10 Little Known Facts About Kowalski's '70 Challenger - Vanishing Point
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- čas přidán 14. 04. 2023
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Kowalski's 1970 Challenger is a classic muscle car that played a significant role in the 1971 film "Vanishing Point." The main movie car was a Alpine white 1970 Dodge Challenger R/T 440 Magnum, featuring a powerful V8 engine, four-speed manual transmission, and sleek styling. Kowalski, the protagonist of the film, uses the car to make a bet that he can deliver it from Denver to San Francisco in 15 hours. The car becomes a symbol of freedom and rebellion, as Kowalski evades the police and confronts various obstacles during his journey. The iconic car and the film itself have become a cult classic among car enthusiasts and moviegoers alike.
-Enjoy folks! - Krátké a kreslené filmy
Poor dude’s still waiting for his 70 Challenger R/T to be delivered
😂😂😂😂😂 I thought that also after watching it back in the day
Hope he paid the extra for insurance...
Bulldozer: "Sir! Please unwrap your Challenger from my bucket."
Even before Kowalski totalled it, I still don't think I'd want it---he beat the hell out of that car
I would have chased him myself
I just read the terrible news that Barry Newman passed away at 92 RIP and thanks for making this historical Movie cult classic Vanishing Point.
One of the best movies ever...Till another soul goes free..Kowalski lives!
I remember being a kid and totally shocked at the ending of the movie. Was quite the legendary flick even in its day.
One of the most beautiful movies ever.
Agreed friend! 🙂👍
Only if you think Joe Biden is the best president ever. What's that?
Oh...you do think that Joe Biden is the best president ever.
No Challengers were harmed in the making of this motion picture, but they were all scrapped afterwards. I saw this movie as a kid, feels like a hundred years ago. To this day any white Challenger is called a Kowalski car. Still one of my favorite cars to this day.
As a MOPAR guy, I fully approve of the fact that a Charger towed a Camaro into the bulldozers! 👍🏻😆
Indeed my friend 🧡
Pretty sure that he said it was the 383 challenger that towed the camaro into the bulldozers,
I remember watching this movie when I was a little boy 8 or 9 year's old & crying at the end because I really thought Kowalski died!! But my dad said no it's fake son he didn't die!! But I still love this movie in my collection to this very day & have it on blu-ray along with a another classic "Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry"!!! Love them 70's car chase movies!
Indeed, I suppose that could be an upsetting moment for a youngster; but yes, both are amazingly awesome muscle car movies for sure!
Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry....WOW, Summer, 1974, 45 cents a gallon for gas, too
How about" Aloha Bobby and Rose"?🤠👍
My father and I stayed up until 1:00 in the morning watching it. When he wrecked I said ,well that stinks. He laughed because he hadn't seen it before either.
I watched this movie at the drive in theater behind the wheel of my’70 Dodge Challenger R/T. And many other times
I would have likely wrecked on the way home after seeing that movie and then driving the movie car
Me as well. Sold it to a buddy, who made it into a VP replica when he returned from the Service. Great reaction from folks. I bought it back when his family grew.
It is now restored to its original color, but with a white vinyl top and white RT stripe rather than black
Same here. At the drive in as a kid. Also seen Dirty Mary Crazy Larry at the same drive in
I resemble your remark; only, I was the passenger (it was my cousin's '70 340 Challenger) that we left the drive-in (at velocity).
RIP Barry Newman.
I 've stopped a number of times in Cisco, Utah where the final scene was filmed. Worth the visit for fans of the movie.
I recognized Ely Nevada the first time I saw the movie. My dad and I had stopped there on a cross country trip the year before.
The scenes shot at the radio station were filmed at the Goldfield Hotel in Goldfield, Nevada. A friend of mine owns a large portion of that town, as it is somewhat of a ghost town. Unfortunately, he does not own the Goldfield Hotel.
That's pretty cool. I want to visit the Neveda film sites. I found a number of them in Colorado and Utah. a couple are just a few miles from where I live in western Colorado.
