VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND EARLIER 1929-1932 Movie cars

They used my Chevy in the HBO mini-series Mildred Pearce. It's the car Kate Winslet walks in front of wheb she gets off the bus. It's the tan sport coupe with orange wheels. About 40-45 minutes into the movie.
There were several takes of this sequence, F**ds and others but they chose a Chevy for the final cut.
Lot's of great 1931 and earlier cars in the first two episodes of this movie.

Hey CONGRATS !!!!

Karl
Good for you and your car. Nothing beats a chevy.
How did this come about for you and your car ? Is your car listed with an agency or was it an ad or word of mouth that the production company was looking for vehicles of that era ?

Cliff

The production company contacted our local car club and we submitted photos. We were paid $275/day for the car and about 100/day as an extra for four days of fun "work".
There are agencies that broker cars, there was one such company that provided the newer cars for the 1940's sequences. The common thread was that the newer cars had overheating and hard starting problems. The older cars had no such problems.

Karl
15 large for lining up at the buffet and telling stories....
Good for you.

Cliff

One word of caution about the renting to the movies, It works fine if you are the one driving the car and being paid as an extra, but if you are going to rent a vehicle to a production company plan on doing quite a bit of repair work to it once they are done. I have first hand experience having worked on many movies over the years. I have used my own cars like he said above and it works well, but I have seen cars that were rented for a month or two and needed to be completely repainted or interiors in them. Most of these were a major part of the story. Just be aware not to give up control of your vehicle. One movie that comes to mind was Bridges of Madison County, the pickup that Clint Eastwood drove in it was completely repainted and the movie company didn't have to foot the bill because of the contract thought I think the owner did get some reimbursement eventually.

tod3131 is right. The cars that didn't have their owners present or as drivers were treated differently. Although they were treated carefully, the broker's staff didn't really "know" the car and there was a lot of grinding gears and dead batteries.
A good rule is to stay with your car, it's the only way you can be sure it's treated right.
Having said that, one guy had a junker panel truck that was used in a street scene. The movie people didn't like it because it was yellow, so he went to Home Depot and bought a gallon of green paint and painted the truck with a brush. He figured he was going to do a restoration and the movie fee was a good start. It was a F**d so it was OK.

One other thought. Does your insurence carrier cover the car when it is used outside of contract? Parades, shows and occasional drives? Al W.

Good point. The movie company covered carswhile being used on the set. My insurance covered getting there and back. Always check the coverage.