Classic Mustangs, Classic Movies

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Episode Introduction

1:00Coming up today on this episode of Ford Mustang, the Early Years Podcast.

1:06I really just love having the car. You know, the hardest thing to do with the car is get gas. Because you've got to bend down in the back. You've got to bend down in the back. And people just flock around the car whenever it's, you know, if it's stopped, people just are on the car. And I typically have a lot of bucket list movie memorabilia in the car. Oh, very cool. So once they make the connection, it's hard to get away from a gas station because people just, it's a magnet.

1:43Welcome to the Ford Mustang First Generation, the Early Years Podcast. Every week, we will have conversations with collectors, experts, weekend warriors, and those in the know when it comes to first-generation ponies. Start your engines and let's go. Okay, Ford Mustang community, if you have a classic Ford in Southern California, a Mustang F-Series or a classic Falcon or maybe even a Galaxy, a Survivor showing lots of patina or a show truck or a show classic Mustang, I'm looking to put real classics on real sets, photo sets, photo shoots, commercials, film, and premium productions.

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Bucket List Movie

2:44Bucket list race scene we are about to talk about. Oh, my gosh. This was so cool. So today's guest, his name is Mike Clemens. Mike shared with me a Facebook post where he said, I've got one of a couple of Mustangs that was in the movie called The Bucket List, and I just watched the race scene. I've seen the movie, but for some reason, it didn't stick in my brain as the movie called The Bucket List. So Mike is going to explain how he got his classic fastback Mustang into that movie, and I'm excited to chat with him.

3:14Mike, welcome to Ford Mustang, the early years podcast. Thank you very much. I'm happy to have you here, Mike. Yeah, I'm glad to be here. Thanks. So as in the Hollywood industry, when they have a setup for a movie and they have a particular car that they need, typically there's a couple of cars that are purchased and recreated or invented into those movie cars. So in February of 2007, there's a guy in California, and he lists his 1965 blue Mustang and puts it in AutoTrader and gets a mysterious call from a guy and says, hey, I'd like to look at the car.

4:04And he had just listed it online like a half hour earlier. The guy shows up to his house to buy the car and lays cash on the fender and says, I'll take it, and doesn't say anything other than, I'll take it. Talks into a radio and a flatbed trailer comes around the corner. Quick order, man. They loaded up on the flatbed trailer and off it goes. And he has no idea. Oh, he's just happy that he sold his car.

4:35Right. So the car is then one of three that was reinvented into a Shelby GT350s for the movie. One of the cars died tragically in a crane accident where they were lifting it up for a jump scene. Oh, no. And they dropped it nose first into the dirt. So that car was newly painted and instantly destroyed. Wow. So then there were two left, the 65, which is mine, and the 1966.

5:11They looked very similar. Absolutely identical. Right. Yep. So they filmed at California Speedway in Fontana, California. Later on, it was called Auto Club Speedway. And Morgan Freeman at the helm as Carter Chambers driving the 65 Shelby and Jack Nicholson as Edward Cole. At the helm of the 1970 Dodge Challenger for the movie. Bright yellow.

5:42Yeah. Bright yellow. So interestingly, you might have seen that car before because it's the same 7D Challenger that was from NCIS, the TV series. No kidding. Exact same car. So they got that car by a purchase from another TV producer and put it in the movie. So they do the race at the California Speedway.

6:16Horace Knight is the stunt driver, well-known in Hollywood. And he's the Morgan Freeman body double stunt man for the scenes. And so after they filmed the movie, those two Mustangs that are left go into a warehouse in San Fernando, California. And they just sit for a couple of years.

6:46And so the movie came out. I saw it with an army buddy of mine. And at the end of the movie, we sat and watched the credits. And it was kind of funny that I actually joked to my army buddy that I was going to track down and find that car and buy it. And, you know, we got to chuck a lot of that. And two years later, it came up at an auction and I did buy it. That is incredible. I have so many questions about not only the.

7:19And it's funny that you shared that story literally after two episodes of me sharing with my community, with our community, the idea of renting your your classic Ford Mustang or any of your pickups or any of your other classic cars for for rental for movie sets and studios and all sorts of things. Because I I get a lot of hits on my I'm on Driveshare, Hagerty Driveshare and on Vinti and some other sites also. And I've gotten to know a couple of production companies. So it's appropriate that you're on the show today talking about this.

Car History

7:51So the car wasn't yours when it was in the movie. You bought it after the movie was aired and you tracked down the car, saw the car on at an auction. Do you have any idea about the inner workings behind that? Like I saw a couple of of moves in the movie where they're actually bumping up against each other. Are they literally doing that or is that they are doing that? So they are doing that. Do they fix the car after that or they don't fix? Yes. So the Rob Reiner was the director of the film.

