With the death of Patrick Swayze (1952-2009), I thought that it would be a good idea to post about one of his movies and see if there are any cool classic car in them. 

Sky blue 1986 Mercedes Benz 560 SEC driven by Dalton (Patrick Swayze) in Road House

The one that stood out in my mind was Road House where Patrick Swayze played a bouncer named Dalton in a small town bar that’s overrun with corruption.  Alas, Dalton was no ordinary bouncer.  He had a philosophy degree and a practiced tai chi.  He used his expertise in both discipline to clean up the dirty bar.  You should be able to catch Road House on cable TV every once in awhile.  It’s always shown on the Spike Channel and TNN.

Deeply entrenched in the thoughts of many movie fans as a romantic icon from his blockbuster hits Dirty Dancing and Ghost, Patrick Swayze’s Road House has a special place in the hearts among his fans for being a movie so bad that it’s good.  It’s also a guy movie with lots of hot girls with big hair, bar fights with guys in mullets, monster trucks, and, of course, sweet cars.  Dalton drove a nice sky blue 1986 Mercedes-Benz 560 SEC.  Too bad it was destroyed.

RIP Patrick Swayze.

Pictures of Mercedes Benz 560 SEC

See Mercedes Benz 560 SEC for sale on eBay.

In the Transformers, I’m sure that you’ve noticed that the Autobots were mostly GM cars.  No other Big 3 cars were represented.  I was always curious why.  Perhaps Ford didn’t want to be associated with the bad guys?  We know for sure that Barricade was based on the 2007 Saleen Mustang S281 Extreme, a variant of Ford Mustangs.

Barricade as a 2007 Saleen Mustang S281 Extreme Police Squad Car in Transformers

In the movie, Barricade was tasked to find Sam Witwicky and he was doing this as a police car.  He was involved in high speed chases, mostly going mano-a-mano with Bumblebee’s Camaro.  Together, those two cars provided for some really fun thrills.

The Saleen Mustang S281 Extreme is a beast

I gotta be honest here.  I knew little of Saleen mustangs before the Transformers.  I’ve seen them in other movies and music videos and knew that celebrities and race car buffs like ‘em.  I’m glad because I’ve always preferred Mustangs over most sports cars.

Saleen Mustangs have been in production since 1984, in limited production.  In fact, since most cars Saleen produces are modded from Ford and other manufacturers, they’re all limited production.  Saleen is well known in the racing circuit especially with their flagship, S7, dubbed as the world’s fastest production car.

Now, the 2007 Saleen Mustang S281 Extreme is a great muscle car.  On paper alone, it seems like a real beast with a 4.6L, 3V, SOHC V-8 engine outputting 550 horsepower. 

It has a reputation as being the world’s fastest production Mustang.  It’s a really neat car!

Photos of Saleen Mustang S281 Extreme

See 2007 Saleen Mustang for sale on eBay.

Back when I was growing up, The A-Team was my favorite TV show.  I tuned in every week to see Hannibal (George Peppard), BA Baracus (Mr. T), Face (Dirk Benedict), and Murdock (Dwight Schulz) shoot it out with bad guys.  I suppose since the show centered around an elite-former-military-unit-now-mercenaries, shoot outs were inevitable and expected.  But what I liked best about the show were not the shoot outs themselves, since no one really died.  More than the shoot outs, I’ve enjoyed the preparations for pending confrontations with the villain of the week.  I liked watching the A-Team lay out traps, set up barricades, and manufacture a contraption while their theme song played.  Despite the “set up” scenes being played over and over again every week, I thought they were entertaining and I looked forward to seeing them every time.

The A-Team Van

BA Baracus (Mr. T) peeling off in the A-Team van

The A-Team would not have been complete without a dependable, kick ass transportation.  That’s where the black hot rod-like 1983 GMC Vandura with a distinctive red slash, rear spoiler, and mag wheels came in.  Many fans at the time, and today as well, coveted the A-Team van.  It was appropriately driven by BA Baracus, the muscle of the group who also served as a mechanic while in the military.

The  modded GMC Vandura was always involved in car chases or getaways that seemed to be appropriate for race cars.  Often there were screen shots of it peeling off, making tight turns, and, many times, jumping.  It went off-road in a few episodes as well.  And still, it came back week after week as fifth member of the A-Team.  Very dependable!  And very cool.

A-Team: The Movie

There’s a 2010 film project to release the A-Team as a big screen movie.  For now it lists Liam Neeson as Hannibal and Bradley Cooper as Face.  I’m curious on how they’ll make the van.  I hope it’s not an SUV.

Photos of GMC Vandura

See GMC Vandura Van for sale on eBay.