Disney Fan Builds Pixar’s ‘Mater’ From Golf Cart
THIS movie buff has transformed an old golf cart into Mater the tow truck from Pixar’s Cars. Jerry Patrick, 51, first set up AKA Junk over a decade ago when he couldn't afford to pay someone else to paint his cars and do bodywork - now the team are experts in replica TV and movie cars. After a Cars’ themed dream, Patrick decided that he had to make Mater come to life outside of the cartoon world.
Transcript
00:00001 COMMERCIAL
00:23Expert car customizer Jerry Patrick has transformed a golf cart into the animated car's character
00:30This is our newest creation. We'll call him Little Mater.
00:32His daddy was a famous tow truck and his mama was a southern belle of a golf cart.
00:41We build Mater all in house, all hand laid fiberglass, all LED lights, west coast mirrors, just like he was born with.
00:49As we come down the side, we try to keep him as screen accurate as we could.
00:53As we come around to the back, here again trying to keep it as screen accurate as possible for a golf cart.
00:58All new upholstery front and back.
01:00Jerry has been bringing movies and cartoon cars to life for over a decade.
01:04I own A.K.A. Junk. It kind of started about 15 years ago out of necessity.
01:10Meaning that I couldn't afford to pay someone else to paint my cars and do body work and weld and everything else.
01:16And so we kind of started our own show and been doing our own thing ever since.
01:22Mater the golf cart, he's made up of 13 LED lights.
01:26He has a perforated front windshield, new upholstery front and back, an all steel back boom, fiberglass front end obviously.
01:33We customize his wheels, we customize all the paint. There's about 16 colors that go into the paint job.
01:39And we sell the Tow Mater golf carts for $7,900 a piece on up.
01:43And that's based on the year and a few variables, but it's basically around $7,900.
01:47Having already created a number of these cartoon replicas, it's taken time for owner Jerry to perfect his Mater method.
01:54The most challenging part of Mater was doing the first one.
01:57The process we have done a little bit better, but the first one was a lot of trial and error to get it as cartoon accurate as we could, at least our version of it.
02:05And I'd have to say that's the most challenging part, which is doing the first one and getting all the kinks work done of it.
02:10Every cart has been carefully mapped out to build the most cartoon accurate vehicle possible.
02:15Generally we bring in a stock golf cart, they're normally 2013's or newer, and we strip it down.
02:20We strip it down to the frame, we have to add an overwhelming amount of steel to the back for the structural support for the whole back end for the seat area.
02:27The sides are made out of a marine grade lumber coated in fiberglass resin.
02:31The front end, obviously on the factory cart, is removed and we put our fiberglass front end on it.
02:35And about a day and a half of straight up wiring a gob of LED lights to make it as Mater-y as we can.