June 25th (Wednesday) 2014 – “El Cajon Classic Cruise” STARZ CARZ NIGHT!

If you are in the San Diego area and want to see some movie and TV star cars, then tomorrow is your chance at the “Cajon Classic Cruise” STARZ CARZ NIGHT!

http://downtownelcajon.com/Events/CajonClassicCruise.aspx

Downtown El Cajon
FREE – Trophies! Food! Fun! Nearly 200 cars! This has become an annual event organized by Charger Steve, who runs the Star Car Central.com chapter since 2005. Hope some of you “LA FOLK” will make the trip! Everybody that comes enjoys it!! Scheduled to appear are:
Steve – in his Scooby Doo Mystery Machine!
Diane – in her Roscoe police car from the Dukes of Hazzard!
Mark – will bring his Gran Torino from Starsky and Hutch!
Victor – with his version of the Black Beauty, from the Green Hornet!
Tyler – WAS going to bring his Bandit, but it was TOTALED while he was in it just this last week!
Tyler is on the road to recovery, but the Bandit is no more. Look for Tyler in the future with a new replacement Trans Am!
Obishawn – will be bringing not one but 2 Star Wars cars to the event!
Ari – is bringing his ever popular Jurassic Park Jeep!
Lee – Will be rolling in his pristine General Lee Charger!
Jennifer – is also attending in her Super Persuit Mode KITT!
Special Guest star? Rumour has it that NATE TRUMAN may actually appear south of Los Angeles in his Shaguar, but Adam West is doing an Autograph signing in Temecula at the same time… stay tuned, the best is yet to come!

StarCarCentral.com all over the place!

Greetings, starcar fan!

As my time to write up articles about famous movie and TV cars has been trunkated by new projects,  here at least is what’s been going on around  SCC the past month or so!

Fireball Tim -movie and TV car designer and pal to the SCC has been doing fun short videos over on his site and working his way through the SCC line up!

Chuck aka “Rod Riguez” is the latest captured on camera with Fireball!

before that both Jerry with his Herbie, and Lou with his Starsky and Hutch Torino took Tim for a spin as well!

This last weekend a few SCC members headed out to the Pumpkin Festival in Calabassas and had a great time with the Great Pumpkin!

HERBIE AND ROBOCOP? ONLY AT STARCARCENTRAL.COM!

A few of the “southern” SCC guys did a mid week event at the Temecula Valley International Film Festival and dropped off the movie makers and stars to the red carpet in September GARY with his KITT from Knight Rider, TONY  and his SMOKEY AND THE BANDIT Trans Am along with  JERRY and his HERBIE.

Our annual appearance at the South Pasadena Police and Fire Open house was a big gathering and lots of fun as well!

The “HERBIE’S” took a road trip finding many of the filming locations from their “Love Bug” movies ending up at where else? Disneyland!

Then Ten star cars were on display at “Crusin for a Cure” to help find a cure for Prostate Cancer – A surprise visit from a new Green Hornet from San Diego area was a highlight!

(Photos you ask? Well, my computer crashed and guess what went with it?) I did meet up with a new star car pal,
with his Frese -McQueen – He works at Disney so no copyright infringement is implied. How about “Thunder-McQueen?” (Copyright Nate Truman 2011)

Then the 10-4 day parade down hollywood blvd had Adam-12 and Robocop along with the Batmobile with lights and sirens blaring to honor policemen and women both real and “REEL”

Here’s a fan video from up above, of the police cars followed by THE BATMOBILE!  “That is not Batman and Robin!” 🙂 you are correct, we are wasting gas and having fun with our old cars.  🙂

A group display showed up at the Route 66 9/11 event and tribute up in the Northern part of Los Angeles as well!

