H. B. Halicki
Encyclopedia
H.B. Halicki (born Henry Blight Halicki) was an American
stunt driver, actor
, and filmmaker. He was also known as Toby to his friends and family, and to his fans as 'The Car Crash King'.
, New York
, in 1940 and was one of thirteen children. All thirteen children were given nicknames, and his was Toby. The Halicki family was in the towing business, and Toby started to develop his fascination with cars while working in the family towing business. He started driving at a young age and developed a wide knowledge of automobiles by the age of ten. When he was a teenager, after the loss of two of his brothers, Halicki decided to move to California and live with one of his uncles.
. He started collecting cars at the age of 16, eventually ranging his collection from 1920s classics
to lowriders and Ferrari
s.
By 17, Halicki owned and operated his own auto body shop. At 17 and still in High School, he signed a contract with an insurance company to detail and do minor repairs on 2,000 new cars at $25.00 a piece. With business partner Ron Light, the following year they bought a tire store. Aged 21, with business partner J.C. Agajanian Jr they owned and operated an auto salvage company. Halicki also enrolled in real estate classes and began investing in commercial properties, which led to numerous land holdings and a successful junkyard business.
in 1974. He wrote, directed, produced and starred in the film; and with his business sense, he copyright
ed the terms "Gone In 60 Seconds" and "Eleanor
."
There was no official script for the movie, apart from several pages outlining main dialog sequences. Halicki supplied most of the cars, and used repeated footage of the same vehicles and shots of public incidents to increase the footage. The scene in which a train derailment is observed was not part of the original shooting script, but it is in fact a real train that derailed and when the director heard about this he wanted to incorporate it into the film.
According to people on the set, after the mishap when a driver missed a mark and caused "Eleanor" to hit a real light post at 100 mph, the first thing that Halicki said when he regained consciousness was "Did we get coverage?" To achieve the effect of cars sliding into each other when hit by the patrol car at Moran Cadillac, the filmmakers put oil under the tires of the first few cars to help them slide. When it came time to do the stunt, it worked too well and many of the agency's own Cadillacs that were for sale were badly damaged, resulting in Halicki having to purchase all of them. Halicki compacted 10 vertebrae performing the film’s 128 feet (39 m) jump finale, that he walked with a limp afterwards.
Much of the action and dialog was improvised, which caused many problems for the editor, Warner E. Leighton
, who never knew what footage was being dumped on him or where in the movie it belonged. In the DVD audio commentary, he described the script for the construction site portion of the main pursuit as a piece of cardboard with a circle on it. Halicki pointed at it and said, "That's the dust bowl. We went around it twice. There's your script."
Toby Halicki was classified as the owner of the "World Largest Antique toy and automobile collection" consisting of over 100,000 collectible items. He handpicked every toy, car and piece in the building. Toby's first car was a 1956 Buick Century
. He custom-painted it candy-apple red, highlighted by trailing and reversed scallops of yellow and orange, tipped with red. Among his other purchases, he bought a 1953 Buick Skylark
. Toby stopped a bidding session at $6,000.00 so his film editor Jerry Viring could buy a 1949 Buick Roadmaster
.
The collection was Toby's private oasis, which was away from his house. He was able to drive his cars and motorcycles in and out the hidden garage doors. He prized and loved his collection of toys, cars, guns, motorcycles, antiques.
The main room was wall to wall with memorabilia from Disney, Coca Cola, movie memorabilia, ray guns, Little Big Books, hubcaps, motorcycles, and neon signs. Inside his building (the size of a football field) his collection ranged from vintage automobiles from the 1920s, to custom low-riders, exotic Ferraris, Citroëns, and Stutz. There was also a movie room for both Eleanors which were featured in Gone in 60 Seconds
.
His office was a gargantuan garage displaying toy cars, real cars and all sorts of antique bric-a-brac. If you saw "Gone in Sixty Seconds" you'll recall the many pairs of aviator-style sunglasses scattered about the dashboard of the Cadillac at the beginning of the movie. In real life, it was his Rolls Royce which received the "Toby treatment". Perhaps two items vie for the most striking feature of Toby's office: one was the way Toby could drive into the garage office and park the Rolls within spitting distance of his desk; the other was the desk itself, facing two overstuffed chairs with a chintzy fringed lamp in between, standing high on a pedestal, so that guests had to stare upward toward their host, at about a 30 degree angle.
, and married on May 11, 1989, in Dunkirk
, New York
.
