I have no doubt Tom Cruise is a real-deal car enthusiast. He’s been spotted driving all sorts of wild cars over the years, both in films and in real life. He loves doing his own stunts behind the wheel when he can. But even when there’s not a camera pointed at Cruise, he drives cars like he stole them.
At least, if Kevin Pollak is to be believed. The comedian-turned-actor, who co-starred alongside Cruise in the 1992 film A Few Good Men, recently appeared on The Rich Eisen Show and shared a Tom Cruise story that sounds believable only because Cruise was at the center of it.
Picture this: The year was 1991. Pollak, who had just co-starred alongside Denzel Washington and John Lithgow in the crime thriller Ricochet, was desperate to be among the first buyers for Lexus’s then-new 1992 SC coupe. From the interview:
I had a special coming up, a stand-up special. I realized at the time, I wanted the new 1992 Lexus Coupe. I’m realizing, well, I’ve got this opportunity. I’ve worked on this movie. Let me see if I can get ahead of the 90-day waiting list.
Except that Pollak had absolutely no luck leveraging his time on the big screen.
So I’m calling around to the dealerships, and I would give them the long spiel. I’d done this movie, I died in Denzel Washington’s arms, every small Jewish fellow’s dream. And I get to the end of the phone call, and they would say, “I’m sorry, who are you?”
So instead, Pollak decided to leverage his peers. He happened to be working on the A Few Good Men set with Cruise and Jack Nicholson. So he decided to “pimp out” Cruise (Pollak’s words) to the general manager of Tucson Lexus in Arizona to get the car to appear.
I said, “Well, listen, I’m sure in the movie right now with Tom Cruise and Jack Nicholson, if you want to deliver the car, I guess I could introduce you to him, take some photos.” And the guy says, “How’s Monday?”
So the two set a 1 p.m. time for the general manager to show up at the set with the car. Pollak informs Cruise, who’s as excited as any gearhead to hear of its impending arrival.
Hey, Tom, know that Lexus coupe? “Oh, my God, yeah, the new one? You can’t get it. It’s a great car.” I got one. I’m having one delivered today. “Get out of here.” If you want to drive it first, you know, we’ll go for a drive around. “What time?” 1 o’clock. “Ok good, yeah I’m there.”
Monday comes, and Tom is seemingly desperate for some seat time.
12:30, I’m in my trailer. [knocks at the door] There’s Tom. “The car here yet?” It’s another half hour, Tom… 1:05, I walk out of my trailer, Tom’s pacing at his trailer. I’m not going to assume it’s because of the car.”
… and the GM is late. Ever the stickler for professionalism, Cruise wasn’t happy.
The guy’s pulling in at about 1:09 p.m., and Tom runs past me towards the guy driving the car.I’m thinking, “Don’t blow the deal, Tom, don’t blow the deal!” Tom’s angry. So the guy stops the car, Tom opens the door. “What are you doing, man? It’s 10 after one! You’re supposed to be here at 1 o’clock!”
Sure enough, the GM tosses me the keys. I say, “No, no, Tom, you drive first.” The GM gets in the back seat, and I got to see Tom stunt-drive my brand new car. The guy in the back seat for sure, A, having the time in his life and, B, wetting himself, without question. I mean, this guy looked terrified, sliding back and forth. It was incredible.
Weirdly, that wasn’t the only wild ride Pollak received from Cruise while on set for A Few Good Men. Tom also gave Kevin a ride in a helicopter to the sound stage in Culver City one day. It’s an equally great story, and worth a listen:
The lesson here: When Tom Cruise wants to take you somewhere in a vehicle, you’re bound to have a great time.
Top photo: Lexus and DepositPhotos.com
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“I’m sure in the movie right now” really? that’s a direct quote?
Not to be a nerd, but since this is a place for car nerds…that picture is of a 96+ SC. They got a facelift and a power bump.
ive owned one. it is a lot more boring and a lot less sexy than you would expect.
it doesn’t like being hustled but it LOVES to eat up miles at high speeds!
there are people who have modded them for big power and replaced all of the bushings with poly and swapped the diff with either lexus gs lsd or a a supra rear diff but its just putting thousands and thousands of dollars into something that won’t even drive half as good as a bmw 3 series.
