He might be an action hero with millions of dollars in the bank, but Chris Pratt is happiest behind the wheel of his bright yellow 1965 Volkswagen Beetle.
Chris Pratt: an all-American, action-movie star worth an estimated $US80 million, with a list of hobbies that includes fishing, farming and camping.
You’d expect his car collection to contain a combination of luxury SUVs, hardy off-roaders and American muscle cars, right?
While that’s not entirely inaccurate – the actor’s garage contains both a Volvo XC60 and Ford F-150 – his automotive collection also includes an unexpected nod to his humble beginnings in the form of a 1965 Volkswagen Beetle.
And if you think the bright yellow vintage Beetle is an unlikely ride for a macho movie star, it’s backed by a fascinating story of how it came to be in Pratt’s possession.
Pratt, who grew up in a trailer, and made money selling coupons as a door-to-door salesman and working at a Bubba Gump prawn restaurant, lived out of a van before he started acting and was, in his own words, “broke broke”.
Around 2004, long before his break-out blockbuster role in the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise, the actor actually won the Beetle in a game of Blackjack.
At the time, he estimated the car was worth around $2500, describing it as a “scrapper”.
Although the 1965 Beetle marked the first of the more “modern” classic Beetles, featuring bigger windows and more legroom – it still didn’t come with rear seatbelts, and a radio was an optional extra.
With very little mechanical knowledge, Pratt set out to restore the car with YouTube videos as his guide – a process that took a total of 12 years and, according to the actor, “many dollars”.
Pratt first teased the final result of his efforts in an Instagram post in 2015, sharing a video of himself gleefully driving the Beetle while blasting heavy metal music.
“So excited to have my Volkswagen out and on the road. Been working on this car for 10 years. It’s been a real labor of love,” Pratt captioned the clip.
A few months later, he shared a full reveal of the car to Instagram, saying that restoring it had taken “a lot of trial and error”.
“Started with a $2500 scrapper that I won playing blackjack. Cut to 12 years and many more dollars later and it’s complete! (For now) They just don’t make them like they used to,” Pratt wrote.
“Nobody is gonna walk into a car museum in 40 years and say, ‘Whoa! Look! A 2003 Jetta! Fully restored,'” he joked on Instagram.
“Classic cars (this one is technically an antique) continue to get better with age. And it’s a dream come true to roll this one through the Hollywood hills.”
The Beetle’s “antique” status was further cemented when production of the classic model in Mexico ended in 2003. The later, Golf-based ‘New Beetle’ was officially discontinued by Volkswagen in 2019, although it left Australian showrooms back in 2016.
Could a Love Bug remake starring Chris Pratt be on the cards? Your move, Hollywood.
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