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john
 Post subject: The story of my car in a movie...
PostPosted: Mon Jun 16, 2008 10:12 pm 
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Location: Fort Worth, TX, USA
Long winded, but hopefully worth it...

About two months ago I was put in contact with a movie producer. She was told I might be able to find what she was looking for. When she called, here's how it went:

Me - "What did you need help finding?"
"I need a 4dr 1971 Datsun 510, preferably light blue".
"I think I can find that..." :D

So after looking around for a volunteer, no one wanted to step up. I told her we could use mine (she didn't know what I drove), but we'd have to paint it. She was hip to that, so off we went. I prepped the car as best I could for the shoot...

Before:
http://datsun510.com/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=14395&size=big

After paint:
http://datsun510.com/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=14385&size=big

On the set:
http://datsun510.com/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=14725&size=big

So I got to downtown Houston last Friday night and got all the stuff put on the car they wanted, different mirrors, license plates, seat covers, etc.

When I got to the first location they all jumped on it and cleaned it until it was nearly spotless. Cool, or so I thought...
http://datsun510.com/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=14766&size=big

Then I noticed he's spraying dirty water over it after it was cleaned...
http://datsun510.com/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=14773&size=big

Then he started spraying fake dust/dirt on it to make it look like it hadn't been washed in awhile. Kinda like when it arrived, huh? :P
http://datsun510.com/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=14773&size=big

Then they added some fake clutter to my dash:
http://datsun510.com/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=14779&size=big

The Assistant Director drove while the Director was in the back seat and the Director of Photography was in the passenger seat shooting. Bet they wished I had put A/C in it before the shoot...
http://datsun510.com/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=14785&size=big
http://datsun510.com/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=14787&size=big

They drove it around for a few hours doing "point of view" footage, as in what the star would see while riding in the passenger seat while driving around downtown Houston. After that was over we moved the whole operation to the second location.

At the second location I met the actress in the film who "owns" my car. While showing her a few things in the car so she could drive it she mentions "I have no idea how to drive a stick, never done it before". So, I spend the next 20 minutes teaching her how to drive a manual transmission car. Once she has the hang of it I turn her loose, scared but well insured. If you met her, you'd know why I didn't mind teaching her... :wink:
http://datsun510.com/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=14795&size=big

They do some shooting of her and the "boyfriend" driving down the street, which after 7 takes they finally get. We wrap that location and move on. Then we move to a local Chinese restaurant where they are doing the final shot. Luckily, for this shot my car is just parked in front of the restaurant along with a few other "background" cars, while one drives by.
http://datsun510.com/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=14836&size=big
http://datsun510.com/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=14835&size=big

After that we are done. It was definitely a fun experience I think everyone should try once, but I won't be rushing to do it any time soon. All told it was about two full days, with about 5 hours of actual work and 15-20 hours of standing around waiting.

So we loaded up and head home, and 40 miles outside Houston we have a blow-out...
http://datsun510.com/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=14837&size=big

Some new tires on the trailer and we were good to go. I saw it blow in the rear view mirror of the truck and a huge chunk shot straight up in the air and made a perfect arc over my car missing it by about 3 inches. :shock:

Now she's safe at home and it's back to the regular job...
http://datsun510.com/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=14838&size=big

If you want to see all 120+ photos I took, you can go through them here:
http://datsun510.com/photopost/showgallery.php?cat=3520

Some neat stuff there if you want to see the "behind the scenes" of the film being made.

Here's a link to the IMDB page for the movie:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1071812/

I'll probably post up again when they announce a release date.
:mrgreen:
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ben
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PostPosted: Tue Jun 17, 2008 12:30 am 
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Wow, that is motherf'in awesome!!! :shock:

Congrats on getting your car into a movie and getting a paint job out of it :D. With that and the Snoop Dogg album cover, looks like the 510 is becoming quite the nostalgia-mobile.

Is there any particular reason they were looking for a light blue 510? That's pretty specific!

I'm gonna put this up on the blog and thanks for sharing the pics with us. :tu:

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dan
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PostPosted: Tue Jun 17, 2008 2:19 am 
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VERY cool story! I love the write-up w/ all the accompanying pics.

Thanks for sharing =D

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PostPosted: Tue Jun 17, 2008 4:39 am 
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SX-510
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PostPosted: Tue Jun 17, 2008 6:34 am 
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Nice work there DFreak! Great pics too!

Hands up who else is now in luurrrve with the 'stickshift virgin' chicky babe :tu:

The light blue LHD 510 used for the Australian leg of the filming will be at my place tomorrow night! I'm looking forward to going for drive and freaking out the locals in our RHD country 8)

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SR20DET 1971 Datsun Bluebird 1800SSS Coupe - 11.58 @ 122.40 MPH
Historic 1971 Datsun 1600 Wagon - L series nostalgia
Historic 1970 Datsun 1600 Sedan - Budget track racer project
Historic 1967 Datsun 1000 Wagon - A series resto
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ant-dat
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Tue Jun 17, 2008 7:00 am 

Joined: Tue Dec 04, 2007 1:38 am
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Location: Scotland
cool,
It is a good experiance, My car ws used in a TV episode a couple years back

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colink
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PostPosted: Tue Jun 17, 2008 11:41 am 

Joined: Mon Aug 13, 2007 6:42 am
Posts: 470
Location: Leeds in the UK
Well done you :tu: :tu:
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ben
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Tue Jun 17, 2008 2:02 pm 
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SX-510 wrote:
Nice work there DFreak! Great pics too!

