Did You Know These 5 Famous Cars in Movies & TV Are Fake?

The recent Netflix series, Senna, got our friends at Hagerty thinking about movie cars that—often for practical reasons—aren’t exactly what they seemThis story originally ran on their site in 2013, and we’ve freshened it up a bit to provide some helpful and entertaining context for today’s movie-car choices.

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 usd/ $259,000 cad for a convertible with the 383, more than $3M usd/ $4.25M cad 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 and that’s why we choose it for this article’s feature image. 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 usd/ $28.3 million cad 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 Willie Scott on a wild ride through prewar Shanghai. The car was, of course, a complete fake, and not a particularly convincing one at that. For the Silo, Rob Sass/Hagerty.

Did we miss any? Let us know in the comments below.

3 thoughts on “Did You Know These 5 Famous Cars in Movies & TV Are Fake?”

  1. Solosolo UK

    Not surprised how much that barracuda clone is worth. Even the copycat 356’s are worth a lot of money today! Just watch Bring a Trailer for confirmation.

  2. Can’t help but hear the Starwars theme song when I see that Ferris car launched into the air LOL ps The 1937 Mercedes 320 German Staff Car in the original “Raiders of the Lost Ark” was built from a MkIX Jaguar sedan. The dead giveaway is the classic Jaguar knurled knob on the steering column that adjusts the wheel position. I had the pleasure of visiting the shop in the UK where the work was done. Saw the car too!

  3. Hi this is Mike
    I immediately thought of the “Ferrari” in the Ben Stiller film, Tower Heist. Some people thought they put a real Ferrari in a swimming pool. Not.

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