The Funny Thing About The Porsche 911 From Gone In 60 Seconds
If you're reading this, you're either a fan of Nicolas Cage, love Porsches, or enjoy a good action movie filled with incredible car chases. When you combine all three, you get "Gone in 60 Seconds," the 2000 film staring Cage as retired car thief Memphis Raines, who must unretire (a la Tom Brady) and steal a bunch of cars to save his brother from certain death at the hands of a nasty crime boss.
Cliched storyline aside, one that could easily be mistaken for a chapter in the "Fast and Furious" franchise, it boasts a star-studded cast including Robert Duvall, Delroy Lindo, Angelina Jolie, Giovanni Ribisi, Will Patton, and Timothy Olyphant.
It's a remake of the 1974 flick by the same name that starred absolutely no one you've ever heard of, except for maybe famed race car driver Parnelli Jones. It is known for having the longest car chase in movie history, which, at 40 minutes, gobbles up almost half the film's 97-minute runtime. Oh, and it crashes an impressive 93 cars in the process.
The top automobile star in both films is a Ford Mustang named Eleanor. However, the first car we see in the remake isn't Eleanor at all, but an oft-forgotten 1999 Porsche 996 Carrera nicknamed "Tina." Despite her appearance though, Tina isn't all she appears to be, because something funny happened to her on the way from pre-production to final cut.
Tina's ready for her close-up, just don't look too close
Since Giovanni Ribisi's character, brother to Cage's Memphis Raines, had to drive a stolen 996 through a huge plate glass window, the crew needed to ensure the scene was as safe as possible. Part of that process involved making the car lighter, so the stunt coordinator tasked SPS Porsche Builders to come up with a solution. SPS decided to use a 1978 Porsche 930 911SC because the chassis was lighter. They removed the entire body and replaced it with a composite fiberglass, NOS factory original Porsche body from a 996 Carrera.
Plexiglas windows were installed so Ribisi and stunt driver Johnny Martin could kick them out if something went wrong and they needed to exit the car in 60 seconds or less. The 911's interior was also taken down to the bare essentials, and other than replacing the original steering wheel with a three-spoke wheel for the stunt driver, it was otherwise left pretty much intact. Tina was wrapped with Arctic Silver Metallic paint and lavished with 17-inch 996 twist wheels to complete the overall bait and switch.
All of the changes resulted in the clandestinely costumed Porsche being 700 pounds lighter than an actual 996 Carrera. So, in the end they accomplished their mission. Ironically, they took what originally was a far more desirable air-cooled Porsche and made it into a much less appealing water-cooled Porsche. If you listen closely, you might hear Tina calling out to Mr. DeMille that she's ready for her close-up.