Meet the man Hollywood calls when it needs to find rare cars

Record ID: 1455933

  • Title: Meet the man Hollywood calls when it needs to find rare cars
  • Date: 31st January 2020
  • Summary: LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES (RECENT) (REUTERS) HOBACK GETTING INTO FERRARI PARKED IN HIS DRIVE CLOSE-UP OF FERRARI KEY CHAIN HOBACK LOOKING THROUGH HIS OLD ADDRESS BOOK AND READING OUT NAMES OF PEOPLE HE HAS WORKED WITH INCLUDING BURT REYNOLDS, ALICE COOPER AND BLAKE EDWARDS (SOUNDBITE) (English) 'CAR FINDER' MICHAEL HOBACK, SAYING: "I used to draw cars at school and spent more time drawing cars and looking at car magazines than I ever did my homework. And my grandmother lived in Hollywood, and I used to take days off of school and go to the dealerships, go to Ferrari, I would go to the Rolls Royce dealerships and just hang out and I did all of this by hitching for rides. " VIEW OF FRONT OF ROLLS ROYCE WITH ENGINE STARTING UP CLOSE-UP OF ROLLS ROYCE 'SPIRIT OF ECSTASY' BONNET ORNAMENT MOVING VIEW OF BONNET ORNAMENT OF ROLLS ROYCE SEEN THROUGH WINDSCREEN OF MOVING VEHICLE (SOUNDBITE) (English) 'CAR FINDER' MICHAEL HOBACK, SAYING: "New cars look like refrigerators, there's no style, there's no workmanship into them. This car is built by hand, it's all hand assembled, the Connolly leather, the burl walnut, and they all have a distinctive drive and feel to them. Same thing with a Ferrari, a Ferrari has got a certain sound, it's like a patented sound only exclusive to Ferrari." VIEW OF DASHBOARD OR ROLLS ROYCE AS HOBACK DRIVES EXTERIOR VIEW FROM MOVING VEHICLE (SOUNDBITE) (English) 'CAR FINDER' MICHAEL HOBACK, SAYING: "Yes, it is kind of bragging rights, especially all the guys, you know, who do what I do with Ferrari enthusiasts and owners, to say that yeah, I worked on the movie and I supplied the Ferraris, it is kind of ... I've been doing this for so many years it is kind of neat to get recognized for it. You know, it beats mowing lawns. So, no, it is fun, it will be fun to see if the movie, you know, wins some awards this year. And like I said earlier, Matt Damon and Christian Bale were neat guys to work with, total car guys. Matt Damon was more the car guy but I think Christian Bale is finally - I've made him a car guy and at least he wants to talk about, you know, finding a classic or something that he can have fun with. You know, maybe a vintage Corvette or a Porsche. He really doesn't know what, you know, type of car he wants at this point but we'll find it for him and it will go with the movie, so maybe he'll even have a Ferrari."
  • Embargoed: 14th February 2020 19:51
  • Keywords: Academy Awards California Ford v Ferrari Oscars best picture car finder
  • Location: LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES/UNIDENTIFIED FILMING LOCATIONS
  • City: LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES/UNIDENTIFIED FILMING LOCATIONS
  • Country: USA
  • Topics: Arts / Culture / Entertainment,Film
  • Reuters ID: LVA004BYJ69FX
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: When Hollywood needs cars, it calls Michael Hoback. Like a casting agent but for cars instead of actors, 65-year-old Hoback has put hundreds of priceless motor vehicles on screen in some of the industry's biggest movies.
    Having always had a soft spot for vintage Ferraris, Hoback hit gold when he was approached to scout cars for this year's best picture Oscar contender, "Ford v Ferrari."
    "I jumped out of my seat," recalled Hoback, when he heard the film was going into production.
    Starring Matt Damon and Christian Bale, the movie is based on the little-known true story of the American and British car designers and engineers who built the Ford GT40 to take on Italy's fabled Ferrari team at the 1966 24 Hours of Le Mans race.
    "Being that I am 65 now and I've been doing this since I was basically 15 and started out by taking care of people's cars and private collectors ... I've got access to 2,500 to 3,000 cars," says Hoback, on how he is able to sources such rare vintage vehicles.
    As a teenager growing up in the San Fernando Valley near Los Angeles, Hoback would spend most of his time drawing and reading about cars. Then he started skipping school to spend time Ferrari and Rolls Royce dealerships.
    "I used to draw cars at school and spent more time drawing cars and looking at car magazines than I ever did my homework," he said.
    "My grandmother lived in Hollywood, and I used to take days off of school and go to the dealerships, Ferrari, I would go to the Rolls Royce dealerships and just hang out."
    Hoback made inroads into the film industry when he began taking care of the cars of movie mogul Samuel Goldwyn and TV producers Aaron Spelling and Quinn Martin whose officers happened to be located near his grandmother's house.
    Hoback now runs his business, Cars on Camera, from his home in the San Fernando Valley.
    Driving around his neighborhood in a vintage Rolls Royce belonging to his friend, the director, Richard Donner, Hoback reveals his dislike of new cars.
    "New cars look like refrigerators, there's no style, there's no workmanship into them. This car is built by hand, it is all hand assembled, the Connolly leather, the burl walnut, and they all have a distinctive drive and feel to them," he says.
    "Same thing with a Ferrari, a Ferrari has got a certain sound, like a patented sound only exclusive to Ferrari," he added.
    Hoback has worked on films including "Batman & Robin," "Gone in 60 Seconds," and "The Green Lantern".
    (Production: Omar Younis, Jack Ferry)
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