Then a visit with the cast of the 1966 Batman televisions series, a meeting with Doc Savage aka Tarzan, aka Ron Ely –

and a get together with Rex Smith star of “Streethawk” in an effort to build him a Streethawk bike mold so he can get back on

his TV star car.  (Anyone have any info on the whereabouts of the Streethawk bikes? Also looking for a 80’s Reb Brown Capt. America Bike, and a Battlestar Galactica 1980 Bike and Helmet set!)

Next up is the Harmony Car show!  If you want to stop by and see the SCC up close and in person, here’s your next event.
Harmony Car Show
When: Saturday
Time:(10am-3pm)
Where: Barnes Park 320 W. New Mark Monterey Park,Ca 91754
Will we see JASON  and his new TMNT VAN?
ALEX KITT OSCAR MAGNUM P.I.
NATE (That’s me! I will actually get to attend one of my own events!) and I will drive either the BATMOBILE OR THE A-TEAM VAN, JERRY HERBIE, JON TRANSFORMERS BUMBLEBEE,
MARK ROBOCOP AND ALWAYS FUN FLOR WITH HER SCREEN USED WOODY ALLEN ISETTA COP CAR

AFTER BURNER OR TREAT!

Then of course Batman will be all over the place for Halloween weekend, from Thursday to Monday at events, openings and just cruising around!
So as soon as my computer is repaired and my photos can be stored all in one place again, that’s the latest!

STAR CAR NEWS FROM AROUND THE USA AND THE WORLD! GO TEAM SCC! (THAT’S STAR CAR CENTRAL!)

Starcar fans are all around the world, and starcarcentral.com is trying to keep up with all of our members and chapters so you can find the famous movie and TV car events near you!

One of the most active groups outside of Nate Truman’s  Hollywood division is run by Dee up in the upper left corner of the USA!  He has even started a “starcar Concourse”.  After searching for star cars all over the U.S. Dee and Nate found several owners and they all started hanging out together up north!  So heres the info on their upcoming event!

Its time for the big 5th Annual ‘Star Car Concourse Classic” show at the Americas Car Museum.

The show is always the last Saturday in August, this year the 27th, and is held at the LeMay Museum’s Marymount location in the Tacoma/Spanaway area. This will be a ‘sanctioned’ AMCA event, hosted by the International Movie & TV Vehicle Owners Association and madmaxcars.com. The larger event, the LeMay/Americas Car Museum’s “Openhouse” that we are featured at, is a VERY COOL annual event even if it were not for the moviecars contribution, so it is well worth the trip. You can find the basic details on our events page here: http://www.madmaxcars.com/events.shtml

Then out in the middle of the USA Michael Knight has a great group that is now doing Comic cons and features one of the two original Monkeemobiles!  Here’s a few shots of them sharing the star cars with fans of all shapes and sizes at a recent con!

"Robin, you seem.... Different?"

Original Ghostbuster Ernie Hudson showed up to see and sign the Ghostbuster tribute car (Hey, before you point out it’s not the right body style, not everyone can find a 1959 Mercury Meteor Ambulance, ok? )

Ghostbuster Ernie Hudson and SCC chapter leader Mike Knight!

Everyone had a great time chatting up Ernie about his time as a ghostbuster, and he even signed their car!

"To StarCarCentral.com, thanks for the cool car... what? I don't get to keep it?"

Like I mentioned before, They also have one of the two Monkeemobiles from the old TV series, and it showed up at a live Monkee show!

Well what did you expect them to be rolling in?

Meanwhile, over in Europe, France specifically, Claude has been hosting a great star car get together each year, and it keeps getting bigger each time!

And an article in the french mag “La Vie de l’Auto” The N°1 for the collectors in France! 🙂

Thanks to guys like Michael, Dee, and Claude – fan boys and girls around the US and the world have opportunities to see and get up close to their favorite movie and TV cars!