On August 20, Halicki began to shoot Gone In 60 Seconds 2 in Dunkirk and Buffalo, New York
. Preparing for the most dramatic stunt sequence in the film, during which a 160 feet (48.8 m) water tower would suddenly topple, a cable attached to the tower snapped. The cable sheared off a telephone pole, which fell on and instantly killed him.
In 1995, Denice agreed a contract with Disney and Jerry Bruckheimer
for the film Gone in 60 Seconds. Filming began in 1999, with Denice as Executive Producer. The movie premiered on June 5, 2000.
The popularity of the second film revived the popularity of the "Eleanor" 1967 Ford Mustang. A number of car shops started to produce "Eleanor" tagged replicas, which Denice again had to resort to legal action to protect the copyright. In 2008 Denice won a case against Carroll Shelby
, who had been selling replicas as “continuation models” of his original Shelby cars. The only official licensed "Eleanor" maker was Classic Recreations LLC in Oklahoma
, USA.
As of October 2009, however, Classic Recreations has ceased manufacturing Eleanor Mustangs after entering into a licensing arrangement with Carroll Shelby to produce the GT500CR, a new continuation of his original Shelby cars.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
stunt driver, actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
, and filmmaker. He was also known as Toby to his friends and family, and to his fans as 'The Car Crash King'.
Biography
Halicki was born in a Polish-American family in DunkirkDunkirk (city), New York
Dunkirk is a city in Chautauqua County, New York in the USA. It was officially incorporated in 1880, though it was first settled around 1805. The population was 12,563 at the 2010 census. Dunkirk is bordered on the north by Lake Erie. It shares a border with the Village of Fredonia to the south,...
, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, in 1940 and was one of thirteen children. All thirteen children were given nicknames, and his was Toby. The Halicki family was in the towing business, and Toby started to develop his fascination with cars while working in the family towing business. He started driving at a young age and developed a wide knowledge of automobiles by the age of ten. When he was a teenager, after the loss of two of his brothers, Halicki decided to move to California and live with one of his uncles.
Career
Halicki began working at a local gas station in Gardena, CaliforniaGardena, California
Gardena is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. The population was 58,829 at the 2010 census, up from 57,746 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Gardena is located at ....
. He started collecting cars at the age of 16, eventually ranging his collection from 1920s classics
Classic car
A classic car is an older car; the exact meaning is variable. The Classic Car Club of America maintains that a car must be between 20 and 40 years old to be a classic, while cars over 45 years fall into the Antique Class.- Classic Car Club of America :...
to lowriders and Ferrari
Ferrari
Ferrari S.p.A. is an Italian sports car manufacturer based in Maranello, Italy. Founded by Enzo Ferrari in 1929, as Scuderia Ferrari, the company sponsored drivers and manufactured race cars before moving into production of street-legal vehicles as Ferrari S.p.A. in 1947...
s.
By 17, Halicki owned and operated his own auto body shop. At 17 and still in High School, he signed a contract with an insurance company to detail and do minor repairs on 2,000 new cars at $25.00 a piece. With business partner Ron Light, the following year they bought a tire store. Aged 21, with business partner J.C. Agajanian Jr they owned and operated an auto salvage company. Halicki also enrolled in real estate classes and began investing in commercial properties, which led to numerous land holdings and a successful junkyard business.
Gone in 60 Seconds
For his venture into film, Halicki decided to make the film that became Gone in 60 SecondsGone in 60 Seconds (1974 film)
Gone in 60 Seconds is a 1974 American action film written, directed, produced by, and starring H.B. 'Toby' Halicki. It centers on a group of car thieves and the 48 cars they must steal in a matter of days. The film is famous for having wrecked and destroyed 93 cars in a 34-minute car chase scene....
in 1974. He wrote, directed, produced and starred in the film; and with his business sense, he copyright
Copyright
Copyright is a legal concept, enacted by most governments, giving the creator of an original work exclusive rights to it, usually for a limited time...
ed the terms "Gone In 60 Seconds" and "Eleanor
Eleanor (1973 Ford Mustang)
Eleanor is the trademarked name given to a 1973 Ford Mustang Mach 1 for its role in the 1974 film Gone in 60 Seconds. "Eleanor" is the only Ford Mustang in history to receive Star title credit in a movie. However in the 2000 Gone in 60 Seconds movie, the new Eleanor is a 1967 Shelby...
."
There was no official script for the movie, apart from several pages outlining main dialog sequences. Halicki supplied most of the cars, and used repeated footage of the same vehicles and shots of public incidents to increase the footage. The scene in which a train derailment is observed was not part of the original shooting script, but it is in fact a real train that derailed and when the director heard about this he wanted to incorporate it into the film.
