Spotted! Florence Italy race car!


CharlieGlide

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My girlfriend and I were out and about yesterday and decided to drop by the new Porsche Driving Center in Carson (just south of Los Angeles) and see what it was about. They have a precious few Porsches on display. The main purpose is that there is a test track you can pay to drive a selected Porsche on which sounds fun.

BUT! The main event was looking behind a glass wall into a repair shop/display area and seeing what I am positive is the exact same Porsche driven by Danny Sullivan (I think I remember this right) in the episode "Florence Italy." If you look at the episode and the pic here, you will see only a couple minor logo/paint alterations. But the car is there. I highly doubt they made more than a few of these.  What do you think?  I also posted this on my instagram with a side by side (pcnordy).

 

Vice Florence Italy.JPG

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On ‎1‎/‎15‎/‎2017 at 3:15 PM, CharlieGlide said:

My girlfriend and I were out and about yesterday and decided to drop by the new Porsche Driving Center in Carson (just south of Los Angeles) and see what it was about. They have a precious few Porsches on display. The main purpose is that there is a test track you can pay to drive a selected Porsche on which sounds fun.

BUT! The main event was looking behind a glass wall into a repair shop/display area and seeing what I am positive is the exact same Porsche driven by Danny Sullivan (I think I remember this right) in the episode "Florence Italy." If you look at the episode and the pic here, you will see only a couple minor logo/paint alterations. But the car is there. I highly doubt they made more than a few of these.  What do you think?  I also posted this on my instagram with a side by side (pcnordy).

 

Nice...and does appear very much like the Sullivan car. Think you may have to go back there and see if you can test drive it. ;)

Can you post your side by sides in here?

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Definitely the same model of car, with the same colour scheme. However they tend to use multiple chassis throughout a racing season. Still AWESOME to see it. :thumbsup:

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  • 7 months later...

I just seen this, I actually have seen the car at Carson in the past and asked what chassis it is. And was doing some research to post.

 

The Porsche IMSA Racing team had 2 962 Lowenbrau Special chassis that they raced, Chassis 962-103 and chassis 962-HR1. Chassis 962-103 was the early racer and raced in the 1985 GP of Miami. Chassis 962-HR1 came on later. Both raced the famous #14 and both also raced as #1 when the other chassis was in the same race, one car wore #14 the other #1. On a few occasions chassis 962-103 ran as #14T and 1 time as #4 and chassis 962-HR1 did also run #14T.

 

The easiest visual difference is on chassis 962-HR1 the red T handle on the “passenger” side is closer to the side mirror than on chassis 962-103. 962-103 the red T handle is further away from the side mirror.

Chassis 962-103 did not race in the GP of Miami in 1986, it instead raced at the 24 Hours of Daytona in early February of 86 and then again in late March 12 hours at Sebring. So it’s conceivable either chassis, 962-103 or 962-HR1 were used in the episode. Pictures from the races at that time in late 1985 and early 1986 appear to show that the paint scheme on the lower front quarter panels, most notably the bottom line was different for each car. Chassis 962-HR1 at the time had blue writing on the bottom line and chassis 962-103 had white lettering advertising “Quaker State” at that time. At the 1985 GP of Miami the car did not have 3 advertisers in that location only 2, Goodyear and Bosch. Which ironically the 1986 GP of Miami program showed a head on shot of the 962 from the previous year, 1985.

Race footage from 1986 GP of Miami show that the car had 3 advertisers in that position, the bottom one being white and a front “wing. The race trim nose is different than the nose in episode. In 1985, the #14 did not have a front wing.

At roughly 33:50 of the episode we see possibly another car, and a different nose. This nose is similar to the nose of the 962 in Carson as you can see the indentation between the O and R in Porsche. Also just earlier, 33:41, you can see the hauler was empty, so both cars were out of the hauler when this scene was shot. However the car in this scene does not have side mirrors.

Obviously since the episode aired before the 1986 GP of Miami all the real race scenes were from 85 and that #14 was chassis 962-103, chassis 962-HR1 had yet to be officially raced until July of 85. And none of the scenes show the #14 with a front nose wing, so we know the #14 was never shown in race trim in the episode.

Based on what I see, the car that Danny is shown above screen cap next to chassis 962-HR1. When you do a frame by frame, you eventually see the red T handle and it’s close to the lower triangle shaped lower side mirror support plate. This indicates chassis 962-HR1.