Where ever there are two or more starcars gathered in the SCC name, you are sure to have a party with some fun loving people!  So to all those who are lovers of cool creations for the screen,

thanks for being part of the star car movement in your neck of the woods!  TO THE BATMOBILE! Transformers, ROLL OUT!   If you see a star car, or better yet, a bunch of them together,

Make sure you say “HI” and tell them you saw them here first!

T.H.E. Cat 1967 custom Corvette by Gene Winfield Lost?

I have a list of starcars that are M.I.A. and have dropped off the face of the earth. Destroyed? In private collections? What ever happened to them?  One of the rarest is the black 67 custom Corvette used by Robert Loggia in his short lived series T.H.E. Cat!  The car was actually not seen that often, but it was cool enough to make a model kit of the car.

Robert Loggia starred as the title character, Thomas Hewitt Edward Cat. T. H. E. Cat is a forerunner of television characters such as The “A” Team, and The Equalizer, who skirt the edges of the law and bring skills from earlier careers on behalf of those needing more help that the police can offer. Here’s the opening of the show.

Even though it didn’t last too long, for those who saw the show, they remembered his cool Corvette!

The car was modified by Gene Winfield and sported some cool gadgets, but there is just no info on the wearabouts of this car, much less some good photos!  So if you know where T.H.E. Cat’s vette is, let me know!  There was a rumor that after the show was over the vette was sold and totaled  in Southern California.

Just one car on my list of Missing in Action star cars!  If you have a famous movie or TV car you are looking for, let me know!

LMX: the next batmobile?

While there are a few of us who are driving George Barris’ classic TV Batmobile, and even fewer that own  one of the movie models, maybe there is a car that will fill that “need’ to be batman coming soon. With Sasank Gopinathan’s Kinetia LMX Supercar, one day you too, might be able to have a ride that would make Batman proud.

Inspired by F-1 cars, and specifically the Peugeot 908, the LMX is designed to have attractive curves while still having little air resistance. In fact, the car is built in mind for normal roads, rather than race tracks. This makes it highly likely if the car ever hits the mass market, it’ll be street legal out of the box, as it were. With its gull-wing doors and LED running lights, this is one car that may put the fear of the Bat into any shady characters passing by. All it needs is little eye cutouts on the hood!

Sadly, the LMX hasn’t reached the mass-production stage yet, and there is no word on how much it’d cost when it does. Even so, it’ll probably be easier to register and make street legal than owning one of the other Batmobiles, so let’s all cross our fingers!   Yeah, a few bat logos, and this one’s good to go!

Green Hornet movie, the Black Beauty stunt car is the star!

I saw the Green Hornet in 3-D for $17.50 a ticket (Talk about ticket shock!) and there is lots I didn’t like about the film, and how the story of the Green Hornet was handled, but there is no denying that the stunts and action scenes, even if improbable,  were really cool!

In conjunction with Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s promotion of the film, the stunt car made many personall appearances at restaurants around the country.  Below are the photos from one such stop, and the detail on the car is truly top notch! Now I have to brush up on my Chineese!

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Top marks to all the builders that were involved in the many cars used in the movie. Last count was 28 cars with very few surviving!  Now let’s all go find out who won the Carl’s Jr. free black beaty give away!

I want my car, Carl!!  I bought a lot of large drinks, and entered 5 times a day for two months!

 

 

Green Hornet Black Beauty clone almost ready to Fight Crime!

There are a small number of Green Hornet fans around the world who decided to take their fan energies and replicate the TV shows crimefighting car, a 1966 Chrysler Imperial dubbed “The Black Beauty” that Kato and Britt Reid used to take out the bad guys in the short lived series.

One of the two original cars built for the show sits in a Museum in Los Angeles, the other is in private hands so if you want one, you have to build your own.

With the release of the new movie, the Green Hornet is once again in the limelight.  Most fans know that Bruce Lee played Kato on TV, but the Green Hornet reached fame originally on the radio.  That was followed  by a series of movie serials, and then after a long break the TV show was made by the same producers who made the 60’s hit BATMAN show starring Adam West and Burt Ward.

