5 Famous Fake Cars in Movies and TV Shows
The recent Netflix series, Senna, got us thinking of movie cars that—often for practical reasons—aren’t exactly what they seem. This story originally ran on our site in 2013, and we’ve freshened it up a bit to provide some helpful and entertaining context for today’s movie-car choices. — Ed.
Hollywood loves to incorporate hot classic cars into movies and television shows. Producers and insurers are also notoriously risk-averse, preferring to use replicas rather than the hyper-valuable real deal whenever possible. Here are some of our favorite big- and small-screen fakes.
Nash Bridges
1971 Plymouth Hemi ‘Cuda: The ’90s San Francisco cop show revived Don Johnson’s career, pairing him with Cheech Marin (half of the stoner comedy team of Cheech and Chong). The yellow car that appeared to be an ultra-rare Hemi ‘Cuda convertible was actually what is known as a “clone,” or a car that started out as a lesser model but was restored to appear as a top shelf ‘Cuda. The difference in price is staggering—around $180,000 grand for a convertible with the 383, more than $3M for the real deal (both prices reflect #2 condition).
Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1985)
1960 Ferrari 250 GT California Spyder: The Ferris Bueller Ferrari is probably the best-known big screen fake. From a distance, it appears reasonably accurate, but Ferrari aficionados can spot the differences in their sleep, from the Triumph-sourced gauges to the MGB taillights. And don’t get them talking about the bogus Italian Borrani wire wheels. A real California Spyder in #2, or Excellent, condition is nearly $20 million today.
Miami Vice (1984)
1972 Ferrari 365 GTS/4 Daytona: Don Johnson appears to be a bit of a magnet for fake cars. His black Daytona Spyder was actually a fake built on a Corvette chassis, and few Ferrari fans shed tears when the car was blown up in sight of Johnson’s character, Sonny Crockett, and his pet alligator, Elvis. Afterward, Crockett took to driving a white Ferrari Testarossa—a real one, this time.
Top Gun (1986)
1958 Porsche Speedster: Kelly McGillis’ character drove this one around San Diego in the classic ’80s movie. Porsche Speedsters are among the most replicated cars ever—most are convincing fiberglass bodies slapped on top of a VW Beetle platform. The replica featured in Top Gun appears to have been one of the good ones, built by longtime Speedster replica-maker Intermeccanica. They’re still in business in British Columbia, Canada, turning out extremely high-quality vintage Porsche replicas.
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984)
1935 Auburn 851 Boattail Speedster: Indy’s sidekick Short Round still holds the record for the best automotive chase involving a pre-teen driver. With blocks tied to the pedals, Short Round takes Jones and a lounge singer on a wild ride through prewar Shanghai. The car was, of course, a complete fake, and not a particularly convincing one at that.
I own a Hollywood car that was fake in the way it was portrayed on the silver screen. It’s the 1949 Hudson Commodore that was seen in “On the Road” & chronicled author Jack Kerouac’s road trip travels across America. It’s fake in the fact that it was shown as being able to really move down the highway at high speed but the must’ve sped the film up a bit. In reality, it does well to make 50 MPH due to the fact that some amateur decided to couple the factory 4.7whatever rear end to a THM350 trans. The car was equipped with overdrive from the factory, hence the tall rear end. It steps off the line quick but goes thru all 3 gears before I pass my neighbor’s house. I’m in the process of correcting the problems by injecting it, installing a 4L60 trans & Explorer 8.8 rear end. Otherwise it’s a supremely nice driving & good handling car for that era.
Whoever did the SBC conversion to the car really saw the studio/producers coming, absolutely terrible workmanship. One example is the trans cooler… it’s a tiny air-cooled piece that was zip-tied to the HOT SIDE of the radiator! Who does something like that???
Miami Vice did get a real TR because Ferrari threw a fit about the McBurnie on the show – although I suspect Ferrari benefited tremendously from the PR generated by the McBurnie.
In any event, I recall reading that after the Testarossa showed up, the MV crew still ending up (somewhat ironically) crafting a fiberglass TR body onto a Pantera chassis in order to handle the stunt work scenes…
Even the model kit depicts the status of the TV car by being a Vette underneath
Yes there was a TR bodied Pantera, you can see it in some quick shots. (That’s a lot easier to do these days thanks to DVDs!)
How about the fake Tuckers in the movie ‘Tucker’. They were actually modified Studebakers
They didn’t really roll a Tucker in “A Man And His Dream.” It’s one of our Studebakers, but under the circumstances I’ll allow it.
yes, certainly fakes are used often in movies. Unfortunately that is not always the case. The idiots in hollyweird far too often destroy vintage cars of “lesser value” in making their films. I stop watching when i see them do that. My 74 Superior endloader hearse was used in a movie, no damage because i would have hurt somebody. Movie was done in Canada by a German film company, about a kid in a northern Ontario town that wants to off himself. It was called Coconut Hero.
Sometimes the real car they want to see destroyed in a movie is much more expensive than the total budget! You’ve got no choice but to go with a fake–thank goodness.
How about the Alfa 2500 (?) Coupe that was blown up in the first Godfather movie? I hope it was a fake. And the prewar Lincoln Contenental that was riddled with bullets later in the movie. They both looked way too real…sigh.
That was an authentic Lincoln from the Godfather that got shot up. It showed up in the collection of an old dude Tom Cotter visited in an episode 4-5 years ago.
That is very cool! Congratulations on having great foresight and seizing upon a unique opportunity!
i know the location of john travoltas a\c croba car is . the punisher movie ak howard saint . 2004
The Ferris Bueller fake Ferrari was a Modena.
The Tucker 48 that was rolled in the Tucker movie was a bulletnose Studebaker stand-in with appropriate fake body parts affixed. Studebaker made over 300,000 cars in model year 1950 and there are quite a number left, so l guess it was ok – if the Stude was a “beater”.
James Bond’s BMW Z8 sawed in half in “The World is Not Enough” was not a real car. The film was released before the Z8 was in production. Rumor is that it was a fiberglass replica built on a Corvette chassis. Luckily, BMW wheels fit the same 5 lug bolt pattern as Chevrolet wheels, so that part of the ruse was easy.
Interesting how McQueens stuff is worth so much. If you dig a bit it doesn’t take too long to discover that he not only wasn’t a nice man, he was really rather odd.
If he were alive today it would be a no -brainer to know who he voted for!
You’re excused.
Maybe Dan Gurney?
No one has mentioned the real Lamborghini Countach they destroyed while filming The Wolf of Wall Street? That was just sad.
The 550 spyder Heddie drove in the CA based series the name of which I cannot remember (NCIS/LA ?) was fake- A Beck, maybe
Let’s not overlook the newest Great Gatsby film which features both a Duesenberg and Auburn Salon Speedster. Both anachronisms (story set in 1925 when neither car was yet built) and both fakes. Real ones are well over $1m each. There’s a short YouTube about them.