Pursuit Special
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The Pursuit Special, also referred to as the Last of the V8 Interceptors, the Last of the V8s, V8 Interceptor or just Interceptor is a modified
Ford Falcon The Ford Falcon is an automobile nameplate by Ford Motor Company, Ford that applied to several vehicles worldwide. * Ford Falcon (North America), an automobile produced by Ford from 1960 to 1970. * Ford Falcon (Argentina), a car built by Ford ...
muscle car A muscle car is an American-made two-door sports coupe with a powerful engine, marketed for its performance. In 1949, General Motors introduced its 88 with the company's OHV Rocket V8 engine, which was previously available only in its lux ...
prominently featured in the ''
Mad Max ''Mad Max'' is an Australian media franchise created by George Miller and Byron Kennedy. It centres on a series of post-apocalyptic and dystopian action films. The franchise began in 1979 with '' Mad Max'', and was followed by three sequels: ...
'' franchise and driven by the titular character, where it appears in ''
Mad Max ''Mad Max'' is an Australian media franchise created by George Miller and Byron Kennedy. It centres on a series of post-apocalyptic and dystopian action films. The franchise began in 1979 with '' Mad Max'', and was followed by three sequels: ...
'', '' Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior'', '' Mad Max: Fury Road'', and '' Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga'', the canon comic book prequel, as well as both
video games A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...
.


Mad Max

The first car shown in the film with the title of Pursuit Special is a 1972 HQ Holden Monaro V8 coupe stolen by Nightrider (played by Vince Gil), an escaped cop killer, who dies in an accident that destroys the vehicle. The more famous Pursuit Special is a heavily modified Ford Falcon XB GT, built on a vehicle originally assembled stock at the Ford plant in November 1973. Maxwell "Mad Max" Rockatansky (
Mel Gibson Mel Columcille Gerard Gibson (born January 3, 1956) is an American actor and filmmaker. The recipient of List of awards and nominations received by Mel Gibson, multiple accolades, he is known for directing historical films as well for his act ...
) is offered the new Pursuit Special, as an incentive to stay on the force as their top pursuit man after he reveals his desire to resign. Although Max turns the offer down, he later uses the new vehicle to exact his revenge on an outlaw motorcycle gang who killed his wife and son.


Origins

The vehicle started out as a standard white Australian built 1973 Ford Falcon XB GT Hardtop when in 1976, filmmakers
Byron Kennedy Byron Eric Kennedy (18 August 1949 – 17 July 1983) was an Australian film producer known for co-creating the ''Mad Max'' series of films with George Miller. Early life Byron Kennedy was born in Melbourne. At the age of 18, he formed his own ...
and George Miller began preproduction on ''Mad Max''. The film's art director Jon Dowding designed the Interceptor and commissioned
Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...
-based car customizers Graf-X International to modify the GT Falcon. Peter Arcadipane, Ray Beckerley, John Evans, and painter Rod Smythe transformed the car as specified for the film.


Modifications

The main modifications are the black paint scheme, roof and
boot A boot is a type of footwear. Most boots mainly cover the foot and the ankle, while some also cover some part of the lower calf. Some boots extend up the leg, sometimes as far as the knee or even the hip. Most boots have a heel that is clearl ...
spoilers, wheel arch flares, and front nose cone and air-dam designed by Arcadipane (marketed as the "Concorde" style). Also, eight individual exhaust side pipes were added (only two of them being functional, others appeared to be working because of the vibrations the first two created). The most famous feature of the car is a Weiand 6-71 supercharger protruding through the
bonnet A bonnet is a variety of headgear, hat or cap. Specific types of headgear referred to as "bonnets" may include Native American *War bonnet, feathered headgear worn as an earned military decoration by high-ranking Plains Indians United King ...
. The impressive looking supercharger, in reality, was nonfunctional; functional superchargers are typically driven constantly by the engine and cannot be switched on and off, as portrayed in the first two ''Mad Max'' films.


Promotional use

At the completion of filming, the producers could not pay all the creditors, so the black Interceptor was given to mechanic Murray Smith. The blower and side pipes were removed to make it suitable for use as a road vehicle. Murray then toured it around locally to try and sell it. Warner Bros. contacted Murray to acquire the car as they were now making Mad Max 2. He gave them a price and also said to bring a battery and off it went.


Mad Max 2 (The Road Warrior)

In the meantime, the low-budget Australian film had gained worldwide success, prompting a sequel, ''
Mad Max 2 ''Mad Max 2'' (released as ''The Road Warrior'' in the United States) is a 1981 Australian Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction, post-apocalyptic Utopian and dystopian fiction, dystopian action film directed by George Miller (filmmaker), G ...
''. For the film, the Pursuit Special was reacquired by Kennedy and Miller.