8:22And there was a conversation that I'm told from those at the track initially when they were doing some green screen filming that Morgan Freeman says, well, what if we have a little bit of horseplay on the track and kind of put that into the into the movie? Right. And Reiner was OK with it. Hence, the stuntmen that were then involved. They prepped my car with square deal tube steel on the passenger side, anticipating for the side swipe scenes.

8:58And all that square tube steel is still in the car today. And at the very end, when you see the aftermath of the bumper hanging off and the side swipe in it, they actually then rebuilt the car. And in a fairly quick fashion, they put some body filler on the back panel, which squirted through into the trunk and all the little pigtail squirts of body filler are still there in the car after they pulled the dents out of it.

9:31And they just left all the tube steel. So structurally, the car was fine and they brought it back to original movie condition for later use on, you know, advertisements. So for those in our community that have never seen the scene or interested in seeing it, I'll put a link in the show notes to the YouTube video that Mike shared with me as well. Now, since you've gotten the car into your driveway or in your garage, do you rent it?

10:02Do you do anything with it like that for or do you just like to keep it calm and collect it in your in your drive? Yeah, it has not raced ever again. Well, I guess technically there was a challenging scene with the car. I owned the car and I say owned past tense. I bought it in 2010. I owned it for about a little over two years, about two and a half years. And then I believed that I was selling the car to a collection out in Colorado.

10:38And the gentleman who owns the collection sent his wife out in a car hauler and picked up the car. Um, and since I was selling the car, I handed her the keys and said, okay, you roll it up into the car hauler and it's all yours. And she insisted, come on, give me a hand with this, please. So I drove it up in there. I said, you know, it's yours. So you're responsible. Anything happens to it, you are responsible for it at this point. You drove it away and they were driving down the expressway shortly after that.

11:13And the first car came up screaming at them and pointing at them and yelling through the window, um, on the expressway. And they thought, well, that guy's crazy. And then another pickup truck pulled up alongside them and rolled down the window. And he says, your car is gone. Oh no, it fell out of the back of the truck. She never strapped it down in the back of the car hauler. And she took off and kind of lurched. It broke the latch on the back door, rolled down the ramp, went across three lanes of traffic on the expressway and came to a rest, um, without hitting anything.

11:52Well, that's, that's incredible that it didn't hit anything or did anyone hit it. So, yeah, so she got loaded, um, back up into the truck, drove it home, sat in the collection for 14 years. Um, then I reached back out to the, um, the owner of the collection and inquired about, I had a little bit of seller's remorse. And of course, we all do. And I was like, man, that was the one that got away. So, um, he offered to sell it back to me just for the rental charge of having it for 15 years.

12:29Right. And when we negotiated the whole thing, turns out he never registered the car and it was always titled in my name for that entire 15 years. Wow. So I literally just went back to the DMV and renewed my registration. Probably had to pay, pay, pay back the, uh, the over-registered, the under-registration fees. Yeah. And, um, so I've owned it, um, nonstop since 2010. That is, what a great story. That is, that is terrific. So have you done a lot of work or any work on the, uh, on the car since it came back from the, uh, the movie set?

13:00No, I got it with the original, um, as it sat in the movie, as it drove in the movie, um, after being repaired, repainted, still with the square tube steel in it. Um, so I have not changed anything on the car. It did have a front fascia repaint after that same army buddy was getting some paint specs off the bumper and dripped, um, paint thinner, um, down the front fascia, which required, uh, uh, repaint of the front fascia.

13:37But, uh, other than that, I just keep it running mechanically, you know, sound. It's got the original 289 in it. Right. And, uh, so I take it to car shows and, uh, I drive it, I get bugs on the windshield. Amazing. I'm glad you, I'm glad you drive it. I'm glad it is not a trailer queen. I'm glad you, uh, you take it with you and you put the, uh, wheels, the rubber on the, uh, on the road. It sounded like from the, from the movie, at least from what you could see in the movie, it was a manual transmission.

14:08Is it indeed manual or is it automatic? There were two cars. Uh, the 65 has a, um, automatic transmission because, uh, Morgan Freeman was not comfortable doing the stick shifting scenes. And so for a, uh, trailer or driving scenes, he drove the automatic. And for the stick shifting scenes, they cut to the other car that had the manual in it simply in order to stick shift.

