FORKS — A toy-car company wants to re-create the Forks Police Department’s Ford Crown Victoria police cruisers, but the Forks City Council isn’t so sure about the deal.
The City Council put a hold on a request from GreenLight Collectibles, a model-car company that sells “matchbox”-size model cars, to re-create the Forks police cars in a 1:64-scale die-cast model.
The draft agreement doesn’t mention compensation to the city for the use of the image.
It also does not make clear how many cars would be made or whether they would be made available to local vendors, said Rod Fleck, Forks city attorney.
The council had a lot of questions about the deal.
It asked Fleck to look into the contract.
It was unclear at first as to why Forks was selected, Fleck said.
“It probably has everything to do with Twilight,” he said, referring to the series of novels penned by Stephenie Meyer and set in Forks and the movies about the adventures of a mortal girl and her vampire swain.
GreenLight Collectibles sells a Hollywood Series collection of cars that includes vehicles from movies such as “The Fast and the Furious,” “NCIS,” “Smokey and the Bandit” and “Blues Brothers.”
GreenLight Collectibles owns the legal rights for “Twilight” cars and plans to produce both the 1963 Chevy truck driven by main character Bella Swan and the movie version of the Forks patrol car, GreenLight founder Kevin Davey said Tuesday.
In the Twilight saga, Swan’s father is the Forks chief of police, and his police car is both mentioned in the books and shown in the movie.
The real Forks Police Department cruisers are white with blue markings, while the car used in the films is blue with silver and white markings.
GreenLight also has a line of model police cruisers called Hot Pursuit and chooses a variety of U.S. cities to recreate police vehicles.
The real Forks police car would be part of the Hot Pursuit line, while the movie version would be part of the Hollywood Series, Davey said.
All of the cars would be available to Forks-area retailers, he said.
“Everything we do here is book-related,” said Lissy Andros, director of tourism, marketing and promotions for the Forks Chamber of Commerce.
Diehard fans of “Twilight” are often very aware of changes in details between the book and movie, such as the difference between Bella Swan’s 1953 Chevrolet pickup truck in the book and the movie’s use of a 1963 Chevy truck, Andros said.
Examples of both trucks are displayed at the Forks Visitor Center, and both are popular with visitors but movie fans often are not aware of the 1953 truck in the books, she said.
“Book fans have seen the movies, so they can appreciate both,” she said.
Andros said she believes a Forks police car model, based on either the real one or the movie version, would do well among “Twilight” fans.
“I’d buy one for my collection,” she said.
The full line of GreenLight Collectibles cars can be viewed at www.greenlighttoys.com.
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Reporter Arwyn Rice can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5070, or at arwyn.rice@peninsuladailynews.com.
