THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS

The Fast and the Furious film series is a 2000s series of street racing films produced by Universal Studios. The first film The Fast and the Furious, starring Paul Walker and Vin Diesel, was directed by Rob Cohen and released in 2001. The second film 2 Fast 2 Furious, starring Paul Walker and Tyrese Gibson, was directed by John Singleton and released in 2003. The third film The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, starring Lucas Black, was directed by Justin Lin and released in 2006. A fourth film, Fast & Furious, is in production with Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Michelle Rodriguez, and Jordana Brewster reprising their previous roles.

1974 DODGE MONACO BLUEMOBILE FROM "THE BLUE BROTHERS"

Elwood and Jake and the Bluesmobile

Hit the road with the Blues Brothers. When the 1974 Dodge Monaco former Mount Prospect Police car dubbed 'The Bluesmobile' rolls onto the screen in the 1980 classic. The Blues Brothers, it's not just a car, it's a character. This 1:18 scale die-cast replica of that famous car features the highest quality construction and fantastic attention to detail. It is a must have item for any true fan. After burning up the airwaves on Saturday Night Live, John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd took their characters, Jake and Elwood Blues to the big screen with an action packed comedy the captured America's imagination. As Jake and Elwood struggle to reunite 'The Band' and save the Chicago orphanage where they were raised, they wreak havoc across Cook County and surrounding area. And when they need to get the word out about their 'Fabulous Rhythm and Blue Revue,' they mount a giant speaker to the roof and drive from Calument City to Indiana Beach announcing the show. After the show, Jake and Elwood must make it to the Cook County Assessor's Office with the entire Cook County Police force on their tails. Along the way they inadvertently destroy shopping malls, public buildings, and more Chicago Police cars than you can count. In the end, after a series of amazing acrobatic moves that would have rendered other vehicles to scrap, like a loyal friend The Bluesmobile gets the brothers where they need to be and promptly falls to pieces.

The "Bluesmobile" was a 1974 Dodge Monaco Sedan and was painted black & white to resemble a former police car. The used-car look was enhanced with distressed police car markings and graphics. The Monaco dominated the USA police car market during the 70's. Buy it now.

BACK TO THE FUTURE OUTATIME LICENSE PLATE REPLICA

A Diamond Select Release! Get the Flux Capacitor ready and start your DeLorean, because the Back to the Future "Outatime" License Plate Replica is ready for your collection! Recreating the legendary DeLorean DMC-12's famous tags, this full-size replica features window-box packaging perfect for display or wall mounting. Not for street use after 1985. Buy it now.

ERTL ECTO 1 GHOSTBUSTERSS DIECAST CAR

Ghostbusters is a 1984 comedy film about three eccentric New York City parapsychologists-turned-ghost exterminators. The film was released in the on June 8, 1984. It was produced and directed by Ivan Reitman and stars Bill Murray, Aykroyd, Harold Ramis, Rick Moranis, Sigourney Weaver, Annie Potts, and Ernie Hudson. With inflation adjustments, the film's original release grossed over US$500 million in the U.S., making it one of the highest grossing films of 1984 and the 31st highest grossing film of all time, domestically.

After being kicked out of their university, parapsychology professors Spengler, Stantz and Venkman decide to go into business for themselves by trapping and removing ghosts from haunted houses. They establish "Ghostbusters", an organization described by Venkman as a "professional paranormal investigations and eliminations" service, using an old firehouse as their headquarters, a 1959 Cadillac Miller-Meteor Ambulance dubbed "Ecto-1" as transport.

The Ectomobile, or Ecto–1 is a 1959 Cadillac Miller-Meteor limo-style endloader combination car (hearse) used in the 1984 film Ghostbusters and other Ghostbusters fiction.
This vehicle was purchased by Ray Stantz for the relatively high price of $4800 in a poor state of repair. In Stantz' own words, it needed "suspension work and shocks, brakes, brake pads, lining, steering box, transmission, rear-end, new rings, mufflers, a little wiring...." It is assumed that Ray continues listing needed repairs after this scene cuts away. It has a distinctive siren wail. Its features include a special pull-out rack in the rear containing the staff's proton packs, which facilitates a quick retrieval without the complication of having to reach into the vehicle's rear. There are also various gadgets mounted on the top, whose function is never revealed in the movies.

ERTL '59 Cadillac Ambulance Eto 1 Ghostbusters Diecast Car. Scale 1/21.

