Chapter of ITC, VTCI Publication of the LONG ISLAND THUNDERBIRD CLUB FEBRUARY 2008

Transcription

1 Chapter of ITC, VTCI Publication of the LONG ISLAND THUNDERBIRD CLUB FEBRUARY 2008 Sal Furnari s 1965 T-Bird Charlie Steuer s 1962 T-Bird Mike Foran s 1966 T-Bird Joe Apicella s 1972 Torino Elliott Weiner s 1976 T-Bird Ed Bornshein s 1960 T-Bird 1

2 2008 BOARD OF DIRECTORS LITC Web Site: NO Internet access? Call ANTIQUE ( )

3 American Gangster Written by Elliott Weiner Technical Assistance by Dennis Benfante Edited by Arlene Swenson OK, Sports fans, November 2nd has come and gone, and so has the premiere of American Gangster. For the eight of us who participated in the movie and after viewing it have been disappointed in not seeing any of our cars except for Ed Bornschein and his Square Bird, such is life in the big city The next few pages or paragraphs, which ever come first will give you my views of my three visits to the making of the movie with my Thunderbird. So, as I have said many times before, get in, sit down, shut up (Rudy hates when I tell people to shut up) and hold on - this could be interesting On or about September of 2006 I received a phone from Sara Riggs of Universal Studios, seeking cars for a new movie called American Gangster. She wanted cars from the years 1962 through 1974, and did not care of the condition of the vehicle. They did not want any red or white cars, because those colors do not photograph well on camera. They would be paying in excess of three hundred dollars a day for a twelve hour shift, and you would be driving your own car. If you went to overtime, the pay would be fifty dollars an hour. After digesting the numbers, I told her my car was a seventy-six, but looked exactly like a seventy-four. She said no problem, and she would get back to me when they are ready to start. Again some of the dates are a little fuzzy (I m old and forget stuff) but my first shoot was around October, and it was off to the Bronx I go, with my partner in crime Dennis Benfante. I asked Dennis if he would accompany me, because I m not familiar with the Bronx, and he knows the city pretty well. Start time for the first day was 6 or 7 AM, and we left the Island about 4-ish just to be safe. day, a lot of doing nothing. We were sent to wardrobe and were fitted with seventies type of apparel, and then we just hung out for many hours. We parked on a street were they were shooting a scene where Russell Crowe, drives his unmarked police car down the street to meet a drug dealer. They must have shot this scene a dozen times, and my car just sat there. Also, Crowe s car blew a brake line. They have their own techs on site, and within fifteen minutes or so he was back in the driver s seat. Even though Universal had over a dozen cars of people like me on site, they also had their own fleet of wrecks, which they did use in the movie. I was also given licenses plates of the era to replace the ones that were on my car. As the first day progressed into dusk we where asked to move to another location near- by. We sat there for a couple of hours. We met and talked to a guy with a Hertz Mustang that was being used for the movie. Fourteen hours later we were done, and heading home. Day two: Second Shoot/160 th Street & Lenox Avenue Denzels Character Frank Lucas Gets married: Another early day, but this time No Dennis yes, I m flying solo. Believe it not I was never been in Harlem in my life, and I was a little taken back by the whole process. Upon my arrival at Lenox and 160 th Street, whom do I find but Ed Borschein, Mike Foran, and Charlie Steuer? I thought I was at a club meeting, and where s the pizza. The afore mentioned members (Continued on page 9) When we arrived on set, we were greeted by the head person Ramona (Just think of Jackie Gleason saying: Ramona ), She explained to us the game plan for the

4 LITC Scheduled Outdoor Meetings 2008 Saturday, April 14th Farmingdale Burger King Hicksville Tuesday, May 13th - Location TBA Thursday, June 19th- Oakdale Wendy s Tuesday, July 15th - TBA Monday, August 4th -West Islip Mc Donald s Wednesday, Sept.17th TBA LITC Scheduled Indoor Meetings 2008 LITC meets the 3rd Tuesday of Every Month 7:00 P.M. February 26th, 2007(4th Tue of Feb.) March 18th, 2008 October 21st, 2008 November 18th, TONY/LITC Holiday Party January th, CLUB STORE For Merchandise Call Elliott Weiner (631) Club Jackets - Teal Satin w. Logo Front & Back - $95 Pre-Order Denim Jackets - All Sizes - $40 Cotton Twill Adjustable Hats - $15 Pro Mesh Adjustable Hats - $20 Short Sleeve Henley Shirts with Logo - Assorted Colors - $20 Ceramic Mugs with Club Logo - $3.50 Grey Sweat Shirts Embroidered, with Club Logo - 9 oz - $15.00 Club T-Shirts - $10 4

