We found and acquired 2 real Days of Thunder movie cars. Follow along as we drag these 2 abandoned pieces of amazing movie history literally out of the woods and bring them indoors.
I was an employee at Paramont studios, when days of thunder was being filmed Also, I was one of a few guys that was prepping The cars by color sanding them down, and then they got painted by Gary Antonacci. I hope I spelled his last name correctly. And may he rest in piece. As days went by the filming was done. We found Tom Cruise’s race helmet, laying inside the middle of the construction mill for a few days and I believe it’s still there from days of thunder. Thanks for sharing A part of history that I was part of and sharing it with the world. Thank you.
I haven’t seen that movie in years but I know someone who claims they have one of the cars that were used on set I just don’t remember seeing an mountdew green colored car in the movie that wasn’t a complete car
You say they can’t be restored, but I’m sorry - everything can be restored with enough time and effort. Please put in the effort and preserve these pieces of motor history.
It can be restored and would be nice but all would be new. Not filmed used. I'd be torn as I would want to restore them but then the value would drop and kinda stinks as wouldn't be filmed used anymore.
Thank you so much Joe for saving these and other cars. I live just a few miles from your shop and will be coming by there again to visit very soon. As a former race car driver for over 25 years including local dirt and asphalt tracks and in several different NASCAR SERIES I am so thankful for people like you that strive to save racing history for our love of the sport and for those that may come along in the future.
i worked on an ARCA team from 2013 to 2016 and ill be the first to tell you, that the cars we used and the people/race shops we acquired those cars from have a lot of history!!!! I agree, please don't let that history be lost!!!
It's the unfortunate nature of film props, set dressings and vehicles. They're precious until after they've been used in the film or TV show. After that, they're not considered important. There are a lot of vehicles in films and TV shows that have basically been forgotten about because they're no longer needed. Sometimes, some vehicles get reused in several productions, while others are given a chance to be given to a car museum (I myself have gotten to see a stunt car from the movie Tucker: A Man and His Dream at the car museum in Tallahassee). Some never survive the production (one such example is the Dodge Challengers used in Vanishing Point. Most of them were damaged during the making of the film, with any surviving cars using parts from the damaged cars in order to finish the film. Then Dodge took the remaining cars back, and it's been rumored that they were scrapped. The only Vanishing Point Challenger that exists are two cars from the TV movie remake, but none of the original vehicles exist). The same is true about props, costumes, set dressing and sets in general. One they're in the can, they've served their purpose and are considered worthless (unless it's repurposed for another show). When it comes to these cars, it's not like they could be reused in other productions (outside of Days of Thunder I can't think of any other NASCAR type of films that have come out over the years except the Ricky Bobby film. And even then, such films would have included newer vehicles, because the NASCAR racers serve as promotion for the consumer versions of those vehicles. So, unless there was another movie that took place within the same year that Days of Thunder came out, these cars couldn't have been reused). But, I agree with you. It's sad that they never got a chance to be in a car museum and they should have been in a car museum. But I'm glad that they're where they are now, so that they're not completely wasting away.
Days of Thunder is one of my favorite movies. Being a NASCAR and racing fan I think it's cool you are preserving this history. Hope the other cars are found and that they are in better shape. It saddens me to think these cars ended up basically abandoned. Thank you for rescuing them.
They said during one of the “making of” videos that they were scrambling to get the movie done in time to beat the release of Red October because they knew what a blockbuster it was going to be
Absolutely unbelievable! After all these years you find the actual screen used Days of Thunder cars setting in the woods rusting. Thank you for saving the cars for future people to enjoy at some point. I grew up loving this movie. I also watched you Smokey & the Bandit filming locations video. I am planning on making a S&B filming location vlog too in the future. Thanks again man.👍
This movie was a big part of my childhood. We visited about 5 different Hardee’s to get all the cars from their promotion and still have them to this day. I 100% agree with you on leaving them as is how you got them.
as a kid i remember collecting the days of thunder hotwheels or matchbox toy cars from Hardees kids meals (im 45 now). i think my mom still has them stashed away somewhere 🤔
Russ Wheeler Hardee's car is so fn sick. I remember collecting all the cars from the movie from Hardees kids meals in 1990. Hardees was a weekend ritual with my grandma back then. Good times.
It is pretty wild how tow iconic cars from such a iconic movie can just Be forgotten and left in the woods to rot. It's crazy to think that only the owners knew about their whereabouts and they sat for so long
One of my favourite Tom Cruise movies. Great to see the cars are still in existence. Shame they can’t be restored, but you obviously know way more about that kind of thing than I do.
