Creepy Classic Vehicles For Halloween Night

Even Creepy Classic Cars Need Insurance

Halloween is coming, and the way America celebrates Halloween has had a profound influence on society here in the UK. No longer is this just a night for horror fans to indulge in their favourite celluloid nightmares. I've always liked it, from a child reading Toby Twirl annuals right up to my first viewing of John Carpenter's 1978 classic, Halloween, which I remember vividly. I was in a small room on a sofa with several other people at Loughton College on my film course. An abiding memory is of Annie getting into a car and wiping the steamed up window clear. We all know what happened next..

The symbolism of a commercial Halloween is strong; the flickering eerie glow of a hollowed out candle-lit pumpkin, kids dressed as witches running excitedly through rustling leaves as they go trick-or-treat, apple bobbing, and these days Halloween specific fancy dress parties.

You might well be surprised at the part that motor vehicles play though. From Stephen King's haunted car movie, Christine (destroying 21 Plymouth Belvederes in the making, although the actual star is a 1958 Plymouth Fury), to Wacky Races and The Gruesome Twosome in the Creepy Coupe - my childhood favourite. Little Gruesome, a lilac-skinned vampire, and Big Gruesome, surely a cross between Micky Dolenz and Frankenstein's monster – were the drivers of a vehicle tricked out with a belfry at the rear surrounded by bats and housing dragons, monsters, ghosts and even storm clouds. It was enough to excite this small boy's horror and fairy tale fuelled mind – and still is.

Scary Old Vehicles

Dig a little deeper and you could be surprised at what there is to be found. How about the sinister 1941 Chevy COE from the 2001 film Jeepers Creepers? Surely this heavily modified classic is a precursor to the Rat Look scene with its V8 rumble and faked paint shop rust bubbles. The film borrowed heavily from Stephen Spielberg's 1971 film, Duel, featuring a 1955 Peterbilt 281 tanker truck. Both films use the vehicles as characters rather than modes of transport – you see the trucks rather than the individuals driving them and come to associate each hulking mechanical beast as having a mind of it's own.

On a lighter note, lets not forget the Ectomobile (or Ecto-1, which was actually the number plate) from 1984's Ghostbusters. An eye-catching vintage 1959 Cadillac Miller-Meteor in a white and red livery, which was in fact an ambulance conversion. A deleted scene from the film shows a ticket placed on the Ectomobile instantly burning to ashes – this car was on our side!

Also on our side was the Mystery Machine from Scooby Doo. This psychedelic van transported Mystery Inc. to their spooky destinations, where the baddy was always (rather disappointingly I thought) proven to be a non-supernatural character, allowing us all to sleep safely and nightmare free. A curious thing with this movie is that they used a Chevvy and a Bedford for the same vehicle. It would appear that the Chevrolet was modified to look like the 1972 Bedford CF van rather than source another Bedford. Even more curious is the ongoing debate over what the original cartoon vehicle was. An old Chevvy, a Dodge A100, Ford Econoline E-150 or VW Camper Van? The jury is still out – and unlikely to return any time soon. In fact, we may have to send Mystery Inc. to find them. Personally, I'd say it was a classic Camper Van as it has the spare wheel under cover on the front grille. Thinking about it, the temptation to sort out some cheap VW Camper Van insurance from Performance Direct and get a Mystery Machine paint job is worryingly high in my mind right now.

This is all great, but in homage to Annie's fogged up car windscreen, how can you involve your own car in your Halloween celebrations? After a little research, I came up with a few automobile-tricking treats. Back in America, you could join in on an annual Trunk or Treat Halloween Carnival, though these appear to be rather watered down affairs and more fun than scary. So how about a fake arm hanging out of your boot, or Mystic Industries pumpkin car costume, consisting of, among other things, a 6” pumpkin for your grille? Or maybe some fake garlic to hang from your rear view mirror. I even found a picture of a car with a white sheet over it and two large eye/viewing holes cut into it to allow the driver and passenger to see out.

Whatever you decide to do for Halloween this year, just keep an eye on what looms up behind you in that rear view mirror - and don't get in at all if your vehicle is the only one with the windscreen suspiciously fogged with condensation..

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