After Jurassic World came out and interest in Jurassic Park took off, [Voicey] decided he just had to make his very own Jurassic Park tour vehicle. Only problem? He lives in the UK and Ford Explorers aren’t exactly common there.
Wanting to keep it as movie-accurate as possible, he knew he had to get a first generation Explorer, and luckily, he managed to find one on an American car Facebook page. He bought it and got to work.
The first step was building custom bumper and brush guards, which he re-purposed from a Land Rover. Then he had a lot of painting to do. A lot.
Once everything was all painted, he got to work on the dashboard, integrating some ancient CRT monitors to play the tour program!
All in all, the vehicle looks fantastic — he even threw together some props to go in the trunk, including a home-made Maxabeam flashlight, and of course, some night vision goggles.
You might be wondering why they used Ford Explorers in the Jurassic Park movie anyway? In the book, they were Toyota Land Cruisers (the FJ62 to be precise). According to [Spielberg], he owned an Explorer at the time and thought it was a good truck — but it certainly doesn’t hurt that when they ordered three from Ford, they got seven.
[via r/DIY]
That’s one hell of a job but it must have cost a mint! Oh well I guess that’s the cost of a dream. Next job genetically engineer a T-Rex from a chicken.
Amazing wonderfulicious hack. Can´t wait to see Ronnie Mc Donalds featured on HaD (We already had too much of Star Wars)
@Hirudinea: you blood sucker, here is the hack you wanted: http://knowledgenuts.com/2013/12/18/chickens-still-have-genes-for-growing-teeth/ . Not YET T-Rex, but one step closer.
You need to pay for a Chiken-Pro 2.0 license to unlock that feature!
Makes me look for Daimler Benz M class mods now :D
Good to see the Hackaday staff are spending their days reading reddit and doing copypasta.
Keep up the good work.
BTW, No Arduino or pi zero USB hub used in this build :-s
Sold my 2001 and got a Honda SUV two years ago, missed it ever since.
I think this is just the way of old cars. My first was a ’94 Plymouth Voyager. Got it as a hand-me-down in 2003, got rid of it in 2010. I cannot possibly explain why I miss that thing, but I do.
You miss the unreliability and impossibility of working on it? :D
So let’s see, I buy a junkyard car, paint it butt fugly “I-want-attention-look-at-me” colors, and it qualifies as a “hack” ? So much for satisfying HAD’s target demographic of hardware geeks. Whom I presume would surf over to the thousands of other websites that detail custom car builds, or the various “reality” shows that cater to that same interest.
Exactly what was the thinking behind ‘reporting’ on this particular story ? (vs say, a story about a custom tuned, modded, LS-3 equipped, methanol injected C6 Corvette that can run 7’s all day long, with over 1100+ rwh HP ?)
They purpose? You commented on it. Purpose served.
Hackaday has covered cosplay in several articles in the past:
https://hackaday.com/tag/cosplay/
This is basically cosplay for your car, so why not?
#carsplay
My ILX is a SHIELD vehicle (not nearly as accurate as this, but it’s fun).
https://www.instagram.com/p/4c3iLnn0Xx/
https://www.instagram.com/p/5-4upgn0QY/
he copied a movie vehicle, both in terms of aesthetics, but also electrically. without specific documentation or instructions. i consider that a hack. if you don’t please post some of yours. obviously they should make the front page in short order if they’re so incredible compared to this.
It’s really a great work but i miss the big roof-window of the tour-cars.
http://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/jurassicpark/images/9/92/Safaricar.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20100615151014
That’s exactly what I was thinking: they’re missing the most important part!
“He owned an Explorer at the time and thought it was a good truck”
They certainly did not age well.
How is this a “Hack” ? Shouldn’t this be on a Movie Automobile enthusiast site instead?
It’s missing the cup of water on the dashboard.
I see the monitor, but I don’t see the…
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0ElNHEtvO8&w=420&h=315%5D
Well.. He must have spared some expenses…
Ahh… I see what you did there.
Some jokes aren’t meant to be told… but…ah..eh…nature… finds a way.
Yes. in part of the spirit of hack-a-day, I’ve read what others have done, and I took the next step. if only I could patent it, package it, and slap it on a plastic lunchbox, I could sell it.
This guys a massive noob geek zomg but the immersion… Wowowow hot stuff.
Now I want to find a first gen manual explorer…