1:44 *"all of the Challenger engines were **_technically_** still running…"* 😹👍
My Dad was the Cat consultant on the film. He drove the dozers. As a kid I got to watch the crash scene.
Very cool!
WOW. Do you have any pictures from back then ? Nick from Nick's Garage.
This is interesting. Fun fact: I first saw the movie when I was in Japan for the 13th Boy Scout World Jamboree in 1971. I was 16 yrs old. The dialog was in Japanese, with English subtitles. Every time there was profanity, these two older Japanese women would giggle! Side note: I first had Green Tea while in Japan, and loved it. After all these decades, I've never had it taste so good as back then.
I was in iwakuni in the marines then, saw it in kokasow theater . Iwas 18 at the time. got a 2016 challenger hellcat lic plate 00a5599!
Another short but sweet video with nothing but facts. Thank you again for clearing a few things up for me.
You're very welcome friend 😉👍
I clicked on this video just to make sure that you included the fact that a Camaro was used for the final scene.
:-D
First car was a 70 Challenger; my family bought it end of year for $2500 (new)...
"Stunt challenger"......gotta love it!
😉👍
Saw this film when it first came out in the UK,instantly fell in love with the Callenger,an even today its still by far and away my all time favorite car.Cant beat American muscle.
There is a part in the UK release that was cut from the Noth American release. It is the scene where he picks up a girl, who may actually represent death herself, played by Charlotte Rampling. Consider yourself lucky, as most of us across the pond have never seen it, or it took us decades to see it. Both versions are housed in the DVD release.
Best movie ever!
I REALLY miss that car!!
I love the fact they crashed a Camaro instead of a challenger 👍🏻
I saw it on TV the first time and thought, that hood is not right...
Obviously the producer was a mopar guy😂
I’m a Ford guy and I’m happy too. LOL
If you can't beat 'em, wreck 'em.
@@stratostatic …… mopars have wrecked countless camaros. 😂😂😂😂
THIS = The DVR Directors Cut has the movie on side one BUT SIDE 2 is the movie with the director narrating EACH SCENE - how it was chosen, set up, details of filming .... it is SO GOOD !
Fact number 11. Awesome movie
Indeed😉👍
That distant roar across the desert, that car ran like a boat on a lake, smooth. The way it took the divider ditch, like hitting the wake of a bigger boat, vrrooom, whoomp, vrooommmm
Thank you for using the correct "fact". In the commentary on the DVD, Richard Sarafian states there were 8 cars. However, both Carey Loftin and Barry Newman corroborated that there were in fact 5 in interviews/articles at least a decade before that commentary, so I would trust their memories over Sarafians.
So sad all of those cars were scrapped.
Great video as always mate!
Thanks much and glad you enjoyed it 😉👍
All I know is in the 70s I hired Morgan drive away to move my 1970 Alpine white challenger for me.
It's now 2023 and it still hasn't arrived, anyone have any ideas?
😁😁😁
Cool vid. We do like a '70 Challenger and Vanishing Point
I liked both of these movies love watching them when I can best car chase movies ever
🙂👍
I loved this car chase movie so much, I built the exact same car. Nick from Nick's Garage..
Awesome 😉👍
Yes, Nick you did one Helluva damn great job creating your '70 Challenger R/T, love the car, and love the show!!! I saw your car last year at The All Mopar Nationals at Carlisle Fairgrounds in Carlisle, Pennsylvania!!! Mopar Nate Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
This is such a cool series, love the videos! You should do it one on the 57 Chevy in Hollywood nights, and other cars in that movie
Thanks much, I'll add that one to my long list to look into. Thanks again 🙂👍
@@CarStarz42 How about the Two Lane Blacktop/American Graffiti 55 Chevy?
