Shaker Run Car Chase Scene

In early 1975, an impressive looking Ford Capri, fitted with a small block 302ci Ford V8, debuted at Manfeild Raceway, New Zealand, for the penultimate round of the 1974/75 NZ Saloon Car Championship, driven by its owner/builder, Brent Bullivant. The Capri itself was impressive enough, but perhaps more astonishing was Bullivant himself. He was just 19 years old.

The rowdy little Capri showed impressive form on debut, but clearly would have benefitted from some development, and a new set of tyres. While extremely well built, and potentially a front running car, Bullivant was an apprentice mechanic, and lacked the finances to run the car at the front of the field, where t should have been.

The next couple of seasons saw some positive development, including ditching the Ford motor for a small block Chevy, but Bullivants financial situation never improved. However, his engineering skills impressed ex-pat New Zealander Jim Richards, who hired the young Kiwi to prepare his own race car in Australia. Richards also drove the Capri on a couple of occasions while visiting New Zealand, and stated the obvious to Bullivant, that a decent set of tyres would transform it. The newest tyres ever used on the Capri were three year old worn off-casts from other teams.

Bullivant eventually sold the Capri, in 1980, to long-time racer Graham Baker, and finally the cars potential was realized. With a decent running budget, and Bakers skills behind the wheel, the Capri proved the equal of any racing sedan in New Zealand.

Following the 1980/81 season, Baker sold the Capri to Bob Cullinane, who owned it for two years, before it was sold to Brian Friend. And it was Friend who rented the car out to a production company who were putting together a B-grade movie, filmed in New Zealand, starring Cliff Robertson and former heart-throb Leif Garrett.

Released in 1986, Shaker Run was created around a story line involving a lethal bio-agent, government espionage, and several car chase scenes, the most memorable of which involves the films leading car, a fiberglass replica Pontiac Trans-Am, driven by Robertson, and the old Brent Bullivant Capri, and takes place through the streets of New Zealands capital city, Wellington, and then up the steep and winding Rimutaka Hill, around 40 minutes north of the capital.

The Capri makes its appearance around the 2 minute mark, so crank up the volume, because it sounds fantastic.