In this sci-fi saga, the machine did a lot for its success and the myth of its hero

Still on the road! Here’s a little-known history of the famous Interceptor car that appears in the first two Mad Max movies and Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga. A car that entered the legend of the cinema in just two films, or rather… in one and a half! But let’s not put a knife in the fan’s wound yet.

What car was used in Mad Max?

When the first Mad Max was being made, director George Miller was able to obtain a Ford XB Falcon Coupe, which was sold in Australia from 1973 to 1976. With its V8 engine (internal combustion engine with eight cylinders), the car is very powerful. , but for the purposes of a post-apocalyptic movie, some of the details need a little tweaking.

$25,000 of time was allocated to the purchase and modification of the film’s cars, three times the estimated salary of the film’s star, Mel Gibson, who was then completely unknown.

For the Interceptor, the engineering team chose to leave the engine section out of the front hood and paint the Ford black like Mad Max’s dark leather outfit. Ray Beckerley, who worked on this “dumb” also decided to add a spoiler to the roof and as he remembered street car : “In terms of aerodynamics, it was terrible.”

At the end of filming, the producer didn’t know what to do with this car and offered it for sale for $7,500. No one wanted it, and finally it was offered to the mechanic Murray Smith, to whom the production – completely broken – was owed. After the success of the first film in Australia, the producers acquired the Interceptor for the sequel, the legendary Mad Max 2.

This time the production had a budget and bought a second car, with an automatic transmission and used for stunts.

Hats off to you: You own the latest Interceptor, 8 V cylinder, historic model!

This line from Mad Max 2 clearly illustrates the importance of the hero’s car in the post-apocalyptic world in which he (sur) lives. In a sequence that sticks in the memory of every fan, the Interceptor’s windshield shatters mid-chase, the car spins, ends up upside down, then explodes.

Fortunately, for the purposes of this scene, it is the second car, the auto box, that is destroyed, leaving the original intact. Still for sale, although some parts are missing, eg. Bumper or trunk, disassembled to install gasoline cans for the film.

However, it found a buyer and passed from hand to hand until it ended up with an individual, Michael Dezer, a car collector. The Interceptor is now on display at the Orlando Auto Museum in Florida, United States.