The '57 Chevy in Hollywood Knights was Hot Rod Magazine's "test car" if I remember correctly. Heard last they were going to electrify it..😢
@@MoparRob440 Already did a video on that one too and it's not EV anymore... czcams.com/video/DixSeAnCePc/video.html
Car would be a million dollar car at auction if someone had have had the foresight to save at least one of them
Indeed, however it was just a disposable prop to them back then unfortunately.
takes a mopar to catch a mopar yeah you can see the hood flying thru the air when the car hits the dozers that it wasn't the challenger "raisin bran" hood. EDIT- also if you reduce play back speed to .25 you can clearly see it was a camaro smashing into the dozers
great information thank you
Glad you enjoyed it 😊👍
Great job 👏
Thanks 🙂
I remember too in crash scene at end thier was different wheels on burning car when it hit dozers
Yes, they were stamped steel regular rims painted with chrome paint.
It looks like maybe the 1968 Dodge Polaras that were chasing the Challenger may possibly have been former California Highway Patrol Cars, but the front doors on each side were obviously painted black.
According to the "Making Of" video on the DVD for "Vanishing Point", there were actually EIGHT Challengers used during the making of the movie. But that's a minor detail, it was still an awesome movie. And the band at the revival meeting, Delaney and Bonnie and Friends, was pretty good too. It included Delaney and Bonnie Bramlett, Sam and Mary Clayton, Sam was, is, in Little Feat, and Mary sang the "Rape, Murder" lines in the song "Gimme Shelter" by The Rolling Stones, and also Rita Coolidge, a famous C&W singer.
I will say that 5 cars is the consensus that is out there among the Mopar world. 4 - 440 4 speeds and 1 383 Auto, as per this video. Don't forget Kim Carnes' contibution.
That was according to Richard Sarrafian. Prior to that, by at least a decade, both Barry Newman and Carey Loftin in interviews confirmed that there were 5 cars.
Check out the singer in the Costner movie The Guardian.
You make interesting videos. If there is any way to increase the volume of your voice over from your end, you ought to consider it.
Thank you, yeah I have been doing better on the voice to music volume balancing on more recent videos, thanks again 👍
I wished kowalski survived as a plot twist to make him look like he drived out earlier. Such a shame as would have been awesome for a part 2
If I remember correctly, there's a remake and Kowalski bailed out before the car hit the bulldozers, remake might have been mid 80s.
I came up with an alternate ending decades ago:
He screeches to a stop near the townsfolk/hippies. They surround him, protecting him and battle the police. A few people unseen by the police slip him out of the melee. They hurry him into the back of a station wagon, tell him to lay flat, and cover him with a blanket. The station wagon leaves town at the speed limit. As it starts to approach the vanishing point in the highway, the credits roll.
So, Kowalski survives, the Challenger survives, and the police get nothing.
In his mind he did......(or was going to)
Seen this film in the drive in
I think Kowalski told his dealer friend that the car was "hopped up to do 160 plus". Was that even possible back then to design an engine that could do that _without_ a supercharger?
I do not think so. I have the same car, same differential ratio of 3.54, and the same tires of back then. I drove nearly 100 MPH and let me tell you, it was not safe. Besides that, RPM's were way above 5.000
Glad they wasted a camaro into the cats instead of the challenger , 😉
My father got two new things in 1970. Me, and this exact car (even the same color).
I learned about the movie later in life. If your caption is right, and the movie was released in '71...then Kowalski copied my Dad, not the other way around.
The only Mistake MOPAR made was waiting until I was almost 40 to bring is a modern version to buy. But it wasn't too much of a mistake because I bought two of them. The second one was an upgrade to the SRT, once I realized they actually made a fast one.
Heard stories about the final crash scene, that the eng. was removed to make it fold up better into the dozers. Guess it was towed by an El Camino (?), but the alignment was off so much, it kept missing its target. Anyone?
It was indeed a fully stripped out Camaro packed with explosives that they slammed into the dozer, but it towed in at speed by the 383 powered stunt Challenger.
@@CarStarz42 Oh yeah. got it. Thanks for the reply.
...exactly as *stated in the video.*
The 383 powered challenger was used to tow the Camaro .
I seem to recall reading that the front wheels were toed in so that it rode the crest of the road.