StarCarCentral has been waiting a few years as this clone has been pieced together.  The first parts that kicked off the project were a set of fiberglass pieces that I was afraid were about to be lost for good down in San Diego.   This was a few years back, and I only knew one Green Hornet fan, my big brother!

He has had a long road buying two imperials, selling one off to the new feature film, mechanical and financial disasters, but he has persevered!

Still lots to do, next up is the roof need covering, wheels swapped out. Then lots and lots of interior wiring and details that most people will never notice but when it comes to starcars, it’s all in the details!  The back seat will have  a small closet for the hornet costume and extras like gas guns, and of course lots of rockets and guns!  We are looking forward to seeing Mark’s Beauty on the Star car circuit in 2011!

2010 Camarillo Christmas Parade brings out the STAR cars!

You may have seen a police car in your rear view mirror at some point, but I think this is the first time Herbie the Love bug has almost been pulled over by Starsky and Hutch!

Once again Nate Truman’s StarCarCentral.com gang gathered to participate in the Camarillo Christmas parade! We were almost rained out last time, but this time it was practically a trouble free event!

We all lined up in the morning and most everyone found the starting line, Alex and Oscar decided to go to the end of the parade first! Eventually we were all in place ready to start the parade! Sue even came with out her Get Smart Sunbeam to support the SCC! She got to ride in Bumblebee for her efforts!

Alex and Oscar finally found the right end of the parade, and all was fine, until we started up the cars to get moving down the street!  I looked back and saw Lou’s hood of his Starsky and Hutch Torino up, and Alex getting out some jumper cables!

Is Kitt Jumping Starsky and Hutch, or the other way around?

Another first for the day, we have all had to get a jump to start a car at some point, but have you ever seen KITT from Knight Rider and the Torino from Starsky and Hutch helping each other out?

I assumed Lou’s car needed a jump, I went back to check and heard it running, so ran back to my A-Team van as the parade was moving!

With Lou’s car up and running, Jason kept snapping photos, and found a few Cheerleaders who wanted a shot with John’s Bumblebee Camaro!  I think Bumblebee is smiling!

StarCars, Let's ROLL! Alex? ALEX?!?!

So we got the signal to start rolling, and we all start moving out, except Alex in his KITT from Knight Rider!  What? He never, NEVER breaks down.  Alex is always over prepared!  Should we leave KITT and take Alex? Leave Alex behind? Where’s Devon and Bonnie and the big Knight Rider Truck when you need them?

STARCARCENTRAL.COM ROLL OUT!

So the parade moves out, and so do we! Luckily the parade wasn’t moving too fast!  We inched forward, and while we waited to join the main parade, Alex had a talk with KITT and convinced him it would be good to start at this time.  KITT agreed, and joined the line up at the last minute!

Starsky and Hutch being followed by the A-Team?

Everyone lined up based on the age of the show they were from, oldest to newest!

"I love it when a VAN comes together!"

Herbie led the group today,  as the theme was “Christmas through the Decades”!  Even though The Love Bug has been in movies and TV shows spanning 50 years, the first movie  was from the 60’s so Jason was up first!

Herbie Rocks!

We could have had the Batmobile for the 60’s too, but I needed more seats for my kids “aka” Banner holders- so I brought my A-Team van instead!  The 70’s was all Starsky and Hutch,

No ticket for Herbie today! It's Lou!

and the 80’s were represented by The A-Team van, KITT, and Magnum P.I.

Is that Tom Selleck taking a photo of a guy taking a photo?

And bringing up the 2000’s was Bumble Bee from the Transformer movies!

As each car drives by, its fun to watch the faces light up as they recognize some old friends!  Each car has its fans, some people get it wrong (pointing at KITT) “It’s the Batcar!”  and the littlest kids stare blankly at all of us, then point to the end and scream “BUMBLEBEE!  Mom’s it’s bumblebee!”

