We don’t need another...

Hunting

cars from the four Mad Max films has become an obsession for some. AMC has even had a crack, putting the call out in 2011 for the whereabouts of Max’s yellow Main Force Patrol XB Falcon sedan from the original flick.

Leads received at our office were flimsy at best – understandable, really – and, at worst, laughable. One well-meaning chap called excitedly to tell us he’d met the yellow MFP XB’s owner at the Narrabeen Sands pub, suggesting we shouldn’t waste any time getting onto him.

Caller: “Mate, he told me he owned it. I think he said his name was Williams. I know he lived on Sydney’s Northern Beaches. You should look him up in the phonebook.”

Us: “There would be lots of Williamses – if that’s really his name – in that area. It’s a needle in a haystack job. How long ago was this?” Caller: “Mate, about 1984.” Us: “1984?!” Click. Needless to say we didn’t bother ... well ... bothering any of the Williamses.

Fast forward to May 2015, when AMC reader Glenn Paine emailed us images he took of the Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome cars being destroyed in the mid 1990s. They were somewhat disturbing, for sure, but at least provided concrete proof that the MM3 cars had gone to God.

Glenn contacted us to say he’d rediscovered his 20-year-old images on the very day Fury Road was released.

Glenn, circa 1994, was yard manager at Simsmetal’s St Marys facility in western Sydney. One day he received a call from Garry Rush.

“Yes, that Garry Rush, the speedway immortal,” confirms Glenn, picking up the story. “Garry had started his pick-a-part business some time before and also had a lot of the council contracts for picking up derelict cars. Garry had been contacted by Kennedy Miller about the destruction of the Mad Max 3 cars.

“I don’t think I ever understood the exact reason why the movie company wanted the cars destroyed, perhaps it was insurance related, but the cars had been in storage for a few years and now apparently had to go.

Garry Rush was very interested in recovering the tyres on some of the vehicles. They were big desert duellers and the like, many with 80 – 90 per cent rubber still on them.

“Anyway, as seen in the photos, on the day of destruction the cars came in on a fleet of Garry’s trucks. A representative from Kennedy Miller, a very efficient young lady, was on site to witness the destruction.

“Now, I had seen some nice cars destroyed in my time at Sims, test vehicles at the end of their useful life, or private imports where the duties had not been paid. Things that would bring a tear to a car enthusiast’s eye. But I couldn’t believe what we were about to do.

“As I said, Garry wanted the rubber, but I was keen to save a couple of these wonderful cars, especially the ‘cow car’. This was partly because of what I thought their future value could be and partly because I had had some earlier exposure to them, and I liked them.”

Glenn says he got to sit in the cars when working on a stand at the Sydney Motor Show, next to the Mad Max display.

“I was surrounded by warrior men and women. After hours they would fire some of the cars up. They had open exhausts and nearly blew the windows out of the building but they sounded awesome. The song We Don’t Need Another Hero played back-to-back the entire time the motor show was open. To this day I can’t stand that bloody song!

Anyway, the crusher, or fragmentiser as it is