A GARAGE owner has revealed his wacky car collection, including a popular Ghostbusters-themed motor and his plans for his next vehicle.
Stan Yannetta has spent years building his own very unique collection of themed cars.
The 62-year-old, from South Shields, South Tyneside, has created Ghostbusters, Wacky Races, Jurassic Park, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Spider-Man and Hulk themed vehicles.
He also has two Christmas cars and a Halloween hearse.
Stan uses the nine vehicles for events such as weddings and birthday parties and he has a costume to match each one.
The hearse, which he transformed into The Ectomobile from Ghostbusters, will be used for a funeral for the first time later this month.
Stan, who owns Stan’s Autos in South Shields, said: “I enjoy building them. People say ‘You’re mad but you’re good at what you do.’
“I get people coming into the garage and asking what I do with the cars.
“They say ‘Can I have a look?’ I have got a Jurassic Park car, it has a dinosaur which is six metres long. I have also got two Christmas cars, I call them ‘Stanta Cars’.
“Ghostbusters is the most popular. I would say it goes out once a month every month.
“I drive all over the North East in it, I go anywhere. I’ve done weddings in it, birthday parties and this month I’ve actually got a funeral to do in it.
“The man had been diagnosed with cancer and he said to me: ‘Have you still got that car? I want to go in the Ghostbusters’. I will put my suit on and he wants the music playing with the lights. I don’t think we will see somebody do something like this again.”
Stan also has an eye on doing a Barbie car in the future, but there is a snag in any potential plan.
He said: “People come up to me and say ‘Why can’t you do one for a girl, like a Barbie car?’ I say ‘Get me a convertible and I will do it’. I want to build more but I have got nowhere to put them.”
Stan, who has run the garage for 21 years, creates a huge Halloween and Christmas display at his home each year.
Five years ago, he decided to create a Halloween themed hearse.
Ahead of the first Covid pandemic, he came across another hearse up for sale and picked it up from Scotland.
He decided to turn it into a Ghostbusters vehicle as his colleague is a big fan of the film and can recite it word for word.
During the lockdown, Stan remained to offer a service to NHS workers, and worked on his Ghostbusters vehicle day and night. It took him just eight weeks to build it from start to finish.
Since then, Stan has created between two and three each year and he now gets invited to car shows.
Stan, who raises funds for charities during the year, said: “It all started just before the lockdown when I built the first Halloween car.
“The last one I built was the Hulk – that’s excellent that one. There’s a costume for every car.
“The Ghostbusters is my favourite car. I was over the moon with it. That’s why I put it outside so people see it. It’s the only one on the road outside all the time.
“The second most popular are the ‘Stanta cars’. I get them taxed on the 1 December until the 30th December. They go out at Christmas time from four o’clock every night. I get dressed up as Santa and visit kids.
“I did about three weddings in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang last year. As it gets later in the year all the car shows come up and they all want me there.”
