www.madmaxmovies.com

I'm curious about a couple of machines here.

First we have this vehicle which the Internet Movie Car Database has ID'd as a 1977 Mercury Cougar:

https://www.imcdb.org/vehicle_1846448-M ... -1977.html

I love the Malaise Era of American cars, so please understand I do feel affection toward this make and model when I say this, but...

The 1977 Mercury Cougar seems like such a huge, ugly, giant, overweight rectangle that I have a hard time imagining it ever being marketed in Australia. Come to think of it, I've never heard of any Mercury being sold in Australia under the Mercury name.

Is it possible this is a mis-identified Ford Thunderbird, since Fords (and not Mercurys) were actually sold in Australia?

The next car I'm curious about plays a much bigger role in the film. I'm talking about the "V8 Pursuit" or "Pursuit V8," whose very name feels like an homage to the Pursuit Specials of the first film.

The Internet Movie Car Database has ID'd this as a 1962 Plymouth Valiant that's been converted into a ute:

https://www.imcdb.org/vehicle_1846446-P ... -1962.html

I am again unsure as to whether this make and model was ever officially sold in Australia.

If these are both examples of cars that would only ever have existed in Australia as gray-market imports, well, that's certainly interesting.

The first one is most definitely Mercury Cougar XRT 1977-1978

That's because the vehicle buyer for Furiosa was asking around for a 3D model of it on Facebook.
Not sure about the other one yet, will have to look into it.

Ah, that's very interesting!

Honestly, regarding the Pursuit V8, I would have loved for it to have been something like a Holden or an Australian Ford, so the homage to MM1 and MM2 would have been more direct and complete.

But maybe Miller and company didn't want to be too heavy-handed in the homages, references, and Easter eggs. One thing I do love about this film is that it's actually subtle and selective about when and where it presents echoes of the previous movies.

Taipan wrote: ↑Mon Jun 03, 2024 12:49 am The first one is most definitely Mercury Cougar XRT 1977-1978

That's because the vehicle buyer for Furiosa was asking around for a 3D model of it on Facebook.
263752742_433148141777994_8496289126773241820_n.png


Not sure about the other one yet, will have to look into it.

"XRT" is a typo or misreading on Ms. Faen's part, by the way. XR-7 was famously a trim level on Cougars, denoting performance or luxury or both, depending on which year model you're talking about. But I can find no evidence of an XRT trim level ever existing for that model.

I guess if principal photography was again conducted in Namibia, then shipping a yank automobile over would have been about as easy or hard as bringing cars from Australia.

By the way, I noticed in the credits there was some kind of acknowledgement to the community of Broken Hill. So that implies some photography was done there!