1958 Plymouth Fury Christine Movie

Three "survivors" of the many red-and-white 1958 Plymouth Fury stunt cars used in Christine

now reside in private hands, one in Clifornia, one in Florida and one in England

Although the 1958 Plymouth Fury is identified as the car in John Carpenter's adaptation of the Stephen King novel Christine, two other Plymouth models, the Belvedere and the Savoy, were also used to portray the malevolent automobile.
Several statements about the car in the book version were factually incorrect for the 1958 Fury, referring to features that were found on the Belvedere model and not on the Fury. Some of these include:
"rear doors" (Christine is referred to as a four-door, but the Fury was only available in a two-door model until 1959)
the automatic transmission (called a Hydramatic in the book—a GM transmission; Chrysler Corporation transmissions were called TorqueFlite)
"gearshift lever" (refers to the transmission shifter; all 1958 Chrysler automobiles with automatic transmissions used push-button drive).
Another slight inaccuracy was shown in the film version of Christine: In the scene where Leigh Cabot chokes on a hamburger, Arnie is locked out of the car and can't help her. The door lock button clearly goes down by itself, yet these cars did not have lock buttons. They required the door handle to be rotated counter-clockwise to lock them.
However, the author did note that Christine was "a special order", which could explain these inconsistencies. Also, since the car is possessed by a supernatural force (the previous owner in the book and an unknown force in the movie) it is possible that the car could do just about anything it (she) wanted.

1/18 Scale ERTL Diecast 1958 Plymouth Fury From Chrintine Movie

JOHN CARPENTER'S CHRISTINE

Christine (also known as John Carpenter's Christine) is a 1983 horror film about a supernaturally malevolent automobile and its effects on the teenager who owns it, adapted from a novel written by Stephen King. The film was directed by John Carpenter, and set in 1978.

Highschool geek Arnie Cunningham falls in love with "Christine", a bright red 1958 Plymouth Fury which has seen much better days. Setting himself the task of restoring the car to its original condition, his friends notice that the car is not the only thing that is changing. Arnie seems to spend more and more time with his car. He's also developed a sort of cocky arrogance which does not seem like the real Arnie at all. Written by Murray Chapman {muzzle@cs.uq.oz.au}

JAMES BOND - DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER - FORD MUSTANG MARCH I

Johnny Lightning James Bond 007 Diamonds Are Forever - Ford Mustang March I

You can read about Diamonds Are Forever and Ford Mustang Marh I in this blog.

JAMES BOND - THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS 007 - ASTON MARTIN LAGONDA

The Living Daylights (1987) is the fifteenth spy film in the James Bond series, and the first to star Timothy Dalton as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. The film's title is taken from Ian Fleming's short story "The Living Daylights."

The beginning of the film (following the title sequence) resembles the short story, in which Bond has to act as a counter sniper to protect a defecting Soviet. The film begins with Bond investigating the deaths of a number of MI6 agents. The Soviet defector, Georgi Koskov, informs him that General Pushkin, head of the KGB, is systematically killing Western operatives. When Koskov is seemingly snatched back by the Soviets, Bond follows him across Europe, Morocco and Afghanistan.The film was produced by Albert R. Broccoli, his stepson Michael G. Wilson, and his daughter Barbara Broccoli. The Living Daylights was well received by most critics, and was also a financial success, grossing $191.2 million worldwide.It was also the last film to be based on a story by Ian Fleming until 2006's Casino Royale, 19 years later.

Aston Martin Volante from The Living Daylights

James Bond's car in the 1987 film The Living Daylights is somewhat confusing. At the beginning of the film, the car is a V8 Vantage Volante (convertible), complete with Vantage badges. The car used in these scenes was a preproduction Vantage Volante owned by Aston Martin Lagonda chairman, Victor Gauntlett. Later, the car is fitted with a hardtop ("winterised") at Q Branch, and these scenes feature a pair of non-Vantage V8 saloons, fitted with the same number plate and Vantage badges as the initial car. Clearly, the later cars are intended to be the same Volante. The alterations and gadgets featured were: Tire Spikes, Jet engine behind rear number plate, Retractable outriggers, Heat-seeking missiles behind fog lights, Lasers in front wheel hubcaps, Bulletproof windows, Fireproof body and Self-destruct system. See more.

