Movie cars at the Essen Motor Show

Movie cars are a recurring topic in Essen. As in previous years, a stage in Hall 2 was prepared by a car rental company specialised in movies. They showcase iconic cars from part movies (for more info, see their website ).

Their fleet must be substantial, as their current stage featured quite different cars from the 2018 one, with a single car in common (the DeLorean time machine), while even the Ghostbusters car is replaced with the new one.

However, their website does not feature all the cars from the stage.

The 2021 stage starts with two black road killers. The first one is a 1969 Dodge Charger from the 2007 movie Death Proof.

The car with the weird silver duck hood ornament is driven by Stuntman Mike, the serial killer, who uses his cars to kill hitchhikers.

The other one is a 1973 Ford Falcon GT from the original 1979 Mad Max Movie. This is the famous interceptor of the original movie and seems to match the car used in the film for most of its exterior details.

The next one is a 1974 Dodge Monaco from the original 1980 Blues Brothers movie.

There is also a colossal Ecto 1 on the stage, but not the one I saw in 2018. They upgraded to the 1984 Cadillac Funeral Coach this year to feature the new one from the ill-fated 2016 Ghostbusters film.

There is, of course, a time machine on the stage, built from a DeLorean, as featured not just in the Back to the future series but also in Ready Player One.

Readers from Germany will appreciate the Opel Manta from the iconic German car (geek) movie Manta Manta.

This 1983 Opel Manta GT was driven by Til Schweiger, whose career received a much better boost from the movie than Opel’s new car sales. The coupé was tuned outside, and as the story goes, it received a race car engine.

The last car on this stage is a red Miata once owned by legendary F1 ace Michael Schumacher.

The other paradise for movie goes was the chambers of Chromecars. They were the guys who exhibited the awesomely spectacular GM Futureliner bus at Techno Classica 2016, and they still own and operate it.

Chromecars currently have about a dozen movie cars, mainly US muscle cars from American movies (for the catalogue, see their website). They also boast that many of them are original cars used in the film, not just any car customised to look like the hero cars of those movies. Hero Cars are fully functional film vehicles in which the main actors in the film could also be seen in close-ups.

This year they brought along eight cars to Essen, mainly from the Fast and Furious franchise. The first set is from the early days.

The 1995 VW Jetta is from the original movie, while the other two are from the second instalment, the 2Fast 2 Furious.

The yellow 1994 Supra did not leave lasting memories, but the blue 1969 Camaro finetuned by Yanko is an absolute masterpiece.

The second set consists of two Plymouths from the second half of the series.  The 1970 Plymouth Hemi Cuda is from the last scene of the Fast and Furious 6, and it also stars in the seventh instalment.

The other is a black 1971 Plymouth GTX driven by Dominic Toretto in the 2017 movie Fate of the Furious (the not-so-great eighth instalment).

The list of cool US classics does not end with the Fast and Furious franchise. The collection of Chromecars also contains an original hero car from Gone in sixty seconds.

This 1967 Ford Mustang “Eleanor” was specially manufactured by Cinema Vehicle Services for the 2000 blockbuster movie with Nicolas Cage. Eleanor is a creation of Steve Stanford and Chip Foose, who wanted to reinterpret the classic 1967 Shelby GT500.

This car is one of three still existing hero cars that played a role in the film. Originally eleven film vehicles were made for production, but only the three hero cars survived. If you remember the 50 metres jump Memphis Raines makes in the last chase of the movie? That was not one of the three : ) ).

Their stage in Essen also featured a General Lee from the Dukes of Hazzard. The 1969 Dodge Charger sports the iconic orange livery from the movie that will make you want to say yeeehaaa.

Another conic car from an ‘80s TV series is the Coyote from Hardcastle and McCormick. The original Coyote was built from a custom design based on the McLaren M6GT.

The most miniature car is a funny golf cart from the movie 22 Jump street.

Now that was one theme with a few cars, from one and a half stages (Chromecars had another ace up their sleeves with the Lotus thematic). New posts coming up soon!

For more articles from Essen, revisit the intro article with link to new reports:

For an overview of this years car events, check Egzostive’s ultimate European automotive bucket list!