How many picked the Camaro into the dozers. I did first time. And have seen the movie dozens of times since
Well, not the first time I watched it since I was a kid the first time I watched it; but when I re-watched it later down the road it became apparent 😉
@@CarStarz42 Yeah, if you slow it down just before impact you can see the Camaro taillights. And the hood that comes over the dozers after the crash is flat.
@@americantaxpayer4551 Indeed, those were what gave it away 😉
Some years ago was a remake shown on Tv. Viggo Mortensen played K. The end was more like the end in "Convoy".
You need to boost your volume for the descriptive portion of the video, and lower it for the "Fact #..." parts.
Thar has been corrected for more recent videos. Thanks.
Did you do a video on movie McQ (John Wayne)Pontiac Trans Am
Not yet, but it's indeed already on my to do list 😉👍
Maybe you could do a video on the Lincoln Continental used in "The Car". B grade movie, A grade car.
Already have friend; it was the first video I made for the channel in fact... czcams.com/video/FY4QyR509VI/video.html
How about the Two Lane Blacktop/American Graffiti 55 Chevy?
Yeah, will got to those too eventually 👍
The remake of this movie was kind of cheesy but the car scenes were good in it.
Saw one of the original cars at Floyd Garrett's muscle car museum in Sevierville Tn. many years ago, they never even washed it after the movie to make sure it was authentic looking.
All 5 of THE original VP Challengers from the first movie were returned to Chrysler and destroyed. They were only leased from Chrysler by the movie producers. None had VIN numbers so could not be sold. And Chrysler top brass did not like the fact the the Challengers were used by the bad guy running from the law and that left a black cloud over Chrysler Corp. so the cars were destroyed to help heal from the negative media. There was an interview on here with one of the original movie VP Challenger builder/mechanic to confirm that a few years ago. If there is a claimed " original authentic VP Challenger" somewhere it is either a fake or one from the second VP. Just like the original Bonnie and Clyde death car...you know there can only be ONE REAL ONE but there are like a dozen of them scattered around the US claiming to be THE one.
@@bultacowallyno, he's correct. I know the car he's talking about, but it isn't from this movie, it's from the 1997 remake. The ones from the original 1971 movie were crushed though, but I've never heard it was because of "negative publicity". Bad guys almost always drove Mopars in movies because they were cheap to purchase for the production companies.
Wen in doubt focus on cars 🚙
Too bad none of the cars survived.
Hollywood has committed a Mopar genocide! Vanishing point (both of them), Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry, The Dukes of Hazzard, Fast & Furious saga you name it!
It would be nice if you had a picture of an actual R/T there!!!
There was one car in the muscle car museum in sevirville, Tn. It was even cover with the dust from desert. They took right from the film to there. They had it roped off in back left corner of museum. I have a picture somewhere of it.
I just watched the remake of this movie on CZcams titled "Vanishing Point 1997". It is as good as the original with a little more story to it. I highly recommend you watch it.
Yeah, It's on my list to get to eventually as I don't think I ever actually watched it all.
@@CarStarz42 It's worth watching. I watched it after watching you're 10 Little Facts About Kowalski's '70 Challenger video.
@@01TA I still haven't got around to watching it, but most folks have told me it was actually good though, except you 🤔
You should remake this exact video, but with the 1997 remake challengers.
I still haven't got around to looking into the remake. Some people tell me it's great; others say not to bother with it. Either way, it is on my long list to look into at some point 😉👍
Berry passed away this week. Bummer.
Ahh rental cars ..yup gotta see what this baby will do...oh full coverage ok...
Death proof
Yep, already on my long to do list 😉 Thanks
The 67 Camaro they blew up would be worth more now than the Challenger
Perhaps. But it could have been a lowly 6 cyl Camaro not a Z- 28 or SS 396.
Naa I seriously doubt that just due to the fact there were/are way more old Camaros still around and E body Mopars are generally higher collector value.
In some alternate reality that only you live in
The super charger if it were real would have been a Paxton supercharger like used on the GT 350 Mustangs. Engine was supposed to be a 426 HEMI. Someone should make one just to see.
