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Not many actors have the kind of screen presence and legendary American persona that Clint Eastwood does. After becoming a household name in the early 60’s for his portrayal of a gun slinging cowboy in a series of Westerns and then as San Francisco’s toughest cop during the 70’s and 80’s, Eastwood turned his attention more acutely to directing. He found as much, if not more, success behind the scenes than in front of the camera and won two Academy Awards for his efforts in the films Unforgiven and Million Dollar Baby. As his popularity and net worth increased, not surprisingly so did his status as an American legend. So recently when he was paired up with a classic 65 Mustang in the film, The Trouble With the Curve, a lot of Mustang fans were hard-pressed to think of a better match.
Like all good things, as we’ve been told, the model year 1965 Mustang will eventually come to an end. So as much as fans of the original pony car were glad to see Eastwood driving a ’65 in the film, it’s safe to say that they were less than ecstatic to see him bang it up. While there were only a few groans in the theater when Eastwood, playing an old baseball scout struggling with age-induced loss of vision, scraped the car as he pulled it out of his garage there was an undeniable collective sigh when he wrecked it in an accident later on in the film. Before you turn the waterworks on yourselves, the film’s director told a USA Today interviewer that the Mustangs in the film were promptly restored to their original condition and already back on the road.
No stranger to the car scene himself, Eastwood brought up another Ford classic when asked by the same interviewer whether or not he had any regrets about what happened to the Mustang. He confirmed that the Torino featured in his film Gran Torino was safely tucked away in the Warner Bros. museum. Though I can’t personally recommend the film, it was interesting to learn recently that the name Torino was contemplated by Ford for the Mustang before its official release. Torino is named after the Detriot of Italy, the city of Turin where the majority of the country’s automobile manufacturing occurs. Eastwood’s 2008 film featured a 1972 Ford Gran Torino Sport Sports Roof, one of the few Torino models considered to be a muscle car.
This guest post was written by Brittany Larson of Public Motors.
