Chicagoland Mopar Connection Goes Global

On June 19th a group of CMC members met at Buckingham Fountain down at the lakefront in Chicago where a German TV crew was doing a special filming of the new Smart car. This film will compare the performance and features of the Smart to the older American Muscle cars. The Smart is a DaimlerChrysler brand sold in Europe and it is a super mini! In other words it is very, very small.

Bruce Graham, our club president, worked very hard with the German TV producer and the Chicago Bureau of Tourism to put this together. The TV crew was on a very tight schedule and the entire operation was put together very quickly. Many CMC members tried to attend but due to work schedules and traffic and breakdowns, only six of us made it. Dave Kanofsky and his son,Tyler, in his new Daytona, Joe and his wife and 2 daughters in his Charger, Phil Carlson and his sons in his Charger, Doug Girard in his Challenger, Bruce in his Superbird, and myself and my son, Chris, in my Intrepid.

The TV crew had 4 cameramen, 2 soundmen, the director, the producer, and of course a very beautiful blond German female model who drove the Smart car. Most of them could speak English and they were all very polite and appreciative of CMC being there. After some brief introductions, the director had us line up our Mopars by the fountain. Then the filming started very quickly. The Smart drove up to the line of Mopars, made a quick stop, and then the model got out of her car and explained the features of her car in comparison to our Mopars. Then we were told to drive, with the Smart in front, around Buckingham Fountain a few times. The Mopars tried to avoid the water spray as the Smart went right through it! Then we were asked to "pretend to race" on the streets including Lake Shore Drive. There were many "takes" done for each shot. There was no real racing as there were Chicago Police in patrol cars and on horseback watching us through the whole event. But a little tire smoke here and there and some fast driving and the sound of the big blocks really got the attention of the pedestrians and other people driving by. One cameraman got in my Intrepid and used the sunroof to film the group as we drove on the streets. They really did some great camera work and with two Wing cars in the group, it looked great from my vantage point while driving in and out of the group as the cameraman in my car kept filming. It was truly an international experience. The cameramen would tell us "move 2 meters" or "pretend to race" some more in their heavy German accents. The hardest part to swallow was when we had to let the Smart car pass us quite a few times for the filming. You see the Smart car is so small it almost will fit in the trunk of a Wing car and it is rated at only 61 horsepower. That rating is high because it has a turbo! Afterwards Bruce was interviewed on film by the model and had to explain why her "little" car was able to beat the big, powerful Mopars. In keeping with his international diplomacy, Bruce said, "it was because of the weather and traffic"! More importantly though, Bruce was able to talk about CMC. And that is now officially CMC's first promotion in Europe!

This filming proves that as a CMC member you don't have to be at a car show to have fun with your Mopar. Also, what really made it cool was that so many members wore their CMC jackets, which was captured on film and certainly noticed by the bystanders watching the filming. Before we all left the director thanked each of us personally and promised us a few copies of the film when it airs in Germany!

George Talbot
CMC Collectibles Coordinator