Facundo Arana He is an actor, driver, musician, mountaineer and a tireless generator of awareness about the importance of blood donation. And he also considers himself a car lover. “I get along excellent with cars”.
In chat with Clarion, the multifaceted actor explored his other passion, which is cars. Although he himself made a clarification: “I always liked cars, but I like trucks.” And he quickly recounted the moment that marked him in this relationship with machines.
“In 1985 the film was released Back to the Future. At the end of the film, when everything goes well, the character’s father, Marty McFly, tells his son to go and look in the garage. He opened the door and there was a shiny black pickup truck with a cab and a half,” Arana explained.
It was a crush. Something that happened to many of the teenagers who saw the movie that year. But the actor Chiquititas He didn’t just stay platonic and went out to look for her. “I have that truck.”
-Yeah. Black, 4×4, with chrome bars. I got it.
“I’m going to have that truck forever.”
Facundo Arana began his relationship with cars from a very young age, at the age of 9, almost as a transfer of family knowledge. “My mother and my uncle Raúl taught me.
-In a Falcon Rural, with a three-speed steering wheel gearbox.
-Why did they teach you when you were so young?
-When my mother was young, she lived in the country. And my grandfather taught him how to drive in case he had some kind of contingency. Then she would be the one who would have to drive. She was very young. She kept that in mind and taught me. When I was a child there was not the care that there is today. Then they taught you how to drive. And I drove everywhere. Every time there was a gap and there were no people, they made me drive to learn.
-How come you looked for the truck from Back to the Future and bought it?
-Tomás Yankelevich had it. If she wasn’t the first, she was one of three who had entered Japan. So 4×4, high. At that time there were only work, utilitarian ones. And I say to Tomás: I buy it from you. No, this is not for sale, he replied. But she had no choice, because the following year he went to study film in the United States and the old man told him to sell it.
-I went to my old man. I told Dad, I’m going to buy this truck. And he told me but you are a salami, you don’t have an apartment. You’re crazy? I asked him to please help me. How much does it flatter you? Half, I tell him. But you are in trouble…. That same night he came and brought me the money, he told me: I don’t know why I’m doing this, but I’m with you. To this day I have it there at home and I will have it forever.
-Was that the first vehicle you bought?
-No. First I had a ’67 Beetle, German. Later I had a Subaru Justy, which was the 4×4 I could buy. You don’t know how it got into the sand! And from there I went straight to that 4×4 and never got out of a truck again, ever again.
-Do you like driving trucks? Do you feel comfortable?
-It’s bigger, it’s more uncomfortable to park but I got used to it being my size. Also, I always walk with my dog Cambá. It’s what I handle and I don’t get off of it. He takes me and does me good.
-And what truck are you driving now?
-And now I arrived at this Ranger Raptor that for me, who has driven everything, is what I like the most, it is the one that achieved it. Besides, you pass by anywhere and you don’t even notice. Look, I toured Argentina with a 2.8 diesel. But with the Raptor I go to La Quiaca drinking mate.
-In other words, if they give you the choice of driving an Aston Martin or a Raptor, which one do you choose?
-My son probably wants to get into the Aston Martin. I have no interest in any Aston Martin. I swear. Neither a Porsche nor a Ferrari. Let’s see, as a program, of course. Take me for a ride. I drive it once. Yes Yes. But I’m closer to one Big Foot that of a Ferrari.
-Manual or automatic box?
-I always thought I liked the manual one better. Until you try the automatic. And when you try the automatic, you realize that you like it much more the whole time you are with the automatic than the little while you want to make the recess with the manual. And for those of us who are starting to have gray hair on our faces, we no longer feel like going through the effort of making changes.
-What can’t be missing from Facundo Arana’s truck?
-The mate is not missing. My “compa” is not missing. There is no shortage of my boys and there is no shortage of Cambá, my dog brand dog.
-You tell me that you’ve already driven everything, that you drive a Raptor…What do you have left to drive, a 700 horsepower F-150 Raptor R?
-To test it, yes. To handle it, of course. Wow, how cool! But if you tell me, choose the one you want, forget about the price. The one that is comfortable for you. I choose the Raptor I have now. Many prefer a Maverick or the F-150. I choose this one. What’s more, I’m not interested in the new Raptor that comes with the big engine. I don’t need more. And I’m crazy about my truck.
-Do you like to drive fast?
-Well, you’re growing and you’re taking your foot off the accelerator a little. It happens to me. I’m not Traverso. I would love to be. But on the road you are never exempt from tragedy. What I never want to happen to me is knowing that it was due to my negligence. I like to go 100 km/h. I go in the slow lane at 100. And if I see that I can pass the truck that is going 80, I pass it and stay at 100. That is my speed.
-Do you always drive or do you hand over the wheel?
-Yes, I deliver it. Furthermore, my wife drives extremely well and she likes to drive. So the one who is not driving, is priming the mates and looking at his phone.
-Like what happened to you with the automatic transmission, does it also happen to you with technology and all the aids that vehicles have today?
-It’s all there. A while ago I was driving and the truck warned me that it was working on cleaning the particulate filter. Do you understand? You are driving to have the filter cleaned. And he also lets me know. It’s great.
-Serious, no. It happened to me that a Rastrojero once crossed me with the Back to the Future truck in the middle of a July night. He passed on red and Boom! And when I got off, the guy was an old man. And he was desperate because he didn’t have insurance. And I look at him and I realize that the guy realized that he was ruined and I told him to go away. I don’t regret it, because nothing happened. But I cursed in Aramaic because the repair cost me 700 dollars.