Cars in Costume: 13 of the Best (& Worst) Dressed
Halloween is all about the costumes, amiright? But in case you’re unprepared, we’ve wrangled 13 of the craziest car costumes in automotive history to delight and inspire you.
PT Cruiser
The PT Cruiser was created as an ode to the Al Capone-style gangster bootleggers.
Unfortunately for Chrysler, people quickly realized that the car was really just a dressed up Sebring. Or maybe a Sebring with an oldify filter, complete with wood panel stickers. If you are one of the rare few who dig the PT Cruiser vibe, we recommend a clown costume this (and every) Halloween.
Plymouth Prowler
The same team of long-retired Mad Men that brought us the PT Cruiser also released this bad boy: the Plymouth Prowler.
It comes complete with a 2.4 liter nothing engine and (drumroll) a matching trailer. Imagine all the things you could tuck in that little punk trunk. Coupons! Aspirin! Dog food! Your Shriner mini-bike!
J Mays Retrofuturism
Oklahoma-born J Mays had the very, very good fortune of designing the iconic “New Beetle,” for which he became highly acclaimed.
However, following that redesign, the man couldn’t seem to stop taking old car designs and just sort of sketching over them. His signature form became known as “retrofuturism,” and with it he managed to make timeless classics look like inflatable pool toys. To this day, car people refer to his redesign of the Thunderbird as the “Thunderturd.” What a legacy.
50s Jet cars
During the 1950s, Harley Earl (master design mind behind the DeLorean) was obsessed with space. Actually, everyone at that time was obsessed with space. In lieu of this obsession, Earl created concept cars straight outta Orbit City. They sported pin-point nose cones, jet wings, and bubble windows. A few engineers actually took spent jet belly tanks and made unholy go-karts, which they raced across the Salt Flats in Utah. To infinity and beyond, y’all.
Toyota Celica
This car is the Ken doll of sports cars. Actually, it’s not a sports car. It is a Camry dressed up like a sports car, which makes it worse than a Camry. Enormous wheels, giant spoiler and…front wheel drive? Okay, but how much HP? 140?! R U FR RN?!
Devel Sixteen
The Devel Sixteen also answers to the name “WTF mobile.”
It seems to have been designed by a blindfolded sixteen year old on some form of amphetamine, and its true potential remains shrouded in mystery. Devel Motors, based in the UAE, just sort of shouts out numbers when asked for details about the car, questions like “when will it be manufactured,” or “how much horsepower does it have,” or “what model Corvette are you hiding beneath that exoskeleton”?
Aston Martin Cygnet
Back in 2011, Astin Martin had a big problem. The collective emissions of their luxury car fleet failed to comply with US standards.
Rather than go through the trouble of making more fuel-efficient cars, the company did what billion-dollar companies do best: it found a loophole. And out of that loophole came the Cygnet. Basically they paid to produce what was in essence a luxury Toyota IQ, then slapped on a $50,000 price tag. And viola! The emission problem was solved. The car was so enormously unsuccessful they gave people who bought real Aston Martins a Cygnett for free.
Civic SI
Honda went Frankenstein and created this monster.
The SI has all unnecessary the things: a mesh back (a Ferrari feature that is redundant on the SI because the car doesn’t get that hot), diffusers that break up air flow (except this car doesn’t get fast enough to need them), vortex generators (what lol why), and two spoilers. This car is trying to be a Transformer, but it ain’t fooling anyone.
The Weinermobile
Did you know there are always six Weinermobiles touring the country at all times? You can actually track them. Apparently you can also get paid to drive around in one…?
The A-Team Van
If you’re too young to remember the A-Team,
buckle up and take a ride back in time. Though the show featured a cast of heroes -- including Mr. T -- we all know who the real star was: that sweet, sweet GMC Vandura. In every episode, the van got dressed up with new and better mods so the A-Team could charge in on their battle wagon and kick some communist butt. ‘Merica!
Transformers
No list of costume cars would be complete without these alien-superhero-car juggernauts.
The show was first broadcast in the 80s, with the Autobot’s main man Optimus Prime transforming into a freightliner and his sidekick Bumblebee masquerading as a 70s VW Beetle. In the Shia LaBeouf reboot, Bumblebee was recast as a Chevy Camaro, which is cool but seeing LaBeouf saving the day in a lil’ bug would have been so much better. It may have even made up for Megan Fox’s so-called acting!
Cheech & Chong Weed Van
From the joints adorning the grille to the deep green paint job, the “Sweet & Low” weed-mobile deserves a high five. Like…a really high five.
The Dumb & Dumber Van
Last but certainly not least, the van they made a literal costume for: the Mutt Cutts van. Adorned by dingy basement carpet, this van-turned-dog stole our hearts on its journey to Aspen, CO. Who needs a radio???