Photo: Orlando Auto Museum
Earlier this month, the Orlando Auto Museum in Florida, quietly listed the car used in the first two Mad Max films with Mel Gibson. Price was – and remains – on request, but reports claim it’s gone down by a considerable margin.
The car, based on a Ford Falcon GT coupe of the time and heavily customized during production, is now known as the Ford Falcon XB GT Pursuit Special, the “last of the V8 Interceptors,” Black Pursuit or simply the Interceptor. It is one of the most iconic pieces of movie memorabilia and, all things considered, the initially-rumored asking price of $5 million is probably not much.
The museum didn’t explain why they’re selling the car, but it is believed the fact that it’s changing locations might have something to do with it. As iconic as the Interceptor is, it is has failed to secure a buyer in the weeks that passed since listing, so a price drop was to be expected.
It’s a steep one, as well. CarScoops says that the owner, real estate developer and passionate car collector Michael Dezer, dropped about $2 million from the original asking price. So if it went on sale for $5 million, it’s now a “mere” $3 million to buy.
And then there’s this: “at least one major museum in Australia is reportedly interested in the car,” the report says. “In addition, a major Australian car magazine is looking to lobby the government to return the vehicle for permanent local display.”
If this works out well and the Interceptor goes back home to Australia, where fans believe it belongs, it would be the fairy-tale ending for this piece of movie history that’s already traveled the world. Sold at the end of the first movie to recoup at least some of the production costs, recovered before shooting for the second started and rebuilt, and abandoned again once shooting wrapped, the Interceptor has been through a lot.
It was found abandoned by entrepreneur Bob Fursenko sometime around 1985 and restored. It was put on display for a while at the National Motor Museum in South Australia, then sold to the Cars of the Stars Motor Museum in the UK in1992. Dezer bought it, along with the entire inventory, and shipped it to Florida in 2011.
It’s about time the last of the V8s goes back home to Australia.
The museum didn’t explain why they’re selling the car, but it is believed the fact that it’s changing locations might have something to do with it. As iconic as the Interceptor is, it is has failed to secure a buyer in the weeks that passed since listing, so a price drop was to be expected.
It’s a steep one, as well. CarScoops says that the owner, real estate developer and passionate car collector Michael Dezer, dropped about $2 million from the original asking price. So if it went on sale for $5 million, it’s now a “mere” $3 million to buy.
And then there’s this: “at least one major museum in Australia is reportedly interested in the car,” the report says. “In addition, a major Australian car magazine is looking to lobby the government to return the vehicle for permanent local display.”
If this works out well and the Interceptor goes back home to Australia, where fans believe it belongs, it would be the fairy-tale ending for this piece of movie history that’s already traveled the world. Sold at the end of the first movie to recoup at least some of the production costs, recovered before shooting for the second started and rebuilt, and abandoned again once shooting wrapped, the Interceptor has been through a lot.
It was found abandoned by entrepreneur Bob Fursenko sometime around 1985 and restored. It was put on display for a while at the National Motor Museum in South Australia, then sold to the Cars of the Stars Motor Museum in the UK in1992. Dezer bought it, along with the entire inventory, and shipped it to Florida in 2011.
It’s about time the last of the V8s goes back home to Australia.
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