From a famous tow truck from Cars to the real Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Van, here are
the top 10 movie vehicles that actually exist!
10.
Dumb and Dumber’s Mutt Car Matthew Kerr, a certified dog trainer from
Pennsylvania, wanted to redo his vehicle in order to promote his business.
Kerr has a dog training company called “Matt’s Mutts University”, and he wanted to help
business expand, so – the logical step was to make a Mutt car!
In order to turn this dream of his into reality, Matthew Kerr took six blankets and put them
over this car, using an adhesive to hold them down.
His wife helped him out by stitching the big ears onto the front.
Now, there was the problem of the dog nose.
To solve it, Matt and his wife came up with a brilliant idea – they bought an aluminum
turkey pan, painted it black and placed it on the hood of the car.
I’m not sure if diehard Dumb and Dumber fans would approve of Kerr’s adaptation,
but it’s sure a nice little effort.
It’s funny, and to the point, and it probably ushers in a whole lot of new customers.
A great way to help your business boom!
9.
Ghostbusters’ Ecto-1 Loren Baldwin, from Ohio, spent almost three
years making an exact replica of the famous Ecto-1 vehicle from the Ghostbusters franchise.
The actual search for the parts took Baldwin two years.
Then he spent another six months or so putting them together to match the looks of the movie
car.
Ever since he first saw Ghostbusters, Baldwin was struck with the beauty and brilliant design
of Ecto-1, and dreamed of making one for himself.
He took the chassis from a 1959 Miller-Meteor, a combination car that’s both an ambulance
and a hearse, and which was also used to make the original movie car.
But it wasn’t all that easy.
Baldwin had to wait for nine years to find the Miller-Meteor model, and the find happened
almost by accident!
Baldwin was looking for another car – and stumbled upon this one!
He bought the car for $2,500, and then put in some serious work to get all the measurements
right.
The whole thing cost him around $20,000, but Baldwin claims that – without the help of
many local businesses – it would have exceeded $100,000 for sure.
The car is now rented for charity events and VIP parties, and all I can say is – it’s
looks pretty awesome!
8.
The German Flintmobile Meet Sebastian Trager, a car lover and Flintstones
nut who decided to make a life-size replica of the Flintmobile.
For this project, Mr. Trager took a Volkswagen Polo.
He removed everything except the chassis, engine and the wheels, and placed the recognizable
wooden frame design on top along with the leopard seat covers.
He also installed wooden benches and a cloth roof, to be as close to the original as possible.
There was no need for pedaling, because this Flintmobile was powered by the vehicle’s
original engine.
But everything else was done to a tee: no windshield or wipers, and no seat belts, headlights
or turn signals.
The Flintmobile looks like it came straight from the Flintstones movie set.
Although Sebastian Trager tried convincing German authorities that his Flintmobile was
perfectly safe, they thought otherwise.
Maybe it was the lack of seatbelts.
Unfortunately, it was impossible to legally register a vehicle without all the aforementioned
accessories, as it was deemed too dangerous for the streets and highways, and rightly
so.
Nevertheless, this labor of love paid off, because the Flintmobile is now shown in exhibitions
for car lovers and Flintstone fans to enjoy it.
7.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle (TMNT) Van This popular cartoon vehicle was made by Jay
Ohrberg.
Ohrberg is a car manufacturer and collector whose specialty is making TV and movie cars.
His company, “Jay Ohrberg Star Cars” is famous for having numerous replicas and originals
of movie and TV cars, many of which can be rented.
Ohrberg made a replica of the Turtle Van for Mattel, the famous toy manufacturer, as part
of a promotion for their toy line.
And the van really looks believable!
Fun fact: while all 4 ninja turtles drove the van, out of the four, Leonardo is the
one who spends the most time as the driver.
The van is actually a modified version of the 1957 Volkswagen Van – otherwise known
as Volkswagen Type 2.
It has a functional side-door, windshield armor and all the gadgets.
The roof is in turtle-shell hues, the rear wheels are bigger, and there’s also the
famous TMNT logo on it.
The van is fully functional, which means it can drive, but it would need some more servicing
in order to be ready for the open road.
For now, it’s only used for shows and exhibitions.
And its rental fee is $10,000.
Judging by its looks, the fee is kind of worth it!
6.
Knight Rider’s KITT Chris Palmer wanted to make an exact replica
of the famous car from the 80s TV show “The Knight Rider”.
He invested a lot of time and energy, but he says that the effort was worth it, and
that he would gladly do it again.
Palmer began working on the replica by using a 1991 Pontiac Trans Am.
But right at the start, he was faced with a problem.
The 1991 model had a much better drivetrain than the original used in the TV show, but
- was almost a decade younger.
In order to bridge the gap and make the replica as close to the original as possible, Palmer
had to do some more shopping.
He bought four extra models of the Trans Am – two from 1983, and two from 1982.
This was a major decision, because it enabled him to replace the panels and make a real
KITT.
There were also some additional adjustments, such as chopping off the gear shift, because
the original KITT was supposed to be automatic.
On eBay, Palmer found the original bumper and the dashboard, to match the inside with
the original car.
