Subject: Rent-a-(movie-)Car
19/04/2015 @ 00:15:42: eLMeR: Rent-a-(movie-)Car
I don't find any thread about this with the search engine of the forum (but I have some questions about the "effectiveness" of this tool :smile: ), so I hope this one is not a useless duplicate...

Some rental companies are specialized in vehicles for movies, and the webpages dedicated to these vehicles make the identification easier. In practice, the only (important) things to keep in mind is that exact model name is not automatically given and that the model year is sometimes somewhat fancy, so both informations may need some extra checking. But at least it gives a strong indication about the vehicle make and type.

Knowing the film / TV-Series location clearly helps to limit the scope of research. Companies located in:
• California: Picture Car Warehouse, a company which is a friend of the IMCDb;
• California: Cinema Vehicles Service;
• California, specialized in European vehicles: Eurofilm Cars / Michael Harper-Smith Collection (could it be the supplier of Patrick Jane's DS?);
• New York: Picture Car East (without any relationship with the first company);
• New Jersey: Movie Time Cars;
• Canada: 911 Film Cars.

(Some of these sites were found in comments of IMCDb pages. Thanks to the concerned contributors)

"Working" mostly on North-American movies and TV-Series, I only know these sites for now, but there are certainly equivalents for the other parts of the world? Even Canada must have several companies of that kind?
19/04/2015 @ 00:31:16: Sandie: Rent-a-(movie-)Car
A few from the UK (almost all concerned mostly with supplying police cars):

http://www.elsaction.tv/ (this site is not that up to date, they have other vehicles. Their police cars always seem to have CFZ codes on the markings)

http://www.visionmotorservices.co.uk/ (Note they seem to share cars with ELS but operate in the Midlands and the North whereas ELS are in the South)

http://www.tellycars.com/

http://www.shootingstarsuniforms.com/
19/04/2015 @ 02:14:32: eLMeR: Rent-a-(movie-)Car
elsaction.tv(1) seems indeed more or less "adrift": thanks to the classic page ot this site, I now know that Vauxhall made Volkswagen Cavalier and Nova Merit plus Volgawagen MkI. And I discovered the Citreon Toby and the Mercedes Pargoda :grin:
_____

1: a .tv domain name ! We're fellow countrymen, they're also based in Tuvalu :wink:
19/04/2015 @ 03:43:42: Sandie: Rent-a-(movie-)Car
:grin:

Another one, just mentioned by dsl on the main site, with a slightly more upmarket selection: http://www.studio434.co.uk/index.php (I'm amused by how their selection of properly flash cars is augmented by a Plumber's Van and how they have no less than 14 Aston Martin Lagondas.)

And another one I've remembered: http://www.a2ecommercials.co.uk/
19/04/2015 @ 05:13:44: night cub: Rent-a-(movie-)Car
New York based: Creative Film Cars
http://www.creativefilmcars.com/search.htm

Los Angeles based: Ghostlight Industries
http://www.ghostlightla.com/inventory.php

Los Angeles based: Studio Picture Vehicles
http://www.studiopicturevehicles.com/inventory

New Jersey based: Trophy Film Cars
http://www.trophyfilmcars.com/
19/04/2015 @ 12:35:27: dsl: Rent-a-(movie-)Car
London based (actually Potters Bar in Hertfordshire): Studio 434
http://www.studio434.co.uk/
20/04/2015 @ 01:57:38: eLMeR: Rent-a-(movie-)Car
[..] Los Angeles based: Ghostlight Industries
http://www.ghostlightla.com/inventory.php[...]

http://www.ghostlightla.com/images/inventory/l/99135.1.jpg
($450/Day. More expensive than a truck rental!)

Didn't the rental contract specify the minimum expected condition when taking back the vehicle? :tinostar:
20/04/2015 @ 14:45:28: antp: Rent-a-(movie-)Car
For many of these cars, it is more than buying the car itself (for re-use later), for this one for sure it is the case :grin:
As transportation costs are not included (it seems?), I wonder what justifies the daily rental price?
05/06/2015 @ 03:47:24: Ddey65: Rent-a-(movie-)Car
I've considered offering a similar company in Florida (if one exists), my '99 Accord... now I think I'd be better off finding some high school auto shop who can take it off my hands cheap.
22/07/2015 @ 05:21:26: eLMeR: Rent-a-(movie-)Car
• France (Paris / Île de France // Bordeaux Bègles / Aquitaine): Ciné Autos. No model year, sometimes just the make ("gray Lamborghini"...), sometimes with errors in the name ("Alpha Romeo Spider"...), but at least it is something, compared to...
• France (Paris): Le Voiturium for which I just found a gallery without make/model names.