New modifications

The rear wheels and side pipes were changed. For the second film, the original Weiand blower, which was removed and subsequently lost, was replaced. Unlike in the first film, this time the supercharger was functional (connected directly to the engine's crankshaft pulley) and the effect of the blower being engaged or disengaged was created by placing the vehicle on a
low loader A lowboy (low-loader in British English, low-bed in western Canada and South Africa or float in Australia and eastern Canada) is a semi-trailer with two drops in deck height: one right after the gooseneck and one right before the wheels. This al ...
, and while in motion, the interceptor's engine was simply started or stopped. The car was cosmetically modified for the new
post-apocalyptic Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction are genres of speculative fiction in which the Earth's (or another planet's) civilization is collapsing or has collapsed. The apocalypse event may be climatic, such as runaway climate change; astronom ...
setting with the addition of a pair of large cylindrical fuel tanks fitted in the rear (requiring the back window and
boot A boot is a type of footwear. Most boots mainly cover the foot and the ankle, while some also cover some part of the lower calf. Some boots extend up the leg, sometimes as far as the knee or even the hip. Most boots have a heel that is clearl ...
lid to be removed) and its general appearance was given a more used look by painting the vehicle in matte rather than gloss black, and the paint was scrubbed off to appear rusty. The front end was also modified by removing the air dam. A duplicate car was also put together for the film. When the script required it to be destroyed by rolling down an embankment and eventually exploding, the duplicate interceptor was used, leaving the original vehicle intact.


Disposal and restoration

When production was completed, the intact Pursuit Special was sold to a
wrecking yard A wrecking yard (Australian, New Zealand, and Canadian English), scrapyard ( Irish, British and New Zealand English) or junkyard (American English) is the location of a business in dismantling where wrecked or decommissioned vehicles are brou ...
in
Broken Hill Broken Hill is a city in the Far West (New South Wales), far west region of outback New South Wales, Australia. An inland mining city, it is near the border with South Australia on the crossing of the Barrier Highway (A32) and the Silver City Hi ...
, along with other wrecks from the film. The GT Falcon was then onsold to another wrecker Hilliers Auto Salvage in
South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...
and in the mid-1980s, the car was rescued by Bob Fursenko, who restored the interceptor by having a new nose cone and air dam fitted, but retaining the fuel tanks from ''Mad Max 2''. Fursenko confirmed the vehicle's authenticity with Kennedy Miller. It was subsequently shown widely in Australia before being sold by Fursenko and shipped to the
Cars of the Stars Motor Museum The Cars of the Stars Motor Museum was in the England, English town of Keswick, Cumbria, Keswick, Cumbria, and owned a collection of celebrity television and film vehicles. The museum opened in and closed in . The sister site The Bond Museum ...
in
England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
, where it stayed until its closure in 2011. It was then relocated to the Dezer Car Museum in
Miami Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...
,
Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...
.


Mad Max: Fury Road

While the Pursuit Special was absent in ''
Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome ''Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome'' (also known as ''Mad Max 3'') is a 1985 Australian post-apocalyptic dystopian action film directed by George Miller and George Ogilvie and written by Terry Hayes and Miller. It is the third installment in the ''M ...
'', the vehicle returned for the fourth film in the franchise, '' Mad Max: Fury Road''. Miller stated that "all the vehicles are kind of hybrid, cobbled together, from the wrecks of the past". The vehicle only features briefly in the film; it is captured along with Max in the opening sequence, and is shown being repaired by a group of
Immortan Joe Immortan Joe, birth name Joe Moore, is a fictional character in the Australian post-apocalyptic action film series ''Mad Max,'' first appearing as the main antagonist of the 2015 film '' Mad Max: Fury Road,'' and also serving as a major character ...
's followers. It returns in the final battle, driven by one of the War Boys, only to be crushed between the War Rig and the fuel transporter, the People Eater. When asked in an interview with ''
The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...
'' whether ''Fury Road'' is a
reboot In computing, rebooting is the process by which a running computer system is restarted, either intentionally or unintentionally. Reboots can be either a cold reboot (alternatively known as a hard reboot) in which the power to the system is physi ...
or
sequel A sequel is a work of literature, film, theatre, television, music, or video game that continues the story of, or expands upon, some earlier work. In the common context of a narrative work of fiction, a sequel portrays events set in the same ...
, George Miller implied that it may not be, saying that "the films are loosely connected". However, the comic book prequel to the film, for which Miller received a story credit, places it after ''Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome''. The comic also shows how he got the motor for the salvage car and ends with Max driving it for the first time.


Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga

The Pursuit Special appears briefly in the prequel film '' Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga'', as Max Rockatansky watches Furiosa return to the Citadel.


Story

On screen, Pursuit Specials are unique, undercover police cruisers which also serve as interceptors. At the opening of the first film in the series, the only Pursuit Special is a 1972 HQ model Holden Monaro, which is rusty and used. It is stolen by the Night Rider, a member of a motorcycle gang called the Zed Runners (also known as the Acolytes), while escaping police custody, and is later wrecked. Pursuit Special, when the term is used, generally refers to Max's more famous V8 Interceptor Pursuit Special, a 1973 - 1976 Ford XB Falcon GT 351
CID Cid may refer to: * Cid (soil) * Cubic inch (c.i.d., cid), a displacement unit for internal combustion engines * Cid, a slang term for lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) * Content-ID, a URI scheme (cid:) that allows the use of MIME within email Peop ...
( 5.8L) 2 door coupe, commissioned at great expense by Police Commissioner Labatouche and the Main Force Patrol's (MFP) commander, Fifi Macaffee. Assembled by the MFP's mechanic, Barry, it features port exhaust pipes and a Weiand "blower" supercharger (nonfunctional film props). When Max's family is murdered by the gang, he steals the Pursuit Special from the MFP garage and goes on a vengeful rampage. In ''Mad Max 2'', set roughly five years after the events of the previous film, the Pursuit Special has suffered from the effects of the desert: it loses the front end early in the first chase sequence of the film (as Max forcefully rear-ends a raider vehicle), the car is rusty, and the tires appear to be in a poor state. The car itself has been modified, presumably by Max: the rear window and the boot lid have been removed to make room for two huge fuel tanks. (With a capacity of over of
petrol Gasoline (North American English) or petrol ( Commonwealth English) is a petrochemical product characterized as a transparent, yellowish, and flammable liquid normally used as a fuel for spark-ignited internal combustion engines. When formul ...
, these would have significantly improved the vehicle's range.) The car only appears at the beginning of the film, where Max escapes a group of raiders, then rescues a mortally wounded member of an oil rig settlement; and then again later, when it is destroyed during Max's failed attempt to escape the settlement. The Pursuit Special returns in ''Mad Max: Fury Road''. The film never explains its reappearance; however, the ''Fury Road'' comic series, set just before the film, includes a story arc where Max gathers parts to rebuild the vehicle before the events of ''Fury Road''. The car is shown very briefly in the film, having been driven by Max before it is destroyed by Immortan Joe's men. It is then repaired by Joe's War Boys, taken back to bare metal, giving it a silver appearance. It is then redubbed the "Razor Cola" and used as one of their vehicles. It is destroyed by being crushed between two larger trucks.


''Mad Max'' (2015 video game)

In the 2015 video game, Immortan Joe's son, Scabrous Scrotus, is a warlord of Gastown (the settlement referred to in ''Fury Road''). His men steal the Pursuit Special (referred to as the "Black-on-Black" in the game by Chumbucket) from Max at the start of the game and dismantle it. Max spends time with Chumbucket, an expert mechanic, building a replacement throughout the game known as "the Magnum Opus", so he may cross the Plains of Silence, a barren stretch of salt flats that Max believes will relieve him of his nightmarish memories. In the final battle of the game, the Opus, now on par with the Interceptor, is destroyed along with both Scrotus' Land Mover, and the designer/caretaker of the Opus, Chumbucket. Max thinks he is now without a car, only to have Scrotus emerge with Max's Interceptor. After dispatching the warlord, Max reclaims his car, returns the picture of his family to the dashboard, and drives off into the wasteland.


See also

*
List of fictional cars This list of fictional cars contains either cars that are the subject of a notable work of fiction, or else cars that are important elements of a work of fiction. For the purpose of this list, a car is a self-propelled artificial vehicle that runs ...


References


External links


Mad Max Movies
– The most comprehensive Mad Max site online. Includes extensive information on the vehicles used in all three films.
Mad Max Replica Stats
– Displays a comprehensive list of all known Mad Max Replicas in the world, albeit it quite outdated.
MadMaxCar.com
– An extensive look into a Mad Max Pursuit Special replica project that spanned nearly 5 years.
Mad Max Online
– Home to the original Mad Max film, maintained by members of the cast and crew.
Dezer museum
- Home of the original Pursuit Special

- Hardtop Hub - Mad Max replica car builder and parts supplier {{Mad Max Fictional cars Mad Max Cars of Australia Coupés Muscle cars Fictional elements introduced in 1979 Cars designed and produced for films