Movie Buff Builds Scooby Doo’s 'Mystery Machine' Van
51-year-old Scooby Doo fan builds the ultimate replica Mystery Machine. Jerry Patrick, owner of the car customising company AKA Junk, has recreated classic movie vehicles for the last 10 years. From the likes of the Batmobile to the Delorean – Jerry takes pride in constructing the most iconic cars that everyone can relate to. And one of his most recent masterpieces is none other than the cartoon Mystery Machine.
Transcript
00:00The main reference we use when customizing the Scooby-Doo Mystery Machine is, as luck
00:06would have it, watching tons of cartoons.
00:37For over ten years, A.K.A. Junk has created incredible replicas of TV and movie cars.
00:53This is our Scooby-Doo Mystery Machine. We do everything in house. We do the paint, the
00:58body work, the decals. Everything is done right here at our shop. As we walk around,
01:04we try to get it as accurate as we can, cartoon accurate that is. We come around back and
01:09we get to see Scooby and Shaggy peeking out the back window, looking down. A Scooby-Doo
01:15tag for the back handle. The famous purple front and back bumpers try to be as cartoon
01:22accurate as we can.
01:24Owner Jerry first started customizing classic cars before moving on to TV and replica vehicles.
01:30Over three months, the team transformed a 1967 Dodge van into this well-loved mystery
01:36solving machine. Every detail was painstakingly planned to match the iconic cartoon.
01:43As we come around to this side of the van, we get to open up the side doors to reveal
01:47the secret compartment inside that's rarely shown in the cartoons. We kind of took some
01:53creative liberties on the inside. About a hundred feet of LED lighting and we get to
01:58hang out with the gang on the inside of the van.
02:05And a project this size didn't come cheap.
02:07I get asked from time to time how much certain cars cost to build. With my wife sitting in
02:13the other room, I'd hate to say the true figure, so let's just say that I've got a stack of
02:17paperwork this big on most bills and I don't ever run a total on any of it for fear of
02:22what my wife might actually say to me.
02:26The biggest challenge is on building the mystery machines in sheer size. I mean, that's a big
02:30van. I mean, you're talking about doing inside and outside, the roof, the side panels. Overall,
02:34I mean, it's just hard to describe something that's that enormous to work on. Because when
02:39you do an older car, you're talking about doing two doors. And this car, this van, has
02:44six doors. So when you take six doors off and have to replace the door rubber, the paint,
02:49the body and do everything, I mean, it's a challenge. It's a big project to undertake,
02:53but it turns out really, really awesome. I mean, I'm a guy that grew up with Scooby-Doo
02:58and who wouldn't want to have the Scooby-Doo mystery machine?