Magnum P.I. and the A-Team working together? "I pity the fool they are after!"

It’s always fun to bring smiles to fans of our cars and it’s also fun to get together afterward and swap stories too!  A fun Christmas get together at a secret location where another starcar lies in wait to rise from the ashes, and a trip to see the long awaited Black Beauty near by topped off a fun star car day!

Next up, The BLACK BEAUTY!

Bonus MERRY CHRISTMAS PHOTO! WHERE’S JERRY BEEN LATELY?

HE’S BEEN HANGING WITH A DIFFERENT SHORTER CROWD FOR THE HOLIDAY SEASON!

"HO, HO, HO? SANTA IS A SCC MEMBER!"

Speed Racer Mach 5 for sale, and the Deathrace truck found!

Jason holds the title of StarCar Detective extraordinaire, and often finds starcars others would miss.

First he found a black Buick just like the one in American Graffiti.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then he spotted this perfect truck that if some letters were added on the side, would be the Sandford and Son Truck!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jason also found a Shelby Mustang that was interested in being the NEW KITT and once that red light is installed he can join the line up!

 

 

 

 

 

 

I got contacted by the owners of the Deathrace truck (no it wasn’t smashed, that was CGI! CGI IS GREAT it saves star cars from crashing!)
And it’s in Canada now. They are filming a sequel for Deathrace in Africa so many of the original cars were bought back by the studios to make a second film. Gary, one of the welders that worked on the trucks sent me this info: ”

---

 

“well we actually built 2 of them one hard and one soft being thinner metal  1\8 as opposed1/4 in steel there was only one tanker and it was destroyed along with the soft truck they were built in calgary and shipped to montreal it took six weeks to build with abuot 15-20 poeple working on it there were only a few of us welders working on it because we let the props guys and painters weld on it so it looked worse believe it or not . the tanker was an aluminum tanker we were sent that still had fuel in it we put dry ice in it before cutting it open with skill saws!”  Thanks for the inside info, Gary!

In the past Jason has often “discovered” old friends of mine, but this time his constant looking on ebay turned up a great find! A street legal Mach 5 just a few miles away, and we both went down to check it out.

For the Speed Racer fans, there are very few options out there. The owners of the cartoon had one builder make a few that I think are the best at reproducing the cartoon, inside and out. In an effort to not get sued, a second builder made these molds, and changed a lot of the details to make his Mach 5 tribute different enough that he was not infringing on the rights of the original design.
Below is a shot of the official Speed Racer Mach 5.

As far as I know parked behind it is the only Racer X car in the world. But there are several of these Mach 5’s built under license. I like these the best, and was hoping it was one of them that had surfaced.

The movie Version

Here is the only Mach 5 from the movie. The Mach 6 was all CGI and the actor was just driving a “green screen gimble” so the Mach 6 car never existed! Stupid CGI!!
The movie version changed the look from the cartoon car as well. Mostly the rear fins. I have heard that this car doesn’t even have a motor in it, it is a “pusher”.
The Petersen Museum ended up with the very first Mach 5 built in the 90’s for a tour to promote safety for kids and even though it has the doors painted on, it’s the best replica from a looks point of view of the cartoon. It was made under license as well by the same builder who did some great work on my batmobile.

All of the drivable replicas are built on old Corvettes.

The owner of the car lot that was selling the Mach 5 discovered the instant notoriety of driving a starcar and I think he has “the disease”. He was looking to buy a 1966 Imperial (green hornet) and I think he is hooked! Hey, if he can’t sell it, I suppose he can convince the owner to come out and play!

I had a choice of ending with a shot of Jason or his girlfriend in the car. Sorry Jason, she looks better behind the wheel (you better agree)! So get it for her!
🙂

Jason, you can get this one for yourself…it’s a lot cheaper…

Green Hornet and the Black Beauty 1966 imperial and George Barris bumps the batmobile!

