If Mr Miyagi had given you a car..

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1942 Chevrolet pickup truck

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Also, would that even be considered a valuable car in 1984? To put it in perspective, in '84 that car was 36 years old. So if he gave him a 36 year old car in 2020 it would be a Ford convertible from 1984.

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How did you come to own the '47 Ford Super Deluxe convertible—the same car Mr. Miyagi gifted to Daniel in The Karate Kid?

Well, it's interesting. When I went to do the second sequel—and it was always a three-film deal I originally had—so when the original film was a success, it spawned the sequels and it was just an idea I had before I started shooting The Karate Kid Part III. I sat down with the head of Columbia Pictures at the time and I just floated it out. I said, "Maybe at the end of this film, I'd love to buy that car just to have it. It's just become a piece of pop culture and would be cool to keep in my family," and all that stuff. And she just listened to me, her name was Dawn Steel. She's since passed away.

But the day the second sequel was released, that car was on a flatbed in front of my house on Long Island, New York. I never had to purchase it. The title was turned over to me and it was a gift from Columbia Pictures.

What kind of condition was it in?

As is often the case with older movie cars, they look great on the outside but very often they aren't so easy to deal with. This car was no different, and it was always a challenge. It sometimes wouldn't start when we were shooting but, you know, on film it was perfect, it was the ultimate. It purred like a kitten and never had a hiccup—that's the magic of movies.

But when I had it, you know, for a couple of years I kept it up and we had to do a little work to it. And then, life changes for me. I had kids, I got married, and the car was kept in storage for decades on end. It became—I called it the "yellow elephant" instead of the "white elephant." Like, okay, I asked for this, now what am I going to do with it?

Should I hang on to it? And I always had someone saying, "Hang on to it." But it was always where was I going to put it? It was more about paying to keep it in storage, because I didn't have enough garage space. And when I got the call to hear this pitch for Cobra Kai, I said to myself, "Well, I don't know what the show is, but maybe at the end of day I can get this car up and running."

Where did the idea of owning the car come from in the first place?

You know, you're jogging my memory and I'm going back 30 years. People just called it the "wax-on, wax-off car." It was the coolest car, you know, and I always kept—from every movie and every project I've ever done—I kept something. The Outsiders, I kept the Converse high tops and the jean jacket. My Cousin Vinnie, I literally kept the can of tuna fish, which I still have. I will not open that can of tuna fish. Crossroads, I kept the Fender Telecaster. It's an awesome guitar, and I got to keep that. Even How I Met Your Mother, I took the suit that I wore in the show. It's kinda fun.

So, with The Karate Kid, it was the original headband and the trophy, and then I said, "Boy, would I love to have that '47 Ford. How cool would that be?"

What were the main issues that had to be addressed with the car to get it ready for Cobra Kai?

One, it needed a whole new engine and electrical. We could have restored the old engine that was in there. They left that decision to me, explaining, "For when you want to keep this car going forward, it would benefit you to put in current technology but keep the shell." When you do these auto shows, it's like any museum, you don't want to change anything from the original. But that wasn't necessarily the case for us. Now it has radial tires and disc brakes for safety. And it's supported with an independent suspension. All the things that we have in vehicles today, but yet when you look at this car you wouldn't know that.

People know that the car is in season two [of Cobra Kai] because I mentioned that at the New York Comic Con, and at the end of season one, if you recall, there's a shot panning the front of the car. That actually wasn't the car. That was another, like, '48 Ford in the same color, but it had a hardtop. So that's why it was half covered. And then once we started season two, we shipped my car down from New York to Atlanta where we shoot most of the show and that's where they did all the work on it.

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That's how much other teenagers hate Daniel LaRusso. Jersey, West Coast, doesn't matter.

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