The only Lexus I have every had any desire at all to own (though I am sure a drive in one would disappoint me). Such a pretty car. Shame they seem to have forgotten how to do that.
The appeal of Tom Cruise is lost on me. He only ever really plays Tom Cruise, over and over and over again.
Have you seen Tropic Thunder? Unless someone told you Tom Cruise was in it, you wouldn’t realize Tom Cruise was in it.
I suppose he had to have at least one decent movie. Actually, I loved Risky Business, but he wasn’t really TOM CRUISE yet back then.
I still like that car. Ka-spit on anyone complaining about waiting 10 minutes for a car delivery.
What did TC do in a past life to get to be TC in this one? I mean, even if he’d not accomplished much of anything after Risky Business and being married to Mimi Rogers, he’d already be so far ahead of the game. He must have been some WW2 grunt who jumped on a grenade to save a bunch of blind orphans or something like that, right?
PS: I test drove both the SC300 and 400. They were fine (I liked the 300 better) but felt rather heavy and almost sort of American (to me) albeit w/much better quality. I wound up buying a Mercedes Benz CLK instead, much to my eventual dismay, since it was a nice car to sit and and look at, but terrible to own (back to the dealer 7 times in the first year).
You need to listen to Kevin Pollak’s book. “How I Slept My Way To The Middle.” Absolutely fantastic.
FYI, it was Tustin Lexus in Tustin, California- not Tuscon.
I saw my first one – well actually it was a Toyota Soarer – when it was on display in the Toyota showroom on the ground floor of the Sony Building in the Ginza.
It was in that signature Lexus dark green with beige interior, of course.
Later after returning Stateside – I briefly dated a guy w/ a red over beige SC400.
What a stunning car.
I might just add – the rampant-griffin badge for Soarer is so much more special than the Lexus badge.
At least you’d have lots of legroom sitting behind Tom in the back seat.
I love Tiny Tom Cruise on Family Guy.
If you can’t have a sense of humor about being a Short King, you ain’t a Short King.
Not a Tom Cruise fan but his run in the Reasonably Priced Car on TopGear was pretty legendary.
I love the car and the story is fun, but please do not promote Cruise. He is essentially the leader of a cult that has done and will continue to do terrible things to people.
But yes, a 2JZ turbo version of those is a sweet car.
Ok I gave it a couple of hours and nobody has made a comment that one of them has aged since 1991 and one of them has not appeared to age since then.
So, is dying in Denzel Washington’s arms Jason’s dream?
Anyway, I thought those were so ugly in their day and my opinion hasn’t changed.
And I don’t care what Tom Cruise thinks about cars. But I wouldn’t turn down a ride in a helicopter, because I love helicopters.
Well your opinion is wrong!
Beauty (or ugliness) is in the eye of the beholder. My opinion is not wrong per se. It’s just different than yours.
I’m still hyped for that car. Would love to own one someday.
I’ve looked a few used ones over the past years and they’re so hard to find in nice shape, so many have been abused, fitted with deeply questionable stereos and other Y2K era flashy mods. Yet they all still seem to run. As much as I want one, I it has to be an at least salvageable project, but all I can seem to find are glorified parts cars.
I came to the conclusion years ago that if you find an unmodified SC300 or SC400, it is in a salvage yard. If it still runs, it has already been modified, beat to death, sold, and then modified more.
That seems to be the case, with the only exception being JDM imported Soarers of the same generation, as there are some very clean, very interesting spec examples that have come over, and the Soarer had the option of manual and 1JZ-GTE combo. But if RHD is a strict no-go, then getting a very clean SC/Soarer is a tall order.
Yup, importing a Soarer seems to be the best way to get a good one at this point.
How is the parts availability?
I have heard for some Lexus models, parts are getting hard to find.
I’m a Toyota fan boy, and I know these are revered for good reason, but I never considered owning one because of the mandatory 4 speed auto.
the SC300 could be had in a stick (quite rare of course). The 400 was auto only.
….with a rear seat so comfortable, it’s like a couch that you can jump on over and over.
He was sort of the proto-JD Vance, wasn’t he?