Profiles put the car up with an opening bid of one thousand bucks. I actually debated quite heavily whether or not to buy it, but ultimately decided against it. Come auction day, the piece went for its opening price. The item was first listed a few weeks before the auction, and during that time a friend put me in touch with a fellow studio employee who had on his hands a few miscellaneous Fifth Element castings that he was looking to part with. Pictures of the pieces revealed one of them to be the same style as the one listed in profiles.
Of course, I jumped at the chance to get a casting. However, at the time, I didn’t know what the underside of the car looked like, and the friend who owned the castings only had the chassis, minus underguts. Bummed out, I figured I could whip something together, but there was a chance it would be inaccurate. Out of habit, I took a look at the profiles listings on ebay, and was really pleased to find that they had posted pictures of the top of the car, and the undercarriage. It only took me one second to realize that they had used the same undercarriage on this car that had been used on other cars, including one that I am in the process of rebuilding! What this means to me is that I will now be able to build a completely accurate Bel Air!
