Challenger29

Pete just sent me this photo they took for the CGI guy in Germany. OMG! I'm glad I wasn't there! This photo was taken November 13, 2008, there at the Callaway Compound next to the El Mirage Dry Lake Bed (viewers of the film saw the 100+ cars stored there on the grounds). This was taken just after filming was completed and about three months before I bought the car. As Joann in the film would say in her Texas accent "It was a mess!!" The heavy duty forklift used, is a WWII Forklift from an Aircraft Carrier, used to handle bombs. Along with a special open topped cage, Faith used it as a Camera Platform in the midnight Drag Race and final Desert Scenes. That was pretty amazing too! From this photo you can see quite a lot of details, most of which I've improved since buying the car. Hope it helps! More photos if you need them. -Jerry:>)

Hi Bernie! Having this website hacked by some idiot was a real shocker. Not good! Yes, I can post some photos of the underside that I'll take for you, but regretably I never got a copy of any of those 700 photos the CGI guy in Germany received. My buddy Pete, who took them, might still have some key photos in his files. I'll ask. About the colors: all the undercarriage stuff like the rear axle housings, rear backing plates, wishbones, front axle, front/rear springs, drive shaft are semi-gloss black. Drums are flat black. Front brake backing plates are chrome. The previous owner said the paint color is a Ford Truck color, custom matched so I don't have an official Ford code or a year to tell you (he gave me a pint and I had a gallon made up using the code he gave me). No clear coat. Believe it or not, it's Sherwin-Williams Automotive Paint. I never knew Sherwin-Williams did automotive paint but it turns out they have been doing it since the Thirties. Frame is boxed, pinched (rear frame rails brought together so the body would fit over them) and bobbed (rear frame horns cut off). Rear crossmember unknown year, but the rear spring is Ford Model T I believe. Front crossmember has been modified to give the axle more of a rearward lean. Frame is mostly red, body color. Paint is old, not as nice as the body is. Frame is not X-ed, instead it has a "K" member. There is a single custom fabricated crossmember of 1.5" rectangular tubing picking up the rear of the Aluminum Powerglide. Hope this helps!!

Speaking of louvers, between the hood and rear deck there are 262 louvers on the car. That's alot to model! One thing that would help you would be a photo of the CA license plate used in the film. I just added it here. Another little story for you: Before I got involved with the film Faith had made some fake 1951 CA Plates with taped on '55 tags. They were very thin and looked a bit washed out. So for the Saugus Drag Strip Scene (actually filmed on a person's personal airstrip in Agua Dulce, CA) I made 65 fake CA plates. They were beautiful, but for a close-up, they might not work. So when it came to the scene where you see the rears of The Deuce and Challenger, Faith asked me to put a real plate on the car. Now where would I find that? Keep in mind that we are at a remote location and Challenger had no provision to bolt on a plate. We were taping paper plates onto the cars as it was. Another of our DOS Miracles: my buddy AJ had a single REAL plate in the trunk of his black '29 roadster. So I quickly taped it, along with a phoney '55 tag, to the back of the car and off we went. After I bought the car, AJ gave me that plate as a gift, and I had it restored. It's now on the wall next to Challenger with some of my DOS keepsakes. -Jer:>)

Donnie, you really should make a model too. I suspect there will be quite a few modelers out there wanting to make models of The Deuce or Challenger. Heck, they might even make a kit someday, who knows! I edited my earlier post and added an interior shot for you. I have many more photos if you'd like. The interior is as you say black & burgundy tuck and roll. Dash rail is chrome, but dash itself is black semigloss. The steering wheel is a dished Track Style Wheel. In the film its a bit larger diameter, but impractical to live with as my hand (and the actor's) was continually hitting the shift lever and kicking it out of or into gear. Not good! I think it's 15". The seat belts are Deist aviation style belts, about 3" wide. The car's brake pedal is to the left of the steering column, requiring that I drive with both feet. That took awhile to get used to! As I recall from Faith's Blogs at her site, I believe the modelers who are working in 1/8th scale are trying to duplicate the cars exactly. I appreciate the fact that most of you guys don't want to go that far with your projects, it's just too much effort. And as you say it's your interpretation of the car. I like that! Speaking of Modelers, how would you like to be the Computer Graphics Artist who had to "Model" my car in 3D CGI for the film? Faith and Pete Torres sent him over 700 photos of every angle of my car, including shots with my car on a forklift. The finished onscreen results are pretty amazing aren't they? -Jerry:>)