Johnny Lightning - James Bond The Living Daylights Aston Martin Lagonda

JAMES BOND - Dr.NO - 1961 SUNBEAM APLINE SERIES II

Dr. No (1962) is the first James Bond film, and the first to star Sean Connery as the functional M16 agent James Bond. Based on the 1958 Ian Fleming novel of the same name, it was adapted by Richard Maibaum, Johanna Harwood, and Berkely Mather. The film was directed by Terence Young.

In the film, James Bond is sent to Jamaica on an investigation into the death of a fellow British agent. The murder trail leads him to the underground base of Dr. Julius No, who is plotting to disrupt an early American space launch with a radio beam weapon. Dr. No's success, as the first major film adaptation of Ian Fleming's James Bond novels, led to a series of films that continues to this day.

The Alpine was launched in 1959 and has the distinction of being the first car ever to be seen being driven on screen by a Mr James Bond. Bond drives to Miss Taro's home in the Blue Mountains; he is pursued by Dr. No's thugs driving a LaSalle hearse. It is a Lake Blue example that was owned by a local resident in Jamaica where the scenes were filmed. In the novel Dr. No, Bond drives the car that formerly belonged to Commander Strangways, the murdered agent in Kingston. It is also driven by Quarrel. The Alpine also had an extensive roll in ‘Get Carter’, for it was an undoubtedly attractive car. However based on the floorplan of the Hillman Husky it was always considered softer than its rival MGs and was outsold by them; a total of nearly 70,000 were sold in the 9 years of production. The series II modelled here was announced in 1960, merely 15 months after the Alpine had gone on sale, and featured a more powerful 1600cc 80BHP engine which the Alpine shared with the Sunbeam Rapier. See more.

THE DUKES OF HAZZARD RELEASE#3 - DOUBLE ZERO SHELBY CROBRA MUSTANG

The Double Zero Mustang is one of the hardest to find and thereby most expensive to own vehicle from all six (at time of review) Johnny Lightning Dukes of Hazzard releases. A lot of die-cast collectors purchase this, even if they are not into the show. It has one of the best paintjobs for a Mustang or any other Johnny Lightning vehicle that has ever been produced. This was part of the 3rd release of 6 cars. Now I've got to be honest it's been a while since I've seen this show and I didn't remember this car at all, but it looked so good I just had to order it anyway. I have now however looked it up and apparently it was from the reunion show "The Dukes of Hazzard Reunion". There were actually two of these things, one had an illegal supped up engine so it could switch with the normal one during a rematch race, apparently the original beat the General Lee years ago. I haven't actually seen the reunion so don't know how accurate that research is.

I don't know and that's the thing, Johnny Lightning really should have provided a brief synopsis somewhere on the packaging, explaining about this car and what episode/s it appeared in. Also maybe the bonus sticker could have been a bit more relevant in telling the story. The one you get is just a picture of Daisy. This is by no means a unique problem with just this vehicle, there are many spread over the six (at time of this review and there's so many cars they haven't done yet there will be heaps more) Dukes of Hazzard releases where a similar reliance on memory is needed.

Release 3 also brought some of the other most popular (thereby hard to find now) vehicles of the six releases. They were the most similar to actual used in TV show General Lee, Uncle Jesse's Chevy Ute and Eno's Racing Car (popular in no small part to the sticker of the Enos in uniform and hound). Six vehicles made up release 3 and the other two were the Finchburg County Sherriff (red and white) police car and Molly Hargrove's Plymouth Roadrunner.

Release 3 kept the brilliant innovation of the packaging from release 2 where you can view the vehicle in the packet from all six sides including through the back of the blister pack. Unfortunately though Johnny Lightning did away with the bonus magnet and replaced it with a sticker instead. However they kept the same rectangle format that was much more popular than the cut around the characters way they did with series 1. So there's no difference in viewing the sticker to the magnet if kept in the packaging but obviously a magnet does not bend and droop over time like a sticker does standing behind the car on display.

Like all Dukes of Hazzard Johnny Lightning vehicles, the normal cardboard backing with a small plastic blister has been replaced by the whole thing being entombed in plastic. I like this as it certainly ensures if you are a keeper in packaging type person that it stays in great condition, even if you buy it online and it comes through the post. My only criticism is they could reduce the top part in size (above sticker) as it would then fit on more smaller shelves in people's houses to display it. --James N. Simpson See more.