For sale -- a car that came out of the ark

“Look at this. It’s worthless -- ten dollars from a vendor in the street. But I take it, I bury it in the sand for a thousand years, it becomes priceless.” So says Belloq, the baddie in the first Indiana Jones movie, “Raiders of the Lost Ark.” The owners of this car aren’t going down the same dusty path.

It’s the Nazi staff car featured in that film’s famous chase scene and it is up for auction, with an expected selling price of somewhere between $60,000 and $80,000. Like most things in Hollywood, it isn’t what it seems. Although made to look like a 1937 Mercedes-Benz, it’s actually constructed from various bits of classic Jaguars. Indy would no doubt have deduced this had he known that Craig Hinton of Leaping Cats (based in Coventry, England), was the man tasked with creating this machine, but he never got to look underneath like he did with that Mercedes truck.

For carcheologists, Hinton bolted together a Mark V body over a Mark IX chassis, put in a 285-horsepower XKE engine and a four-speed manual transmission, then drove to it from England to Tunisia, north Africa, where the filming was taking place. It had to withstand the rigors of shooting a car chase and be capable of 120 mph. Like badges of honor, the rear passenger side still has a few dents that resulted from the car’s starring role.

It’s drivable too. Vital fluids have been replaced and the brake system (with discs front and rear) has been bled. The auction takes place on Dec. 11 at noon, Pacific time. Interested parties -- like Harrison Ford, perhaps? -- can put in a bid online at eBay live auctions or www.liveauctioneers.com. The car is currently on display at the Petersen Automotive Museum and is just one of over 500 lots going under the hammer as part of Profiles in History’s Hollywood #33 auction.

What would be really cool is if Indy’s magic pants were up for sale. Being dragged for hundreds of yards at high speed over a desert road and not one rip? What were they made of?

-- Colin Ryan

Photo: Profiles in History

Viva Speed Racer

For those who like their movies full of thrills and spills, with their colors over-saturated, Speed Racer could be just the thing. This is one of those instances where Western culture influenced Japanese culture, which in turn has become an American film.

A quick reverse to the starting position: Speed Racer is based on a Japanese anime series from the ’60s called Mach GoGoGo, created by Tatsuo Yoshida. His inspiration was Elvis Presley playing a race car driver in Viva Las Vegas and the trick, gadget-laden Aston Martin DB5 from the early Bond films.

Computer-generated imagery has now progressed to such a point that a live-action version could be made that still embraces some of the crazier, trippier ideas of the original animation, but takes the whole thing to another level. The Wachowski Brothers, creators of The Matrix Trilogy are the brains behind this project that stars Emile (Into The Wild) Hirsch, Matthew (Lost) Fox and Christina Ricci (who seems to become more gorgeous as she gets older).

The film’s official website has just posted four minutes of footage, which looks and sounds a whole lot better than the YouTube trailer. To see the rest, it’s not long until the film’s May 9 release date.

-- Colin Ryan

The Fast and the Furious IV: Hyundai's Genesis Coupe stars

The franchise known as The Fast and The Furious is heading for its fourth feature film. While the other three have been faintly funny (mostly in an unintentional way), the cars involved -- like the Nissan 350Z, Honda S2000, Mitsubishi Evolution and Mazda RX-7 -- exude their own brand of cool. Hyundai is hoping to have some of that charisma rubbing off on its new Genesis Coupe, one of the stars of TF&TF IV.

The thing is, those cars didn’t need the TF&TF movies half as much as the movies needed them. To use this dumbed-down series as a marketing tool may not be giving the Genesis its best start in life. But anything with a 3.8-liter V-6 driving the rear wheels has at least the potential to rise above such silliness.

On a more realistic note, Disney’s animation arm, Pixar, has announced that Cars 2 is coming down the pike in time for a summer 2010 release. Occupying the director’s chair on this occasion is Oscar-winning producer Brad Lewis (of Ratatouille and Antz fame) and the film will be in 3D animation. Which should be cool.

-- Colin Ryan

Photos: Hyundai and Disney/Pixar

GM and the Oscars -- What are you riding in?

Ahh the Oscars- an event renown as the 'apex of art' in film-making.  With a reputation for liberal mindedness and the world stage, why not show your "green" when it comes to the car you ride in?

General Motors decided to take full advantage of the green scene at this year's 80th Annual Academy Awards. The company will feature 75 "fuel friendly" vehicles in a staging area near the Kodak Theater in Hollywood.

Although nothing's yet confirmed, stars such as George Clooney, Cate Blanchett, Johnny Depp, Laura Linney, and Daniel Day-Lewis may end up stepping out of one of these vehicles on their way to the red carpet.

This, of course, is only a small piece of a larger vision GM has launched to spread the word about their fleet of environmentally conscious cars, trucks and SUV's in Hollywood. They did the same at the Grammy awards -- see the photo above of Cyndi Lauper on the Chevrolet Volt concept.

