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.
In the “Vanishing Point” movie, wasn’t the the car destroyed in the end bulldozer scene a Camaro?
Yes Sir it was. It ruined the movie for me the first time I saw it. I mean it was a car movie
Always amazed directors do not take more care. In the Lucille Ball Movie in 1953, The Long, Long Trailer, the 1953 Mercury pulling the trailer magically turns into a 1953 Lincoln Capri. Once in a Blue Bloods episode , Danny starts to respond to a crime scene in a Ford and arrives in a Chevy, A favorite pass time is watching a movie or show where the time might be 1954 for instance and see a 1956 model drive by. Guess most directors are not car guys
My favorite Blue Bloods car is Danny’s unmarked Dodge Charger. Believable in gun metal gray. But a factory sunroof?
Not on a fleet police car.
If you watch the old Perry Mason series, many expensive cars head to the cliff but at the bottom they are fords or GM base models
The Ferris Bueller car is well-known as a Ford (and automatic) powered fiberglass fake, but the company that built it also built a small number of actual Ferrari based replicas and I had one. Mine used a rusty only 330GT as a basis (today it would have been restored but we’re talking nearly 40 years ago) so I had a V12, 5 Speed, Borrani wheels, the original Ferrari gauges etc, and they even took the original Ferrari VIN and data plate and put it on the car so it retained it’s Ferrari identity. Great fun to drive – the roar of a Ferrari V12 has never been equalled! I bought it from the late Portland Ferrari dealer Ron Tonkin -he had one other fake from the same company, it was a little bit more accurate in the details and was based on a 250, probably a GTE.
I think it was a Challenger(sp).
That was a long time ago…
May have just had a ‘senior moment’.
While some Tucker cars in the movie Tucker were the real deal, many were fakes with fiberglass bodies. I was on set the day of the scene where the cars were driving to the courthouse. It was a hot day, and one of the real Tuckers was overheating. They used a tow line to pull it through the street by one of the V-8-powered fakes. At least that’s the story we were told at the time.
“Bullet nose” Studebakers were the modified cars. One is in the Studebaker museum in South Bend.
In the Temple of Doom, the wooden block was tied to Short Round’s foot, not to the pedals as stated in the narrative.
So many faked cars in the Fast and Furious series. I know hard to believe which such realism in those movies!
Us Ferris and Ferrari lovers know it was a *1961* Ferrari 250 GT California Spyder [replica], not a 1960. 😀 Or, most pretentiously known as a Ferrari 250 Gran Turismo Spyder California 😉.
The Fauxrarri in Ferris Bueller was made by Modena Design & Development. MGB taillights & trunklid included…
How about. the yellow Ferrari f355 in the Nicolas Cage movie “The Rock”? It was real but the car crashed in the movie was a fake, I think it was a Toyota MR2 made up to look like the 355 spyder if I remember correctly.
In the 2001 movie, ” Pearl Harbor” a Shay Deluxe rumble seat roadster appears in the early pre attack scenes.
Juist a question! Was that a real 55 Nomad Tim crushed on Home Inprovement?
I read somewhere that it was actually a Handyman or a 210.
Yup. I just watched it on Youtube, and I am pretty sure it was a regular station wagon, not a Nomad, but still, such a waste!
It was not. If you see the after crush scene, you can see it’s a basic two door wagon like a 210.
In the movie Tucker A Man And His Dream, the car that was rolled was actually a Studebaker made up to look like a tucker. There was also a fiberglass replica used in some shots.
Don’t forget the completely not even a 67 Shelby ….car named Eleanor was a custom movie created in Nicolas Cage’s version of gone in 60 seconds not only was the original gone in 60 seconds not a Shelby, but it was a 72 regular Mustang