Halloween is here and like a lot of people, we here at TopSpeed have been spending some time cooking up our own Halloween costumes for the big day.
Being car fans, we naturally gravitated to thoughts of dressing up our rides with ghoulish gear that is sure to scare the neighborhood kids. So with that in mind, we’ve compiled a list of some interesting ideas on dressing up your ride for this weekend.
Some of what we added are pretty easy to do; some are also pretty cheap. Then there are those that may require a little bit of time, money, resources, and a combination of all three.
Just have fun!
Continue reading after the jump.
The Black Bat Halloween Vehicle Costume
It’s admittedly not the most fashionable halloween gear for your car, but if you’re out of time and you’re not too keen on spending a lot, this is a decent option to consider. The soft bat nose admittedly looks like a clown’s nose, but hey, let’s give some love for the resourcefulness. Likewise, the bat wings can easily be clipped onto the windows. People might look at your car as the worst Batmobile in history, but at least your ride’s dressed up for the occasion.
Spider webs
If you're really on a tight budget with your Halloween expenses, spiderwebs are a great choice to dress up your ride. There a lot of things to like about spiderwebs. They're cheap and you can buy them pretty much anywhere. But in the event that you prefer to have them delivered to you, Amazon is selling these stretchable spider webs for just 88 cents a pack. Buy a bundle and go crazy and your car. Just make sure that you leave the windshield clear, or at least keep the webs off of your line of sight.
Spirithalloween.com has a lot of great props and accessories. Since my favorite Halloween prop has always been the loose appendage, I found myself in Halloween heaven upon learning that this website has so many options to choose from, each coming with an affordable price tag. You can keep it really simple and opt for the hanging bloody arm for just $6.99. The site also offers a hanging bloody leg for the same price, a cut-off right foot for just $3.99, and a 10-piece bag of cut-off fingers for just $4.99. These props work really well on any car. And if I can make a suggestion, I'd go for the hanging bloody leg dangling from the hood of the car. Let your imagination work on that one!
Let's stick to Halloweenspirit.com for a second. If the hanging appendage is a little too ordinary for you, the site is also offering you the chance to go full-on Walking Dead with the hanging bloody zombie torso. It costs a lot more than the loose appendages at $29.99, but can you imagine the endless possibilities on what you can do with a bloody zombie? You can let it ride shotgun or tie it up to the roof of your car. But if you really want to go for effects, you can tie it up to the grille to create the visual of the zombie getting run over. Throw in a toy shotgun or two on the dashboard and splatter some fake blood on the hood for better effects.
Gravesite
Pickup trucks are the perfect vehicles for Halloween, especially those who are feeling extra creative in the dressing up part. Obviously, there are a lot of things a pickup truck owner can do within the bed. My favorite is the gravesite. Granted, it's going to take a lot of work to pull off, but at the end of the day, it's also pretty cheap if you know where to look for the necessary items. The most important thing is finding enough dirt to recreate a grave site. If that's too taxing, you can substitute the dirt for dry leaves. Just make sure you have enough of it so that the DIY cross you stick on it doesn't fall down. Once you have the majority of the setup in order, you can even add a few decorative elements like a toy skull, bones, rubber insects, and the aforementioned spiderweb. You can even go the extra mile and create a prop tombstone. Just don't put your own name in it. That'd be really creepy.
The trunk mouth
Yes, there's such a thing as a trunk mouth, and yes, it's actually pretty simple to do. All you really need are three items: a black cloth, a red carpet (preferably rectangular), and lots of styrofoam. As far as preparations are concerned, the only thing you really need to do is to get the styrofoam and cut out several pieces in the shape of a tooth. Ideally, you're going to need at least 10 of these bad boys to make the trunk costume work. As soon as you're done, stick four of these "teeth" on the trunk door and line up the remaining teeth on the edges of the trunk. That's actually the hard part because when you're done with that, all that's left to do is to use the black cloth to cover the trunk compartment and place the red carpet on the compartment in such a way that a significant part of it is actually hanging out. Now take a step back and admire your creation. Pretty cool, right?
Bring back Herbie!
This one’s a little bit tricky since a big requirement is owning an actual Volkswagen Beetle. You can rent one out if you’re really into it, but I don’t suggest that you do. But if you do have a Beetle, turning it into Herbie is a lot easier than you think. All you really need is to add the red, white, and blue racing stripes and the 53 racing number and you’re good to go! It’s easy to do and the stripes are easy to take off once Halloween is done. Better yet, don’t take them off. Embrace your Beetle’s character turn into one of the most beloved movie Beetles of all time.
Go multi-colour with Fozzie’s Uncle’s Studebaker
This one’s a little bit of a cliff jump since it’s going to be a little difficult to return it back to factory settings. Remember Fozzie’s Uncle’s Studebaker from the Muppets? It’s one of the most underrated film cars in history, but it’s also incredibly colorful. It’s the type of car that’s going to attract a lot of attention and at least for fans of the Muppets, it’s going to have a lot of nostalgia too.
So here’s what you do. Take a bunch of paint (the more colorful the better) and dump all of it on your car, including the wheels. Once that’s done, add a few images all over it, and you’re all set. The only issue is removing all that paint. That ties back to what I said earlier about this particular car costume being a complete long-term commitment. Once you dump all that paint, there’s no turning back. But hey, at least you’ll have a pretty unique ride to call your own, right?
No Batmobile? No problem!
Unless you’re perfectly fine settling for those bat ears and wings above to make your car pass off as the Batmobile, actually turning your car into any one of the variations of the Batmobile is going to take a lot of time and money. I have a suggestion: why not do the next best thing and opt for a Batcave instead? You can do this through the same trunk-or-treat design that a lot of families are doing now. All you need is a black cloth, Batman banners, and a few household items that you can pass off as some of the Caped Crusaders gadgets. Throw in a chest of sorts, fill it up with candy and an assortment of goodies and you’re good to go. Obviously, it would be better if you actually have some Batman memorabilia to add in the trunk. Bonus points also if you and a tag-team partner dress up as Batman or Robin. Or maybe Batman and Alfred?
Take the NASCAR route
I’m saving the best for last because this one’s going to take a lot of work. If you’re a fan of NASCAR, then this is the perfect excuse to dress up your car in full NASCAR garb, complete with all the decals and graphics of your favorite racer. There are a plethora of options to choose from and it’s easy to find source material to base your designs on. The real challenge here is how to create those full car graphics to replicate the NASCAR racer you choose. Fortunately, there are ways to do it now and while it might take time and a little bit of money out of your pockets, it should make for one interesting car costumer for Halloween.
Oh, and if you really want to go full-blast, how about go all the way and have your engines modified too? That might be a little too much, but we’re just playing a little devil’s advocate here.