The Phantom Menace

A while back, I spent the day posting images of famous film cars of the past which you can see here, but none of them are obscure as this.

Of the multiple Star Wars edition cars out there which include the 2005 Vader Viper, the 2012 Star Wars Volkswagen Passat, and a 1997 Special Edition Hummer, this Star Wars 1977 Toyota Celica GT Liftback has to be the coolest.

While some may think this is a bit cheesy, you have to know the details…

The car was designed by John Sladek at Delphi Auto Design in Costa Mesa, California. It was a one off with customized body features such as a front air damn, fender flares, a spoiler, a moonroof and tinted windows.

But the true prize piece was the airbrushed paint job. Star Wars characters are hand-painted and stenciled along the black stripes on the side of the car, which were done by painting a special Aero-lac paint onto some tin foil and in part were transfered the masked off areas on the body panels. There’s also a huge Darth Vader head on the hood which makes it a bit more badass.

The car was a promotion and was given away in a sweepstakes which was called the “Space Fantasy Sweepstakes.”

So obscure this car is (dumb Yoda reference), nobody knows where it’s located. Could be in the hands of some crazy Star Wars fanatic or it could be in a junkyard somewhere rotting away. Really, the possibilities are endless. Multiple efforts have been made to track the car down, including efforts by George Lucas himself, but none have been successful. Fingers crossed that this car will eventually turn up.