A private register of vintage automobiles, reserved for the productions that shape culture.
Over three decades of producing world-class photo and film shoots, we have built deep, trusted relationships with top production companies and creative leaders. We know precisely what sets demand — and we serve a discerning clientele actively seeking rare, high-caliber resources.
Thirty years in commercial photo and film production taught us exactly what dynamic sets require. Through long-standing relationships with top production houses and an exclusive client base seeking high-end services, we recognized a distinct demand for rare, film-ready vehicles.
Metromotion Productions INC (MPI) was created to answer that call — an exclusive register of luxury vintage automobiles convened for the world's most demanding productions. Select a model. Tell us the production, the director, the location. MPI conducts the rest — quietly, and in full.
From its founding in 1991, Metromotion Productions INC (MPI) has specialized in coordinating photo shoots for the international commercial photography and film industries.
With two prime locations in New York—Hudson Yards 450 West 31st Street, 9+10th floors, NYC 10001 and the Flatiron District 50 West 17th Street 2nd Floor NYC 10011—we specialize in shaping productions across the globe, including exclusive access in the United States, Mexico, and the Caribbean.
We offer a comprehensive range of production services backed by unrivaled customer support. Our "A La Carte" productions are carefully tailored to our clients' specific needs, while our extensive resources allow us to remain flexible and instantly respond to the dynamic conditions of any live production.
Over three decades of successfully managing a wide range of projects and budgets stands as a testament to our versatility—and, most importantly, to the dedication and hard work of our team.
Metromotion Productions INC (MPI) | Photo Shoot & Film Production Company NYC — METROMOTION.COM
MPI is headquartered in Hudson Yards, Manhattan. The automobiles themselves are kept in private garages across the region and beyond — insured, and moved only for the occasion. Share the location of your production and we will bring the car to it.
- Gucci
- Veuve Clicquot
- Madewell
- Levi's
- Bonobos
- Moët & Chandon
Custodial, not commercial
Every automobile belongs to a private collector. We answer to them first, and the car returns in the condition it arrived.
Production-fluent
Convened within the same walls as Daylight Studio and Metromotion Productions. Familiar with directors, DPs, call sheets, and the weight of a closed set.
Absolute discretion
No client list on the door. No press on the booking. What happens on set stays on set.
Metromotion Productions INC (MPI) acts solely as a booking broker. MPI introduces productions and clients to the owners of the vintage automobiles featured on this site, and coordinates dates, locations, and requirements between the two parties.
MPI is not a party to any rental contract or agreement. All rental terms, agreements, payments, insurance obligations, and liabilities are entered into directly between the renter (client) and the owner of the vehicle. MPI does not sign, guarantee, or assume responsibility under those agreements.
All numbers and agreed payments are fully transparent between the owner and the renter. Both parties see the same figures — rental rate, dates, terms, and MPI's booking fee — before any agreement is signed. MPI's fee is included in the price agreed between the parties, with no hidden margins or side charges.
Preserving Rarity: What Production Placement Really Means for a Collection
Most collectors didn't build their collection to sell it. They built it because certain automobiles deserve to be kept, maintained, and understood for what they are — engineering that simply can't be replicated at today's scale, in today's market. If you've spent decades acquiring, restoring, and caring for these machines, the goal was never a quick profit. It's stewardship. And good stewardship happens to be exactly what protects and grows the value of what you already own.
Rarity is the foundation. Documentation is what's built on top of it.
Any serious collector already knows the fundamentals — low production numbers, matching numbers, clean ownership history, correct restoration. These are what make a car rare in the first place. But rarity, on its own, doesn't really change over time. What does change is how well the story around the car has been documented.
Take two examples of the same model, same condition, same ownership pedigree. They can sell for very different sums if one of them carries a verified appearance in a significant film, TV production, or major editorial feature and the other doesn't. This isn't folklore — auction houses have been posting the same pattern for decades.
