We Pity the Fool Who Doesn’t Bid On This A-Team Van

Collectively, we pity the fool (but be careful using that phrase-it was trademarked by the man who made it famous, Mr. T) who tries to replicate the charcoal GMC van from his series The A-Team, the oddly-non-Emmy-winning NBC television show from the mid-1980s.

Not because it's so hard to do-after all, there's a YouTube video on how to build a replica of the A-Team van-but because it's so much easier just to buy one at auction.

Which, incidentally, will be possible this Saturday at Mecum's auction in Houston. The van is part of the 10-vehicle Texas Movie Car Collection, which will be sold consecutively, likely in the afternoon, judging from the lot numbers.

It appears, however, that none of the vehicles have ever actually been in a movie, or on a TV show. They are all replicas, except for two of the four NASCAR Cup cars, which apparently are very real. Besides the A-Team van, they include:

The Flintstones Flintmobile Golf Cart, which features "simulated wood construction" and "decorative front and rear rollers"-decorative in the sense that the Flintmobile actually motors along on golf cart tires. It's powered by four batteries. Yabba, dabba, don't try to operate it on public roads.

The 1923 Ford Munsters Koach Replica, certainly the most ambitious of the offered vehicles. Its V-8 engine has an "ornamental multi-carb setup placed on top of air cleaner," which sits atop an Edelbrock four-barrel carburetor. A bonus: It's signed by Butch Patrick, the actor who played little Eddie Munster. Patrick is 70 now.

A 1952 Chevrolet Ice Cream Truck, which apparently isn't modeled after a movie or TV vehicle, but does have a Tecumseh 110-volt refrigeration compressor located behind the rear axle, along with a Honeywell 110-volt fan in the fiberglass freezer box.

The 1966 Chrysler Imperial Custom Sedan, which is "built to resemble the Black Beauty from The Green Hornet TV series." It's powered by a V-8 with an automatic transmission. This may turn off some potential buyers: Front and rear missile launchers and trunk-mounted machine guns are "simulated."

This 1984 Chevrolet K5 Blazer, "built to replicate Chief Jim Hopper's Blazer from the TV show Stranger Things," sort of comes from left field. It includes "simulated bullet holes and Hawkins Police Department graphics."

The four stock cars include replicas of a Darrell Waltrip 1987 Chevrolet Monte Carlo SS and a Richard Petty 1982 Pontiac Grand Prix Aerocoupe, which is signed by Petty. The real stock cars are a 2007 Chevrolet Impala which was ("purportedly") driven by Dale Earnhardt, Jr., and a Tony Stewart 2005 Chevrolet Monte Carlo. Both of those cars are powered by 850-horsepower V-8s. The dashboard of the Tony Stewart car bears a sign that says, "KEEP YOUR HAND OUT OF THE SNAKE'S MOUTH." We aren't sure what it means, but it seems like good advice.

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