Bay City Auto Company's 1935 Hudson Terraplane, repainted black, stars as a gangster get-away car for John Dillinger (Johnny Depp) Bay City Goes Hollywood: Filming Here This Week, Local Car Makes Big Time
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Not only is an old car from a Bay City firm soon to star in a Johnny Depp movie, film crews this week will use city scenes, police and fire vehicles for another action film.
Filming will begin in Bay City this Wednesday, May 21, by Vision Media Group, headed by Chris Martin, president. Mr. Martin and his film crew met with city and Michigan Department of Transportation officials here on May 8.
The filming is part of a new Michigan economic development program through tax incentives. The Michigan Film Office is reviewing more than 90 screenplays proposed for various parts of the state. The state website lists scores of potential scenic backdrops in Michigan.
Gov. Jennifer Granholm signed what is being termed the nation's most favorable tax incentive program into law April 7. The law provides a 40 percent refundable or transferable tax credit for producing films in Michigan, with another 2 percent credit if shot in a "core" community such as Bay City.
More than $100 million in projects are in the pipeline, with the state to rebate about $39 million if production is completed, according to Terry Stanton, state Treasury spokesman.
Car chases and gunfights (using prop guns) are slated to be shot downtown on Water Street from Fourth to Fifth and Washington Avenue from Tenth to Columbus on June 11-12. Those streets will be closed off during the filming.
The City Commission tonight will consider a recommendation of approval from City Manager Robert V. Belleman for a special events permit to allow the filming and the use of city vehicles and personnel.
The film company will be billed a total of about $1,900 for the use of city personnel. Costs include providing police for crowd control. There will be no charge for the use of city vehicles that will be parked during filming.
The city also will require that the film company provide $2 million in liability insurance, according to the manager.
"I think it's wonderful," said Mayor Charles Brunner. "Anything that brings people into town, to eat, to spend the night, helps our economy. I hope it's the first of many -- it's a real cool thing."
Speculation has it that the filming here may be part of a Clint Eastwood film, "Gran Torino," the sixth in a series of "Dirty Harry" flicks, or possibly for a crime drama, "The Fifth Mafia," being shot mainly in Grand Rapids. A Stephen King film, based on the author's 1998 novel, "Bag of Bones" also is slated to begin filming in Michigan.
Exact details of the film to be shot here have not been released but the city will furnish two police cars and a fire truck for shooting at Quality Transparent Bag Co., 110 McGraw St., on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Bay City Auto Company, that has a 1930s crime story of its own, is playing a role in a new gangster flick by furnishing a 1930s era classic car.
Universal Pictures has used a 1935 Hudson Terraplane from Bay City Motor Company, 1120 N. Water Street, for the upcoming gangster film "Public Enemies" starring Johnny Depp.
Depp will be behind the wheel of the very rare Terraplane, that the film company will use in gun battle scenes. The star himself picked the Bay City vehicle, according to state information.
Click Here To Learn All About the Hudson Terraplane
Universal Pictures, scouring the nation for vintage cars, trucks and buses for the upcoming gangster film "Public Enemies" wound up selecting a 1935 Hudson Terraplane at the Bay City Motor Company.
The local vehicle was a dead-ringer for John Dillinger's getaway car. The very rare Terraplane will star along with Johnny Depp as Dillinger and Christian Bales as G-Man Melvin Purvis, according to David Cotten, of Bay City Motor.
Universal Studios changed the tan and burgundy Bay City show car into Dillinger's gleaming black and tan depression-era getaway vehicle. Dillinger and girlfriend Billie Frechette were driving a Hudson Terraplane when they narrowly escaped death during a machine gun battle with police in St. Paul, Minnesota where they had been living under assumed names.
"Universal did the scouting and Johnny picked the must-have car," said Mr. Cotten. "Everyone was great to work with as things swiftly progressed from a hit on our website through the sale and invitations to observe the movie's production."
"Public Enemies" was filmed recently in Chicago, Oshkosh, Beaver Dam and Columbus, Wisconsin, and is due for release in 2009. It was directed by Michael Mann, who also wrote the screenplay.
Shooting the Depp film caused a sensation in the small towns in Wisconsin and in the state capital, Madison, where a casting company interviewed hundreds for positions as film extras. It is not known yet what the demand will be for extras to be used in the Bay City based film.
The Bay City Motor Company displays and sells antique and classic cars from its showroom/car museum on Bay City's Water Street. The company was created in 2005 by David and Ann Cotten with their son Scott and is based on over a hundred years of Michigan automotive heritage. Ann Cotten's grandfather founded the first (and last) independent Cadillac dealership in the United States and David Cotten's father created the first retail finance loan program for automobiles.
"Today, the family and partners put their automotive expertise to good use matching customers from around the world with the classic cars they've always dreamed about," said a report from the Michigan Film Office.
The building that houses Bay City Auto Company was once a roller skating rink that made the crime mags itself. Shirley Roberts, director of the Bay Area Convention and Visitors Bureau, came up with research showing that in 1932 in the present Bay City Auto Co. building police captured two members of the Bonnie and Clyde Gang who were planning a holdup of a Midland bank.
The capture of Ray Hamilton and Jean O'Darr, young thugs who had arrived from Texas, made headlines here and caused formation of a vigilante group in Midland.
Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker sprang Hamilton from a prison road crew in 1934. The couple's final crime spree ended in a hail of police bullets in Louisiana.
Details of the incident may be found in a locally-published book, "Ghosts, Crimes and Urban Legends," available at the Bay City Antique Center, the Water Street Market and the Bay County Historical Museum bookstore.
For more information on the Bay City Motor Company, contact David, Dale or Scott at 989.891.0900 or visit the company's website www.thebaycitymotorcompany.com.
Editor's Note: The Hudson Motor Car Company manufactured automobiles in Detroit from 1909 to 1954 when it merged with Nash-Kelvinator Corporation to become American Motors. The name "Hudson" came from J. L. Hudson, the Detroit department store entrepreneur and founder of Hudson's department store and investor in the fledging car company.
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serg429 Says:
On January 27, 2013
at 11:20 AM
I you need another 1935 Hudson Terraplane 4 door sedan black in color for the movies contact me.
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Dave Rogers |
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