• Ontario (Toronto), Canada: MK Picture Car Services - Picture Cars North;
• Ontario (Toronto), Canada: H.W. Picture Cars. Site updated in... May 2013, with little useful detail for some vehicles: "2003 Dump truck" is not really helpful to identify the Freightliner shown in the picture, for example, and a "1971 Chev Conv" is short on detail too :wink:
Maybe useful for movies and TV-Series made around mid-2013? :grin:

• California (Los Angeles), USA: Picture Car Locator;
• Self-appointed "the first nationwide internet picture car brokering company serving all of the U.S. and Canada", here is the California based (Los Angeles) Nationwide Picture Car Brokering company. It apparently registers cars from individuals to propose them for movies and TV-Series shooting.
02/12/2015 @ 02:05:24: eLMeR: Rent-a-(movie-)Car
Looks more like a junkyard trying to rent all its stuff (including mine shafts!), but there are some 20 trucks:
Hollywood Fires / ESFilms, in California.

/!\ Few specs are given (if any), and the model years seem to be "subject to variations over time". But it may help to see more details on the close-up pictures that are provided...
15/12/2015 @ 03:41:18: Sandie: Rent-a-(movie-)Car
Another UK one, TLO Film Services: http://www.tlofilmservices.co.uk/
15/12/2015 @ 19:38:37: Baube: Rent-a-(movie-)Car
Found those for Québec

http://www.cine-mobile.com/index.php which looks like new as some options offers nothing else but " Coming soon " . English button not working , vehicles description is pretty basic but have a nice surprise : Talbot Tagora ( last 3 thumbnails ) which i just learn its existence

http://www.realpicturecar.com/voitures.php?lang=en is the other one... english only changes menus, descriptions still in french but at least we have the year of the car too.. Portfolio section also dispalys the movies / series they worked on but sadly no information about which vehicles were used.

There was a third one that i saw when my cousin told me he wanted to get his 1979 Camaro RS on screen but i can't find it anymore


http://www.cast-things.com/annonces-location-tournage/regisseur-VEHICULES-Voitures-1.php Found this one also for France where people offer their vehicle but somebody might already have posted this one and there is no guarantee that they were used
15/12/2015 @ 21:56:22: eLMeR: Rent-a-(movie-)Car
[...] Talbot Tagora ( last 3 thumbnails ) which i just learn its existence [...]

Maybe the last one existing on Earth :smile:
More seriously, this one must be an unofficial export (or import, when seeing from your side :wink: ). 20,133 cars were made from February 1981 to June 1983, but Peugeot (owner of Talbot) didn't want that unwanted car to coexist with the less efficient 604, so all was made for it to quickly disappear :ohwell:

[...] but at least we have the year of the car too.. [...]

Remember that the model years that are given can sometimes be a bit random. See my previous comment.
About the same subject, I remember also having read somewhere in the forum (#µþ©ß@ search engine!) that one of the listed US rental company made sometimes changes on its vehicles, and that the MY they gave was then related to the most visible part of the vehicle or to the last addition they made. So once more, don't forget to check :smile:
16/12/2015 @ 02:14:09: Baube: Rent-a-(movie-)Car
i had a look at it and the years are pretty much accurate, or at least in the good range, except for a yellow " 1986 EuroVan " . Of course, this affirmation stands for the ones i know ( don't know anything about bikes but the fact that they have less wheels than cars.... and the T-Rex ). Maybe there is some mistakes on the older cars ( 20's , 30's , 40's .. ) but i don't know them enough to spot the errors ( if there is any )
16/12/2015 @ 13:44:30: antp: Rent-a-(movie-)Car

About the same subject, I remember also having read somewhere in the forum (#µþ©ß@ search engine!) that one of the listed US rental company made sometimes changes on its vehicles, and that the MY they gave was then related to the most visible part of the vehicle or to the last addition they made. So once more, don't forget to check :smile:


One of the admins (Neptune or Ford_Guy?) exchanged messages with one of these movie car rental agencies some time ago, in their case for the years that seemed suspicious to us it was because they were giving the original year of the car, but the car had been modified with parts from other model-year.
17/12/2015 @ 01:59:46: ford_guy: Rent-a-(movie-)Car
Yes, that was me. That was how we became aware of the "hack jobs" in certain films. However, most of these sites also have incorrect information. As eLmER alluded to, these websites are mostly good for gathering additional shots of a specific vehicle, not really for the information posted.
24/07/2016 @ 04:55:03: eLMeR: Rent-a-(movie-)Car
• Morocco: Lead Events (en, fr).
They don't rent vehicles just for movies, but they provided the 1955 Corvette and the 300 SL (fr) used in OSS 117 : Le Caire nid d'espions, for example (I suspect them of having picking up their reference picture in the concerned IMCDb page: both pictures have the same color and resolution and are showing exactly the same frame :smile: ).
Some of their cars are also used in video clips of French artists.

(Thanks to Gazoline for this link found in a 4-page article about the Bekkari's car collection)
24/07/2016 @ 23:57:12: night cub: Rent-a-(movie-)Car
Another company from NJ/NY, Lost Soul Picture Cars:

http://www.lsefilmcars.com/
25/07/2016 @ 18:19:05: Baube: Rent-a-(movie-)Car
Years are really approximative....
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