The car in the movie Christine is a 1958 Plymouth Fury. John Carpenter employed twenty cars during the making of the movie, mainly because so many were crashed in order to ”kill” Christine’s victims. The movie has become somewhat of a cult classic and is often aired on television.
1958 Plymouth Fury
The Plymouth Fury was introduced for the 1956 model year. It was billed as a sporty, premium-priced model. The name was derived from the Furies who appear in Greek and Roman mythology. Between 1956 and 1958 the Fury was part of the Plymouth Belvedere line-up. During those years it was sold only as an off-white 2-door hardtop coupe with gold anodized aluminum trim. Other colors had to be special ordered. The Fury offered a one-of-a-kind interior, rear bumper wings, and an upgraded engine. In 1958 the base Fury featured a 318 V8 engine with twin 4-barrel carburetors. While the 318 offered 290 hp, buyers could opt for a more powerful 350 V8 called the Golden Commando which produced 305 hp. Some owners spent the extra cash for a very rare 315 hp fuel injected 350. These engines became even more rare after the fuel injection system was recalled and replaced with a standard dual four-barrel.
In The Movie Christine
The cars used in Christine had to be purpose modified. These modifications included: removing the interior, then installing a roll cage, 5 point harness, and a single plastic racing seat. The windows were painted black except for a tiny section of black tint. The stunt driver had to see after all! The majority of the stainless steel trim was replaced with rubber or plastic to cut down on sharp debris after each crash. The radiators were relocated to the trunk so that coolant would not be spilled during filming and wooden beams were placed between the firewall and front core support. There were only a few fully functional cars used, the rest were simply rolling chassis fitted with a rubber front-end that were pushed from behind with a bulldozer.
The cars needed to make this movie were so hard to find that it took a team of researcher combing through DMV records and placing ads nearly 30 months to find enough to film the movie. The crazy amount of efforts was rewarded when a great final product was put on big screens across the nation in 1983.
