KITT, the talking Pontiac Trans Am in David Hasselhoff's "Knight Rider" TV series, doesn't get a mention. Steve McQueen's Mustang from the movie "Bullit" barely rates a response. And what about all those Aston Martins that James Bond drove? Not a whisper. Confessed car nut Yoshinao Hirata of Chofu, in western Tokyo, reckons that Mel Gibson's Ford Falcon V8 — from the 1979 Australian cult classic "Mad Max" — is the greatest screen car ever. That's why he bought one.
"Most people just give me weird looks. Some even say that I'm mad," the 36-year-old home-renovation specialist says of public reaction to the black beast. "I'm convinced that no one realizes what I'm driving."
And why should they? About the only person driving an Aussie-built car in Japan is the Australian ambassador!