Fire up the Grill: AutoWorld’s CHRISTINE Plymouth Fury Gets Toasted (and Restored)

Movie and TV cars are admittedly some of the most famous and beloved vehicles ever made. From the Batmobile to Herbie, the A-Team van to Lightning McQueen: Hollywood cars hold a special spot in many of our hearts – and in our diecast collections.

Hollywood cars are an admitted addiction of mine and make up a huge portion of my collection. Between the rows of Fast and Furious, Dukes of Hazzard, and Back to the Future cars lies something a little more…sinister. Enter the AutoWorld Christines.

For those of you unfamiliar with the bright red 1958 Plymouth Fury, Christine is the star and title of a 1983 film by horror mastermind John Carpenter, which was based on the book of the same title from Stephen King (also released in ’83). Both the book and movie feature a possessed Plymouth, but the movie differs from the book in that the novel the car was a sedan, while the movie it was a coupe. To give a quick synopsis of the film, the Fury is evil and goes on a revenge-killing rampage after being rescued by a nerdy, unpopular guy who becomes obsessed with the car — and the movie includes some amazing wreck/damage regeneration scenes that still look great to this day. While I admit the Christine Fury may not the ideal toy for a small kid, us adult collectors eat them up.

AutoWorld dropped their first Christine replica around 2013, and it was the stock version equipped with the “evil” blacked-out windows. The darkened windows signified something evil or dark was about to happen in the movie, and functionally helped hide the stunt drivers so that the car appeared to be driving by itself. While AutoWorld was not the first to make a Christine replica, in my opinion their version is the best (I have all the other brand’s Christine’s as well, and will be doing a comparison post at some point). I bought a ton of the Christines and even did a Killing Christine shot where I crushed one of the AW Christine Furys with my 1/1 scale Plymouth Fury, and used that car to make one of my favorite diorama shots to date.

While AW’s standard Christine is a stunner, they didn’t stop there. A few years later they released a “for sale” version (which was from the first scene in the movie between the car and main character, Arnie) and now they grace us with not one, but TWO new versions of Christine: the partially restored car and the burnt car.

Each of these newest versions are hobby-only releases, meaning they aren’t available at most retailers like Wal-Mart or Meijer’s. Old-school hobby shops and online specialty stores are where to get these bad boys, or hit up eBay like I did. I was able to score both cars for less than $20 shipped, which in my opinion isn’t a bad deal at all.

They both are fantastic releases, and we’ll take a look at the partially restored car first.

The partially restored car represents just a small portion of Christine’s overall screen time, but makes for a great version of the car in diecast form. The car mirrors the movie car’s looks well and to the casual observer, could be mistaken for a Johnny Lightning barn find release.

While it does have the that barn-fresh look, the car was painted with purpose. Each of the off-colored panels copy the look from the car’s particular scene in the movie, and are done so well. The primer-esq panels, the miss-matched wheels and tires, and cracked windshield really complete the ensemble. The rust lines and aging on the trim and roof are really done nicely as well.

In terms of tampos, AutoWorld is up there as one of the highest in quality. Their tampos are always crisp, accurate, and even the smallest fonts are readable. The Christine has several smaller texts tampo’d on it, including the PLYMOUTH badging across the trunk, hood, and grille — and they all look great.

The aged detailing continues under the hood in the form of primer over-spray and an overall dulled look to the engine bay. The regular Christine has a gloss black engine bay and shiner engine parts.

I love dioramas and it’s the one of the main reasons I bought so many Christines, so I had to set up a quick behind-the-scenes garage setting and snap a few pics of the car.

While the restored version of Christine is very well done, it’s the burnt version that really sets the casting ablaze 🔥🔥🔥

WATCH: Unboxing the partially restored and burnt versions of Christine

In my opinion, AutoWorld has set the new standard for unique tampo designs with this version of Christine.

This. Car. Is. Perfect.

They not only nailed the look of the burnt Christine without actually burning it, they made the car textured: you can actually FEEL the burn on it. They did this by splattering white and gray paint over a black body, and laying it on thick. They covered every inch of the car with the burnt effect, even the windows, wheels/tires, chassis, and engine bay all have the burn splatter.

No red on this one, it’s all about nailing the burnt look – which they did. The car really does look burned and resembles the scene in the movie to a T.

Here are a few screenshots from the movie to show how closely AW was able to mimic the burnt look of the car.

As a Christine fan, this is one of the most amazing things we’ve been able to add to our diecast collections in some time. A serious shout-out of thanks goes to the AutoWorld team for thinking outside the box — and for continuing to up their diecast game with releases like this.

I could go on and on about how much I love these two castings, but instead I’ll let the additional photos do the talking for me 🏁