Toyota Stalking, er...um, SPOTTING with Charlie™ (Hilux/Truck, and T-100 Edition)!

I've seen Delorean time machine replicas at cars show before, but this is probably the most accurate one I've ever seen! Don't know what Doc Brown was doing in the year 5123 though...

 

When this baby hits 88 miles per hour, you're gonna see some serious shit!

 

One thing I could never figure out was if the stereo tape deck was somehow integral to the operation of the time machine, or if Doc wanted to jam to his favorite tunes during his time travel adventures; The location of the time travel equipment obviously made it impossible to keep the radio in the factor location, and I have no idea how a car stereo would be help a time machine function, so I'm thinking that the second theory about the tape player is more accurate...

 

If I had a Delorean of my own, I would get a personalized license plate that said "GR8 SCOT"; If you are true fan of BTTF like I am, then you will get reference...

 

1.21 Jigawatts!

 

The plutonium chamber has a hidden speaker that plays a realistic "uncapping" sound!

 

Here is the Goldie Wilson campaign van; BTTF obviously took place in 1985 (As well as 1885, 1955, and 2015, but you get what I mean), but this van is actually a 1990 model. This is a hardly big deal in my opinion, because this basic style of Ford Econoline was in production from 1975 to 1991, with a redesign debuting for the 1992 model year. From the late 1970s until 1991, these vans were externally indistinguishable from each other, and even if you looked closer they are indistinguishable to the untrained eye. I know more about old Ford vans than the average person, but not as much as diehard Ford guys, but I can tell you that using a 1990 rather than a 1985 or older model was a good decision because the 1990 model has certain features than an older model would lack; These include ABS and EFI; A 1985 or older Ford van would be carbureted and certainly wouldn't have ABS. On another note, this van is fairly well-equipped for a cargo van of this era. As these were the basis for luxury conversion vans, it was possible to load up a Ford cargo van with power everything and rear A/C, among other things; This van does not have power windows and locks, but it does have A/C, cruise control, tilt steering, and not a cassette player but an AM/FM radio! Considering that an AM radio was standard equipment on many Ford and GM models, and fleet operators were kind enough to at least get A/C for the comfort of their drivers, but often cheaped out and didn't pay the extra money for an AM/FM radio; The iPod was not invented until over a decade after this van rolled off the factory line, CD players in vehicles were not yet common at the time, and fleet drivers likely weren't carrying around a huge case of cassette tapes, so the ability to just listen to FM stations while on the job was probably much appreciated by fleet drivers in the late 1980s and early 1990s if their boss was nice enough to pay for the upgraded stereo system!

 

I just looked it up on IMCDB, and the van used in the movie was a 1984 E250, just a year old at the time the movie was made; Turns out that the California license plate on the van in the movie was a real plate, and somebody ran the number through the database on the official website for the California smog check program. Also notice the license plate frames with the name of the dealer on them, Allen Kane Ford in North Hollywood; The van in the movie had this frame on the back, and I'm assuming that's where the van in the movie was purchased new, but from what I can tell by looking online the dealer no longer exists. It seems to be fairly easy to buy authentic plate frames from this dealer online, even though the dealer doesn't seem to exist anymore; The movie was filmed in the Los Angeles area, but Hill Valley was supposed to be Northern California town. Some people could consider this to be a production oversight, but there's a heating and plumbing contractor in my area (Southeast Pennsylvania) who almost exclusively uses GMC trucks in his fleet; He bought one of the newer trucks in his fleet from a dealer in Georgia because no dealer in his area had the exact truck he wanted and this dealer in Goergia was willing to sell much cheaper than any dealers around here. It is entirely plausible that the fictional owner of this van in the movie got a better deal from an LA dealer than he could at a closer dealer, had someone drive him or her down there, and then drove the van back.

You also notice that campaign stuff is totally absent from the passenger side of the van; This is not an accident! To save money, the production crew only decorated the driver's side of the van in the movie and filmed it in such a way that it was not possible to tell that the right side was bare!

 

Aside the front the fact that the 1984 Ford E250 in the movie does not have windows in the rear doors, it is virtually identical to the 1990 Ford E250 that I saw today; I have no way of knowing if the van in the movie has the creature comforts of the one I saw today, though I'm assuming that it had air-conditioning at a bare minimum since it was sold new in LA...

 

I don't think that plate from from this dealer would be as sought after as it is if a van from the dealer hadn't appeared wearing one; Apparently this one sold on eBay for $55...

 

And of course, Batwoman and the Batmobile!

 

This replica has one thing that didn't exist in 1966; A Bluetooth touch-screen stereo with a CD player, and a backup camera!

 

As stated above, this thread will ultimately be merged with one of my larger "Stalking" threads; Due largely to the scourge of rust, mint condition Toyota pickups are hardly common in my neck of the woods and I don't want a 1979 Lincoln-based Batmobile to appear in the thumbnail of the "Hilux/Truck" thread until I find another 1995-older Toyota truck to photograph. As such, I decided to post these two pictures at the end of this thread...

 

1995 Xtracab DX 5-speed


June 10th, 2022:

Oaks, Pennsylvania

 

June 12th, 2022:

Bristol, Pennsylvania

 

1989 Deluxe 4x4; I love this thing!


June 12th, 2022:

Bristol, Pennsylvania

 

June 19th, 2022:

Springtown, Pennsylvania

 

Ex-UHAUL 1989 cab/chassis 1-ton; Almost 200K miles and the A/C works!


June 25th, 2022:

Carlisle, Pennsylvania

 

1994 Deluxe 4x4


July 7th, 2022:

Warminster, Pennsylvania