The wheel’s futuristic, the dashboard is spot on, and the red-scanning light is like
icing on the cake.
Verdict: a total success!
5.
Jurassic Park’s Ford Explorer Christopher Orgeron from Texas set out to
make a Ford Explorer from Spielberg’s Jurassic Park, and what he ended up having is a real
work of art.
The first task was to find the right model.
He went on Craigslist and bought the first-generation Ford Explorer, the same one used in the making
of the film.
Orgeron bought the car for around $500 and then moved on to stage two – finding all
the right parts for the replica to be a spot on match.
And he didn’t stop there, because his desire wasn’t just to make a nice-looking car from
the outside.
Orgeron’s plan was to redecorate the interior as well.
He installed two cathode ray tube screens, which were also faithful to the time period.
The brush guard for the Explorer proved pretty hard to find, but Christopher managed to find
it, eventually.
Now his replica looks just like on the movie set.
There’s everything: the exact flare case, custom dashboard, console – including the
logo and those famous plastic cups.
Well, you can’t get more accurate than that!
4.
Donald Duck Car Yup, it’s for real.
Donald Duck now has a life-size replica of his beloved automobile.
And the car is done with such precision and attention to detail, that it even has the
license plate 313, just like in the comics and the cartoon (btw, for all of you who don’t
know – 313 is Donald Duck’s birthday, March 13th).
Surprisingly enough, this car doesn’t come from the US, as you might expect, but from
Norway.
It was originally made by the Amcar Club in the 90s, with the goal of promoting a car
show back then.
The engine comes from an Opel Kadett, but everything else is custom made, including
the chassis and the bodywork.
The current owner of the car, Finn Pedersen, claims that many people over the years have
asked him to sell the car, but he’s always declined.
He also has a “special” driver’s license for the car, with Donald Duck’s signature
on it.
Of course, it’s not legally valid but there’s no need to be literal!
The car is definitely an attention-grabber at car shows and exhibitions.
And why wouldn’t it be?
It looks wonderful!
3.
Mater the Tow Truck When Pixar wanted to promote their upcoming
film, Cars, they came up with an interesting idea: to order life-size models of three cars
from the movie, and drive them around during the promo tour.
Allegedly, it was Jay Leno who advised the executives from Pixar to go and hire Eddie
Paul.
Eddie Paul is a car stuntman and manufacturer, who over the last couple of decades has made
customized cars for many Hollywood hits, including Grease and XXX.
Eddie was approached by the studio to make three custom cars – Lightning McQueen, Sally
and Mater the Tow Truck.
And while all three of them are beautiful, Mater takes the cake; I mean, look at it,
it’s a cute little tow truck, what’s not to like?
Eddie used a pickup with dual rear wheels, from the 1970s, and scaled everything to the
size of Mater the Tow Truck.
He narrowed the rear end by a foot, and took out a couple of rear spring leaves, so that
the ride became smoother and softer.
The mouth was duplicated by moving the radiator inside, the right hue was painted over and
– voila!
– Tow Mater came to life in full size.
Kudos to Eddie Paul – he did an amazing job.
2.
Wacky Races Cars Well, if this isn’t wacky – I don’t
know what is!
In case you don’t remember, Wacky Races was an animated TV show from Hannah-Barbera
studios, which ran for 17 episodes.
It features a cast of wacky contestants with their even wackier cars, who compete in the
cross-country race for the title of “the wackiest racer”.
I know, that’s whole lot of “wacky”.
Over the years, there have been a couple of video games based on the cartoon, and also
some occasional references, but the actual race never came to life.
That is – until the Goodwood Festival of Speed.
This is an annual event held in Chichester, a town located some 60 miles north of London.
In recent years, as part of the Goodwood festival, life-size replicas of Wacky Races cars were
introduced.
The full set of vehicles was finally completed in 2008, while their drivers were dressed
just like the cartoon characters!
The cars are so well done, that there’s practically no difference between them and
their cartoon counterparts.
They must have taken a lot of time to make and assemble, but when you see them like this
– it immediately brings a smile to your face.
Go, Wacky Races!
1.
DeLorean from Back to the Future Ollie Wilkey, an inventory clerk from England,
realized his dream when he got a replica of one of cinema’s most beloved cars – the
DeLorean from the Back to the Future trilogy.
This car has everything, including the well-known flux capacitor, time circuits and the energy
reactor.
You remember that the famous time-traveling speed of the DeLorean is 88mph?
Well, when this car reaches that speed, it turns on a lot of flashing lights, and activates
sound effects to simulate time travel, just like in the movie!
That’s a touch of magic right there.
The car can even be put in hovering mode, to mimic the original from Back to the Future.
This vehicle wasn’t built by Ollie Wilkey.
He actually bought it from a friend named Luke, who had bought it some time ago.
The car was manufactured in Florida, by a contractor working for Universal Studios,
who was also an ex-NASA engineer.
Of course!
You know NASA engineers are going to have cool hobbies!
According to Ollie, he always finds the time to take it for a drive.
And gets A LOT of attention.
Of course he does, he drives Doc Brown’s Time Machine!
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