Black Beauty Comes to Town

So I get this email from Lindsay Lanier from Allied Integrated Marketing who tells me that Black Beauty is coming to Memphis for a couple of quick stops for one day and she has invited me out to take a look at this thing and even drive it, if I would like to.  Hot Dog!  I am so there.

 If the car looks kinda familiar to you, it should.  This is the Chrysler Imperial used by The Green Hornet and Kato.  One of the onlookers said that this appeared to be a one in a million car.  Actually, it's a one in thirty car since there were about that many made for the upcoming Columbia Pictures film opening Friday, January 14.  More specifically, there were only a two or three cars made that were actually drivable.  And this is one of them and is actually in a few scenes in the movie. 

Lindsay was kind enough to send me the low down on this car:

“Black Beauty” is a 1964-1966 CHRYSLER IMPERIAL that features: GM PERFORMANCE ZZ454 500HP CRATE MOTOR, RACE TRANS TURBO 400 MANUAL VALVE BODY TRANSMISSION, MOSER FORD 9 INCH REAR DIFFERENTIAL W/4.56 GEARS & DETROIT LOCKER, 4 WHEEL 12 INCH DISC BRAKES, TWIN CALIPERS IN REAR FOR STUNTS, SPEEDWAY ENGINEERING FRONT & REAR SWAY BARS, ART CARR SHIFTER, HOOKER HEADERS, FLOWMASTER MUFFLERS, COYES 20X10 REAR WHEELS 20X9 FRONT, GOODYEAR TIRES, OFF ROAD UNLIMITED REAR DROP SPRINGS, TUBULAR PANHARD BAR AND TRACTION BARS, REBUILT FACTORY FRONT SUSPENSION DROPPED 3 INCHES, 12-GALLON JAZ FUEL CELL, DEMON 750CFM CARBURETOR, K&N AIR CLEANER, MSD DISTRIBUTER AND 6AL BOX, BE-COOL ALUMINUM RADIATOR, TWIN OPTIMA BATTERIES, AUTOMETER GAUGES, GRANT STEERING WHEEL, TOMMY LEE STEERING BOX, MARCH ENGINE ACCESSORY DRIVE SYSTEM, EARLS TRANSMISSION COOLER, PAINT AND BODY WORK BY JACK’S AUTO BODY, CLEAR GLASS FROM ALLEN AUTO GLASS, and INTERIOR BY REUBENS AUTO UPHOLSTERY.

 
 If you'll notice, this car is a Chrysler Imperial but it is composed of several Imperials, from 1964 to 1966.  The front doors are suicide doors and there has been some chopping here and there to get the look they were after.  For the fun part, here's what Black Beauty has to offer:

WEAPONRY FEATURED ON “BLACK BEAUTY”

•     2 hood mounted, retractable .30 Caliber M1919 Browning Machine Guns - cartridge-fed

•     8 FIM-92A Stinger Missiles - front bumper loaded

•     1 M2 Grill mounted Flamethrower – modified

•     2 Benelli M2 20 Gauge Shotguns loaded with non-lethal, kinetic impact munitions rifles (rubber bullets / beanbags) - mounted in the light bezels

•     4 FIM-92A Stinger Missiles - rear bumper loaded

•     1 .30 Caliber M1919A6 Browning Machine Gun on tripod mount – trunk

•     2 Retractible front wheel anti-riot spikes

•     6 AR-15, 12 Gauge modified door guns - inset 3 per front suicide door

 

 Just so you know.  Everything inside this car is pure fiction.  My flipping of switches and pushing of buttons yielded no explosions or anything of the like.  However, it did not take away from the fun of driving this thing.  It handles much like you would expect a car of this age would.  It's a bit sluggish off the start takes big sweeping turns.  To me, the amusing thing was that for some reason, people in this city weren't too concerned with the two machine guns mounted on the hood.  It was as if people had seen them all their lives.

The movie is going to be released in 3D and looks to be a lot of fun.  Especially since this car seems to play a rather large role in the story.  Here's a little teaser.



And because you are good people... here's another.



Stay Tuned!