{"id":3979,"date":"2017-01-18T15:15:59","date_gmt":"2017-01-18T23:15:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/turo.com\/blog\/?p=3979"},"modified":"2025-03-26T04:08:31","modified_gmt":"2025-03-26T11:08:31","slug":"the-man-behind-xander-cages-1967-pontiac-gto","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/turo.com\/blog\/gearheads\/the-man-behind-xander-cages-1967-pontiac-gto\/","title":{"rendered":"The man behind Xander Cage\u2019s 1967 Pontiac GTO"},"content":{"rendered":"

THE GOOD, THE EXTREME, & THE COMPLETELY INSANE<\/h4>\n

The role of cars in film is frequently overlooked, but they often play critical supporting roles to their feature actors. Think James Bond\u2019s Aston \u2014 the two are so intimately tied together it\u2019s almost as if the Aston is an anthropomorphic extension of Bond\u2019s character; it\u2019s way more than just a simple prop. <\/span><\/p>\n

Such is the relationship that Pontiac enthusiast Thom S. of Tucson, AZ sees between the tricked-out 1967 Pontiac GTO and protagonist Xander Cage (Vin Diesel) in the high-octane film franchise, <\/span>xXx<\/span><\/i> (with the third installment, <\/span>xXx: Return of Xander Cage<\/span><\/i>\u00a0premiering this Friday, January 20). Debuting in 2002 with the spy thriller <\/span>xXx<\/span><\/i>,<\/span> extreme athlete turned government operative, Xander Cage, meets his faithful steed in a classic Pontiac GTO, the Silver to his Lone Ranger.\u00a0In xXx: Return of Xander Cage<\/em>, recruiting an all-new group of thrill-seeking cohorts, Xander finds himself enmeshed in a deadly conspiracy that points to collusion at the highest levels of world governments.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a hero car\u201d of the films themselves, Thom reflects. And Thom has become the ultimate superfan \u2014 \u201cI\u2019m the quasi-official historian of <\/span>xXx<\/span><\/i>,\u201d he jokes, \u201cI know so many details of the story and production it\u2019s almost scary.\u201d What sparked\u00a0this love affair with this franchise? For Thom, it all started in high school.<\/span><\/p>\n

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A Pontiac love story<\/span><\/h3>\n

The real draw for Thom wasn\u2019t the star-studded cast, or even the storyline. \u201cMy true interest has always been Pontiacs. Back in my teenage years I just fell in love with the styling and design, and when I moved to Arizona for college, I bought my first car \u2014 a 1971 Pontiac GTO, which I still own today.\u201d As time went on, his passion for the Pontiac brand only grew and he eventually joined his local chapter of the Pontiac club. <\/span><\/p>\n

At one of those meetings in the mid-nineties, he and a friend thought up an idea to do a movie review column, \u201cRally Reels\u201d, for\u00a0the Pontiac-Oakland Club, International \u2014 a magazine for Pontiac, the now-defunct Oakland make, and GMC truck enthusiasts. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe idea [for the column] was to find movies that featured Pontiacs, and talk about how the Pontiacs serve\u00a0as characters or personalities within the films,\u201d he recalls. \u201cActors and actresses are cast because they possess certain qualities; the same theory applies for cars cast in films. They have their own precepts, their own idiosyncrasies.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

Fast forward to 2002, when Thom was at the movies and saw a <\/span>xXx<\/span><\/i> trailer for the first time. \u201cAll of a sudden, I see a \u201867 Pontiac GTO\u2026 and I jumped up and yelled \u2018\u201867 GTO!\u2019 Everyone in the theatre looked at me like I was crazy,\u201d he jokes. With relatively few modern films that featured Pontiacs, he made a point to see the film opening night, and became enamored enough to research the color-shifting GTO from the film.<\/span><\/p>\n

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\u201cI made it my goal to uncover every single shred of detail about the cars that were built for that movie,\u201d he explains. Becoming the ultimate hobby project, he interviewed over 75 individuals associated with the movie to get all the nitty gritty details of the car\u2019s provenance and creation.<\/span><\/p>\n

A few years later, the cars from the movies went up for auction (which is typical protocol when movies wrap and the props are no longer needed), and he procured two of the five identical GTOs that were used in the movie constructed for the movie to add to his stable of vintage Pontiacs \u2014\u00a0one of which is now for rent on Turo.\u00a0And, yes, Thom quickly interjects, \u201cThis one is a real GTO \u2014 not a clone or replica \u2014 with its original 335-horsepower Pontiac 400 V8 under the hood!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Getting in on the xXxcitement<\/span><\/h3>\n

With his rigorous research of the <\/span>xXx<\/span><\/i> Pontiac, he eagerly kept his ear to the ground for a reprise. Fifteen years later, his patience was rewarded. Rumblings in late 2015 that Diesel had signed up for xXx: Return of Xander Cage<\/em>\u00a0incited Thom to reach out to the filmmakers to offer the original cars for use again in the film. The only trouble? It\u2019s tough for somebody\u00a0in Tucson, AZ to call Hollywood and get the right people on the phone. <\/span><\/p>\n

Perseverance and persistence won the day, however, and the next thing he knew, Thom was flying to Toronto with his two GTOs to be on set for shooting. It was a \u201conce in a lifetime experience that I\u2019m so grateful for,\u201d Thom reflects, to watch the stunt drivers shoot in the original movie car that he had cherished for years.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Xander\u2019s tricked-out Pontiac<\/span><\/h3>\n

So what makes Xander Cage\u2019s Pontiac so pimp? For many of the same reasons why James Bond\u2019s Aston is so pimp, and why Inspector Gadget is such a badass. \u201cSpoiler alert from the first movie,\u201d Thom warns, \u201cthe car helps save the world.\u201d And this isn\u2019t your granddad\u2019s Pontiac.<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s tricked out with \u201call these crazy wires, buttons, gauges, and things \u2014 the dashboard is insane with a JEG\u2019s Performance catalog-worth of gadgets\u2026 As part of Xander\u2019s mission [in the 2002 film], he needs to eject himself from the car. The car is introduced as\u00a0a hardtop, but\u00a0in the film\u2019s final action sequence, the roof needs to peel off, essentially rendering it forever roofless,\u201d he explains. And as such, \u201cboth the cars I own have had their roofs cut off by the film\u2019s crew.\u201d The car endures a litany of other trials and tribulations in the first <\/span>xXx<\/span><\/i> film, all of which have left indelible marks on both authentic movie cars. Apart from the cut-off roofs, rockets were launched from the headlights, and the hood scoops became flamethrowers, leaving them scorched.<\/span><\/p>\n

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These are proud scars, scars that make Thom\u2019s GTOs authentic artifacts of the original movie and the perfect candidate for a cameo appearance in the soon-to-be-released <\/span>xXx: Return of Xander Cage<\/span><\/i>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Be sure to check out <\/span>xXx: Return of Xander Cage<\/span><\/i>\u00a0in theaters January 20, rent Thom\u2019s iconic 1967 Pontiac GTO, and rent your very own Flame Car proxy \u2014 minus the sawed-off roof and flamethrowers \u2014 from the Turo Adrenaline Collection<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

THE GOOD, THE EXTREME, & THE COMPLETELY INSANE The role of cars in film is frequently overlooked, but they often play critical supporting roles to their feature actors. Think James…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":3986,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[54],"tags":[306],"class_list":["post-3979","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gearheads","tag-xander-cage"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t