If you are into starcars, you know George Barris’s work. As the self proclaimed King of the Kustomizers, he is chiefly responsible for the tv version of the Batmobile, the Munster Coach and Dragula, and along with his brother Sam he was at the forefront of the “lead sled” customizing of the 50’s.

Normally the SCC doesn’t want trophies, so as a group we don’t attend car shows. But for the King, well, ya gotta make exceptions!

I wrote Joji (Georges DOC, Daughter in Charge) and offered up our services!
Hi Joji,
Just wanted to let you know several of the movie and TV car owners want to honor your dad and are attending his upcoming show. If you want the cars near his booth, all the owners would be glad to park nearby like my Knight Rider club pals did last year.

Cars available are KITT, Starsky and Hutch Torino, BTTF Delorian, 66 batmobile, Get Smart Sunbeam and a few others. …we just wanted to offer them up to support the King of the Kustomizers!
let me know what we can do!

As usual, the SCC didn’t dissapoint! Even though we were split at other shows (see Linda Blair post) still rows of famous movie and TV cars showed up bright and early!

The Knights of the West coast showed up in force, and lined up with Lou in his Starsky and Hutch Torino, Oscar made sure Magnum PI was represented, Back to the Future Delorian, and Luis punisher car and the blues brothers brought up the rear of the line.
After being moved around by various police, put in alleys and split up, eventually everyone found a place to park!

Knights of the west coast all in a row!

Even though we got split up we eventually all found each other for our usual swapping of the starcar stories, and dumb jokes!
,

I left my batmobile at home by request of Joji, so I got to sleep in and gave my spot to the Tazmobile. I had to show up and hang out though and look for star cars to add to our ranks!
One in particular was there, a Green Hornet Black Beauty from the east coast. Just seeing it in person made me send another encouraging letter to my brother Mark who has his black beauty in the PAINT SHOP and will be crusing with us this SUMMER!

My cosplay pal Scott Sebring, usually sporting bat-togs had a spot on Green Hornet costume for the occasion, and took some amazing photos with Kato and the car!

Scott Sebring and Nate Truman fight over who gets to take the car for a spin!

Scott and I discussed who should be the first to drive it around the block, and it quickly turned heated.

Nate had a convincing argument!

I convinced Scott that it would be in his best interest if I went first.
🙂
So when I was done, I let Scott have a turn!

black beauty green hornet scott sebring

This owner has done a lot of personal changes that differ from the original, but it’s a one of a kind “beauty!”

Scott did have to trade me his extra Kato in exchange for full access to the car.

Next up a quick tour with Alex Wong looking for Star cars, and we found some fun cars that could certainly hang with us.

Of course that meant that Alex’s KITT was left unattended…. Danny decided to try KITT out while he had the chance! I think Luis was in charge of watching KITT….

I knead some bread, man!

There was a helms bakery truck that has to be one of VERY few still around that caught my eye.

I love weird and wacky cars, and I always have to check out rare military vehicles. This 1974 steyr-Puch Pinzgauer 710K got an instant free membership in the SCC when I saw his poster next to his car!
I have often said that part of having a star car is having to answer the same 5 questions all day long by fans. This guy had solved that problem with a simple sign! I like his sense of humor as well!

EVIL Bumblebee? The next KITT?

I didn’t find any bonafide star cars, but I did find MY next daily driver once I stop driving star cars like KITT and the Batmobile to work. Meguiers bought all the options I wanted! Now to convince them to sell it to me after they are done polishing it for a car show season or two!

Wait a second Nate, I'm in charge of the NEXT show?

I left the team enjoying the sunshine and early start time after making sure Paul was clear on the ONE detail he should take care of for his first show in Frazier Park. Diet Coke. They sell it everywhere. I am sure he will take care of it.

I found one photo I wasn’t sure why Alex took it, I guess to make sure everyone knew it was the end of the blog.