Thanks for the reply Bernard and your nice comments. We put alot of heart and soul into the movie and it's obvious that it has struck a cord with you. Actually that was our goal in making this film! We wanted to help re-vitalize the era of the Traditional Hot Rod. It's very flattering that you chose to do a model of Challenger. I love the car too. It has a great look. In regards to the wheels, I'm baffled too. Dave told me that he got them from another chassis he had laying around. The wheels are NOT Ford rims. They required 1" thick adapters to mate to the vintage Ford drums. The bolt pattern is not Ford. I think from their design they are Chrysler wheels. The front wheels/tires are 6.70x15" and the rears are 7.50x16". However the adapters did make it possible to have a set of very low profile smoothie hubcaps (hubcap clears the protruding axle & hubs). These adapters do make the track width of the car wider and maybe more stable. If I weren't so concerned about keeping the car looking like it did in the film, I'd remove the adapters and I would put '53-'56 Ford pickup wheels (15") up front, and '46-'48 Ford wheels (16") out back. And I'd probably use 1940 Ford Deluxe hubcaps or 1948 Ford hubcaps all around. If you need any photos of the interior, or other areas, please let me know. -Jerry:>)

A few more comments: The sound used for my car in the film is that of a '40 Ford Coupe with a built FLATHEAD V8. Faith and I have had several discussions about this and it is assumed that Fresno had a Flathead powered car, and Johnny had a Chevy V8 powered car. So it was a race that symbolized the real battle of powerplants that was going on in 1955, as the new Chevy V8 came on the scene and pushed aside the Ford Flatheads that had dominated racing for decades. The end of an era so to speak. So a Tri-Powered Flathead would be OK to put in the model if you wish. In one shot you see two of the three aircleaners, and nothing else. There is another person making a large scale model of my car in Canada I believe. 1/8th scale I think. And there are two other folks who are making The Deuce and another Tommy's '35 Ford Pickup in large scale. Last I heard they were going to donate them to the film as a gift. Anyone know about the status of those models? About rebuilding The Deuce during the filming: Yes I was there during that entire ordeal. We absolutely had to do something about the car's electrical system as we were getting ready to film the Deuce's modern era engine compartment for the first time AND the Deuce had a bunch of electrical/carburetor problems making the car very unreliable. We had a ton of filming to do, and that just wouldn't work! (The breakdown and hot wiring scene shown in the film was based on a real experience Faith had when driving the car on the freeway to El Mirage. She is very good at solving wiring problems). So Jimmy Severino, Faith and I spent many late evenings re-wiring the car and doing other tasks. First of all we added a PowerGen which is an Alternator that looks like a vintage Generator. Then we re-wired the car, front to back. We also re-did the carbs and fuel lines, added a Holley Fuel Pump and pressure regulator. The whole project almost came to a halt when Jimmy, the wiring wiz kid, announced he wouldn't be able to help us starting the next day. So we three worked for 25 hours straight on the Deuce to get it running again. Faith sang the "Ballad of Johnny Callaway" for us and brought us coffee and cookies to keep us awake. At 7:30 am we got the Deuce running again. What a relief!

Let me introduce myself. My name is Jerry Mull and I'm the owner of Challenger, the '29 Ford Hot Rod driven by "Fresno" in the film. I'm also the Production Assistant on DEUCE OF SPADES and a long list of other credits on the film. I am VERY IMPRESSED with the model you are making of my car!! FANTASTIC! You posted a few photos of the car I had never seen. The photos of the car in front of the barn-like garage were taken in the yard of the car's previous owner, Dave Cox. Dave had bought the car just a few months before he put a fresh red paint job on the car and threw on some rims and tires he had on another chassis. He did this and then turned the keys over to us to use on the film. One of my many tasks on the film was to keep Challenger (and The Deuce) running during production. The first day I saw the car Faith complained that the brakes were locking up. They sure were, three wheels were set-up tight with one completely backed off. The alternator was held on by one bolt and the fan belt squeeled like a pig. Every time Frank O'Leary (Fresno) would punch the gas, it would stall. So I had a few issues to handle, but the car survived the filming process. After filming was done, the car was stuffed in the back of a 40 foot semi-trailer located adjacent to El Mirage Dry Lakebed and forgotten... but not by me! With Faith's help I was able to convince Dave to sell the car to me. I bought the car March 1, 2009 and since then have invested some time and $$$ to make it safe and reliable. The engine is a 1962 Chevy 283 V8 with a two speed Aluminum Powerglide. If you guys want any info on the car or photos, please let me know. BTW, my other two cars are also in the film: the black '55 Chevy and the red '55 Chevy Nomad. I'm the Detective and the Judge in the film, and can be seen in the background in about 9 scenes. Movie magic!