Jonathon Hanington leans on Black Beauty, the piece of Hollywood history from the movie "The Green Hornet" that he won by entering a Carl's Jr. national sweepstakes nathon Hanington was hoping, at best, to win some sort of electronic gadget when he went online and entered the code from the drink cup he bought at aCarl’s Jr.in Vancouver over the holidays.
Alas, not even a calculator popped up on the computer screen at his mother’s, where he was staying at the time.
Three weeks later, however, everything changed when the 27-year-oldTualatinresident got what he initially thought was a prank telephone call informing him that he had won something after all.
A piece of Hollywood history, no less.
His only problem now is figuring out how to fit “Black Beauty,” the sleek, onyx-black car featured in the recent hit movie, “The Green Hornet,” into his garage.
“I still can’t quite believe it,” Hanington said. “I think it’s the first time I’ve ever actually won anything.”
Hanington was on hand to collect his winnings Friday afternoon at a Carl’s Jr. on Southwest Tualatin-Sherwood Highway -- a 1965 Chrysler Imperial with twin, realistic-looking hood guns and front and rear bumper rockets.
Just the sort of equipment, in other words, to make for a smooth commute.
Obviously, the faux weaponry is only for show. But that’s fine with Hanington, because he doesn’t plan to ever drive the 20-foot-long cruiser, anyway.
“It’s not street-legal, but I chose it because it’s worth a lot more than the street-legal model they also offered me,” he said. “I’m thinking that I’ll just hang on to it for awhile and figure out what to do next.”
Options the unemployed, full-time nursing student is considering include leasing the car to automobile shows or putting it in an auto dealership’s showroom for advertising purposes.
The vehicle is worth $275,000, said Jeanne Beach, a spokeswoman associated with the national contest. The street-legal model Hanington could have had, by contrast, is valued at about $254,000.
The car has plenty of street cred, so to speak. It’s one of 29 used in the filming of “The Green Hornet,” which starred Seth Rogen, Jay Chou and Cameron Diaz.
Of the initial line up of cars, only three survived the movie’s numerous stunts, rollovers and explosions. This particular car, as an added bonus, is the one that Rogen and Chou used to practice stunt driving prior to filming, Beach said.
“It’s a pretty cool piece of the movie that Jonathon’s getting,” she said.
Hanington’s only obligation, in return, was signing an affidavit saying he would make himself available for publicity purposes.
Robert Hanington, Jonathon’s grandfather, joined a cluster of restaurant-goers and others Friday in milling about the car and photographing it from every conceivable angle.
“This is really going to draw a crowd when you drive it to school Monday,” he told is grandson.
“Yeah, right,” the younger Hanington said.
“Well, at least we ought to be entitled to free hamburgers for life, right?” Robert Hanington said.
In fact, the holiday meal that triggered the windfall consisted of a Double Western Burger and a tall soda.
“After I finished it, I just happened to notice the code on the cup and thought, what the heck,” Jonathon Hanington said. “I’ll go online and see if I get an instant win.
“I was only interested in the electronic gadgets they showed. I had no interest in the car at all.”
Since then, he has made it a point to see the movie, which he described as, “pretty good.”
The film traces all the way back to a1936 radio showabout Britt Reid – a “daring newspaper publisher” – who teams with a similarly masked partner and confidant, Kato to fight crime.
A short-lived, 1960s television series of the same name featured the late Bruce Lee as Kato and the largely forgotten Van Williams as Reid.
Hanington, however, was not nearly as concerned with the series’ long and illustrious history Friday as he was with keeping the car safe until the future date that he wins his own personal lottery by selling it.
“I don’t expect anything to happen to it,’’ he said, laughing, “except maybe my grandmother running into it.”
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