, charity events,  group modification weekends, family dinners,  play dates for the children of the members, pool parties, and weekend overnight trips as a group.     The kindred atmosphere is hard to miss.   Whether cruising together to enjoy an ice cream cone or to attend a large regional car show,  the group arrives for every event as a unified  and impressive caravan of classic and late modeled Dodge Chargers,  Challengers , Magnums,  and Chrysler 300s representing a rainbow of colors that is as diverse as the membership itself.    With military-like precision, the each vehicle, one-at-a-time,  backs perfectly into its assigned space is a domino cascading manner that has become well-rehearsed over time.   The doors open and trunks open , canopies are erected, soft drink coolers are placed, and lawn chairs are arranged before each family returns to their own Mopar to prepare it for show.    It is not uncommon to see dad detailing the car, mom shining the interior, and the kids polishing the wheels.    We are all, indeed, a stalwart assemblage of friends.

Giving back to the community is a key focus of each of the regional groups that reside under the Muscle Mopars of America umbrella.    In August the regional groups will come together to host the 3rd Annual Muscle Mopar Bar-B-Q.   Planned for Saturday, August 22^nd at Spruce Run State Park in New Jersey, the event is open to all Mopar owners and their families from across the Northeast and will include a car show, homemade food, fellowship,  and children’s activities, with all proceeds from the event  benefiting  St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.         

This weekend, the PA Mopar Group assisted sponsor High Horse Performance (HHP) to conduct a Welcome Home Day at the VA Hospital in Wilmington, DE for Afghanistan and Iraq troops.   In its second year, the event was free to the public and, in addition to the car show,  included a  military band, police dogs, Air Force helicopter,  and several events for children  from face painting to games.    We were surrounded by service members from every branch of the military, and from every generation.     Many were escorted to the outside festivities only with their aid of their nurse and IV poles, and it was clear they were very glad to enjoy the short break from their personal recovery and circumstances to enjoy a day that was arranged just for them.    Top honors at the car show were designated as  “Memorial Awards” , each named after  an armed services member who lost his or her life in Afghanistan and Iraq.   The gesture  gave each award very significant meaning and caused all of us to pause and think about what is really important in our lives:    our freedom and our relationships with each other.    I have never been more proud to be associated with my Mopar family than I was at this event. 

These are challenging times for many people.  Our lives are busier than they have even been in an economy that is impacting many families in ways they have never experienced.   It’s easy to become so focused on survival – on getting through the day, on getting through the week – that you forget that there is a lot of strength that comes from being with others who share a common interest and joining together for common causes.    The families that comprise our collective Mopar groups, whether from New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York or elsewhere, are fortunate to have such a strong network of friends and counterparts, all united in our common passions that involve our cars and our communities, but also in our concern for each other.     

Membership in the any of the Mopar Groups represented under the Muscle Car Clubs of America umbrella is open to all Mopar owners and enthusiasts.  

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We awoke at the hotel in Topeka, KS to a wicked rain storm. Apparently God knew that we needed to be somewhere and decided it was time to water the earth. The Charger’s “don’t see me” cover was completely drenched and it took Johnny and I a good 30 minutes to wring that sucker out and pack it in the trunk. After that we fueled up and hit I-70 west.

For those of you that have never done a drive across the country I’d like to take this opportunity to tell you a little bit about the state of Kansas. First off, it has some of the friendliest people I have ever had the pleasure of meeting and second, if you like corn, then this is the place for you. I have never in my entire existence as a human man seen as much of the yellow stuff in one place. It’s actually quite amazing. If asked to do it again though, I would have to opt for another route since it was also one of the most boring runs I have ever experienced.

Boulder, CO was our final stop of the day. We rolled in about 5pm, went for a nice steak dinner and then promptly passed out after our 540 mile drive. Boulder in and of itself is a beautiful little town—but very heavy in the hippie contingent, which is not my cup of tea. In fact Johnny and I were constantly trying to stir them up by free revving the 440 for shits and giggles… ah… to be old and immature. We then prowled the streets for awhile and interviewed the locals on what makes them “angry.”

This is where it began to get fun, due to the fact that hippies were hilarious all by themselves and needed no prodding from two Italian guys from NYC. Anger-wise, the environment, the cost of education and the apparent lack of cannabis seemed to be the big contenders of the day. Since my and Johnny’s hippie tolerance was running low, we decided to keep the interviews short and crash early to be ready for our long drive to Bryce Canyon, UT. Stay tuned for that one, because the pics will be unbelievable.