Original ad for the Kruse Auction
UPDATE : As of September 2002 this car has a new owner, George Frederick. George also owns a replica Yellow Interceptor.
I hadn't heard anything about this car at all before hearing about the auction listing above early in 2001. Fortunately, Paul Sher Jr of Code One Autos, a builder of a lot of custom cars himself, sent along following information and pictures on the car:
We brought quite a few movie cars to the 2001 Kruse/eBay Classic Car Auction at Auburn, Indiana, but we were not the only ones by far...
There were Indy cars from "Driven", the Mach 5 and Shooting Star from "Speedracer" and even the Caped Crusader's 1989 street machine was there to draw a capacity crowd. Over near the entrance to the main auction building was Mel Gibson's crime-fighting weapon of choice... the last V8 Interceptor.
The auction tag billed it as a replica, created by the same Australian builders who had created the original cars for the film. Regardless of it's ancestry, this car was pretty impressive. Created on a Ford Falcon XB (would you use anything else?) this car was modeled somewhere along the lines of the vehicle from the "Road Warrior", with it's giant, trunk mounted fuel tanks and "Dog Seat", but displayed all the damage free cleanliness of the vehicle delivered to Max in the lower levels of the MFP motorpool. All that was missing were the MFP side decals (Not for long...anyone got a spare set?) and a little more interior fabric would have been nice. But none the less, a pretty nice car.
Personally, I appraised the car at an easy 15 thousand dollars U.S.. My numbers were a bit off that auction day, must have been the U.S. economy having an off-day. Batman's ride went for 210,000 instead of my predicted 300,000, a Dodge Viper I guessed at 42,000 sold for a mere 31, and the
Interceptor changed owners for the remarkably good price of $8,000.00 U.S. I was wishing I was bidding on the auction instead of wrangling cars that day. Much to my surprise, a friend of mine walked up to me later and said,
"Guess what?... I bought it."
I said, "Bought what?"
"The Falcon" he replied.
It would seem that this car didn't get too far from me after all. I was quite pleased. It was time for a closer inspection. My friend had purchased a couple of great cars that day, including a Humvee... the Interceptor was my favorite by far.
This time, instead of behind the ropes, my evaluation came from behind the wheel of this magnificent machine. As I mentioned, the interior leaves a bit to be desired with the exception of the padded right-hand drive dash and driver's seat, the interior of this car is pure metal, most evident when you
start the enormous V8 engine and hear the side pipes howl just outside your tiny rear quarter windows. But then again, isn't that the "point" of this car, it's supposed to be an "all business", "Road Warrior" machine with little use for "cup holders" or a sound system. All those thoughts disappear as you shift the automatic transmission into gear and try to hold the car still by pressing harder on the brake pedal as the car strains at the leash. With almost no encouragement from the gas pedal, I was easily violating the auction's required speed limit in my first lap around the holding area. Seconds after rolling off, my left hand found the familiar button attached to the gear lever and I pulled.
The large red light atop the steering column indicated that the blower was now activated, but I really didn't need it as I saw the 3 inch belt start to turn outside my windscreen, I thought of the concept of an "on-demand blower" and a fit of demonic laughter came over me...
"I was now piloting the most badass postal vehicle on the planet." This is a fun car to drive!
I shut off the blower, returned the car to it's parking space in the holding area and shut it down for an exterior inspection. I attempted to open the hood but the electric blower motor seems to be holding the hood in place. The housing for the mock intake and blower appear to be attached directly to the fibreglass hood and seemed to "bounce" when downward pressure was applied to it. The opening for the blower was smaller than the metal components themselves so either the entire assembly opens with the hood, (which did not move at all when the latch was released) or must be unbolted prior to opening the engine compartment. So I don't have anything to report about the top of the motor.
From underneath, the engine appears to be a rather large Ford V8 which has been pretty well maintained. The radiator was quite large and the suspension quite strong. Nothing particularly custom about the suspension (I'm not that well studied in the area of Australian Falcons... not much access to them in the states) could be all stock for that matter, just no evidence of high-performance links or sway bars or chassis stiffening components. But very heavy-duty in appearance.
The nose is all fibreglass and has been bonded directly to two stock metal Falcon fenders. The air dam itself is made quite thick and would probably survive a collision and damage the front fenders instead. The headlights were functional, but subdued behind smoked plexiglass covers. (I drove the car again later that evening and the lights were all but useless) I did notice that this particular custom front end was devoid of the front marker lights common to other Interceptors and replicas. Some of our friends "Down Under" might be able to shed some light as to the origins of this particular custom front end, but for now I have no idea as to the source of the part.
The rear spoiler and boot decklid were missing, as was the rear glass (Not exactly a cold-weather vehicle here) and the rear section of the boot were cut away to make room for the massive false twin gas tanks. The open sections of the trunk were remarkably well finished off (pictured) and the tanks themselves were securely mounted. The upper spoiler remained and the taillights were functional.
The wheels and tires were of the correct size and type and the vehicles finish was just imperfect enough to give it that "Warrior" feeling. The side windows were functional and both doors funtioned properly including the swing out dog seat which was attached to the passenger door. Not securely fashioned enough for any but the smallest traveling companions and nowhere else in the vehicle was there a seat for a passenger. This is strictly a single occupant vehicle. (Then again, we come back to the whole "cup holder" theory.)
I did manage to use the vehicle, every chance I got for the next 24 hours. Logged a lot less time in the auction golf cart after the Falcon arrived. So much so, that the Interceptor was out of gas by the time we loaded it on to the trailer for the long ride home. I would like to comment that there was almost no place to attach the cargo straps to the rear of the vehicle. How do our Australian friends tow their Falcons anyway? (Do they run so well they never need service?... Interesting.)
All in all, a remarkable experience and a truely fantastic machine.
I'm hoping to acquire this car sometime in the future from my friend who is also a collector of rare and exotic animals and is probably driving this car right now with a pet Dingo in the dog seat.
This car was subsequently re-sold to Ross Healey, [email protected], with the intention of converting it back to a Mad Max style car.
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