Although it was supposed to be scrapped, the new 'owner' was reluctant to destroy this important car, and instead it was ultimately passed on to a colleague, Ray Evans, from Adelaide. The car then sat outside Ray Evans's scrap yard for more than three years, and was the subject of much interest. When a great fan of this film series, Bob Forsenko, spotted the car, he realised he had to have it, and after negotiations, Bob became the Falcon's new owner.

 

Bob recalled that the car was not in too bad a condition. The front end was smashed, as seen in the film, but generally the car was sound.

 

Off the car went to Franklin Side Crash Restorers where Tony and Mario Romeo went to work on the car. A number of months and $25,000 Australian dollars passed and the car was complete. The car was restored to its original former glory, but retaining the tanks fitted in the sequel.

 

Eventually Bob located Murray Smith, and managed to get a number of photos of the car with its registration number still fitted at the Kennedy Miller studios, and obtained confirmation that this was in fact the original car which Murray had built. Bob also obtained photos and information from Ray Evans confirming the cars authenticity.

 

Bob needed to recoup some of his outlay, so the Interceptor was put to work at shows and exhibitions. Bob first put it into the Launceston Show, charging a dollar each for a look. It was a phenomenal success.

 

The History Of The Interceptor
Part 4


The car became the museum's greatest attraction, which is not surprising, as the car must rank as THE most famous Australian car, with the Mad Max films being the most successful Australian film series. For some further pics from the Birdwood Museum, see Steve Pfeiffer's sub-page

 

In 1993 the World Forum for Motor Museums was held in Germany. One of the participants at the forum was John Cashen, the director and curator of the Birdwood Museum. Another was Dr Peter Nelson, the compulsive collector of film and TV vehicles and owner of 'Cars of the Stars Motor Museum' in Keswick, in the English Lake District.

 

Peter and John eventually met at the forum and when John mentioned that they had the Interceptor at their museum Peters ears pricked up. Although John would not disclose the name of the owner of the car, he promised he would pass on Peter's interest in the car to the owner.

 

Bob Forsenko phoned Peter one lunchtime and disclosed his asking price for the car. After a number of air mail letters and faxes, and after Peter had received documents and photographs proving conclusively that the car was the original one, a deal was struck.

 

The car now resides in 'Cars of the Stars Motor Museum' in England with other famous cars like The Batmobile, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, The Munster's Koach, Mr Bean's Mini, FAB 1, KITT, etc etc. However, the Interceptor is one of Peter's favourites. "This is the one and only Mel Gibson`s Mad Max Police Interceptor" says Peter, "Any others are obviously fakes, I wouldn't part with this car for a million Australian dollars simply because it is such an important car, although I hope someday it will return to its native lands because it is a big part of Australian history".

 

Mad Max !!


Did you know that there are 3 interceptors still left in Australia, and 2 are actually at a museum, and 1 owner fanatic still has one ?