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.
Inspector Morse’s Jaguar 240 is another well known one. The base car is a Daimler 2.5 V8 automatic probably chosen because the automatic made it easier to drive while filming and may have been cheaper than a genuine Mark II. Since it’s the same body in white all they did was swap the grille, bumpers, and steering wheel.
I’ve been thinking about going one further and doing up a Mitsuoka Viewt with a vinyl top like Morse’s car to be a replica of a replica.
I saw one of those Ferrrari Daytona replicas in the late 80s. Up close the two dead giveaways were the Corvette door handles and the New York registration sticker that listed the make as Chevrolet.
Go back a few decades and check out the Kirbys’ (Cary Grant, Constance Bennett) car in “Topper”. Complete, studio-created fantasy. No need to check taillights or trim pieces. Not that it could be mistaken for anythig real!
In 1967/8 I was, and still am, a good friend of Lee Brown owner of Precision Auto Body (then) and body man to all Steve Mcqueen’s cars, mostly Ferraris. One Friday afternoon I went to see “Brownie” in his shop on Hollywood Blvd. He said, “Come on back here,” to the back of the shop. There sat two new green Mustang Fastbacks with Mfgr. plates. Brownie told me that McQueen had sent the cars over from Ford, and he had to
make both to appear they had been driven on the streets of San Francisco for a year; one would become the camera car, the other would be the “object” car. With that, he handed me a tire iron, and said, “Whatever I do to this car, you do to that car.” We went around both cars giving them each identicle, semi-gentle whacks. They were not replicas, but that is how I had a “hand” in modifying the Bullit cars for the movie.
I think the Iron Man Cobra crush was a great scene – especially since they went to the trouble of using an ally body
A year ago I was watching a bunch of “Columbo” shows and recall seeing a Jaguar XKE being wrecked. Back in those days, I can see that it could have been a real Jag.
At last, the answer! I’ve been wondering about her Top Gun car since the movie came out!
I used to manufacture furniture next door to Intermeccania in California in the 1970s and for a while built shipping crates for their car kits. I was a car nut my whole life and was driving a first year 5 series BMW. I told them about the time in the late1960s when I was in College that the owner of my local gas station in West L.A. was selling his 1950s Porsche Speedster for $900. I drove it around but it had no top or side windows, so I bought a 1958 Corvette for $800.
How about the Porsche 917 and Ferrari 512 replicas used in Steve McQueen’s 1971 “Le Mans” movie. Even back then, the genuine ones were way too valuable to be expendable movie props.
John Wick needs to be there. Not too many automatic boss 429s out there…but damn that tribute was sweet. Actually went out and bought a 70 fastback because of this movie.
Hi all,
Back in a Philadelphia junk yard in Tacony neighborhood in the early 1970’s, friends and I were puling parts for my ’66 Mercury Cyclone and a friend’s ’67 Chevelle SS from carcasses when a big car hauler showed up and a rather well-dressed crew arrived. They were there to pick up a few late model ’40s and early ’50s sedans. When we asked why? Their crew chief said they were from a “Curb Car” company that took old cars and restored them sufficiently (brakes, steering, body, paint, interiors, etc, for transport to period movie and TV shows where they would be parked “curb-side” for street scenes.
I remembered thinking then, “what a great business to own,” one where the car didn’t really have to do anything more than look a part for a few seconds on camera. Well, it was a good idea, but were broke college kids back from overseas then.
My all time “fake” is the Winton Flyer in Steve McQueen’s “The Reivers.” Not only would a real Winton Flyer have held up to the riggers of the movie but they are to say the least rare. But the story called for one and McQueen was a gearhead so he called his buddy VonDutch and had him scratch build one. Great little period movie. Neat car.
There was a real Winton Flyer…but it was later than the car seen in the film.
The film car is a fantasy with a real name. I asked a member of the Winton Club for the information….
Speaking of Steve McQueen… The “German” motorcycle stolen by his character in “The Great Escape” (and jumped over a barricade) was actually a thinly disguised 1962 Triumph TR6 Trophy.
Now back to cars. In the 1966 Elvis flick “Spinout”, there are two scenes where a car magically changes into a different (cheaper) machine when it is driven into a river.
The first time around, Elvis dunks a white Cobra, but the vehicle shown in the water is a Mistral fiberglass kit car.
Later in the film, Shelley Fabares launches a red Ferrari 250GT Cabriolet into the same river, and it becomes a Triumph TR4.
Not a movie car, more the one that I let go…. About 20 years ago I found a ‘74 Porsche 911 for $4000 in beautiful black! It wasn’t in too bad of shape, but it did blow oil past the valve guides when it got warm and had a few paint chips in the front….at the time solved that with a Sharpy felt pen and some wax…could see them until you got up to the paint! Also, did not have AC, living in the desert kind of a must. Bought the better proper Porsche wheels for it, and an AC kit and had plans to install it and to rebuild the engine, but decided that was over my head and sold it for about $6000 after a year of so…. At any rate, that car is worth well over that price today and is set to only appreciate, especially if restored! Love the sound of those years…nothing sounds quite like them… At least I did have the pleasure of driving it for a few years…
One more car that was a fake was the black Ferrari Daytona in Miami Vice. It was made from a kit in a Corvette C4 chassis that had been wrecked. Due to the accident, builders didn’t catch the wheelbase was a few inches different from LH to RH until they were well into the build. They just adjusted the kit to fit it.
Eventually, Ferrari saw the success of Miami Vice and offered a Testarossa in exchange for destroying the kit. Producers obliged and Crockett got the new car.
The Continental that Odd Job crushed in the 1964 Bond film Goldfinger was missing its engine. I don’t think Mr. Solo or the box of gold was in it either.