Two cars believed to have been used in the 1990 NASCAR movie Days of Thunder have been found abandoned, rusting away in a wooded area.
As recently reported by Motor 1, they were spotted and recovered by the folks behind the Coors Bandit YouTube channel, which recently posted a video documenting the recovery of the cars from two separate locations in Florida. As you can see, both cars suffered the ravages of nature and are no longer in good condition.
Note that in the film, the first car appears at 6 minutes 06 seconds, the second at 10 minutes 45 seconds.
The person who got his hands on the cars (thanks to information received from a source) says they're too damaged to be restored, but that he's going to keep them that way for posterity. He’s also looking for other cars that were used in the movie.
Days of Thunder has become a bit of a cult film, even if it is full of implausibilities. The movie starred a young Tom Cruise as NASCAR driver Cole Trickle. Many of the scenes were filmed at real races, so some of the images are authentic. Other scenes were filmed on certain tracks in a controlled environment, but as a rule, the effects are well executed.
One of the cars shown in the video bears the number 18 and Hardee's (driven by Russ Wheeler, played by Cary Elwes, who replaces Trickle after an accident and then becomes his main adversary on the track). The other car bears the signature of sponsor Mello Yello and the number 51. This is the car used by Cole Trickle in the film's final scene.
The two models found were apparently used as secondary vehicles, which might explain why they were abandoned.
Be that as it may, anyone who has seen the film and is a NASCAR fan will recognize these cars at a glance.
