911 in the movies

[Kevin Stewart]

Howie944, did you see the Moive, did you notice the two different cars? I was watching it with my wife and I blurted out no friiiiiiking way, she says what! i rewind the dvd and show here the two different cars, she says its time for me to get a different hobby, that it wasnt important, sure dont like the way movie makers do that stuff like we dont care, oh, oh i got it, he had a collection of black 911's, Just thinking out loud, Kevin

[jluetjen]

The original post asked what year/model 911 was in the movie Spy Game -- The answer is a 1968 911L! You can buy it now on Ebay. Check out...

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/aw-cgi/ebayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=598520135&r=0&t=0

It sounds like a neat way to own a piece of a movie

[Rick Lee]

That eBay sale in the previous thread is a fraud (or maybe I did not read it correctly). Spy Game used a 912, I believe 1969, and it looks nothing like that car on eBay. I haven't seen Spy Game yet, but I know the guy whose car they used for the filming and I've been around that car many times. Kurt, the 912 owner, is a member of the Potomac PCA and mentioned the story about the producers of Spy Game approaching him well before the previews were even on tv. As far as I know, his car is still located in Falls Church, VA and has antique or classic car VA license plates. I saw him drive it at the track less than two weeks ago.

[Z-man]

BTW, if you guys are interested in what movies have Porsches in them, check out Obin's website, it's pretty comprehensive:
http://obin_jess.tripod.com/porschemovies.html

Send him an email if you find a movie/car that's not on his list!
He's on this board (924 & 944 owner).

-Z.

[URY914]

Hey, this is getting good now... The E-bay add says the seller is in Tampa and so am I. Let me know if someone wants me to go look this guy up. I'll have my own Spy Game going on.

[MarkY]

Speaking of Porsches in movies, does anyone know what kind of car John Travolta is driving in the movie Swordfish?

[Planter91C2]

just rented BLOW last weekend. there is a short scene when Depp is near his garage and you see his cars, all early mid 70's exotics. There is an orange 911 in the group.

[APKhaos]

Sorry Richard....not quite right. See my earlier post on this thread. There were TWO Porsches used in the filming of SpyGame. 'Hollywood' Kurt M's 912 from Potomac PCA was used for location shooting & tracking shots around DC & Langley. Another car had already been used for earlier scenes shot elsewhere [Kurt has much more detail on this, of course].
It is possible that the eBay car was the first car used in the earlier scenes - I have no way to verify this. It certainly is not Kurts car, which is safely tucked up in it's VA garage.

[ebradway]

It may just be my tired eyes, but that car on eBay looks like it has a recent poor-quality respray. There's a guy here in Chattanooga who drives an immaculate forest-green 912 and his paint is not as 'bright'. I'd like to see some more pics of Kurt's car to compare with the eBay car. I also noticed that the eBay car lacks the model designator - and the pictures JackOlsen posted from the movie clearly have the model designator on the engine lid...

[PorscheBrothers]

The car on ebay is the real thing! I looked this guy up. They might of used more than one for the movie. This happens all the time. Their is no doubt about it, the one on ebay is for real. The seller has a ton of props from the movie and other movies as well. He must be very well connected. You can check out some other godies that he owns from this site. http://www.pika-1.com/spygame/

And props from other movies that he also owns at http://www.pika-1.com/


This guy even has props from the sopranos. Yes, he even has one of the suburbans used in the series. http://www.pika-1.com/sopranos/sopranos_item5.html


As for kurt's 912 -No proof and not valid- He is probably a great storyteller.

[PorscheBrothers]

Here is a pic of the car. Can you say incredible. Looks overestored, and expensive. Like most poeple, I to am thinking of backdating one of my 911's.

[prattrc]

I believe the car in Swordfish was a TVR Tuscan. Maybe one of the Brit members can confirm that. Here's a link to the Tuscan section on TVR's site (link to the gallery is at the bottom right):

http://www.tvr-eng.co.uk/graphics/tuscan_s/new/tus_spec.html

You can drive that car in Gran Turismo 3, even with that trippy color changing paint job (Chameleon they call it I think).

[Saffs]

Originally posted by PorscheBrothers
Here is a pic of the car. Can you say incredible. Looks overestored, and expensive. Like most poeple, I to am thinking of backdating one of my 911's.

I can't say incredible, really. It looks hastily resprayed from white to green - probably bought solely to respray it to match the other 912/911 used for the movie, for some more shots. It could be a great car but a paint job looks awful!

Originally posted by PorscheBrothers
As for kurt's 912 -No proof and not valid- He is probably a great storyteller.

See: Here
That's a bit unkind on Kurt. This Ebay add could be some great storytelling too for we know. So how do you know this one is for real?? Kurt sounds quite real to me....
You post a bit on the Rennlist too, PorscheBrothers?

[davis911s]

I also wouldn't say restored, it looks shabby on the interior too. I hate to say this but PORSCHEBROTHERS are you the seller or a friend of the sellers?

I don't think it's right to accuse Kurt of being a liar either, nobody has said his car was the only one used in the movie, maybe this one was too, but it certainly isn't "over restored"

Shawn

[ScotMcLean]

Don't you love it when a movie comes out, or an accident happens, or something that captures everyone's attention instantly translates into profiteers?

I don't know PORSCHEBROTHERS as I haven't seem them post often (ever?), but for what it is worth, Kurt (Falls Church, VA) contacted me about a set of heads (912) a couple months ago as his car was being prepped for the movie. He bought them, I shipped them UPS, and when they came back from the machine shop he was good to go. It sounded like he had fun. Kurt's a tech and a PCA member - and it is rather cool that a 912 was used.