5 2700 LONG BEACH ROAD OCEANSIDE, NEW YORK (516) SUSAN & JIMMY C 5

6 Cruise Listings These are car club gatherings in various locations on Long Island. (Spring - Summer - Fall) For more information call Elliott Weiner (631) MONDAY Long Island Road Gents Stop & Shop - Union Blvd. E. of Higbe Lane West Islip TUESDAY Town of Oyster Bay - Main Street Bald Hill - Farmingville WEDNESDAY KFC - William Floyd Parkway - Shirley THURSDAY Oakdale at Wendy s on Montauk Highway Village of Lynbrook - Street Show (Atlantic Ave.) King Kullen Shopping Center - Rt. 25A, Wading River FRIDAY Bellmore Train Station Parking Lot Sunrise Highway & Bellmore Ave. to Bedford Ave. Massapequa RR Station (Sponsored by Town of Oyster Bay) SATURDAY Holtzville - PAL Complex Kohls Shopping Center - Deer Park SUNDAY Captree Boat Basin AM Cruise Event Schedule 2008 Easter Parade, Garden City - Sunday, March 23rd (Contact - Nick Matteo (516) ) Ford Nationals Carlisle, Pa. June 6-8 (Contact - Elliott Weiner (631) ) Westbury Gardens - Sun. June (Contact - Elliott Weiner (631) ) N. Jersey T-Bird Show - Sat. June 14th (Contact - Elliott Weiner (631) ) Thunderama - Sunday, June 15th, 2008 New England Thunderbird Club (Contact - Elliott Weiner (631) ) Crossbay Cruisers Classics at Able Ford & Mustang Showdown Sunday, July (Rain date July ) Thunderbird/Ford Syosset Ford Sun. July 20th Sayville Street Fest - Sunday, August 3rd ITC Convention - August Nashville,TN Cruzin for a Cure - Sunday, Sept. 7, 2008 Veterans Affairs Medical Center Northport Wednesday, September 24th (Contact - Elliott Weiner (631) ) LITC PICNIC - Saturday, Sept. 20, 2008 Bethpage State Park Willy s October Fest - TBA LITC Holiday Party January, 2009 HAPPY BIRTHDAY Chester Strucker - Feb. 1st Bob Mench - Feb. 2nd Nick Matteo - Feb. 8th Robert Eccleston - Feb. 10th Jay Shampaner - Feb. 13th Rat Driscol - Feb. 19th 6

7 Buy & Sell (continued) For Sale: 1962 Thunderbird Hardtop, Low mileage on rebuilt engine and transmission, Fresh paint. Losing garage. Make an offer. Jay (516) Buy & Sell Parts for Sale: Ford Thunderbird, New Drivers Side Quarter Repair Panel, motors, transmissions, rears, fenders, hoods, trunk lids, glass, interior. Parts bought and sold. Frank Del Rossi (704) For Sale: 1962 T-Bird, 58,500 miles, 390 cubic in. engine, automatic, ps, pb, Ivory Quartz White with turqoise vinyl interior, AM radio, almost new paint, rebuilt engine and transmission, wife s nice car. Make an Offer Jay ( ) WANTED: Garage - Dry, Secure, Accessible, Affordable Location: Queens or Western Nassau Ros (718) For Sale: 1955 T-Bird, pw st, pw seats, pw w, pw brakes, V-8, Auto, 6V Bat, Robin s egg blue. Runs well once started, Good condition. Needs interior work and cosmetics. Car can be seen in Rockville Center. 81,000 actual miles. $15,000 adinorth@aol.com or call (646) For Sale: 1971 Thunderbird, Metallic Brown, 4 door, 429 cu. in. engine, PS, PB, Auto Trans, AC, Vinyl Top, Leather Interior $3,500 or best offer Rudy Bauer (516) For Sale: 1988 Thunderbird with 8,400 original miles. 5 Speed Transmission, well equipped, leather interior. This car never saw rain or snow. $14,000 Roseann McFadden (631)

