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39-594: The Pursuit Special , also referred to as the Last of the V8 Interceptors , is a modified Ford Falcon muscle car prominently featured in much of the Mad Max franchise and driven by the titular character , where it appears in Mad Max , Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior , Mad Max: Fury Road , and Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga , the canon comic book prequel , as well as both video games . The first car shown in

78-406: A scrap metal brokerage . Scrapyards typically buy any base metal; for example, iron , steel , stainless steel , brass , copper , aluminum , zinc , nickel , and lead would all be found at a modern-day scrapyard. Scrapyards will often buy electronics, appliances, and metal vehicles. Scrapyards will sell their accumulations of metals either to refineries or larger scrap brokers. Metal theft

117-540: A Ford dealership in Rockdale, New South Wales , a suburb of Sydney , and sponsored John Goss entered Falcons in the South Pacific Touring Series , ATCC and a number of Bathurst 1000 races. In addition to further modifications to Fords own John Goss Special, McLeod offered the "horn" pack to various Falcon models. These cars are known for their stand-out "strobe" stripes that were applied to

156-423: A customer who asks for a specific part can obtain it immediately, without having to wait for the salvage yard employees to remove that part. Some salvage yards expect customers to remove the part themselves (known as "self-service yards"), or allow this at a substantially reduced price compared to having the junkyard's staff remove it. This style of the yard is often referred to as a "You Pull It" yard. However, it

195-494: A sequel, Mad Max 2 . For the film, the Pursuit Special was reacquired by Kennedy and Miller. The rear wheels and side pipes were changed. For the second film, the original Weiand blower, which was removed and subsequently lost, was replaced. Unlike in the first film, this time the supercharger was functional (connected directly to the engine's crankshaft pulley ) and the effect of the blower being engaged or disengaged

234-424: A single source. In the 20th century, these were call centres that charged a premium rate for calls and compiled a facsimile that was sent to various salvage yards so they could respond directly if the part was in stock. Many of these are now Web-based with requests for parts being e-mailed instantly. Often parts for which there is high demand are removed from cars and brought to the salvage yard's warehouse . Then

273-518: A special Falcon Sovereign Edition was released to celebrate Ford Australia's 50th anniversary. It was based on a Falcon 500 fitted, as standard, with a vinyl roof, Fairmont wheel covers, carpet, transistor radio and three thin body stripes. No records were kept on these cars so exact specifications and build quantities are unknown. Production of the Sovereign is believed to have ended in July 1975. Among

312-620: Is a 1972 HQ model Holden Monaro, which is rusty and used. It is stolen by the Night Rider, a member of a motorcycle gang called the Zed Runners (also known as the Acolytes), while escaping police custody, and is later wrecked. Pursuit Special, when the term is used, generally refers to Max's more famous V8 Interceptor Pursuit Special, a 1976 - 1979 Ford XC Falcon GT 351, commissioned at great expense by Police Commissioner Labatouche and

351-429: Is committed so thieves can sell stolen copper or other stolen valuable metals to scrapyards. When an automobile is severely damaged, has malfunctioned beyond repair, or is not worth the repair, the owner may sell it to a junkyard. In some cases, when the car has become disabled in a place where derelict cars are not allowed to be left, the car owner will pay the wrecker to haul the car away. Salvage yards also buy most of

390-488: Is more common for a customer to call in and inquire whether the specific item they need is available. If the yard has the requested item, the customer is usually instructed to leave a deposit and to come to pick up the part at a later time. The part is usually installed by the customer or agent ("the customer's mechanic "); however, some salvage yards also provide installation services. The parts usually dismantled from automobiles are generally any that can be resold such as

429-549: Is offered the new Pursuit Special, as an incentive to stay on the force as their top pursuit man after he reveals his desire to resign. Although Max turns the offer down, he later uses the new vehicle to exact his revenge on an outlaw motorcycle gang who killed his wife and son. The vehicle started out as a standard white 351 cu in (5.8 L) Australian built 1973 Ford Falcon XB GT Hardtop when in 1976, filmmakers Byron Kennedy and George Miller began preproduction on Mad Max . The film's art director Jon Dowding designed

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468-522: The 1979 film Mad Max , the title character 's black " Pursuit Special " was a 351 cu in (5.8 L) version of a 1973 Ford XB GT Falcon Hardtop. Two 1974 XB sedans were also used as Main Force Patrol Interceptor vehicles. More Falcons were used to depict the Pursuit Special in sequels Mad Max 2 (1981) and Mad Max: Fury Road (2015). A Falcon GT (XB) Hardtop is the subject of Eric Bana 's 2009 documentary film Love

507-533: The 2015 video game, Immortan Joe's son, Scabrous Scrotus, is a warlord of Gastown (the settlement referred to in Fury Road ). His men steal the Pursuit Special (referred to as the 'Black-on-Black' in the game by Chumbucket) from Max at the start of the game and dismantle it. Max spends time with Chumbucket, an expert mechanic, building a replacement throughout the game known as "the Magnum Opus", so he may cross