Chevy also joined Disney with "Chevy Rocks the Future." The program has been using a website and sweepstakes to entertain, engage, and educate the "generation neXt" of students and Hollywood personalities by introducing them to GM's environmental solutions and technologies as well as Chevy's gas-friendly to gas-free vehicles.  The highlight of the program was an event on Tuesday, February 19, featuring a live performance by the Jonas Brothers, the teen sensations from the Disney Channel series "Hannah Montana," with fellow Disney star Jordan Pruitt opening the concert.

The challenge to GM is to now actually build the "Concept Chevy Volt," their much publicized green vehicle which can be configured to run on electricity, gasoline, E85 or biodiesel.  That would putting their money where their marketing mouth is.

-Josh Hancock

VW Touareg, $40,000; "Bourne" adventure road trip, $2,000

Just in time for the DVD release of "The Bourne Ultimatum," the most recent entry in Matt Damon's wildly popular spy thriller series, comes this chance to drive like the star –- and to be pampered like one as well.

In the film, Bourne's signature car chase is in a Volkswagen Touareg -- the agile and tough cousin of the Porsche Cayenne. The DVD has a great "making of" section about the chase and Damon's training that car buffs and movie fans alike will love. Although the chase in the movie was through New York City, Volkswagen is offering a chance to do some Touareg racing and off-roading in style.

Knight in new armor

There's a new "Knight Rider" two-hour television movie coming soon to NBC (scheduled for Feb. 17), and it's updated in most every way. David Hasselhoff will make an appearance, but the 1982 Pontiac Firebird that was KITT will be replaced with new blood.

This is a new time with new technology, and, of course, General Motors no longer makes the Firebird, much to the chagrin of fans of both the car itself and the car as TV star.

For the 21st century, KITT (Knight Industries Three Thousand) has new powers and a new voice and is a different car: a Ford Mustang Shelby GT500KR. It now takes two forms and is capable of shifting shape and color, which requires computer-generated graphics and two distinctly designed cars. That means you go from the first design, a stock GT500KR, and morph to the second, the so-called Attack Car. Because there are no GT500KRs yet, the parts had to be shipped to Galpin Ford and its GAS shop in Van Nuys, the home of "Pimp My Ride," for the KRs to be assembled for filming.

Aston Martin DBS wins the part in next Bond

Aston Martin has announced that Daniel Craig will drive its new DBS in the next James Bond film, scheduled for release next November (working title: "Bond 22"). The Aston DBS is the car that debuted in "Casino Royale" last year with Craig at the wheel; in one memorable stunt scene, the car rolls seven times, making a Guinness world record.

The car companies and the product placement firms that represent them line up every time a Bond film is in play. The franchise is a big fish in the world of product placement. It draws both money and unseen prototypes out of the design studios, cars that otherwise are not on the table for other films, no matter how big. Such is the Bond mystique vis-a-vis cars.

Holiday gifts for a Hollywood executive: Part 1

OK, my buddy Colin has listed the best holiday gifts for gearheads, and it's really a great selection. But what do you get that studio executive, power agent or manager that's not only touching but also gives the recipient a competitive edge in Hollywood?

Why not Kaneko Sangyo’s portable toilet for use inside the car? (Really!) I’ll bet Ari Emanuel already has at least one. The man seems to be on top of every major deal in Hollywood, so who knows? Maybe this thing is his secret time saver.

1968 Product placement in 2008?

What -- yet another Mustang story? Believe it or not, this one takes its cue from 40 years ago, and the question: Can you really sell a car based on a movie from 1968? Ford Motor Co. thinks so.

Of course, Ford’s present Mustang body is a modern take on the iconic ’67–’68 model. People ask me whether the folks in Dearborn, Mich., can keep squeezing blood from a stone, offering still more variants of the Mustang. Well, in this case, I think the answer is yes. Because, unlike almost all of the other versions, this one is about understatement, not overstatement -- that is a whole different buyer. It's image, it's the cool factor, and it's McQueen.

Nissan GT-R: The car as star

Never mind the A-list celebs. Lately it seems that the newest velvet-rope crasher isn't even human (of course, at times I wonder about some of the stars too)! No, the hottest guest at flashy Hollywood parties is the Nissan GT-R. Last week it was the video game rollout, and this week outdid even that bash.

Here's the setup: I'm on a soundstage on the 20th Century Fox lot. It has been transformed into a nightclub with a concert stage. Drinks flowing with lighted ice cubes, photography from legendary rock 'n' roll photographer Jim Marshall hanging on the walls, and there, along with Paris Hilton, David Spade and the rest of the young Hollywood glitterati, a new GT-R is rotating center stage, while DJ Samantha Ronson is spinning. Then came a live performance onstage by Matchbox Twenty. This is one high-ticket party.