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Bozz wrote:Dale,

Since you are gifting us with your presence, memory, archives and heart (any one of them priceless, and all 4 beyond words)...
Thanks. Yeah, I've come out of the closet so to speak!

Can I pose a few questions on behalf of the 2 wheel enthusiasts/replica builders here?
Sure. I'll try to answer as best I can.

Leseee here...

Can you confirm that there was only one Goose Scoot used or was there another Kwaka in MFP livery?
(beyond the crash bike with the spoke rims)
As far as I know and remember, and have never heard otherwise, there was only the one MFP (Goose's) bike. But the "Goose Scoot" in the back of Midge the water rat's ute ("pickup") was in fact a Honda 750 four.

If so any idea why some shots have the radio and other gear in the dash and others don't?
Don't know about that, and haven't studied the movie details as much as obviously you and others have, but I can just take a guess that it was to do with the budget, being removed before any crashes.?

There has been a rumor that the LaParisienne fairing used in the films could result in poor engine cooling.
Any thoughts on that one? (seems to me if they took a stock bike and put the non stock exhaust on it without jetting up the carbs it would run lean and hence overly hot without the fairing)
Don't really know the answer about the fairings restricting cooling, and never thought about it, but I suppose in hot weather it's a possibility. May be wise to monitor engine oil temp.
My theory all along was that the Goose Scoot was fairly "gutless" with the straight through four into two exhaust system and no carby tuning. And agree with you re. carb jets/mixture.

Do you know if any of the production bikes were internally modified before the shoot? (smooth bore carbs, hot cams, overbore, rear sets, etc.?)
The movie bikes weren't internally modded at all. There was no need, so money saved there. Stock standard except for some aftermarket exhaust systems, paint jobs and handle bars. Purely cosmetic.

(I assume that personal bikes used in the film were already modded by their owners, I am most interested in the bikes donated for the film by KHI)
The personal bikes were "personalised" by their owners (but I think I had the quickest ... hehehe). Most had different paint jobs, exhausts, etc.
What's "KHI"? Kawaski Heavy Industries? I assume you are referring to the Kawasaki Australia donated bikes? As above, technically stock standard.

Did you have any issues with the cops when you took the Gosling off set? I could certainly see the blue lights and a big MFP on the windscreen earning a conversation at the station.
I carried a "get out of jail free" letter, explaining that the bike was being used in the making of a movie. But surprisingly I never got pulled over.

But as far as "conversation at the station" this may have caused that:
The day of filming the approach to the big crashes (caravan, etc.), I was dressed as the Goose, complete with plastic imitation pistol in holster. Police and authorities were usually notified of the film shoots, and that stretch of Cherry Lane was an infamous "hoon" drag strip. So the cops turned up in their "divvy" (divisional van), but these two guys obviously knew nothing about what was going on. They called me over and appeared very concerned, ready for action with batons in hand. I explained that we were doing a movie shoot and the "firearm" they were staring at was only a plastic imitation. After showing them the plastic gun they calmed down and all was ok. Very funny at the time, and still brings a smile to my face when I think about it.

Did they ever need to swap tanks and side covers to make one bike take the place of another? (i.e. this bike won't start so lets swap stuff for this shot)
A Kwaka Z1000 that won't start!!?? What? lol
In answer to your question ... not to my knowledge.

Did they have any extra pieces laying about? (like a spare goose fairing in case one got damaged before it was supposed to be?)
Sorry, don't know about that either, but I doubt they would have had any spare bits. If they did it would have been very minimal. But with Bertrand Cadart and Kawasaki Australia "on board", I reckon another fairing or spare parts could have been rounded up very quickly.

Of the different bikes you rode for the film, which one did you enjoy the most as a machine? Which was the worst?
Other than my bike, I only rode the Goose Scoot and Starbuck's bike. Goose's bike was relatively slow, but very cool to ride with all the cosmetics and that straight through 4 into 2 system. Starbuck's was just like a standard painted bike. Can't remember the exhaust it had, but was nothing special, being similar to many bikes on the road at that time.

Did the Gosling get looks off set or was it too close to normal to be noticed?
As said above, the Goose Scoot was a bit of a stunner in my opinion, being "clean" looking, loud and having MFP on the front with two little blue lights. It strangely resembled something from a "Force".

How flexible were the crew when filming? Were they open to "happy accidents" or did they stick to the shooting script tightly?
Flexible for sure ... Kennedy Miller that is. As I think I posted elsewhere, the Fat Nancy take off was changed to a wheelie/"snakey" because I couldn't get the Goose Scoot to mono. Was no big deal for them to change that.
The donut exit mono is from a very low camera angle. That was my fault because I got a bit carried away and laid rubber in first and second.. I think George Miller was a little "concerned" with that, but made a quick decision to leave the camera sitting on the road surface so the rubber marks could not be seen.
The Nightrider car missed the target when a cable broke. They had to change that, or add to it so I believe. But it still achieves its purpose of hitting something in a big way.

Do you remember if they ever did an audio recording session with the bikes to get the engine sounds, tire sounds etc? Were most scenes shot with sync sound? (if you recall, that is)
I think they always had "sync sound", but I do not know anything about the audio dubbing. (I heard from someone recently that the Ford cars had Chrysler V8 audio sound over dubbed, but I do not know the facts about that one).

Sorry for the barrage, but those of us who enjoy the bikes and build replica/inspired bikes are relatively few and rarely have access to a source like yourself.
UK Goose Scoot:
https://www.z-power.co.uk/merchantmanag ... a00911c489

Melbourne Goose and Toecutter replica's:
http://www.zowners.com.au/main.php?loc= ... cutter.jpg

Melbourne replica of the donut bike:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5UMxA1mP_Bc
http://picasaweb.google.com.au/ZownersV ... 6856193330
http://picasaweb.google.com.au/ZownersV ... 2526251970


A million thanks to you and the rest of the folks who were there making history and sharing it with us in any way.
A pleasure, and thank you too.

Cheers!
-Bozz

Regards
Dale

PursuitSpecial wrote:Hey Dale,
Thanks again for all the info and behind the scenes pictures, priceless! Not sure if you are aware, but the Japanese are big fans of the first film too, especially the motorcycles. I found these pictures one day while searching for "Kwaka", you might be interested...

PursuitSpecial wrote:So Dale, did you get the greek letter Phi "tattoo" on your face as it seems many of the other gang members had (obviously a movie thing and not a real tattoo)?

And was your donut supposed to have anything to do with that? They sort of look the same. We see the Phi elsewhere in the movie like on the phone booth that March Hare hits and the bunker that Roop is on.

Bad cop wrote: What was your reaction after the bike wheel hit you?

(But a friend pulled a good one on me a couple of days ago. He said that I had a headache/concussion for 2 weeks and lost my memory. Couldn't think of a good comeback, because if it was the truth I couldn't comment due to memory loss. Good one Barry! ... We know who you are!).

PursuitSpecial wrote:So Dale, did you get the greek letter Phi "tattoo" on your face as it seems many of the other gang members had (obviously a movie thing and not a real tattoo)?

but I do want to get one now, and I know the perfect guy to do it ... up Ararat way. (But not on my face)!