14:40So, so yours is the 65 and it's the one that's automatic. Correct. I got it. I got it. Okay, cool. So, uh, tell me more about the car. What's, uh, what's under the hood. It's the two 89, any upgrades to it at all? Anything that we need to know about? Um, some cosmetic, uh, chrome that was put underneath, which is kind of surprising because it was a movie car and typically, you know, that's kind of bare bones what they do to it. Um, but they actually put, uh, an original 65 radio back in the dash and, uh, they actually cleaned it up pretty well, adding chrome to it and, uh, hood pins and latches and cables.

15:26It's not like the hood was really going to flip up, um, during the filming, but they wanted it to be a 65 red Shelby GT 350, which didn't exist. Um, they were only Wimbledon white with the blue Le Mans stripes, but 66 had the red. But, uh, so I think they were trying to go for the 66 look in a 65 car. They put roll bars, um, full roll bar. I saw that. I saw that in the movie.

15:57I was going to ask you about that. In both the cars, um, the, uh, roll bar exists today. I had to cut the, the lap bar in the back so that I could get the seat up because they literally welded it in place with the seat up. So it's kind of like a roller coaster ride where you've got a steel bar in front of you. Right. So, but I've left it, um, as it, as it arrived to me, um, and it has not changed.

16:27So that was the, uh, the 65 that got away, but got back into your, your inventory. Is that the beginning of your Mustang journey or have you experienced having a classic Mustang even before that? This is actually my third and they've all been red with white stripes. And all, all fastbacks. All fastbacks. Yeah. Correct. Amazing. So are you in a, Technically it's my fourth. If I bought it twice. That's right. It's well, but you really only bought it once because you, uh, it was always registered to you.

16:58So it was technically loaned. That's right. That's right. So, uh, all, all fastbacks. All fastbacks. Okay. And, uh, and tell, tell me about just briefly about the other two so that those in our community know what you've, uh, what you've had your hands on in, in previous purchases. They were essentially the, the identical car and the first one that got away. Um, it was, it was a car that kids had been jumping on the roof in the hood.

17:31So it went through an extensive body, uh, rework and paint job. And the, uh, the, the paint guy suggested putting the white Lamont stripes on it and fell in love with that car, sold it and regretted it and ended up buying a second one, which I loved. But then I, you know, got fickle and had to have something else. And so fast forward many years later, then the bucket list movie comes out.

18:04And so that was my third. That is, that is neat. Well, you know, there might be somebody in our community that might be watching a movie like, uh, like bullet. It says, I want that car. That car was a 3.4 million, I think, or something like that. When it got sold at, uh, at auction. Does, uh, does a bucket list, uh, fastback bring anywhere near that kind of collateral? You know, the, you know, the risky business, uh, Porsche 928. Yep. And I mean, truly kind of the poor man's Porsche of 1979.

18:37Um, you can find those, uh, on the internet for in the 20,000 range. Right. And, but because it was driven by, you know, a Hollywood star, um, Tom Cruise, that car went for 1.9 million, just, uh, a couple of years ago. Right. So who knows? Who knows? Who knows? Well, it sounds like you're never going to be selling your car. Cause you got buyers, sellers remorse the first time through is, did you learn your lesson?

19:09I think I did. I think I did. Well, what do you have your, what do you have your eye on now? Something that maybe you don't have to sell that Mustang in order to get whatever you want. Well, I think my, my solution is to have a two car garage so I can put another one next to it in case I decide, you know, that I have to have something else. Understood. Um, cause I've owned everything from 62 Corvette, uh, uh, 62 Rolls Royce, uh, Concourse, uh,

19:41Silver Cloud, um, I've had a little bit of everything and, but I always end up back with the, the Mustangs. Well, we'll take it from a guy that's got, uh, I don't, I think I lost count somewhere along the way for, or let's see, I got, uh, three, four, four classic car. Well, one classic car, the 65 Mustang that I have a convertible and, uh, and three classic Ford, uh, F two fifties, F three fifties, F one hundred. I, uh, I don't need, I don't want to put them in the garage. I want to put the, I want to put the Mustang in the garage cause it's convertible.

20:12So I don't have to ever put the top up and that's fun. It's the one that's sitting right behind me here on in that, in those pictures, but the other, the other cars, the other, the trucks, I love to keep them out because I like to drive them. I want to be able to drive the Mustang more, but every time I do, I got to take off four covers and all the protection from the cats that we have here in the house. So, uh, I like to get it. I like to get them out as often as I possibly can. The Mustang goes out the least amount that, uh, you know, that all of them go out, but I love it. And I love the fact that you have it and you got it from a movie.

Car Restoration

20:40That was really cool. Any lessons that you've learned along the way, any, uh, anything you want to impart, any wisdom that you want to impart upon our community? Boy, I guess, um, if, if you're thinking about selling something that you really love, maybe hold on or find another solution. Rethink that because I, I, it was literally 15 years later and, you know, we're all getting older and, um, and 15 years later, I'm sitting thinking, man, I really liked that car.

