Yabba Dabba Doo! A Flintstones Flintmobile is Up for Sale

BOLD RIDE

Copyright © 2016 Bold Ride LLC.

 

Posted by Zach Doell

                                           

Back in 1994, famed ‘60s cartoon series The Flintstones was reborn on the silver screen in live-action format, starring big names like John Goodman, Rick Moranis, Rosie O’Donnell, and Halle Berry. 

 

As contemporary reviews show, its plot was a bit overly complex and largely missed its mark with moviegoers. However, the film excelled with its big-budget special effects, jaw-dropping backdrops, and most importantly, excellent props.

Now, it would appear one such prop is up for sale, one of Fred Flintstone’s famous “Flintmobiles.” But it’s not located in the town of Bedrock, as you might expect. This one, described as a “barn find” (or more appropriately, a “cave find”), is up for sale in Fountain Valley, California.

It comes as no surprise that when Hanna-Barbera looked to reboot the classic cartoon for the big screen, the production studio gave custom car legend George Barris the job of bringing the Flintmobile to life, a job he frankly knocked out of the park.

Barris built the Flintmobile chassis out of steel tubing and created the wood-effect bodywork using fiberglass. In fact, Barris once said he went to California’s Big Bear Mountain to find logs to make accurate fiberglass molds, and even consulted a cement company to make sure the Flintmobile’s roller wheels looked appropriate.

As film critic Roger Ebert once described, the movie cars looked as “clunky and heavy as in the original drawings, but somehow plausible, too.” Consider that a great success.

George Barris created a number of Flintmobiles for the 1994 film’s production, some of which were “foot powered” (used for static shots) like in the original cartoon, while others were gas powered, and even a few others relied on an electric golf cart drivetrain.

This Flintstones Flintmobile is claimed by the seller to be one of the electric versions. An included photograph in the listing shows Barris pictured with one of the cars.

 That said, it is worth noting that when buying any type of movie car or film memorabilia it’s very important to have written documentation confirming its history and role on camera as well.