Nathy Peluso danced on the hood of a 1987 BMW for the video clip of her song Mafiosa; actress Maggie Civantos (Vis a Vis) drove a ’68 Alfa Romeo under the voices of Maldita Nerea and Leire Martínez; and a 1986 Mercedes 500 SE played a gangster’s vehicle for a KaseO video. They are stage cars, protagonists in the spotlight and, in all these cases, they were obtained for filming by If You Like Cars.
Founded by the automotive designer, Héctor Álvarez Sánchez, this car rental company works as an intermediary between a wide network of contacts and production companies or individuals interested in carrying out photo shoots, advertising spots, music videos or films with them. Likewise, it also carries out the restoration of vehicles and the organization of events related to motor culture, such as Autopía, which will see its third edition dawn next April. It is an enclave for car lovers, like Héctor himself, who lives surrounded by them.
How did If You Like Cars come about?
I have been passionate about cars since I was born and I tried to get into the world with the first one I bought: an Alfa Romeo from the 60s. I started going to all the rallies and took photos, wrote about the models I saw and decided create the If You Like Cars website to tell all this through articles.
Then I started organizing the rallies. First, with forty cars in my grandfather’s warehouse; then, with one hundred and fifty; and invited all kinds of people. It didn’t matter if they had a lot of money and a car from the 60s or if it was a young guy who spent his entire salary on a compact sports car. By opening the hood, they could talk to each other and that was the philosophy.
Then, since I am “Héctor, the car guy” for many people, every time someone needed a car they came to me and, little by little, they started calling me from a production company to make a video clip, or from interested people for a session. of pictures. In the end, very good cars from friends who, fortunately, trust me, have passed through my hands. I am, so to speak, a “car caretaker”.
What sets If You Like Cars apart from other car rental companies on the scene?
In other companies, they are dedicated solely and exclusively to stage cars. Normally, they work more in the field of series or movies; and it is a type of production where they need, for example, ten cars from the 80s or ten from the 90s. It is a little more generalist and with less valuable vehicles. Sometimes, there are some with more value, but they are usually for large productions and very long projects.
In the world of advertising, photo shoots and video clips, it is different. They usually want one or two cars, but they want them to be cooler and more stylish. That’s what I focus on.
On your website the time it takes to get a certain car appears, which is normally very little. Has there been any case in which you have not been able to obtain it?
Well, look, yesterday they asked me for some cars for the video clip of a half-rag girl and it turns out that they want them to drift in an open field. It is a very poorly maintained thing, better for cars with little value and for the owner to do it for pleasure. Furthermore, in this case, the budget was minimal. Normally, they ask me for more careful things.
What is the dynamics of the car rental scene like? What do they usually ask you for?
When you know about cars, you realize that in almost every movie or series they have made something wrong: They have included a sound that does not fit with that car, they have put a ’72 Porsche in 1968… Art directors normally ask for the Red Mustang, the hippie van, the beetle, the American car…
So, I’m not going to get a car that was used a month ago in that rapper’s video to use it with another singer because, in that case, I wouldn’t be doing something professional. There would be two video clips with the same car in a very short space of time. Therefore, I play the role of consultant.
In what sense?
Someone comes to me and asks me for a green Lamborghini. So I tell him: “Okay, but did you know that there is this brand of this type of car that, perhaps, suits you better and has cost much less?” As a result of that, I already ask what color he wants it, with what interior, if he prefers two doors or four, if it has an elegant appearance or if it fits for a gangster. Finally, many times we select something that they would never have imagined and it is a different idea.
Could you give an example?
Once, an acquaintance who owns a music magazine (UMOMAG) contacted me because he was going to do a photo shoot with Nicki Nicole. He wanted a cool, convertible, dark nineties car. There were a lot of options and I came up with a Mercedes SL500 from the 90s, around 2000. However, once I got it, I realized that this car, which was more “normal”, had already been used in the video clip for another girl So, I thought that since Nicki Nicole is Argentinian, she could wear a De Tomaso, which is an Italian-Argentinian brand. Furthermore, the car we finally chose was from 2000, the same year she was born, and of which only about 236 units had been made. It’s very rare. No one will know because it is not the typical headline that appears in a magazine, but that photo is, possibly, impossible to repeat.
Every job is special.
That’s the idea. Another example is Reebook, which rented the premises to me a while ago to present a shoe at a party with fifty, sixty influencers, and they wanted a car for the photocall. So, I got a Mercedes from the 80s, S class, typical four-door, but in a very rare, modified version, in which they had cut off the roof to turn it into a convertible. Plus, it was black and red inside. It turned out to be a very extravagant thing that, in the photos, looked impressive.
In the case of Nathy Peluso’s video clip, the producer asked you if she could dance on the hood. How can these types of aspects harm the cars during recordings?
Well, in that case there wasn’t too much of a problem because it was a BMW for which you could easily get the hood. Furthermore, he agreed that he had a friend with that same car who, since a hailstorm had hit, she needed to change it. So I told them: dance whatever you want. That was, precisely, luck.
If someone wanted, for example, to crash a classic car, they would have to pay a lot, but that is not usually asked for. In the Wolf of Wall Street, instead of using a Lamborghini Countach replica, they took a real one. It is a car that costs 400,000 dollars, but the movie is around 40 or 50 million.
Has a breakdown ever occurred by accident?
Yes, that has happened. Once, while recording a video clip with the girl who appeared on Vis a Vis, Maggie Civantos, she broke the handbrake by pulling it too hard. In that case they paid it and that’s it. It was a video clip from Maldita Nerea.
Then, there are some small scratches when leaning on the watch, the suction cups of the cameras that are placed inside… things like that.
At If You Like Cars, you also work in vehicle restoration. What should you take into account when filming to properly maintain the car?
I have learned the hard way that the first thing is to always ask what they want to do with the car: if it is going to be static or in motion, if they intend to get in and out many times because, if they have delicate skin, it could wear out from repeating. forty-five times that movement; or if they are going to lean on it for photos, if they want to climb on it, if they are going to wear clothes with spikes… I also ask if they are going to put cameras because, in a perfectly polished and painted car, you cannot put suction cups, since the Pressure sucks the paint and, if there is dust, it can become marked. You have to look for a specific car: the perfect one for each circumstance.