21:11Right. And, and the funny thing is, is my wife hated that car. Really? She wouldn't know because, you know, you have that 1965. Smells like gas. Smell of gas and exhaust. And, you know, it's just, it's not her thing. Same. Um, so at one point I got a 62 Corvette. I thought that was going to be better, a convertible, um, you know, and the hair in the breeze and, you know, she came back with her hair all knotted and, and, you know, and she's like,

21:44that wasn't fun either. So if you're, yeah, if maybe look at a storage option or something so that she can keep it. Um, so where are you in Southern California or where are you? I, I am a snowbird between Florida and Wisconsin. Oh, I got it. I got it. When you said, uh, the, um, the California raceway, I was thinking, oh, maybe you live over here, but they, they literally had to, they probably. Yeah. It, it, so where did the car go for when you bought it?

22:15You bought it. You said at auction. Is that what you said? Yep. Yep. And where was the auction? Uh, so it was an internet auction. Oh gosh. Okay. Yeah. Okay. So they shipped it out to Wisconsin for me and the other car went to Chicago. This, the 66, um, and then that car sold like 2015. So he had it for about five years and it went to a classic car dealership in St.

22:47Louis. Right. And then that car was sold back to California. Um, and it's still out there today. Incredible. Well, it's incredible not only that all of that transpired, but that you've kept track of all of that transpiring. Well, I'm a history buff and, um, I've, you know, gone to the state of California to get all the old title records and, um, you know, so that I can show the lineage of the car. And, um, what's very nice is that, um, um, what's very nice is that, um, when I did purchase the car

23:17from ghost white industries, they included, um, documentation from Warner brothers studios, from their transportation director, signing the letter saying, this is by then the car. Um, so all that documentation is nice to have. And in the, uh, in the real world, when you were working, what type of work were you doing, Mike? Uh, I did a little of this and a little of that. Um, I'm retired from the army. I was going to say that means you were either a spy or you were in the service. Yeah. Uh, yeah.

23:4829 countries in 23 years. That is, that is awesome. Well, we certainly appreciate your service and thank you for being so enthusiastic about sharing your love of the Mustang brand, but, but the incredible story that, that you have, uh, I want to make sure that those in our community definitely take a moment, watch the chase scene or the race scene that is in, uh, that is in the show notes. And if, if you want to take it to the next step, just watch the movie too. Cause the movie, I, I remember watching the movie, but I didn't recognize that as the name

24:19of the movie until you reminded me of it. Cause I have seen that movie, but, uh, must've been before what, what year did that movie come out? Uh, December, 2007. Okay. So that probably explains it because I saw the movie, but I saw the movie just before I bought my Mustang. So I bought my Mustang years later, but, but I didn't recognize it as a Mustang movie because I have never, I didn't own the Mustang at the time. So it didn't, didn't trigger any memories for me, but great movie. Sure.

24:49So anything else you want to share? I'll give you the final word here. I so appreciate, again, you sharing your story and your inspiration here on the, uh, on the podcast today. Uh, really just, uh, I love having the car. Um, you know, the hardest thing to do with the car is get gas. Um, cause you gotta bend down. Well, um, and people just flock around whenever it's, you know, if it's stopped, people just are on the car.

25:20And I typically have a lot of, uh, bucket list movie memorabilia in the car. Oh, very cool. So once they make the connection, it's, it's hard to, it's hard to get away from a gas station because people just, it's a magnet. You know, it's funny you say that because as a, uh, I'm 61. So as a 61 year old putting gas in the, in the rear gas tank opening is the, is the hardest thing for me because I got to get down on my knees. I'm six, four. So I have to, I can't stand up and hold the, hold the nozzle in it at the same, at the same time. But you're right.

25:51The second hardest thing is actually leaving the gas station because I can't tell you the last time I went to the gas station, I live in a small town, only about six or 7,000 people, but every time I'm at the gas station, somebody says, oh, you're driving my dream car or something like that. And in Southern California, those convertibles, like the one I have is, is definitely the quintessential car for this area. Yeah, no, but love, love the car. And I'm holding onto it this time. I appreciate that. And I encourage that, uh, as a part of your future non-action don't, do not sell the car.

26:23Hey, Mike, thanks for sharing your inspiration and your story about the Mustang today. Thanks for being here. Of course. Hey, Ford Mustang community, keep it safe, keep it rolling and keep it on the road until next time. Thanks for listening to the Ford Mustang first generation, the early years podcast. Please subscribe, rate and review wherever you listen to your podcasts. Ideas for the show. Click the link in the show notes. Thanks again for tuning in.