Allan Padelford

Biography

Allan Padelford's fascination with equipment and engineering began at the age of seven in the back fields of Fillmore where he learned to weld and fabricate farm equipment working with his father in the Citrus industry. His passion with cars and racing began as a teenager, which lead him to the race tracks and then to the NASCAR circuit. As a Member of the Spears manufacturing team he was put in charge of car construction, chassis set-up, research & development and pit support. After working for others in the motion picture industry Allan founded his own company, Allan Padelford Camera Cars. In 1988 he built his first of many pieces of motion picture equipment, the C2 Chase Car which starred in the feature film, "Days of Thunder." Allan's favorite build was for the movie "Sea Biscuit," where he was asked to build a driveable platform for horses to ride alongside while an actor, dressed as a jockey sat stationary on an animatronic horse. Sadly, the original Sea Biscuit design was lost in the Simi Valley fires, but was the catalyst to the company's later invention, "The Biscuit." This piece of equipment was designed to be a driveable platform able to accommodate both cars and bucks for filming. It has become a favorite by directors and cinematographer's alike because of its versatility and repositionable driving POD which allows for multiple shooting angles. Allan Padelford Camera Cars located in Valencia, California has a fully equipped machine shop where Allan can satisfy his love for creating and building. It also holds his growing fleet of motion picture vehicles including his Escalade Camera Car with Edge Crane which debuted in the feature "Fast Five" and continued to work on the franchise films. Another innovation was the MTV, the first camera car built to hold a 30 foot technocrane. Although engineering and design is his passion, it's the love of the chase that puts him behind the wheel chasing cars on features like the "Fast and Furious" franchise and "Captain America."