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Automotive Lifestyle
VINTAGE: Green Hornet’s Black Beauty At Barrett-Jackson
The 1965 Chrysler Imperial movie prop car, won in a raffle by an Army private, hits the block at the Las Vegas auction.
We’ve seen plenty of famous TV and movie cars pass through Barrett-Jackson auctions over the years – various Batmobiles, General Lee from Dukes of Hazzard, Jed Clampett’s truck from Beverly Hillbillies, the Sanford and Son pickup, the Ghostbusters ambulance, the Monkeemobile, among others. But here’s an instant classic from a modern film that seems to go beyond the limits: the aggressive Black Beauty from the 2011 movie The Green Hornet.
A survivor from the making of the action film, the ominous midnight-black 1965 Chrysler Imperial Crown outfitted with weaponry for Green Hornet duty made its appearance Saturday on the auction block at Barrett-Jackson’s Las Vegas event, where it sold for $55,000, including buyer fee.
This is a fully equipped and customized Black Beauty, and it comes with such realistic crime-fighting features as twin machine guns mounted on its hood, rocket launchers hidden behind the front and rear bumpers, and a flame thrower in the grille. No, they’re not genuine weapons, though they sure look that way.
There were 29 Imperials used in the making of the film, but most of them were battered, blown up or wrecked in action stunts. This car was never subjected to such abuse and survived the filming in pretty much ideal condition – one of just three that made it through intact and the only one with all the weaponry deployed.
The Black Beauty belongs to a 28-year-old Army private from Tualatin, Ore., a Portland suburb. And the way Jonathon Hanington obtained the impressive movie prop car is no less fascinating than the custom Imperial itself.
According to his grandfather, Bob Hanington, who will accompany the Black Beauty to Las Vegas while his grandson is serving in Afghanistan, the entire adventure started out with a burger and soda at a Carl’s Jr. restaurant.
“Apparently, Sony Pictures gave the right to give the car away to the restaurant firm that owns Carl’s Jr. and Hardees, and they had a national raffle for it,” the elder Hanington said.
“He (Jonathon) entered that raffle just on an impulse. A couple weeks later, they called and said he’d won.”
The Black Beauty was the grand prize of the nationwide sweepstakes, “The Key to Black Beauty,” conducted by Sony Pictures, Dr. Pepper and CKE Restaurants from Nov. 17, 2010, to Jan. 11, 2011. A number of prizes were available, all chosen by random numbers on the bottom of drink cups.
A surprised Jonathon picked up the custom Imperial in March 2011 at his hometown Carl’s Jr., where the restaurant staged a party for the handing over of the keys. Because of the Hollywood modifications, the car is not street legal, but it certainly has been fun to have around, said the elder Hanington, adding that the car is kept in the garage at his home.
“It’s really intriguing,” he said. “It’s a 1965 Chrysler Imperial, about 22 feet long. It’s heavy and has suicide doors. They have some weapons mounted inside the doors. The dashboard looks like a spaceship dashboard. Rockets in the bumpers, a flamethrower, two machine guns, rockets in the back. It’s just a big, heavy, awesome-looking vehicle. It’s one-of-a-kind.
“We’ve driven it around the block here. It has green headlights and Green Hornet emblems all over the place.”
But the family decided that now was the time for the Black Beauty to move on down the road, he said. “We discussed it for quite some time and decided that Barrett-Jackson would give us the fairest value.”
This will be his first time attending a Barrett-Jackson auction, he added, although he’s watched SPEED’s live broadcasts on TV.
A survivor from the making of the action film, the ominous midnight-black 1965 Chrysler Imperial Crown outfitted with weaponry for Green Hornet duty made its appearance Saturday on the auction block at Barrett-Jackson’s Las Vegas event, where it sold for $55,000, including buyer fee.
This is a fully equipped and customized Black Beauty, and it comes with such realistic crime-fighting features as twin machine guns mounted on its hood, rocket launchers hidden behind the front and rear bumpers, and a flame thrower in the grille. No, they’re not genuine weapons, though they sure look that way.
There were 29 Imperials used in the making of the film, but most of them were battered, blown up or wrecked in action stunts. This car was never subjected to such abuse and survived the filming in pretty much ideal condition – one of just three that made it through intact and the only one with all the weaponry deployed.
The Black Beauty belongs to a 28-year-old Army private from Tualatin, Ore., a Portland suburb. And the way Jonathon Hanington obtained the impressive movie prop car is no less fascinating than the custom Imperial itself.
According to his grandfather, Bob Hanington, who will accompany the Black Beauty to Las Vegas while his grandson is serving in Afghanistan, the entire adventure started out with a burger and soda at a Carl’s Jr. restaurant.
“Apparently, Sony Pictures gave the right to give the car away to the restaurant firm that owns Carl’s Jr. and Hardees, and they had a national raffle for it,” the elder Hanington said.
“He (Jonathon) entered that raffle just on an impulse. A couple weeks later, they called and said he’d won.”
The Black Beauty was the grand prize of the nationwide sweepstakes, “The Key to Black Beauty,” conducted by Sony Pictures, Dr. Pepper and CKE Restaurants from Nov. 17, 2010, to Jan. 11, 2011. A number of prizes were available, all chosen by random numbers on the bottom of drink cups.
A surprised Jonathon picked up the custom Imperial in March 2011 at his hometown Carl’s Jr., where the restaurant staged a party for the handing over of the keys. Because of the Hollywood modifications, the car is not street legal, but it certainly has been fun to have around, said the elder Hanington, adding that the car is kept in the garage at his home.
“It’s really intriguing,” he said. “It’s a 1965 Chrysler Imperial, about 22 feet long. It’s heavy and has suicide doors. They have some weapons mounted inside the doors. The dashboard looks like a spaceship dashboard. Rockets in the bumpers, a flamethrower, two machine guns, rockets in the back. It’s just a big, heavy, awesome-looking vehicle. It’s one-of-a-kind.
“We’ve driven it around the block here. It has green headlights and Green Hornet emblems all over the place.”
But the family decided that now was the time for the Black Beauty to move on down the road, he said. “We discussed it for quite some time and decided that Barrett-Jackson would give us the fairest value.”
This will be his first time attending a Barrett-Jackson auction, he added, although he’s watched SPEED’s live broadcasts on TV.
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