In the world of pawn, everything has it's price. Especially items of extremely rare proportions. During one episode of History Channel's Pawn Stars, owner Rick Harrison got a rare opportunity to buy one of the baddest collector sports cars ever built. The rare Shelby Cobra. Only problem is it wasn't complete. But does that mean it's still not worth something? Hardly. In Rick's case he was presented with an aluminum body shell. Even in rough shape an original aluminum body shell can bring a pretty penny. The owner obtained the body and frame while clearing some items out of storage rental on a contract. In other words, he was paid to haul it off. Not a bad gig if you ask me. But is it real?
That's a question left to experts. There are a lot of known continuation and replica cars out there. The show had an expert come on and explain how to tell. One way to tell is of course the serial number. All real Shelby Cobra's left the product plant with a serial number starting with "CSX". The expert on the show found the CSX serial number on the frame. Shelby serials are stored in a master database/registry that contains known details about each authenticated car. Once the car on the show was authenticated as being real a deal was made. After a few offers a price of $30,000 was agreed on. Quite a steal for the pawn shop. The expert felt the retail condition of the body/frame was at least $60,000. But if you've seen the show, you understand that a pawn shop must be able to turn a profit. Just because something is worth something doesn't mean it will be bought for the price it's worth. It's just business. But hey, what's the tow truck driver out? Notta!
The car was left with a team to be restored. Over the course of a few weeks (with the magic of hollywood) the car was built from the ground up. Looking to maintain maximum profit margins, the restoration crew cut a few corners. For starters they used "simulated leather" in place of real leather sets. Personally I wouldn't have made this move. Nothing like the real thing. Next they used a carburetor induction system instead of fuel injected. No harm here. A lot of the original cars used carbs. After restoration was complete. The Pawn Stars crew met at a local track to test it out. The old man made a lap at a extremely slow pace. Next was the son's turn. The credits roll.
I have a few concerns about the final product. It just doesn't seem like the body/frame that was bought in the beginning of the show. Some folks point out that if you look closely the finished car looks like a fiberglass kit car. Could this be a different car? Possibility. Thousands of these kit cars have been built. Another interesting fact. If you look closely near the end of the episode you can catch Carrol Shelby's signature on the dash. Did they have time to have 'da man' himself sign it? Why not mention this fact? It only makes the car worth a little more. But none the less it's still a very cool car. I would love to own even just a replica car. It would be too much fun to own. I remember as a kid owning a 1/18 die-cast replica below. Some where I'm sure I still have it. If ya haven't watched Pawn Stars yet, see our Amazon Ad to the left. Totally worth it! See ya next time.
Classic Detroit muscle has always been a great fit for superheros. The Green Hornet is no exception. Black Beauty is an awesome name for a car of such caliber, a 1965 Chrysler Imperial. Also known as the top of the Chrysler line. Elwood Engel the same guy that brought us the 1961 Lincoln Continental, designed this generation Imperial. The lines are straight and long as with most cars of the time. As you can see Black Beauty earns it's name. The car is nearly completely black. You might miss the Green Hornet's green headlights. But you won't miss the sound of a Big Block Chevrolet...
What? No Mopar? That's right folks. Reports show that the movie cars were powered by Chevrolet engines. I'm sure they'll dub over the engine sounds with the factory 440 and 413 V8 these monsters came with. Most of the On Screen Cars were modified with full roll cages. Some were beefed up to take side impact. Your template movie car on the inside. Guns? Oh yea. Two large guns as well as missile launchers. I think actor Seth Rogen will have plenty of fun with those. I have to say though the weapons array reminds me of Triple X.
So who's the designer? Sources say Sony Pictures put the screen cars together. I would have thought George Barris (the creator of the car in the original '60s TV series). ButYou can hear the display staff at Comic Con video confirm it isn't. None the less an amazing retro re-creation of a Dean Jeffries* design. Don't forget to watch the trailer (below). I'll be putting it on my list to watch. Catch ya next time!
* Correction from http://www.theblackbeauty.com, Dean Jeffries did the original design of Black Beauty on the TV series.
What happens when you love TV/Movie cars and Lego? Well ya put them together of course! Zach Sweigart is what you might call a Legomaniac. I can't blame him. It happens to the best of us. We stumbled across Zach's designs through a site called MOCpages.com. It's kinda like MySpace/Facebook for Lego fanatics to share their designs. We were so impressed we decided to post some of Zach's designs (with his permission of course).
Back to the Future - 1981 Delorean DMC-12. This design was featured in the third issue of Brickjounrnal magazine. You can see more of this design on his MOC page.
Starsky and Hutch - 1976 Ford Gran Torino. Check out the awesome detail on the grill.
Gone in Sixty Seconds (2000) - 1967 Shelby GT-500 'Eleanor'
Knight Rider - 1982 Pontiac Trans Am
Batmobile - 1989
Halo - Warthog M12. What? It's a OSC car too! Video games count.
When Zach isn't studying for college or building Lego creations he's working on his 1977 Trans Am. Sweet ride my friend. You can see more images of Zach's work on his MOC page. Got any OSC art you would like to submit? Send us a line via our contact page. We would love to feature it. Looking to build your own OSC Lego creations? Check out some of the great sets and parts to get ya started below. See ya next time!
Ed 'Big Daddy' Roth is one of the greatest custom car designers of all time. He's responsible for countless inspired designs of not only custom cars, but timeless popular culture icons as well. Tales of the Rat Fink is an exciting documentary about the life and times of Ed 'Big Daddy' Roth. Thanks to Shout Factory! and YouTube. We're able to bring you the full length feature embedded into this post. Pull up a chair and learn about the man behind Rat Fink. Note this video is not property of OnScreenCars.com. We take no credit. We simply want you to enjoy it as much as we did. As Ed Roth once said, "Keep the rubber side down and the shinny side up." Be sure to keep your eye out for incredible OnScreenCars! See ya next time.
Update 9/17/2023: The Shout Factory video is long gone. But I have replaced it with the trailer below.
Are you addicted to Car Town yet? I know we are. I thought I would mention some of the great templates created by fellow Car Town gamers. Check out some of these awsome TV and Movie car designs. Great job guys! Links to sources below each picture. If you ask the artist nicely, I'm sure you can get a hold of the template for your favorite TV/Movie car.
Looking for more Car Town TV and Movie Car Templates? Check out our next batch!