546-465: The Beast . The film documents the 25-year history of Bana's Falcon, which he purchased at the age of 15. Wrecking yard The most common type of wreck yards are automobile wreck yards, but junkyards for motorcycles , bicycles , trucks , buses , small airplanes and boats or trains exist too. A scrapyard is a recycling center that buys and sells scrap metal. Scrapyards are effectively

585-663: The Interceptor and commissioned Melbourne -based car customizers Graf-X International to modify the GT Falcon. Peter Arcadipane, Ray Beckerley, John Evans, and painter Rod Smythe transformed the car as specified for the film. The main modifications are the black paint scheme, roof and boot spoilers, wheel arch flares, and front nose cone and air-dam designed by Arcadipane (marketed as the "Concorde" style). Also, eight individual exhaust side pipes were added (only two of them being functional, others appeared to be working because of

624-551: The Main Force Patrol's (MFP) commander, Fifi Macaffee. Assembled by the MFP's mechanic, Barry, it features port exhaust pipes and a Weiand "blower" supercharger (nonfunctional film props). When Max's family is murdered by the gang, he steals the Pursuit Special from the MFP garage and goes on a vengeful rampage. In Mad Max 2 , set roughly five years after the events of the previous film, the Pursuit Special has suffered from

663-505: The Plains of Silence, a barren stretch of salt flats that Max believes will relieve him of his nightmarish memories. In the final battle of the game, the Opus, now on par with the Interceptor, is destroyed along with both Scrotus' Land Mover, and the designer/caretaker of the Opus, Chumbucket. Max thinks he is now without a car, only to have Scrotus emerge with Max's Interceptor. After dispatching

702-533: The War Rig and the fuel transporter, the People Eater. When asked in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter whether Fury Road is a reboot or sequel , George Miller implied that it may not be, saying that "the films are loosely connected". However, the comic book prequel to the film, for which Miller received a story credit, places it after Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome . The comic also shows how he got

741-416: The car for their own use or entertainment, or sometimes for resale. These people are known as "rebuilders". Once vehicles in a wrecking yard do not have more usable parts, the hulks are usually sold to a scrap-metal processor, who will usually crush the bodies on-site at the yard's premises using a mobile baling press, shredder, or flattener, with final disposal occurring within a hammer mill which smashes

780-546: The cars, these stripes were the same as used in the McLeod sponsored John Goss racing cars. Production of the XB series totalled 211,971 vehicles. Allan Moffat won the 1974 Sandown 250 driving an XB Falcon GT Hardtop. He also won the 1976 Australian Touring Car Championship driving an XB Falcon GT Hardtop and drove both an XB Falcon GT Hardtop and an XC Falcon GS Hardtop to win the 1977 Australian Touring Car Championship . In

819-463: The creditors, so the black Interceptor was given to mechanic Murray Smith. The blower and side pipes were removed to make it suitable for use as a road vehicle. Murray then toured it around locally to try and sell it. Warner Bros. contacted Murray to acquire the car as they were now making Mad Max 2. He gave them a price and also said to bring a battery and off it went. In the meantime, the low-budget Australian film had gained worldwide success, prompting

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858-458: The effects of the desert: it loses the front end early in the first chase sequence of the film (as Max forcefully rear-ends a raider vehicle), the car is rusty, and the tires appear to be in a poor state. The car itself has been modified, presumably by Max: the rear window and the boot lid have been removed to make room for two huge fuel tanks. (With a capacity of over 150 L (40 US gal) of petrol , these would have significantly improved

897-511: The film with the title of Pursuit Special is a 1972 HQ Holden Monaro V8 coupe stolen by Nightrider (played by Vince Gil ), an escaped cop killer, who dies in an accident that destroys the vehicle. The more famous Pursuit Special is a heavily modified Ford Falcon XB GT , built on a vehicle originally assembled stock at the Ford plant in November 1973. Maxwell "Mad Max" Rockatansky ( Mel Gibson )

936-459: The film, includes a story arc where Max gathers parts to rebuild the vehicle before the events of Fury Road . The car is shown very briefly in the silm, having been driven by Max before it is destroyed by Immortan Joe's men. It is then repaired by Joe's War Boys, taken back to bare metal, giving it a silver appearance. It is then redubbed the 'Razor Cola' and used as one of their vehicles. It is destroyed by being crushed between two larger trucks. In

975-480: The fourth film in the franchise, Mad Max: Fury Road . Miller stated that "all the vehicles are kind of hybrid, cobbled together, from the wrecks of the past". The vehicle only features briefly in the film; it is captured along with Max in the opening sequence, and is shown being repaired by a group of Immortan Joe 's followers. It returns in the final battle, driven by one of the War Boys, only to be crushed between

