"Cranky Black" was the nickname given to the hot rod Furiosa uses to chase down Dementus and his leadership crew in the epic, final moments of 2024's prequel film Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga,
Description[]
At the end of the Forty-Day Wasteland War, Dementus and six of his leadership crew are the only survivors of the epic road war from the Biker Horde. Furiosa, Hell-bent for revenge, ventures out into the battlefield in a beat-up hoopty[1] that is missing its right-side, rear tire. She maneuvers that car through the wreckage strewn across the Wasteland to find Scrotus and Rictus in a harried state as they attempt to give chase of Dementus and his fellow leaders, consisting of Rizzdale Pell, Smeg, Mr. Norton and a few others.
Furiosa, mounting the Cranky Black.
There, several War Boys are busy attempting to fix a black hot rod -- Cranky Black -- that is missing its right front tire. In a NASCAR-style pit stop, the War Boys immediately scavenge a tire from Furiosa's hoopty to replace on the black hot rod. Whilst Scrotus and Rictus argue about who will drive the car to go after Dementus, Furiosa jumps in and speeds-off. They ask the History Man who that was and he replied that it was, "The darkest of angels, the Fifth Rider of the Apocalypse."
Furiosa, in the Cranky Black, then chases-down the fleeing Dementus and his gang, one by one, until she finally catches up to Dementus to exact her Justice.
Vehicle Specs[]
Apropos to the Mad Max Saga, the Cranky Black is the cab and doors of a 1931 Ford Model A with the rest of this black, metal beast a conglomeration of scavenged parts: out board wheels, side pipe exhausts, intake pipes above the roof, and a harpoon gun mounted on the hood. That rather unfamiliar hood and the grille are taken from a 1990s Bentley Brooklands.[2]
Production designer Colin Gibson, who won an Oscar for Best Production Design for Fury Road, refers to The Cranky Black as a “Ford hot rod” with a rear mounted turbo’d V8. According to Motortrend:
Originally the Cranky Black was supposed to be a front-engine Chevrolet hot rod but the director decided that he wanted it to be able to run up sand dunes, so the turbocharged V-8 engine was relocated to the rear.[3]
The chassis, cab, and doors are from a 1931 Ford Hot Rod. The rear-mounted engine pumps out 229 hp at 5,200 RPM with 277 lb-ft torque at 3,000 RPM and Cranky Black features a harpoon gun, which we, unfortunately, don't see in action in the film, as well as a battering ram.[3]
Gallery[]
