- Ford Australia teams with Top Gear Australia to create pair of modern-day Interceptor concepts in connection with the upcoming filming of Mad Max 4: Fury Road.
- Top Gear readers will vote on their favorite Interceptor concept.
- The new concepts, from Ford designers Nima Nourian and Simon Brook, feature up-to-date weaponry.
MELBOURNE, Australia — Bad guys look out! Mad Max is back, and so is his spectacular Interceptor — in fact, two Interceptors.
It is more than 30 years since Hollywood director George Miller's original Mad Max movie, starring Mel Gibson and a jet-black Ford XB Falcon coupe-based Interceptor, hit movie screens around the world in 1979.
Now, Miller has begun preproduction for a new Mad Max flick, tentatively called Mad Max 4: Fury Road. To mark the occasion, Ford Australia, in partnership with Top Gear Australia magazine, has unveiled not one, but two outrageous new Mad Max Interceptor concepts packed with mind-stretching technology and weaponry that should satisfy the most demanding Mad Max fan.
Chris Svensson, the Melbourne-based design director for Ford Asia, Pacific and Australia, led the design effort, saying, "Our entire team was very excited to be involved in this after-hours project and they approached it with a great deal of enthusiasm — even those that were too young to remember the first Mad Max movie. We had a special screening of the original movie so they could understand it."
The team created several way-out concepts that pay homage to styling cues from the original XB Falcon Coupe Interceptor. The two concepts that have been chosen to feature in the April issue of Top Gear Australia magazine, designed by Nima Nourian and Simon Brook, take body design, power sources and weaponry to a futuristic level. Top Gear readers will be invited to vote on which design Ford should take to the next level.
In the meantime, the bad guys better look out. The concepts are bristling with such gadgets as an industrial-strength taser to zap the baddies on bikes and wheels with vehicle-shredding extendable spikes.
Miller hopes to begin filming Fury Road in early 2012. According to the Internet Movie Data Base, the film is expected to star Charlize Theron, Zoe Kravitz, Teresa Palmer and Nicholas Hoult.
Inside Line says: As Fifi would say: "They say people don't believe in heroes anymore. Well, damn them! You and me, Max, we're gonna give them back their heroes!" — Mike Jarvis, Correspondent
Add A Comment »
k55 says:
09:34 AM, 04/05/2011
Woohoo...that is a serious looking piece of kit. Very Very cool looking..........and perfect to go after the Toe Cutter's son in.
mklrivowner says:
05:04 AM, 04/05/2011
Needs to be a dirty grity coupe with hard edges and a massive blower. A Mustang would work perfectly, but it's a little too iconic for the Mad Max world. Maybe a 2-door variant of the Falcon.
cz_75 says:
11:54 PM, 04/04/2011
A Holden Commodore w/ a blower sticking out the hood would be more in line w/ what the MM Interceptor was about
mce63 says:
06:32 PM, 04/04/2011
The cars look great. But they are not the Interceptor. Police cars are production sedans that see lots of hard miles. Throw in the setting of the Mad Max world and it would look even more rough. They should take a new Taurus or Mustang, strip it out, and beat it up if they want the right look.
I just got my drivers license when Mad Max came out. The movie really gripped my testosterone and speed junkie mind. I'd love to see a new Mad Max movie, but honor the original. Don't just slap the name on to a generic chase movie that came out of the screenplay machine. After the Thunderdome, you owe us that.
angry_mushroom says:
05:59 PM, 04/04/2011
Who runs bartertown?
blurglide says:
05:53 PM, 04/04/2011
If this is to be a sequal and not a reboot, the cars should look pretty much the same but even more battered and worn out. There are no car factories in that story.
the_enthusiast says:
01:59 PM, 04/04/2011
But-- Mad Max is supposed to be set in a more "punk-apocalyptic" sort of world. This looks straight out of Minority Report, or even Blade Runner...
tberry1 says:
01:45 PM, 04/04/2011
According to Wikipedia a Falcon is a species of Raptor ....able to fly at high speeds and to change direction rapidly ....some may reach speeds of 200 MPH......Falcons have exceptional powers .....I WANT ONE !!!!
f1ndler says:
09:34 AM, 04/04/2011
I think this is the most evil looking car I've seen.
rexall says:
09:23 AM, 04/04/2011
A little too futuristic looking for my liking. Where does anyone find police cars that look like this? Also, new gadgets? Is this James Bond or Mad Max?