5 Of The Coolest Vehicles You Can See At The Celebrity Car Museum

From California's epic car culture to New York's underground street scene, America's vast road network — the world's largest — sees everything from minivans to muscle cars, and in the middle of this is the Celebrity Car Museum, where, according to its website, "Hollywood meets Branson". Branson refers to Branson, Missouri, a town known for old-timey amusement parks and family-friendly live shows. Still, its Celebrity Car Museum harbors some bona fide samples of automotive royalty — and we're not talking about the best-looking muscle cars or the weirdest concept vehicles, but the true shining stars of Hollywood's automotive firmament. ​

The museum serves as a repository for iconic celebrity vehicles. Actually, calling it a repository isn't precisely correct. The museum displays over a hundred vehicles at any given time, but turns over 40% of its inventory each year to keep things fresh. Visitors can take a look at anything from the Surfer Boy pizza van from "Stranger Things" to Tow Mater from "Cars". ​

Before you stage your "Gone in 60 Seconds"-style car heist, know that not all of the vehicles are original. As much as we hate to acknowledge it, Tow Mater isn't a real truck. But replica or not, the Celebrity Car Museum packs some fun surprises for anyone planning a vacation to the heart of the Ozarks.

Few could foresee the lasting impact "The Fast and the Furious" would have when it hit screens in 2001. With 10 films in the bag and an 11th film rumored to tie up the franchise in 2027, "Fast" might be the most successful car-centric business this side of Toyota. Aside from launching Vin Diesel and Paul Walker into the celebrity stratosphere, it introduced a generation to the wonder of JDM cars, neon underglow, and the iconic 1970 Dodge Charger R/T driven by Diesel's character, Dom Toretto.

The Charger is more than just eye candy; it serves an emotional weight in the film. Toretto built it with his father, a man who used it to break quarter-mile speed records before he died in a racing accident. For those who haven't seen the movie, Toretto crashes the Charger in agonizing slow-motion at the end of the film. Mercifully, like so many Hollywood cars, the wreck was a replica. Today, Hagerty values a similar model in good condition at about $100,000. Wrecking a dozen of those is no way to keep the production under budget.

Fans of the film can see the aftermath of Dom's wreck in person at the Celebrity Car Museum. Despite the dramatic rollover crash we saw on screen, the vehicle is strangely intact. And if you were thinking of going just for the Charger, consider that the Celebrity Car Museum has had as many as 16 cars from the legendary series on display.

In the early '90s, theaters saw modern classics such as "Shawshank Redemption", "The Silence of the Lambs", and "Pulp Fiction", to name just a few. Yet perhaps no other film of the period had the lasting impact of "Jurassic Park." Aside from launching a franchise, Steven Spielberg's blockbuster incorporated computer-generated imagery (CGI) – a trend that would come to dominate the industry. While the dinosaurs and special effects stole the show, some special vehicles played important parts, including the now-classic Jeep Wrangler.

What better vehicle for a rugged, remote island than the Wrangler? After all, it's well-known for its tough reputation and off-road chops — even if it can only barely outpace a sprinting Tyrannosaurus Rex. The production began with a fleet of YJ and Sahara Wranglers. Each one was a soft top and came equipped with a manual transmission. Filmmakers started with makeup, wrapping each vehicle in a flashy silver-and-red livery that featured the doomed theme park's logo on the doors.

Though hardly the focus of the film's plot, the Wranglers nonetheless play a pivotal role by ferrying the main characters from the island's helipad to narrowly escaping an angry T. Rex in a now-legendary sequence. The Jeeps established themselves in public consciousness to the point that owners can order decals and kits that mimic the iconic look, but if buying your own is a step too far, you can view one at the Celebrity Car Museum in Branson. 

The next car on the list isn't a real car at all — though we kind of wish it was. The original "Mad Max" was released in 1979 as a low-budget vehicle for a young Australian actor named Mel Gibson, who played the titular protagonist, Max. An aggrieved police officer whose family has been murdered sets off on a path of vengeance behind the wheel of his stolen V8 Interceptor, also known as the Pursuit Special.

The plot of "Mad Max" essentially revolved around the Interceptor and its mechanical co-stars. The Australian hellscape in which the film is set is the result of Earth running out of oil. Naturally, gasoline becomes an intensely valuable and rare commodity sought by criminal gangs who drive ... gas-guzzling V8s? Hey, it's popcorn fun, not a master's thesis.

The V8 Interceptor in the film doesn't actually exist. In reality, it was born as a 1973 Ford XB Falcon GT. Art director John Dowding drew up plans for what he envisioned the Interceptor would look like, then hired an Australian custom shop, Graf-X International, to prepare it for the screen. His plans included fender flares, a side pipe exhaust, and a Weiand 6-71 supercharger sticking out of the hood (it wasn't connected).

The thing about the Interceptor is that even though it's a work of fiction, it's actually amazing to look at. It boasts a distinctive profile that resembles a cross between a muscle car fever dream and a Jaguar XJS — and we mean that as high praise. You can behold it for yourself at the Celebrity Car Museum.

Netflix's "Stranger Things" was a nostalgia bonanza for the millennial and Gen X crowds and a fashion kickstarter for the younglings. Suddenly, hair metal and DnD were back, and no throwback series is complete without a collection of period cars to go with it. Perhaps none so typecast as Billy Hargrove's Chevrolet Camaro, which you can see at the Celebrity Car Museum.

​We hear Billy's car before we see it, as it screeches into the high school parking lot to the sound of The Scorpions' "Rock You Like A Hurricane." The song came out in 1984, while the Camaro Billy drives is meant to be a 1979 model. Both cultural touchpoints evoke images of denim jackets, big hair, waterbeds, and other '80s fashions.​

Billy's driving presents the car as an asphalt-melting muscle maniac, but the truth is the '79 Camaro was a bit of a dog. It was the height of the Malaise Era, when gas crunches and emissions standards were choking out America's ability to produce high-horsepower cars. It turns out there is a replacement for displacement, but the Big Three hadn't caught on yet in 1979. As such, the 350 cubic inch Chevy motor made a dispiriting 175 horsepower – and that was in the Z/28. ​

While it seems only appropriate that Billy would drive the performance Z/28, the "Stranger Things" car is a tad more complicated.  From the outside, the car in the show is a blue Sports Coupe model, but interior shots reflect the upgraded Z/28 trim package. That's because the show used at least two different Camaros on screen. We're just glad the new generation is taking an interest in some of the muscle cars of yesteryear.

"Ford v. Ferrari" reignited interest in a rivalry of old when it hit the silver screen in 2019. It told the bold tale of how an enormous multinational automaking conglomerate could, in fact, beat the pants off a boutique racing company that commanded a fraction of its resources. Inspiring, no?

Paradigm shift aside, Ford was hell bent on beating Ferrari at the 24 Hours of LeMans. Enlisting the help of Carroll Shelby, the Blue Oval developed the Ford GT40. Shelby dropped a 289 cubic inch V8 behind the driver. The midship configuration contributed to excellent weight distribution, but the small-block proved underpowered. In true Shelby fashion, the program later adopted a larger engine, the 427 cubic-inch V8.

Ford ran at Le Mans with mixed results as it worked out the kinks of its developing legend. By 1966, the time had come, and the GT40 swept the podium at the big race, launching itself into automotive history. While the Celebrity Car Museum does not claim to house an original race winner, fans of the movie can check out one of the camera cars used to film the exciting race sequences. ​