1014-531: The intact Pursuit Special was sold to a wrecking yard in Broken Hill , along with other wrecks from the film. The GT Falcon was then onsold to another wrecker Hilliers Auto Salvage in South Australia and in the mid-1980s, the car was rescued by Bob Fursenko, who restored the interceptor by having a new nose cone and air dam fitted, but retaining the fuel tanks from Mad Max 2 . Fursenko confirmed

1053-415: The light assemblies (commonly known as just "lights", e.g. headlights , blinkers, taillights), seats, parts of the exhaust system , mirrors , hubcaps , etc. Late-model vehicles will often have entire halves or portions of the body removed and stored on shelves as inventory. Other major parts such as the engine and transmission are often removed and sold, usually to auto-parts companies that will rebuild

1092-670: The limited edition variants of the XB was the John Goss Special , released in 1975 and named for the race driver who took a Falcon to victory in the 1974 Hardie-Ferodo 1000 Touring Car race at Bathurst . These specials were based on the Falcon 500 Hardtop, with decals and other bolt on options, such as the GT Bonnet. They were available in White with a choice of two accent colors: Emerald Fire and Apollo Blue. Max McLeod owned

1131-456: The motor for the salvage car and ends with Max driving it for the first time. The Pursuit Special briefly appears in the prequel film Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga , as Max Rockatansky watches Furiosa return to the Citadel. On screen, Pursuit Specials are unique, undercover police cruisers which also serve as interceptors. At the opening of the first film in the series, the only Pursuit Special

1170-478: The part and resell it with a warranty, or will sell the components as-is in used condition, either with or without warranty. Other, usually very large, junkyards will rebuild and sell such parts themselves. Unbroken windshields and windows may also be removed intact and resold to car owners needing replacements. Some salvage yards will sell damaged or wrecked, but repairable vehicles to amateur car builders, or older vehicles to collectors, who will restore ("rebuild")

1209-486: The preceding model, the XA , aimed at giving the car a more muscular stance. First time equipment offerings included standard front disc brakes on all models and an available carpeted interior. The XB Falcon range included the following models: A Grand Sport Rally Pack option, which included bonnet scoops, striping, GS insignia and "GT" instrumentation, was available on Falcon 500, Futura and Fairmont models. In July 1974,

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1248-478: The salvage yard, the automobiles are typically arranged in rows, often stacked on top of one another. Some yards keep inventories in their offices, as to the usable parts in each car, as well as the car's location in the yard. Many yards have computerized inventory systems. About 75% of any given vehicle can be recycled and used for other goods. In recent years it is becoming increasingly common to use satellite part finder services to contact multiple salvage yards from

1287-410: The vehicle in matte rather than gloss black, and the paint was scrubbed off to appear rusty. The front end was also modified by removing the air dam . A duplicate car was also put together for the film. When the script required it to be destroyed by rolling down an embankment and eventually exploding, the duplicate interceptor was used, leaving the original vehicle intact. When production was completed,

1326-827: The vehicle's authenticity with Kennedy Miller. It was subsequently shown widely in Australia before being sold by Fursenko and shipped to the Cars of the Stars Motor Museum in England , where it stayed until its closure in 2011. It was then relocated to the Dezer Car Museum in Miami , Florida . While the Pursuit Special was absent in Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome , the vehicle returned for

1365-492: The vehicle's range.) The car only appears at the beginning of the film, where Max escapes a group of raiders, then rescues a mortally wounded member of an oil rig settlement; and then again later, when it is destroyed during Max's failed attempt to escape the settlement. The Pursuit Special returns in Mad Max: Fury Road . The film never explains its reappearance; however, the Fury Road comic series, set just before

1404-421: The vibrations the first two created). The most famous feature of the car is a Weiand 6-71 supercharger protruding through the bonnet . The impressive looking supercharger, in reality, was nonfunctional; functional superchargers are typically driven constantly by the engine and cannot be switched on and off, as portrayed in the first two Mad Max films. At the completion of filming, the producers could not pay all

1443-557: The warlord, Max reclaims his car, returns the picture of his family to the dashboard, and drives off into the wasteland. Ford Falcon (XB) The Ford Falcon (XB) is a full-size car that was produced by Ford Australia from 1973 to 1976. It was the second iteration of the third generation of the Falcon and also included the Ford Fairmont (XB) , the luxury-oriented version. The XB series bore minor cosmetic differences to

1482-412: The wrecked, derelict, and abandoned vehicles that are sold at auction from police impound storage lots, and often buy vehicles from insurance tow yards as well. The salvage yard offer car removal services, allowing individuals to dispose of their old, non-functional vehicles responsibly, will usually tow the vehicle from the location of its purchase to the yard, but occasionally vehicles are driven in. At

1521-405: Was created by placing the vehicle on a low loader , and while in motion, the interceptor's engine was simply started or stopped. The car was cosmetically modified for the new post-apocalyptic setting with the addition of a pair of large cylindrical fuel tanks fitted in the rear (requiring the back window and boot lid to be removed) and its general appearance was given a more used look by painting

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