What the Auction Record Actually Shows
The numbers below aren't projections. They're documented sale results, and they tell a consistent story: a verified production history changes what the market is willing to pay.
The Bullitt Mustang
Steve McQueen's 1968 Ford Mustang GT from Bullitt sold for $3.4 million at hammer — $3.74 million with fees — at Mecum's Kissimmee auction in 2020. It shattered the previous Mustang record of $2.2 million, and it did so on a car whose only real distinction from a standard Mustang GT is a documented, verifiable appearance on screen.
The Le Mans GT40
The Ford GT40 Gulf/Mirage that McQueen drove during the filming of Le Mans sold for $11 million at Monterey in 2012 — a record at the time for the most expensive American car ever sold at auction. An ordinary GT40 of similar spec, without the film history, has traded in the range of roughly $100,000.
The Le Mans Porsche 911S
A 1970 Porsche 911S McQueen drove in the opening sequence of Le Mans sold for $1.375 million in 2011 — the highest price ever recorded for a 911 at the time. Comparable 911S examples without that pedigree were trading closer to $50,000.
The McQueen Ferrari Lusso
His 1963 Ferrari 250 GT Lusso carried a pre-sale estimate of $800,000 to $1.2 million. It sold for $2.31 million at Christie's — nearly double the high estimate — on documented ownership and use alone.
The 917K, and the market's discipline
Even the most famous provenance doesn't guarantee a sale at any price. The Porsche 917K McQueen drove in Le Mans drew a bid of $25 million at Mecum's 2025 Kissimmee auction and still didn't meet reserve. Serious buyers are pricing condition, originality, and the underlying car alongside the story — provenance sets the ceiling higher, it doesn't remove judgment from the room.
McKeel Hagerty, president of the collector insurer that bears his name, has been direct about this: celebrity or screen ownership doesn't automatically double or triple a car's value on its own. What these results show instead is that when the underlying car is right and the history is real and verifiable, the market consistently rewards it — sometimes modestly, sometimes dramatically.
The Point Is Not the Fee. The Point Is the Permanent Record.
If you don't need the income, the real value of a production placement isn't the payment for the day — it's what a credited, documented appearance does to the car's history file from that point forward. That file, alongside service records, restoration paperwork, and ownership chain, is exactly what serious collectors and appraisers look at when they're deciding what a piece is really worth, whether it changes hands next year or stays in the family for another generation.
This is how the world's most valuable automobiles have built their reputations — not through one moment, but through a documented history that compounds over time. Every verified placement becomes another permanent line in that record, one that outlasts the current owner and travels with the car to whoever takes it on next.
Protecting the Asset Is the Whole Point
Wanting to protect what you've built is the right instinct, and it's also the starting point for how this actually works. The car stays in private, fully insured keeping at all times. It's never on public display, never exposed to foot traffic it doesn't need. It moves only for the specific, closed production it's been placed in — straight from the garage to the set, and back. Nothing about its condition, mileage, or security is left to chance. The only thing that changes is that its story gets a little richer.
A Decision About Legacy, Not Liquidity
At this point in a collection, most owners aren't thinking about what the car would fetch this year — they're thinking about what the collection represents, to family, to fellow collectors, to the history of these machines. A verified production credit isn't a marketing tactic. It's a real, provable addition to the story of a car that will likely outlive its current owner and pass on to whoever takes over as its steward next.
The rarest cars aren't just the ones with the fewest surviving examples. They're the ones whose stories have been documented and verified the most thoroughly. Placing a car in the right production, handled with the right discretion, is one of the few ways left to add genuine, verifiable value to something that already commands respect — without altering it, without risking it, and without ever losing control of it.
To discuss whether your automobile is a fit for an upcoming production, contact Alfina Astor directly at Alfina@metromotion.com or +1 (917) 497-1178.
Auction figures cited above are drawn from public sale results reported by Mecum Auctions, RM Sotheby's/RM Auctions, and Christie's, and from Hagerty's published market commentary.