V8 Interceptor from cancelled Mel Gibson Mad Max Sequel

As we all know, Mad Max: Fury Road is around the corner.  It’s a reboot featuring Tom Hardy. But it wasn’t always supposed to be that way, it was originally supposed to be a sequel featuring Mel Gibson.  In 2002 things finally got rolling and pre-production started.  Mel was still on board.  Then in 2003 the invasion of Iraq interrupted logistics, as the movie was to be shot in Africa and some African countries were feeling side effects, and the movie was postponed.  It was then canned when Mel pulled out.  Production of vehicles for the 2003 version (which was also called Fury Road) was outsourced to a South African company owned by Alex Wheeler.  One of the vehicles constructed was a Pursuit Special V8 Interceptor, specifically for Mel ‘Jesus’ Gibson.

So this car is actually a piece of history.  The fact that this was built for Mel makes it legit, and only one of two real ‘Mel’ Interceptors in existence.  The only other surviving one, from Mad Max 2, is in a car museum.  A third card was destroyed during Mad Max 2 (the wreckage Mel crawls out of).  This particular car was shipped from South Africa to Australia, where it was kept in storage as Fury Road entered the bowels of development hell.  It was brought out of storage six years later to appear in Fury Road, this time with Tom Hardy as the owner.  The fact though that it was intended for a Mad Max 4 with Mel raises the obvious question:  Where did the Mel sequel fit into the timeline?  The car was destroyed beyond repair in Mad Max 2.  I’m assuming Mel/Max simply ‘found’ another.