The series based on a famous game franchise reimagines the future with a different technological advance than what we had after World War II
The Fallout series, based on the eponymous game franchise, is set in an alternate universe where progress was different after World War II. Robots, nuclear-powered cars, and computers are common, but using technologies based on atomic physics and vacuum tubes, without transistors.
The plot is divided between the future desolate by a nuclear war and the flashbacks of the period before that. Cars steal the show when we see this past, the production combined traditional American models from the 1950s with some concepts.
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The second season of Fallout is the first time that the only Dodge Storm Z-250 Bertone from 1953 appears in an audiovisual production. This concept is on display at the Petersen Museum in Los Angeles, California, which has provided other vehicles.
The Dodge Storm Z-250 was hidden for a long time, there are few records of it appearing publicly before it went to the Petersen Museum. The car was created by the Bertone studio for Fred Zeder Jr., the son of one of the three engineers who helped Walter P. Chrysler create the Chrysler Corporation.
The design was signed by Giovanni Michelotti, one of Italy’s most influential designers and father of iconic models such as the Maserati Sebring, the Triumph TR4, the BMW Neue Klass, the Alpine A110, the Fiat 8V and almost all Ferraris with Vignale bodywork.
The Dodge Storm Z-250 Bertone wasn’t just an American car with another shell, it used a chassis of its own. The V8 4.0 Hemi was behind the front axle to improve weight distribution and the driving position was low.
The original proposal was to have two interchangeable bodies, one for touring and the other lighter for racing. But that was only on paper, the only Storm Z-250 Bertone made only had formal attire.
Fred Zeder Jr. updated the car during the 60s. The original engine was Dodge’s first V8, which in factory configuration yielded 142 hp, but in the Storm Z-250 it was prepared to get stronger.
It gave way to a more current V8, the 413 Max Wedge, a 6.8 with 425 hp. The manual transmission, which was on the column, became on the floor. Fortunately the Italian design was kept, but from the black and white photos it is possible to notice that it was repainted from white to the current shade of blue.
The car was donated by Fred Zeder Jr. to Petersen in the 90s. According to Leslie Kendall, chief historian of the museum, the interior of the Dodge Storm Z-250 was the part that was best preserved and hardly needed restoration, unlike the bodywork.
In Fallout the car belongs to Mr. House, one of the most powerful men in the franchise. A stylish, Italian coupe suits the character, who in the series is played by Justin Theroux.
In the first season of the series it is possible to see another concept from the Chrysler group, the Plymouth XNR Ghia. It is a roadster that also has an Italian body and was a competitor proposal for the Chevrolet Corvette.
It is a functional concept, with a 2.8-liter in-line six-cylinder engine prepared for Nascar, the estimated power is 250 hp. It was tested and reached 246 km/h on the track of the Chrysler proving ground.
Chrysler had no interest in producing the XNR, Ghia took the concept back to Italy. In the 1960s it was sold to a Swiss collector, who in turn resold it to the Shah of Iran Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.
From then on, the Plymouth XNR Ghia changed hands several times in the Middle East until it arrived in Lebanon. He stayed in an underground hideout during the country’s civil war, changing locations to avoid being destroyed.
It was only in 2008 that it left the Middle East, heading to Canada to be restored. The original Plymouth XNR Ghia only appeared publicly in 2011, at the Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance and later at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance.
The XNR Ghia belongs to an anonymous collector. The car that appears in Fallout is a replica that is in the Petersen Museum. The original model received the Gran Turismo trophy at Pebble Beach and was digitized in-game.
