5 Inexpensive Movie Cars You Can Build On A Budget

Everyone loves movie cars, whether you’re a gear head or not seeing a DeLorean with a flux capacitor or the Batmobile in the flesh is a truly memorable experience. Something like the hearse from Ghostbusters will attract more attention than even a brand new Ferrari, and who doesn’t want to live out their childhood dreams of being one of these movie characters. Movie car replicas can be sometimes be pretty pricey but not all of these Hollywood icons will break the bank. Here are 5 movie car replicas you could probably build yourself all except for paint.

If you’re a child of the 80s chances are you’ve heard of or watched the A-Team. Their two tone 1983 GMC Vandura with that awesome red stripe is one of the most iconic movie cars of the 1980s. You can use a Vandura or a similar Chevy van as a base. You can get either for around $2500 or less although it’ll take some work to find one that’s the right body style. To make a basic replica all you need is the body kit, roof spoiler, bullbars, iconic turbine wheels (these can be hard to find) and someone to do the paint work. All in all you could build a solid good looking replica for anywhere from $5000-$10,000 depending on how much of it you do yourself and the level of detail.

Here’s another relatively easy movie car to build, the Ford Explorer from Jurassic Park. The main thing separating this from any other early 90s explorer is front and rear bull bars, a bunch of lights, off road tires with the correct wheels and a whole lot of brightly colored vinyl. If you want to be really accurate you can go all out and find/make one of those bubble tops as well. You could easily build a pretty good replica of this for around $5,000 or so.

Everyone knows Herbie, and everyone loves him. The #53 livery is one of the most famous liveries never used on an actual race car. You can still pick up a later model Beetles for around $5000, although finding one with a sunroof may be a little bit harder. With the just a little backdate, the correct chrome front bumper and some 14” or 15” wheels depending on which version you plan to replicate, as well as a fair bit of paintwork, you could have a pretty convincing Herbie. Once again, depending on labor and such I’d estimate you’d spend $8,000-$10,000 for a good, albeit basic, replica.

This one is pretty self explanatory, the one and only Mystery Machine. I’m going to be honest in saying that I have no idea what van the Mystery Machine is actually supposed to be, although classic Ford Econolines like this one work quite well. If you don’t have the money for one of those, however, basically any 60s cabover van, or even any van at all for that matter will work pretty well. Prices to build these vary anywhere from $3,500 for a later van on a budget, to $15,000 for a really nicely sorted 60s Econoline or similar.

Last up is the other well known car from Jurassic Park, the Jeep Wrangler. Wrangler prices aren’t’t exactly cheap so expect to pay $5,000-$7,500 for the right one with a brown fabric top. You’ll need the usual big tires, winch and bumper lights, as well as a roof mounted LEDs and the obvious paint job, which could also be done as a vinyl wrap. Expect to pay in the range of $10,000-$12,000 when everything is said and done.

What movie cars do you think I left out? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.

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