Star Cars Museum In Gatlinburg, TN

As I told you before, the family and I went to Gatlinburg and rented a cabin over Labor Day weekend. It was my Birthday that weekend so I took advantage to twist some arms and get to do what I wanted to do ;-) One of those things was to stop in and see the replica Batmobile in the Star Cars museum. Since only Blake (future son in law) and I wanted to do this we sent the others over to the aquarium  and then proceeded to have ourselves some fun. The cars in the this museum are a mix or real Star cars and replicas. You really have to know what you're talking about though to tell with most of them. I'm a complete Bat-Nerd and have spent a lot of time over the years on the forums at www.1966batmobile.com so I knew ahead of time the pedigree of this Bat-replica. The people at the museum believe it's really one of the original Barris replica's because George Barris told them it was. They don't know George's history of saying whatever will make him the most money with these cars ;-) This one IS a Bob Butts built replica and is a part of Batmobile history, but it's not that old or historical. It IS still cool though and I got to sit in it.

Me sitting in the driver's seat feeling like a bad-ass, and looking like a total nerd.

The lines of this car are SO much better than any other car that has carried the Batmobile name since.

It may not be the best replica, but it's the best I've gotten to sit in.

You can still see the Ford Futura concept car in the lines of the current car.

Me standing next to it.

And for Blake I took pics of the 1989 Keaton Batmobile (the one he grew up with). This one is nothing more than a fiberglass shell over a bare frame. I stuck my camera underneath just to see and all I could see was the bare parts to keep the body off the ground. It was still cool for Blake to see just how big the beast is though. Like I said, some cars are real and some are not in this place.

Johnny Blaze's bike from Ghost Rider. This one looks right, but I'm not sure if it is real or not. Close enough for me though.

It would be a fun bike to ride even if it is all new or repop.

I thought it was cool of them to make the bike resemble the Capt. America bike as a kind of tribute to Fonda being in the movie.

The car behind it is supposed to be "Dom's" car from Fast and Furious, but I doubt it. The car would make engine noises every once in a while and the belt/pulley on the blower would start turning. If it was the real movie car I doubt they would have changed it like that. It did look cool though.

I know this is NOT the real Dragula but it IS a great replica. The real one is supposed to be hanging in a restaurant somewhere out west last I heard. This one has been here in this museum for a long time, it was here the last time I visited in 2004.

Bandit from Smokey and the Bandit! The one guy I talked to who seemed to actually be knowledgeable wasn't sure if this one was used in the movie, but it IS actually owned by Burt Reynolds and is being leased from him by the museum. 

If this isn't the real Beverly Hillbilly's car (from the newer movie, not the TV show) then a lot of work was done to make it as close as possible.

This one looked legit too, but I have no idea since I've never bothered to do any research on it.

The props inside look pretty hollywoodish, that means good enough for a camera, but kinda crappy looking up close.

This car was owned by Hank Willams Sr.

Not sure how this is supposed to be famous, but I've always loved the Indy Pace Car paint on '69 SS Camaros.

The sign said this Buick was owned by Bob Hope and there was a picture of him with this car, or one just like it.

This was supposed to be "bumblebee" from the transformer movie. Another one that seemed real but I can't tell for sure.

Herbie from the new movie. It had papeerwork on display with it to show it was legit.

Last but not least Eleanor from the new "Gone in 60 seconds" movie. Very beautiful car for sure.


That's it for today, the weekend was full of fun stuff, but I'll probably post most of the other pics on my other photo blog since it is more oriented to that type of picture taking.