Scott
67 912 in pieces
68 912 sunroof - parts or project?
69 912 #3078, owner's gallery
76 912E #86

[DonNewton]

Yes, sports fans, Kurt's car is indeed the 912 used in and around CIA headquarters here in NoVA. The movie company did take him off the track on the last day of the High Speed Performance Driving clinic, and did, in fact, take his (home made) Lexan aero devices off. So, if there is a guy in Tampa who's claiming to have the one, the only, the original used in the movie, his facts have been somewhat inflated. I haven't seen the movie, and probably won't, but Kurt was on the set and as was previously reported, had to allow a SAG member drive the car. He did, however, get some great food from the caterers! Kurt is also available for autograph sessions, pony rides, and bar mitzvahs.

[MBuck951]

Don,
Thanks for backing up my story. Kurt is a real enthusiast and you will not see his 912 for sale anytime soon. Certainly not just to make a few bucks like this guy in Tampa.

It was already a spectacular car and its use in the movie just makes it more so.

[speeder]

Anyone who has ever worked on a movie would know that there is almost always more than one car for each one portrayed, that movie cars are usually junk, even if they look great in the film. A typical movie car would be car on e-bay; a tired old horse with an $8.00 paint-job done the morning of the shoot, (hey, even E. Scheib looks good for a week or two), if a nice car like Kurt's gets in a film it is a complete coincidence. They can make any turd look just as good.

FWIW, Yes, Redford is a Porsche guy, (along w/ countless other movie people), when I worked at Bob Smith VW/Porsche in Hollywood in 80's I drove his car a couple of times. (Silver turbo-look cab w/ special-order cork interior and ashtray stuffed w/butts), we also had McQueen's '69 911S and speedster in storage but never drove those, unfortunately.

[Green 912]

Kurt here...Three pages in so I guess it’s time for me to weigh in. Most of you are correct except for the number of cars used. The car that was the close up and benchmark car was a 68 912 that was filmed in the U.K. The car you see in some overhead shots and some of the wide shots leaving the CIA is a rusty 68 912 with a respray that caused some of the other cars to be in the movie. (More on this later) The car you see in Georgetown flying up P street and in ground shots around the Jefferson memorial and some of the overhead shots was a white 68 911 with a rough respray. (The production company bought it up North on the day the "problems" started and had it resprayed and dried it overnight on the flatbed ride down) My car, an Irish green 69 912, was used in some of the low angle road shots in the end of the movie where Redford is leaving the CIA. Frankly I am surprised that my car was in the movie at all. It is, in my opinion, very different from the benchmark car, but then again, I don’t make movies. So I think the total number of Porsches is four. The 68 912 Redford drives on a set in the U.K., the rusty 68 912, the 68 911 and my 69 912.
The production studio that was used for the DC location work, Think Productions, had a 68 912 that they rented from a company that supplies cars for movies and other film uses. It was to be used for the outside DC shots but on the day of filming, as they had a chopper with a gyrocam and film crew waiting, (Major $$$ burn rate) The car, a total rust bucket, developed clogged arteries from a (surprise!) rusty gas tank and conked out. They hastily installed a portable boat type gas tank but the rust had infiltrated the carbs. The car was ALL rust. The front suspension was held together with some badly welded in angle iron and the pan was shot.
That night I got a call from the head of Think Productions. She got my name from the local 356 grapevine and wanted to know if I had a green 912. I informed her that I had heard some time ago that a studio was looking for a 68 but I had a 69. She said no problem. She asked me if it was Kelly green and I told her no, it’s Irish green and Porsche didn’t make a Kelly green in 68 or 69. She said thanks but no thanks so I told her to also look at 67s and 911s as well. They look the same and there are a lot more of them left. The next day they come to Summit Point during a Potomac PCA driving clinic looking for a 67 or 68 911 or 912. After looking at my car they realize that their Kelly is really my Irish and now they REALY want me to come back to DC. After some preliminary negotiation$ I did. They looked it over and thought it was OK to use so we worked out the compensation. I worked with the art director to hide the track stuff and to make it look more like the benchmark car. (He sprayed men’s bald spot paint on the exposed aftermarket sway bars and rear swing arms) :-)
The next day they filmed it at a location not 3 minutes from my house. When I told production manager how close I lived he laughed and couldn’t believe it. Come to find out they spent weeks looking all over the east coast for, in his words, “A (expletive) green 912”
I have no idea why a 912 was called for. Perhaps it was in the book or something. Absolutely no damage to my car (the bald spot paint washed right off) and some good $ to boot. All in all it was a blast to do. Everyone I dealt with from the art director to the grips to the director was friendly. Tony Scott wanted to chat about what he called “The race car” A 912 race car...Now that’s funny!

Porchebrothers, Sorry, the $ is proof enough for me. I’m not much of a “story teller” and if you think that rough resprayed 911 is “over restored” then I got a car and a story to $ell you!
ScotMclean, The car had already been filmed prior to it’s injestation of the speed clip that obliterated the #1 Piston and cylinder. The heads machined up well and the car is back on track. Thanks much.

(Shameless plug to follow) Duane Spenser has published the follow up to his excellent book on 356 performance with the all-new “Porsche 356 Performance Guide” (RPM Auto books 888-237-4359) This one is geared towards the 356 (and 912) owner that is looking for more performance without going to a full race motor. Lots of good info on suspension, step-by-step motor building and converting a 912 motor to fit into a 356. Included is an extensive listing of where to get almost anything you might need to keep your 356 happy. As an added bonus on the back cover there is a photo of a 912 that is rumored to have been used in a recent movie as well as a 2 page article on it’s motor and the motor build project.

[davis911s]

Well that about closes that debate

Shawn