"the dumb stuff we do for old cars" Aint that the truth. Aint like seeing someone keeping an old car on the road. or spending every waking moment trying to save one. Like one of these cars. Because once gone. They're gone forever.
So awesome. Congrats on the find and bringing it home to a place where they’ll be kept from the elements and appreciated for a really cool piece of film history for us car nuts.
One was in Kingston P.A. at a classic car museum, they brought it to a lot of local car shows. It ran and drove"trailered to the shows" They would drive it around the parking lot sometimes. Really sounded nice and looked cool as anything driving!!
Me too. Looking at them now and the 18 Hardees car in the junkyard is not the same one in this video. Papa Joe Hendrick happened to be the one that took us back to look and they were trying to sell them off. My brother and I begged our dad to let us buy one but we were too young to understand the effort it would take to get it back to Tennessee. He also opened up the warehouse to see the actual Rowdy Burns Exxon car and allowed me to sit in it and take some pics.
Man that’s cool! Love your plan for the cars. I can see in my head the exact scene where the black car was probably used. Hope you find some of the others. They will be even more significant if they produce Days of Thunder 2 as rumored😁
Hardee’s done the kids meals cars too that would go killer with your collection. They are cleaning them with dry-ice and making them look brand new!!!!
Those cars could definitely be restored just a question of cost. Just because you are choosing to let them remain in the condition you acquired is your choice. But either way great to see them together again
Pretty cool and they both need a lot of TLC to get them back to '90 movie quality if that's what you're after. Really cool finds. Filming was in '89 and then it came out early summer of '90 to much fanfare. I saw it in the theatre 3-4x.
They were filming all the way into early summer of 1990. They had to make an emergency trip back to Daytona to film the final scenes of the Daytona 500 finish because they forgot to film it while they were there. Some of the cars were left behind and i suspect that’s why these cars were still in the area.
one of my all time favorite movies totally jealous! im sure they are too far gone for a full resto, but maybe just get them drivable would be such a win prob too far gone for that as well but man just to see them move under their own power would be so effin cool! maybe redo cole's car and keep the other how it is? anyways hope more can be saved! and thanks for saving them!
Bro those are some really awesome cars days of thunder is 1 of my favorite movies that number #51 car is coles car & rowdys car & that number #18 car is russ wheelers car man those are some nice race cars i really enjoyed watching the video im glad u got the race cars from the movie
Cool.. im up in Canada where hot rods are crusty .. Gotta DD speed shop those Baby's .Crusty on the outside Hotrod on the inside ...Got my Subscription, Good luck
Give credit to whoever kept these two cars from going to the crusher. These cars were made from outdated chassis . Once used for the film, they were just another old race car. Stripped of any usable parts and sat out back. It wasn't till many years later that they gained value from being a movie car.
G'evening from the high desert of Southwest Idaho 🤠 . That's a really cool score and I'm kina jealous 😋 . As far as Tire work does the prices have gone Gonzo in this neck of the woods. I recently bought a 98 S10 Chevy Blazer 4dr 4wd for $700 . I've got a lot of work done on it thus far but I needed some new rubber so I bought a almost new full set from a good friends 04' Chevy after he scrapped it. Unfortunately the wheels are the small bolt pattern so I touched bases with my go to tire shops only to almost have a heart attack when they told me it'll be about $195 for a simple Dismount Mount and balance on the nice wheels on my rig 😫 ..
If you can and are able to restore those cars definitely keep them safe and clean and maybe if you can drive them at a local track once they are restored but overall glad you saved them I wish I was lucky like you to find them
You have become famous lol my buddy sent me an article because this was my favorite movie of all time... I read some articles and found you on RU-vid this amazing lol
Even how the are still be cool to do the drive train and make them driveable for shows and stuff ,plus who wouldn’t wanna drive a days off thunder car 😂💯🤙
I thought these cars literally would be preserved somewhere in a warehouse. That movie totally got me into Nascar as a child. I still drink Mello Yellow today. I remember collecting the toys from Hardess. Literally McDonald's was much better then but Id make my parents to hardees for the cars. I wish I held on to my racing champions Days of Thunder cara
There was one in Niagara falls Canada in front of planet Hollywood it sat there for a couple of years after it closed outside some one bought it if you google map the old planet Hollywood you can see the cement pad it sat on 😁🏁✌️
I read a book a few years ago by a movie industry veteran who was heavily involved in the production of the movie. He called his experience Days of Blunder. 😂 Apparently so many things went wrong it was a big Snafu.
I don’t doubt it Don Simpson was in a serious spiral during the production of Days of Thunder. He was supposed to have a much bigger character part in the movie but he couldn’t be counted on to show up.