I am guessing they used chassis 962-103 as the backup for the 1986 race and it was the car shown at 33:50.

Per Porsche the chassis at the experience in Carson is Chassis 962-HR1.

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  • 1 year later...

gunnarracing

8. To get this scene we had to do 13 takes. In different takes I ran over her leg and her hand, did I already say how heavy the dummy was? Trying doing all this and pitch a 70lb dead dummy out of a gullwing door. Yeah, this is gonna work! I had an idea on the 12th take to put one of the set directors, who was very small, in the passenger seat with Florence the dummy. I figured out in the preceding 11 takes how to get the door open while doing everything else and then he pushed her out. Take 13, it’s a wrap!

9. In the last scene, Crockett is checking Florence the dummies pulse. Crockett looks at Tubbs and acknowledges that she’s a goner. The next things you see and hear are the pink flamingos and the Miami Vice theme song.

 

Awesome inside details by this man Porsche racing mechanic Kevin Jeanette, who was the stunt driver in the night chase scene in Florence Italy. Even more interesting now with all this knowledge about the filming of the scene. Makes it special. Had no idea John Nicolella made a cameo appearance pretty cool. :thumbsup: And they were two in the car, when doll the was pushed out by a set decorator! Funny, that he ran over the mannequins body parts, even as a dummy Florence Italy couldn't be left alone without being mistreated.  :)

Edited by summer84
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I'm surprised more people don't find it interesting to be honest. Made me think, that maybe it's already been posted before here on the site...

But nevermind. :)

Edited by summer84
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6 hours ago, summer84 said:

I'm surprised more people don't find it interesting to be honest. Made me think, that maybe it's already been posted before here on the site...

But nevermind. :)

I think Florence Italy is an underrated or underappreciated episode. Even though it's one of my favourites, not many people actually like or care about it that much. :( 

I also posted these links into the VICE Lounge on Facebook, but even there it just didn't get much attention. 

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8 hours ago, James said:

I think Florence Italy is an underrated or underappreciated episode. Even though it's one of my favourites, not many people actually like or care about it that much. :( 

I also posted these links into the VICE Lounge on Facebook, but even there it just didn't get much attention. 

Yeah, it's too bad. I had hoped more people would have enjoyed the behind the scenes aspect of it. Oh well... I'm glad for those that have. I guess, it also depends on how much activity there generally is on the site and whether people can/feel like posting. At least Kevin Jeanette got a lot of positive response/comments to his post. It's a great piece of MV history. 

I must say, I personally didn't rate it the highest in my review of the Season 2 episodes. Danny Tepper's poor acting have been pointed out by people as a minus. (For instance "The Fix" had some potential, unfortunetly the bad acting brought it down.) But the episode Florence Italy does have some great and memorable scenes. :thumbsup:

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1 hour ago, Crockettt said:

Great post @summer84

I wonder where are these Porsches located?

Thanks Crockettt! :thumbsup: He's the owner. I'm not sure where that video was shot. But from what I understood of an article it's located in his race and restoration shop called gunnarracing in West Palm Beach, South Florida along with other iconic Porsche race cars. So you could literally say, the car is in good hands. :)

Edited by summer84
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20 hours ago, summer84 said:

Yeah, it's too bad. I had hoped more people would have enjoyed the behind the scenes aspect of it. Oh well... I'm glad for those that have. I guess, it also depends on how much activity there generally is on the site and whether people can/feel like posting. At least Kevin Jeanette got a lot of positive response/comments to his post. It's a great piece of MV history. 

I must say, I personally didn't rate it the highest in my review of the Season 2 episodes. Danny Tepper's poor acting have been pointed out by people as a minus. (For instance "The Fix" had some potential, unfortunetly the bad acting brought it down.) But the episode Florence Italy does have some great and memorable scenes. :thumbsup:

Yeah, Danny Sullivan's acting isn't that great. But that's what happens when you try to get actual race car drivers to act lol. I personally love the beginning of the episode, Crockett & Tubbs cruising the streets at night. Great vibes there. Then the memorable car chase. Then the bike race. And the scenes which Danny isn't in. :) 

And yes, the video was shot in his shop, they have a little display area where there's a few cars.

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