Comments on "Miniscule Motor Musing" - Faerye Net

Re: Non-descript cars

2003-10-27T15:43:56+00:00

Great minds think alike, I suppose—or find non-productive threads of thought with which to amuse themselves alike…whichever you please, both are correct.

Re: Non-descript cars

2003-10-27T15:04:15+00:00

For what it’s worth, I asked this question a few places 2 years ago. The most common (and I believe supported, but I can’t prove it) reply was that the studios have lists from a private company that tracks ownerships of various rare, expensive, and in some cases commonplace cars. They then set up deals to borrow or rent from whatever museum, collector, or private party as needed, sometimes rewriting parts and creating mock-ups for any accident or destruction scenes.

Re: Non-descript cars

2003-10-23T13:16:38+00:00

The website I linked to in my previous comment also rents some vintage cars (although none of them were as vintage as Xander’s Chevy). A lot of studios also own old cars, since they make a lot of period films. Sometimes, if they need an especially rare car, they’ll rent one directly from a collector and pay gobs of insurance on it in case it gets damaged. In the most extreme cases, they’ll just use a modern car and do some custom body work to make it look vintage from a distance. Same thing goes for airplanes, although these days most studios would sooner pay for a CG plane than go to the trouble of digging up a real one.

Re: Non-descript cars

2003-10-23T11:12:02+00:00

Yuh, that was kind of why I added the Xander angle. That was one helluva vintage car.

Maybe for some of the companies that also make movies, they may have ‘em around. As I pondered, I wondered if you can note license plates and see the same ferrari on a different show ;p

Re: Yep

2003-10-23T11:09:37+00:00

That was one of the policies for our big white van we had for a high school field trip to the beach. No Canada, no Mexico, no PASSENGERS ON THE TOP OF THE VAN, no opening such and such a window. We had a lot of fun with it.

You know, I don’t know if it’s still true, but in the 70s, if you bought a car outside the Navajo reservation (probably others, but it’s the biggest) and drove it into the reservation, you could get away with never paying any payments as long as you didn’t drive it off. And the dealers couldn’t discriminate based on race of course, so it really sucked for them. I don’t know if they’ve got a better law/enforcement sitch now.

Non-descript cars

2003-10-23T10:36:58+00:00

What about old cars? Sometimes, it’s not appropriate to have a new, shiny car in the scene, but you still only need to for a few days of shooting. Where do they get the necessary decade-old pickup truck? Do they just have to buy the thing used and sell it later?

Re: Yep

2003-10-23T10:24:04+00:00

This made me giggle. On the rental policies page of the Beverly Hills Rent A Car website, under the heading Driving Area Restrictions>

“Vehicles are not allowed across the Mexican border!”

Yep

2003-10-23T10:19:18+00:00

Actually, you’re right. There are car rental companies in Hollywood (and elsewhere, but Hollywood and Las Vegas probably have more than most places) that’ll let you rent really expensive cars. You’re going to pay through the nose for the rental, which keeps the joy-riding kiddies away, but it’s not so much that your average businessman, honeymooner, or movie studio can’t afford it.

Here’s a place in Beverly Hills with a really nice selection. Only $2,800 a day for a Lamborghini Diablo VT roadster!