So, here is the long and short of it.

I am working on a movie and someone brought in speakers for the camera truck. The speakers were not working very well, so I started a project with my co-worker Tim, of trying to fix them using the “if you disassemble and re-assemble almost anything it will fix the problem.” That lead to the complete destruction of the speakers, with the total permission from the owner.

Then we decided to make a small film about “fixing the problem” of the speakers, which can be seen here:

It was such a hit with the camera crew that Tim decided to play up the speaker repair a little more, so we started a message board here.

OK, but that was not enough. So I did what any concerned, over zealous, in need of a project, “B” camera operator would do, I listed them on eBay

with the description as follows:

This sound system is complete and was the principle camera truck sound system on such mega motion pictures as:

Gulliver’s Travels 2010
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
The Dark Knight

May or may not have been shit kicked by Michael Bay himself…lots of history here.

Sold as-is, this is a highly collectible item for anyone who wants to own a piece of Hollywood history. Good luck to all, bidding could go crazy!

Here is a movie that shows some of the hard work that went into restoring these speakers: JBL Speaker Movie

Tim and I waited for the bids to roll in, but they did not and the auction ended, but it was free to re-list so I figured what the heck and re-listed.

And then the most amazing thing happened, I got an email:

Dear silsurf,

is there shipping on this and is there any proof that it was in the movies thanks! other than the vid

To which I replied:

These speakers have been around the world and back. To be honest with you there isn’t much left of them. They have rocked camera crews in Africa and Glendale, CA all the same. Sadly there aren’t too many pictures of them in action. I will round up some set pictures from the Dark Knight, Transformers, and a present day picture of the speakers in their current state with professional actor and music lover Luke Wilson. Hope this helps.

shipping is free

His reply:

Dear silsurf,

ok all bid on them then if you could include the pictures somehow when you ship so i could say hey see etc, otherwise would be my word against theres know what i mean and yea it said local pickup on your add so was thinking you wouldnt ship them thanks for clarifying the free ship!

and another:

Dear silsurf,

oh and is there any way possible i could get the sub signed by luke wilson, if i win prolly asking to much but thanks if you can appreciated!

So, there we were with an active bidder on the completely broken dissembled useless JBL speakers and free shipping to boot. It was glorious and better than anything we could have expected. Then we came up with the idea of filling the box with as much camera truck stuff we could lay our hands on. We asked everyone to bring in any old discarded movie schwag or other miscellaneous boo-yah that they wanted to off. It was enough to fill the box for sure and included hats, tee shirts, Panavision tags, etc.

Then the item sold and I got this message from the buyer:

Dear silsurf,

Hi, I paid through paypal but its saying you are unregistered or something what would you like to do
Thanks

The speakers went off for .99 cents, but due to some transaction fee I could only collect .66 of it. Then it got busy at work and Tim and I were unable to get the box shipped out as soon as I had hoped, but Joel was all over it and this message soon came in:

Dear silsurf,

Hi, Just lettin you know I havent got it yet but im not to worried im sure it will be here soon enuf I only paid .99 so will leave a 5 star feedback when received:)

Joel

I sent Joel a reply, letting him know the box would go out this last weekend and even gave him a tracking number. I look forward to hear Joel’s response. We kind of got cold feet on the whole Luke Wilson photo thing as we had heard he may not be the most approachable guy on the set. But then we upped the anti by having Timm Sharp autograph the speaker case and then grabbed a picture of him to toss in the mix. It is a heck of a box for .99 and I would do it all again in a heartbeat.

Coda:

About a week later I received news from Joel:

Hi, Havent got it yet just lettin you know

To which I replied with a tracking number, and as if by pure magic about two hours later:

Got it:) thanks a bunch particularly like the wild hogs hat i normally dont wear hats but it might be an exception!

I could not help myself and went for it:

Great, love to see some photos of you in the wild hogs cap.

Take care

Possibly my last email from Joel:

no problem would be cool just need an email address to send a pic to and will do! thanks lot better than you made them out to be i can use the smaller ones as well for computer speakers so im way happy bout the deal

And perhaps 30 minutes later a photo that could not demonstrate more perfectly and capture more descriptively the man I have been dealing with with the last two weeks.

for more eBay Robin Hood stories, check this out