According to people on the set, after the mishap when a driver missed a mark and caused "Eleanor" to hit a real light post at 100 mph, the first thing that Halicki said when he regained consciousness was "Did we get coverage?" To achieve the effect of cars sliding into each other when hit by the patrol car at Moran Cadillac, the filmmakers put oil under the tires of the first few cars to help them slide. When it came time to do the stunt, it worked too well and many of the agency's own Cadillacs that were for sale were badly damaged, resulting in Halicki having to purchase all of them. Halicki compacted 10 vertebrae performing the film’s 128 feet (39 m) jump finale, that he walked with a limp afterwards.
Much of the action and dialog was improvised, which caused many problems for the editor, Warner E. Leighton
Warner E. Leighton
Warner Elvon Leighton was an American film, sound, music, effects and supervising editor. An only child, he married Patricia Relyea in the early 1950s. He had two daughters with Patricia; Denise was born in 1955 and Cynthia was born in 1958. He also had one Grandson, Kyler, born in 1993. Later,...
, who never knew what footage was being dumped on him or where in the movie it belonged. In the DVD audio commentary, he described the script for the construction site portion of the main pursuit as a piece of cardboard with a circle on it. Halicki pointed at it and said, "That's the dust bowl. We went around it twice. There's your script."
H.B. Halicki Junkyard and Mercantile Company
After the movie, Toby started building H.B. Halicki Junkyard and Mercantile Company with western pieces from around the world.Toby Halicki was classified as the owner of the "World Largest Antique toy and automobile collection" consisting of over 100,000 collectible items. He handpicked every toy, car and piece in the building. Toby's first car was a 1956 Buick Century
Buick Century
Buick Century is the model name used by the Buick division of General Motors for a line of full-size performance vehicles from 1936 to 1942 and 1954 to 1958, and from 1973 to 2005 for a mid-size car....
. He custom-painted it candy-apple red, highlighted by trailing and reversed scallops of yellow and orange, tipped with red. Among his other purchases, he bought a 1953 Buick Skylark
Buick Skylark
The Buick Skylark was a passenger car produced by the Buick division of General Motors. The model was made in six production runs. In each run, the car design varied dramatically due to changing technology and tastes, as well as new standards implemented over the years.-1953–1954:Introduced to mark...
. Toby stopped a bidding session at $6,000.00 so his film editor Jerry Viring could buy a 1949 Buick Roadmaster
Buick Roadmaster
The Roadmaster was an automobile built by the Buick division of General Motors. Roadmasters produced between 1936 and 1958 were built on Buick's longest non-limousine wheelbase and shared their basic structure with senior Oldsmobiles. Between 1946 and 1957 the Roadmaster was Buick's top of the line...
.
The collection was Toby's private oasis, which was away from his house. He was able to drive his cars and motorcycles in and out the hidden garage doors. He prized and loved his collection of toys, cars, guns, motorcycles, antiques.
The main room was wall to wall with memorabilia from Disney, Coca Cola, movie memorabilia, ray guns, Little Big Books, hubcaps, motorcycles, and neon signs. Inside his building (the size of a football field) his collection ranged from vintage automobiles from the 1920s, to custom low-riders, exotic Ferraris, Citroëns, and Stutz. There was also a movie room for both Eleanors which were featured in Gone in 60 Seconds
Gone in 60 Seconds (1974 film)
Gone in 60 Seconds is a 1974 American action film written, directed, produced by, and starring H.B. 'Toby' Halicki. It centers on a group of car thieves and the 48 cars they must steal in a matter of days. The film is famous for having wrecked and destroyed 93 cars in a 34-minute car chase scene....
.
His office was a gargantuan garage displaying toy cars, real cars and all sorts of antique bric-a-brac. If you saw "Gone in Sixty Seconds" you'll recall the many pairs of aviator-style sunglasses scattered about the dashboard of the Cadillac at the beginning of the movie. In real life, it was his Rolls Royce which received the "Toby treatment". Perhaps two items vie for the most striking feature of Toby's office: one was the way Toby could drive into the garage office and park the Rolls within spitting distance of his desk; the other was the desk itself, facing two overstuffed chairs with a chintzy fringed lamp in between, standing high on a pedestal, so that guests had to stare upward toward their host, at about a 30 degree angle.
Marriage, Gone In 60 Seconds 2 and Death
Halicki was introduced to Denice Shakarian in 1983, and in 1988 they got engaged. The couple lived in Southern CaliforniaCalifornia
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, and married on May 11, 1989, in Dunkirk
Dunkirk (city), New York
Dunkirk is a city in Chautauqua County, New York in the USA. It was officially incorporated in 1880, though it was first settled around 1805. The population was 12,563 at the 2010 census. Dunkirk is bordered on the north by Lake Erie. It shares a border with the Village of Fredonia to the south,...
, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
.
On August 20, Halicki began to shoot Gone In 60 Seconds 2 in Dunkirk and Buffalo, New York
Buffalo, New York
Buffalo is the second most populous city in the state of New York, after New York City. Located in Western New York on the eastern shores of Lake Erie and at the head of the Niagara River across from Fort Erie, Ontario, Buffalo is the seat of Erie County and the principal city of the...
. Preparing for the most dramatic stunt sequence in the film, during which a 160 feet (48.8 m) water tower would suddenly topple, a cable attached to the tower snapped. The cable sheared off a telephone pole, which fell on and instantly killed him.
Legacy
In light of the Gone in 60 Seconds 2 project, and their recent marriage, there were a number of legal challenges to Halicki estate. After seven trials, in 1994 the court released Halicki's films and the associated copyrights to Denice, but she was forced to sell the car and toy collection to pay the legal fees.In 1995, Denice agreed a contract with Disney and Jerry Bruckheimer
Jerry Bruckheimer
Jerome Leon "Jerry" Bruckheimer is an American film and television producer. He has achieved great success in the genres of action, drama, and science fiction. His best known television series are CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, CSI: Miami, CSI: NY, Eleventh Hour, Without a Trace, Cold Case, The...
for the film Gone in 60 Seconds. Filming began in 1999, with Denice as Executive Producer. The movie premiered on June 5, 2000.
The popularity of the second film revived the popularity of the "Eleanor" 1967 Ford Mustang. A number of car shops started to produce "Eleanor" tagged replicas, which Denice again had to resort to legal action to protect the copyright. In 2008 Denice won a case against Carroll Shelby
Carroll Shelby
Carroll Hall Shelby is an American retired automotive designer and racing driver. He is most well known for making Mustangs for Ford Motor Company known as Mustang Cobras which he has done since 1965...
, who had been selling replicas as “continuation models” of his original Shelby cars. The only official licensed "Eleanor" maker was Classic Recreations LLC in Oklahoma
Oklahoma
Oklahoma is a state located in the South Central region of the United States of America. With an estimated 3,751,351 residents as of the 2010 census and a land area of 68,667 square miles , Oklahoma is the 28th most populous and 20th-largest state...
, USA.
As of October 2009, however, Classic Recreations has ceased manufacturing Eleanor Mustangs after entering into a licensing arrangement with Carroll Shelby to produce the GT500CR, a new continuation of his original Shelby cars.
H.B. Halicki's movies
| Year | Film | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1973 | Love Me Deadly | Race Driver | Actor, Associate Producer |
| 1974 | Gone in 60 Seconds Gone in 60 Seconds (1974 film) Gone in 60 Seconds is a 1974 American action film written, directed, produced by, and starring H.B. 'Toby' Halicki. It centers on a group of car thieves and the 48 cars they must steal in a matter of days. The film is famous for having wrecked and destroyed 93 cars in a 34-minute car chase scene.... |
Maindrian "Vicinski" Pace | Actor, Producer, Writer, Director, Stunt Driver |
| 1982 | The Junkman The Junkman The Junkman is a 1982 independent film which spent two years in production. To make the film, H. B. Halicki used his own personal collection of over 200 cars, toys, and guns - including Eleanor, the star of his 1974 cult classic Gone in 60 Seconds.... |
Harlan B. Hollis/Maindrian "Vicinski" Pace | Actor, Producer, Writer, Director, Stunt Driver |
| 1982 | The Making of the Junkman | Himself/Host | Documentary |
| 1983 | Deadline Auto Theft Deadline Auto Theft Deadline Auto Theft is a 1983 independent film written and directed by H.B 'Toby' Halicki, made up of scenes from Gone in 60 Seconds and The Junkman, as well as new material featuring Hoyt Axton.- Plot :... |
Maindrian "Vicinski" Pace | Archive Footage |
| 1988 | Rock House | Rolls-Royce Driver | Actor |
| 1989 | Gone in 60 Seconds 2 | Maindrian "Vicinski" Pace | Archive Footage, Unfinished, Accidentally killed during filming |
| 2003 | The Life and Times of H.B. 'Toby' Halicki | Himself | Archive Footage, Documentary |
External links
- H. B. Halicki At Find A GraveFind A GraveFind a Grave is a commercial website providing free access and input to an online database of cemetery records. It was founded in 1998 as a DBA and incorporated in 2000.-History:...