I personally was fortunate enough to have had the opportunity to have known and worked with both Tom and Genie McBurnie, these people are two of the greatest people in the world. Tom is truly an artist.
The Daytona Blown Up clip from Season 3, episode 1 brought me here. I watched that episode when it was originally broadcast in 1986. The demise of Crockett's ride was a pretty big TV event back then. Almost like killing off a major TV character.
@@VoloMuseum Always wondered exactly what it was they blew up in that episode. I Obviously knew it wasn't the real car but it always makes one wonder what it was they used. Now we know :)
Was watching the Mecum auction of a 91 Testarossa and the announcers mentioned Miami Vice and said Enzo Ferrari was a big fan of the show but not of the replica's being used so he said if they use a actual Ferrari (which he gave them) and stop using the replicas all would be forgiven.
I worked for Tom as a body man and painter's assistance. The reason they blew up the car was at that time. Ferrari was pushing a law suite against McBurnie for copyright infringement. Since he was using the Ferrari badging on the cars and also of course the Ferrari body. Ferrari approached the producers of Miami Vice and offered them a New Ferrari to use if they would destroy the McBurnie car. And that is the rest of the story.
What did the stunt and hero cars have for motors? They don’t sound like Chevy 350 V8s. I know they removed the Gale Banks twin turbo and replaced the engine….with what?
For me two things were game changers in Miami Vice; one was the death of Zito, the other thing was the destruction of the black Daytona/Vette. I know that most people like the Testarossa a lot, after all it is a real Ferrari. But it didn't have the Daytona magic of MV's best years, after all it was a real Corvette.
He was a great car enthusiast. Unfortunately, he screwed up the history of the Captain America bike from Easy Rider. He built 2 Captain America bikes, and 2 of Dennis Hopper's bikes. All of the bikes, except the one crashed at the end of the movie, were stolen after filming and before the movie was released, and have never been seen since. Dan rebuilt the crashed bike, as well as a Captain America clone. He sold them both with a certificate of authenticity, as actual bike from the movie. Now, nobody knows which one is the real one.
I have one of the original kits, body with the McBurnie name made into the hood and left rocker. A true McBurnie. . Cool car, building it this year, with a 12 cylinder Jaguar engine.
Sometime in early 1985 my friends and I saw a black McBurnie Daytona, exactly like the one from the show, on Oakland Park Blvd. in Ft. Lauderdale. It was parked in a plaza (don't remember the stores) so we stopped to look at it. Wish we had a camera back then to take a picture of it, it was gorgeous.
I thought the replica looked better than the original. I think what made it was the flares around the wheel well stuck out further. The replica's are still out there but I think they have high miles on the engine. I'd still get one if I had the money.
Sir you do great Work. My next door Neighbor is a fella by the name of Lee Cross Brother Bob Cross of GM High Performance Engineer, those two guy built a Cobra for a GM Advertising Executive, Bob actually Worked on that Car for 15 years then took it out front the very first Test Drive he drove it around a One Mile Square then stopped out Front of the Shop and Nailed it that Car Launched forward he hit Second gear the Car Lunged to the Right and hit a Four foot high Fence corner Pole the Car Rolled throwing Cliff out clear and Crushed Bob killing him on impact. But those fellas have been on Hotrod Magazine Six Times, Won the Sema Show Several Times as well as many other Accolades. Less is still Building Custom Car for People all over the US and Canada.
Thanks for making this interview with Tom McBurnie, great photos were added and of course a lot of information has been shared. 92 cars + 350 KITs WOW !!!!
I don't know a ton about Dan Hagerty, but he was involved with at least two of the most famous screen vehicles of all time. The Miami Vice Daytona and the Captain America bike from Easyrider. Ninety two complete cars and 300 kits? Man was busy!
what a great car. we was shocked when it got blown up. it was a must to watch miami vice, each week, and after, head to the bar and dance floors. it was a great time to be young. thanks for posting. what a great car
I'm just now seeing this short video. At Phil Remington's memorial service, at the Riverside International Raceway Museum (long gone now) I sat at the same table with Tom. We all had the little paper name badges on, and I thought his name sounded familiar? We he got up for a few minutes, I Googled his name, and then I knew. We talked about the cease and desist order, and other things. I asked if I could swing down sometime, and see his shop in El Cajon, if I promised to call first. He said yes. Big surprise, I never got around to making the call, and now I believe his shop is gone like the museum. On a related note, Linda Vaughn was in attendance, and the car she was leaving in (as a passenger) was being driven by Lil' John Butera's daughter, and sitting next to my car. Linda was kind enough to take a couple of pics with me before she left. :)
Ferrari sued for copyright infringement. Blowing up the fake Daytona was part of the settlement as was Ferrari providing a real Testarossa. Of course the production company immediately built a steel tube framed fiberglass fake Testarossa stunt car.
McBurnie's are hard to come by where I live in Europe due to import restrictions but I finally found one! How to know if I'm looking at a real McBurnie? Anyone know of any VIN lists I could check? Other 'signatures'? Thanks!
Shame he doesn't want anything more to do with them. I have an unassembled McBurnie kit ready to go onto a donor C3 and between him and Carl Roberts, I can't seem to get any info on how to actually put the thing together.
Not sure what the "M" stood for, but you can clearly see it on the headrest of the Daytona in the scene of "Brother's Keeper", when Sonny was about to choke Scottie Wheeler.
Al Mardikian marketed replica cars, he had Tom McBurnie build the first 4 which were branded as the Mardikian 350 GTS. 2 of the Mardikian 350 GTS's were sold to Universal, Universal are the ones that re-branded them with the Ferrari badges. The M on the seat was the Mardikian logo.
The truth is Tom never built the Miami Vice cars. My father-in-law Art Gooding built them all. He is 81 and now lives with us in Virginia still building hot rods. One of those corvettes was my Father-in-laws personal corvettes. He has all the pictures still
Did your father-in-law work for McBurnie? It is heavily documented with a paper trail that McBurnie Coachcraft built 4 cars for Trend Imports. Trend imports leased and eventually sold 2 of those 4 cars to NBC / Universal for use in Miami Vice. Would love to see the pictures you have, you can send them to brian@volocars.com.
@@VoloMuseum One more thing thanks for getting back with me. One of those cars was my father-in-laws personal corvette he never got paid for. My father-in-law is going down to his trailer to dig out pictures. He is not upset he just laughs at it now.
Roscoe Crawford there are 2 screen used Daytona’s from the Miami Vice series. 1 car is owned by a private collector. We own and display the other, which is McBurnies #1 / prototype car.
