The Green Hornet's new (old) car (Wired UK)

This article was taken from the February issue of Wired magazine. Be the first to read Wired's articles in print before they're posted online, and get your hands on loads of additional content by subscribing online

Dennis McCarthy is the engineer behind some of Hollywood's most extraordinary cars. In his role as "picture car coordinator" he has supplied iconic vehicles for Death Race, Die Hard 4.0, and The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift.

McCarthy, 43, recently lent his car-hunting and modding skills to The Green Hornet, an action-comedy film starring Seth Rogen and Jay Chou, based on the TV and comicbook superhero with a very recognisable ride.

"The Green Hornet doesn't have superpowers," says McCarthy. "Instead he uses his car as a tool." Named "The Black Beauty", it has two pop-up Gatling guns under the bonnet, missile launchers in the front and rear bumpers, machine guns in the door jamb, a flamethrower in the radiator grille, and a mounted gun concealed in the boot.

The production team rejected offers from several car manufacturers in favour of using Chrysler's Imperial Crown sedan -- the 1966-67 TV show used a 1966 model. McCarthy hunted down 29 of the vintage vehicles (1964-66 models).

Collecting the cars was no mean feat. Each weighs around three tonnes, so they are worth a fortune in scrap metal. "Most were in a horrible condition, rusting in farmyards and so on," says McCarthy. "We gathered them from all over North America."

Having assembled his fleet, McCarthy restored and then modified each car to fit very different purposes. Then he set about progressively destroying them. One car was rigged to be lightweight enough to be launched out of a window. Others were equipped to undertake jumps, be chopped in half, survive a truck collision and get riddled with bullet-holes. The really unlucky ones were given 500-horsepower Chevrolet V8 engines and racing brakes for chase scenes. So how many survived? "The chases destroyed most of them," says McCarthy. "Only three remain intact."

Source: http://www.wired.co.uk