8 PRESIDENT S MESSAGE Hello and Good Bye I hope you will enjoy this month s special edition of AG, and because of the article there is limited amount of space for the norm.. So I will be brief 2008 LITC Dues. A reminder: if you have not paid your dues, please do so now. I want to thank the (50) members who already have renewed their membership. Your cooperation has been over whelming. ing the Newsletter: To make things easier for all concerned, I have taken over the ing of Bird Talk. The question is what that means to you. If you re on the club ing list for the newsletter, and a month goes by and bingo no newsletter, please call me directly. Sunday February 10 th at the South Bay Diner in Lindenhurst/Breakfast with the Boss: 9 AM is game time, everything is Dutch, and if the weather is nice, bring your car. February 26 th Indoor Bertucci s: Another reminder and we may have a guest speaker. Game time again is 7 PM Mustang for Sale: I m in the process of selling my 87 Mustang Convertible. It is 5.0, 5 speed, with a plethora of goodies. Over $15,000 invested, Jay McHugh painted it, and my son Marc, and Jay built it. If you re interested, call me, or you can go on our web site for pictures, and text. Peace Elliott Weiner Please Patronize our Advertisers 8

9 American Gangster (Continued from page 3). lucked out for most of the day, by just being parked by the church or across from it. Off to wardrobe, for a hat and jacket. On this day Frank Lucas gets married, and my role was to go around the block where the church is, and around, and around, and again. Do you know how hard is to go around a city block in Manhattan, during the peak of the day? A two minute drive, turns into a half an hour. Plus the police are holding up traffic for the movie. Where is Steve McQueen when you need him? At one point they wanted me to make a left at the church, and a left again by the island in the middle of Lenox, and come by the church again. I told them it ain t happening, because my car has very little turning radius. On this day I got a glimpse of Denzel, but only a glimpse. We where instructed not to talk to the actors, and no pictures. I finished about five, and hung around until seven, because of the rush hour traffic. When I left the set, and was heading home, by taking 125 th Street to the Tri Boro Bridge, I had people yelling and screaming, and thumbs up as I headed towards the bridge. Day Three a Night Shot at Sutton Place Between 53 rd & 59 th Street in Manhattan: This is my swan song, but the interesting of all the shoots. Dennis was back after a day off, and we arrived at the set around five P.M. They told me this was a night shoot, and we would be done in about five hours, and would get full pay. They lied and we did leave Manhattan till about two in the morning. OK- back to the movie. They closed down Sutton Place between 53 rd and 59 th Street. A water tanker was brought in to wet the street, and another truck to create a winter scene with artificial snow. At one point I was parked in the middle of Sutton Place with the tanker heading toward me with jets wide open. Dennis suggested I get in my car and close the windows, before I get wiped out. Quickly, I followed his instructions, and just in the nick of time, because he gave me an instant car wash! Just picture the movie Smokey and the Bandit, when the trucker takes off the door to Jackie Gleason s police car The shot created a crowd. They watched everything for hours. When we were parked on the street, many people stopped to ask questions. One woman came by, and got Dennis s attention and asked him who is in this movie. His answer: We are (pointing to me, and introducing our selves to her) along with Russell Crowe and Denzel Washington. Priceless. At about seven-ish, after sitting around for two hours, they told us to go get dinner. In the past two sessions they fed us like kings. It was like being the Feinman Bar Mitzvah. However, this time we were on our own. Also this time no porta potties and you know I m in trouble. So after eating at Mickey D s I found a garage in the area, and the attendant thought I was one of the actors. He said I could use the toilet anytime I wanted. My Hero. Sutton Place is a unique part of the world. A dry cleaner on every block, and more door men, and Mercedes Benz automobiles per buildings than homes in Great Neck or Manhasset. Again back to the movie. We made about a dozen passes that night, along with about a dozen other cars of different makes and models. Let us re-cap: Eight guys from the club were involved with the movie. Joe Apicella, Dennis Benfante (Tonto) Ed Bornschein, Mike Foran, Sal Furnari, Charlie Steuer, Marc Weiner (he drove my car one day) and yours truly. I went three times, Marc once, and I really don t have a count on the other guys. I have seen the movie once and the only car that is visible is Ed Bornschein s- (you see it at least twice). Overall it was exciting, but at times boring. However if you never did it you would be kicking yourself into next year.

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12 L.I. THUNDERBIRD CLUB Date: Tuesday, February 26th, 2008 In case of inclement weather call: Elliott Weiner - (631) (after 4:30 PM) Time: 7:00 PM or earlier if possible Place: BERTUCCI S Pizzeria & Restaurant 881 Walt Whitman Road Melville, Long Island Directions: One block north of Northern State Parkway Route 110 becomes Walt Whitman Road 12