Hands up who else is now in luurrrve with the 'stickshift virgin' chicky babe :tu:

The light blue LHD 510 used for the Australian leg of the filming will be at my place tomorrow night! I'm looking forward to going for drive and freaking out the locals in our RHD country 8)


Cool, post some photos if you can!

I've said it before, I'll say it again.
http://japanesenostalgiccar.com/blog/20 ... -z-driver/

"any nostalgic car, especially one in manual shift, has the power to make the woman driving it instantly ten times as hot." They should really take our advice and stop buying SUVs.

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Tyler wrote:
How I long for a shit brown wagon.
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john
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Tue Jun 17, 2008 6:20 pm 
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ben wrote:
Is there any particular reason they were looking for a light blue 510? That's pretty specific!


In case you didn't know, this was based on a true story. I was told that's what the girl drove back then, so it was their first choice but I'm sure they had a back-up plan in place.

Also, they had to find a group of LHD cars in Oz (since they filmed part of it there, part of it here) and this is one of the cars they found. FYI, the Oz stuff is supposed to be taking place in Houston.

The two main characters are a male Chinese ballet dancer and his American girlfriend. The two "hero" cars of the movie were mine (driven by the girl) and a green Rabbit convertible (driven by the guy). All the other cars in the photos were used for background cars (since it's set in 1981).
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djlotus
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PostPosted: Tue Jun 17, 2008 6:36 pm 

Joined: Sun Dec 02, 2007 8:22 pm
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Location: Severn, MD
Thats freakin awesome! I know I'm definitely going to see this movie just because this car is in it. :mrgreen:

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john
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PostPosted: Tue Jun 17, 2008 7:00 pm 
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djlotus wrote:
definitely going to see this movie just because this car is in it...


I told the director this and he didn't believe me. :P :P :P
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ben
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Tue Jun 17, 2008 7:25 pm 
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Even if it's a true story they could have used a different car and I doubt anyone would notice/care. That's attention to detail, so good on the producers!

djlotus wrote:
Thats freakin awesome! I know I'm definitely going to see this movie just because this car is in it. :mrgreen:


Same here. We gotta get all the JNCers to go! :)

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Tyler wrote:
How I long for a shit brown wagon.
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DeRuX
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PostPosted: Tue Jun 17, 2008 7:55 pm 

Joined: Wed Sep 26, 2007 9:04 am
Posts: 437
Location: Newark, CA
your car is the same color as my 2 door. I cant wait till I get the front painted.

Also I have used the skyline as my daily driver for the past month. It is awsome on gas.
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john
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PostPosted: Tue Jun 17, 2008 8:13 pm 
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DeRuX wrote:
your car is the same color as my 2 door. I cant wait till I get the front painted.


Did you see the "before" photo? My whole front end was all different colors. :P
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DeRuX
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PostPosted: Tue Jun 17, 2008 8:17 pm 

Joined: Wed Sep 26, 2007 9:04 am
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Location: Newark, CA
ya your car look like one of those funny vw golf's JK I was crazy how they made the car look "dirty" right after you cleaned it.
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john
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PostPosted: Tue Jun 17, 2008 8:20 pm 
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DeRuX wrote:
ya your car look like one of those funny vw golf's...


I would love to have a Harlequin Golf... :P
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zulu
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PostPosted: Wed Jun 18, 2008 11:08 am 

Joined: Thu May 29, 2008 5:39 pm
Posts: 442
Location: Hayward,Ca
very cool to hear the good news. i like the idea of getting a new paint job :tu: dont really like the color but thats y i got my car painted another color lol. and somehow when a girl drives a oldskool car it just makes it lik 500x hotter lol

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TSiSS350
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PostPosted: Wed Jun 18, 2008 1:42 pm 
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DeRuX wrote:
I was crazy how they made the car look "dirty" right after you cleaned it.


Ya, but they paid to paint it!!! They are aloud to get it a little dirty!

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NSR_s30
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PostPosted: Wed Jun 18, 2008 6:23 pm 
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Definitely cool man. Congrats.

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SX-510
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PostPosted: Thu Jun 19, 2008 5:06 am 
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DeRuX wrote:
ya your car look like one of those funny vw golf's JK

More like the Partridge Family bus :lol: (for those of us old enough to remember... :oops: )

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SR20DET 1971 Datsun Bluebird 1800SSS Coupe - 11.58 @ 122.40 MPH
Historic 1971 Datsun 1600 Wagon - L series nostalgia
Historic 1970 Datsun 1600 Sedan - Budget track racer project
Historic 1967 Datsun 1000 Wagon - A series resto
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