“Fireball” Tim Lawrence has built some of the most iconic movie cars of all time, from Ghostbusters’ “Ecto 1″ (pictured above) to the original Kitt. Now he’s teamed up with Autotrader Classics to build a new car for this year’s SEMA show, and he invited us over to his Hollywood Fantasy warehouse to check it out. It’s called the Redster, and it’s an old Chevy pickup on big chrome rims, with a sweet, ghosted paint job and a tonneau cover in the bed that rises up to reveal 5 Sony Vizio touchscreen computers and a 46″ LCD TV. There’s also a Hydrogen assist unit installed to the small block Chevy, which supposedly improves fuel economy, but all we know is the glowing blue box in the engine bay was pretty cool. There are plenty of photos in the gallery below, but also included is an absolutely MASSIVE collection of Hollywood movie cars.
There were so many movie cars there, it made my head spin. There was the real Elanor from Gone in 60 Seconds, Ecto 1, a Back to the Future Delorean in amazing detail (though disappointingly wearing incorrect chrome wheels), Mad Max’s RHD Ford, an original General Lee Charger, the Mercedes 280SE from The Hangover, the Flinstones’ “4 Heel Drive,” Starsky and Hutch’s Torino, Elvis Presley’s Stutz Blackhawk, several cars from Fast and Furious, and even a few unexpected wild cards.
Bonus points to the first person to correctly identify what movie the red Jaguar XJS appeared in.
Was it Lucky Numbers with Travolta? Also, is this the same one used in HBO's True Blood? It looks like it…
red xjs i believe is from get shorty
thanks for the memories Matt. Tell us more about Fireball Tim and his shop. Can we see tour it? Please give us the lowdown!
Just wondering what contributions were made by Fireball Tim in the creation of Ecto 1 or KITT from Knight Rider? And as far as the the Back To The Future Delorean not having the correct wheels, who cares?
Thank you,
Lou.
Hey Matt,
I went to this event too, (arrived late), sorry I missed you. I attended Art Center College of Design at the same time, (1987-1989), as Fireball Tim, and believe it or not, back then he was actually very quiet and reserved. He has, however, always been a great designer and a genuinely great guy, first and foremost !
Hey guys-
First let me say how appreciative I am at the last comment. Thanks, John. And it was really great that The Smoking Tire came out to our event 'cause it's a great site with awesome content.
Regarding the Ecto 1, our shop rebuilt the originals for the upcoming Ghostbusters 3, as the originals were found in junkyards! The movie came out when I was only about 11, so although I loved to draw cars then, I didn't design that one.
I did however, do the Attack Kitt for the new Knight Rider show, and that was cool.
We just posted on the Smoking Tire Facebook Page a link to the 1st of 5 build episodes we did for the REDSTER. Hope you enjoy them!