Practical effects in the wasteland

The Mad Max experience

In case you were wondering what makes Mad Max a cult classic, and one of our favourite movies, there's really no better way to tell you than to watch the video below. What makes  the Mad Max franchise stand out in the movie industry is the excellent stuntwork involved in making it. I remember the first time I watched Mad Max, and how I watched the stunt scenes over and over again (especially the infamous scene where one of the riders gets hit by his motorcycle after crashing it...in the head). You could really see that while the movie was low budget, they put all the effort into making it look and feel as realistic as possible, turning it into the masterpiece it is. Following in the footsteps of the first three movie, George Miller kept the use of computer generated imagery to only where it's necessary. Take the time to watch the full video, and I guarantee you'll want to put spikes on your car, paint your skin white and take buses down on the highway.

 All the action you're about to see was done without the use of CGI.



Hopefully this gives you an idea on exactly why Mad Max: Fury Road raked in all those Oscars, and perhaps now you'll take the time to sit down and watch it. And while you're at it, pay attention to the underlying message of the movie, and try to really grasp what it is about and how it's relevant to the world we live in today. Once you figure it out you'll be surprised, it's not what you would expect from a testosterone and nitro fueled action movie, which will only make you appreciate it even more.

On a different note...

Even though this blog is supposed to document our build progress with the Last V8, we haven't posted much about it yet. This is due to a number of reasons. Firstly, the street legal S-Type is not finished yet, it's still missing its transmission and we cannot focus on this project until she's done. However good news is that we'll show you what the mighty V8 sounds like once it's operational. Secondly, I, Sándor (the writer of this blog as you could assume) am away studying in Scotland until the end of April, therefore I will not be able to be there and put my free time into working on the car and bringing you news "in person".
Either way, in the future we're going to take a look at what we actually have planned for the car so far, although the exact hows will be answered during the build, but you'll know all about the whys.

The V8 Interceptor Pursuit Special part 2

The Last V8

In the last part you got some of the background for the Pursuit Special, as seen in its original state, before things really kicked off in the Mad Max universe. Now let's see what a true wasteland survivor looks like, and take a look at the changes made to the original car.

The most notable difference is the changes to the back, which are quite practical for an after apocalypse scenario. The trunk door has been removed, and the car was fitted with two additional high capacity fuel tanks for those long stretches between two sources of fuel out in the desert. The front bumper was also taken off to allow easier off road driving, and the front left seat was removed to accomodate Max's dog (who was called "Dog" by the way, and was saved from a local dog pound to get trained to appear in the movie). As the original Weiand blower has been lost after the car was put up for sale after the first movie, a new supercharger was fitted, however this time it was a functional one. It did not have a functional switch however, as seen in the movie, so when they shot the scenes with the supercharger starting up, they placed the car on a moving trailer, and would simply start the engine to imitate the effect.

Lastly, Max added a very unique security feature to the car, which would prevent other survivors from stealing the much needed fuel from the car in the form of a self destructive device, a bomb planted under the fuel tanks. Of course this was just a dummy, but it's an often overlooked detail in these builds.

With these additions The Last V8 reached the end of its on screen life, as at the end of the second movie it gets destroyed in a fiery explosion (don't worry, that car was just a replica, the original was left intact). The original today is out on display at the Dezer Car Museum, however it's not movie accurate anymore, as it was restored to the state of the V8 Interceptor Pursuit Special from the first movie, but retained the gas tanks and the interior from the second one.

So hopefully this has given you at least some idea as to what we would like to achieve with our project, and provided a good short brief of what you have to know about possibly the most legendary vehicle, the Mad Max Interceptor, ever appearing on screen.

The V8 Interceptor Pursuit Special

In order to understand what exactly we are aiming to do, one must know what The Last V8 actually is. I'm sure most movie fans already know what we're talking about here, as the V8 Interceptor is the main character of the Mad Max movies, and one of the most iconic movie cars of all time. 

The original V8 Interceptor Pursuit Special started off its career as an Australian Ford Falcon XB GT, before getting sold at an auction along with two XB sedans to be used for the low budget Mad Max movie. The XB GT was modified to be "The Last V8", a special police car used for high speed chases, while the sedans became known as MFP Interceptors, the standard issue police cars for the Main Force Patrol, the last remaining authority in Australia's collapsing civilisation. 

The Pursuit Special recieved 4 exhausts on each side, with only two of them being functional. It was fitted with a Concorde style front end, which gave it a more futuristic and unique look, and two sets of spoilers were installed. Perhaps the most eye-catching modification is the massive Weiand supercharger installed one foot above the V8 so that every inch can be exposed. Unfortunately, this was merely a prop, driven by a small 12V electric motor. Despite all the props added just to achieve the badass look, the car was by all means a functional stunt car, ready to be put to hard use.

After the filming was done, the car was given to Murray Smith, the film's mechanic as payment. It toured Australian malls as a promotion for the movie, and was even up for sale for $7500 for a while, but nobody wanted to buy it (can you believe that?).When Mad Max aired, it became an instant classic both overseas and in Australia, and the makers decided to buy the car back for a sequel... Which we will discuss in the next post, as this sums up the original Pursuit Special's history. Tune in for Part 2, where we'll take a look at a true wasteland survivor.