It was a 440 car. The 440 magnum hood call outs are there to see. Check certain driving scenes for a clear view and when he stops at Angel's place. The made for TV remake from 97 has it as a Hemi car.
Grand Spaulding Dodge put Paxton superchargers on a handful of 340 Demons in 1972. Apparently the car would haul ass
Didn't Kowalski say something about it having "an 871"? Which would imply it had a Weiand supercharger. It has been a long time since I watch it last though.
You could so clearly tell that it was a Camaro at the end!🤣🤣🤣
Indeed 😉
2 383 autos and 1 440 4 speed.
4 - 440 4 speeds 1 383 auto.
@@larrywilliams3858 wrong
@@johndillinger8482 no he's not...that according to the guy that was the head builder and mechanic of the original VP Challengers for the movie.
@@bultacowally wrong there was no head builder
RIP 1967 Camaro 🙏🤣
I'm just the messenger "but I read in a magazine that the producers of the movie chose too use a camaro instead of a challenger cause they liked the car that much , I think it was high performance mopar mag ? Just sayin 😉
Well then, how about this for confusing as there's remake/t.v. movie with the same name but more surprising has to be a match-up against 68 charger in the middle of the film was a unintentional cross over for both fans of bullitt and vanishing point movies anyway thanks for the video and have nice day bye now 😊😊.
Yeah, I had mixed feeling about that movie. Maybe I'll watch it again as I don't remember much about it now. Thanks
@CarStarz42 Great, i hope this will change your mind on the remake. Edit: Oh, i forgot that camaro was used at the end not the challenger when kowalski drove head on into bulldozer for 71 film but 97 remake is where they did same thing except now actually challenger got wreck in not so convincing way by parking junk 71 and blowing it up in front of bulldozer to fool us with heartbreak moment without checking out that junk challenger had different wheels on it 😂😂.
It’s ok that the 5 Challengers were destroyed. Pain is temporary; film is forever…
Well, technically nothing is "forever" unfortunately😏
Been a while since I saw the movie, but I swear there’s a scene where Kowalski needs a new oil pan and he tells the junkyard owner when asked what engine “426”. I was incredulous that a junkyard would have a 426 Hemi oil pan laying around. Can anyone confirm my recollection?
No such scene in the original anyways; maybe in the 90s remake perhaps? I didn't watch much of that one.
I do believe I remember that, but I think it was in the remake .. as forgettable as the remake was .
Increase your volume...hard to hear...lovecyour channel
Thanks. Yes, there was an audio volume issue on all videos prior to the California Kid video and CZcams doesn't let us swap in our own audio tracks or adjust decibel levels on already uploaded videos, therefore I can't fix it until they let us. Sorry about that.
I dont know if this fakt is true, but i remeber reding in a magazin, that one car was stollen by a prostitute, after a crew member wasnt abke to paye here 😂
That's certainly interesting and quite a wild story if true, lol 😁😉
b;own away childhood memories, sad ya !
horror upon horror. They destroyed a Camaro.
YOU LEFT OUT FACT #11: I saw this movie when it first came out with a girlfriend. It had the 2nd most stupid plot of any movie I've ever seen, next to "Mighty Mouse Battles Godzilla."
That was your mother. You have never had a girlfriend. Fact #12.
Dummy it's not about the plot it's about the car your prob not a car guy
I like your channel, but you're hard to hear! Perhaps work on your mixing?
Glad to hear you are enjoying it! Yeah the audio mixing is improved on more recent videos. Thanks 👍
Sorry that Chevy in a SS 396 would have eaten those mopars!
I had a Friend who used to deliver cars by driving them across several states to their new owners, from what He told me this movie was pretty accurate because they would abuse the hell out of the cars they were delivering.
In the movie "Gumball Rally" (1976), a guy who doesn't own a car utilizes a drive-a-way service to enter the Rally. He drives a Rolls Royce and bad things happen. He doesn't abuse the car, but many circumstances conspire against him.