For many, a particular car from television or film was their first exposure to the car hobby. For some, it was the Bullitt Mustang, others the Starsky and Hutch Torino or for me the Knight Rider Trans Am. These are all rather iconic vehicular characters based on real production cars, but there is another interesting film car niche: fully custom movie vehicles. Today’s Good Find Friday car, the futuristic film car from Foe, is an imagined vehicle whose design was inspired by a genuine concept from the 80s.

Foe is a 2023 science fiction thriller produced by Amazon Studios. Set in 2065, the story centers around a struggling married couple’s confrontation with the ethical issues surrounding artificial intelligence and human cloning. I am a fan of the genre, though I haven’t seen the film and apparently I’m not the only one. Despite A-list talent, the movie is considered a box office flop, pulling in just $233,120 worldwide.

One thing the movie has going for it is its cinematography and production design. The film’s look was defined by Patrice Vermette, known for his recent work on the first two parts of Villeneuve’s modern take on Dune. Vermette is clearly brilliant, and was tasked on this film with developing a dystopic yet technologically advanced take on the near future.

A key prop for the film is a functional retro-futuristic vehicle driven by one of the main characters. Its design was penned by Vermette and is (admittedly) heavily based on the Citroén Karin concept car. WETA Workshop, the powerhouse production shop known for its contributions of design, props, costumes, makeup, creature effects and more for some of the biggest television and movies over the last 30 years. Given the total production time of 17 weeks, I think we’ll have to forgive Vermette for borrowing so heavily from the Citroën concept.

The Karin was a concept vehicle created by Citroën stylist Trevor Fiore for the 1980 Paris Salon. Having no new models to debut, Fiore was given the unusual opportunity to create a non-running concept for public display. The study ultimately created is a strikingly forward-thinking wedge design that echoes the form of prior Citroën models and concepts. “Karin” is derived from the Italian carina or “cute.”

The exterior has what is probably the smallest roof on any car, butterfly doors, smooth tail lamps, and plenty of greenhouse for visibility. The interior is just as striking, with a pre-McLaren F1 central seating position, outrageous central control pod and hidden television monitors in the door panels. Last I heard the original concept is displayed at the Conservatoire Citroën near Paris.

This production used 1-of-1 movie vehicle is currently on auction with Propstore as part of its upcoming Entertainment Memorabilia Live Auction in Los Angeles. The sale takes place March 26th. The styling of the Foe car is unashamedly based on the Karin with some unfortunate changes to the proportions, probably due to the need to create a functional vehicle for use on camera.

Based on photos taken by WETA during the build, the car’s exterior appears to be composed of mixed materials including metal, plastic, glass, and rubber. The car is painted in a bronze metallic color with matching wheel covers. Production doesn’t seem to have been too rough on the car, as it only looks to have some scuffs and possibly dirt on the lower rockers and wheel covers.

Based on the catalog description, the car is equipped with a full lighting system that includes six LED headlights, two aux lights, two additional lights and square amber units that represent turn signals. The rear bumper is integrated, while the front is a separate component. A grill and two additional lights can just be seen at the bottom of the lower valance. Some effort was put into integrating the window glass with rubbers seals in many locations, but I wouldn’t advise taking this out in the rain.

The chassis of the vehicle is a custom build based on photos taken by WETA during the car’s construction. This is in contrast to many film cars which mount the body on a production vehicle platform. In an interesting nod to the Citroën inspiration, the car features an air suspension system to raise and lower the vehicle. While Citroën used hydraulics, the WETA builders likely chose air bags over a traditional suspension to save effort and cost. It may have also served a practical purpose.

The interior is one of my favorite parts of this prop vehicle. It deviates from the Citroën Karin concept pretty significantly, with a long oblong upholstered dashboard featuring a thin green display screen that illuminates. A small center console with a vertical control stick and drive mode selector is placed between the 60/40 split front seats.

In WETAs photos, the interior is clean and fully carpeted, yet the auction photos depict the car with a steering mechanism mounted on the right side. This was most likely used for driving scenes rather than building a practical stick-based control system.

One photo from the production company depicts a person covered in a “blind drive” costume, suggesting the car may have had an autonomous drive function simulated in the film. The seats are shown reclined, which may be due to the steeply raked windscreen. It would be interesting to see a person seated in the car to get a sense of scale.

The air suspension system is exposed in photos of the front compartment. No mention is made of the drive system that operates the car, but it is a good bet that it’s fully electric. Range would be a question, but since this was used for short distances in film production, I wouldn’t count on Tesla-like capacity.

Assigning a value to a one-off movie prop is difficult, and especially so when it has never been offered for sale at auction before. Probably following the typical procedure of utilizing parallel comps, Propstore auction specialists have placed an estimate of $20,000-$40,000 on the catalog listing.

If this were a production asset from Blade Runner 2049 or Dune, its value could be quite high. Unfortunately, this vehicle comes from a film that bombed at the box office and has little cult following at all, as far as I can tell at the time of writing.

In my opinion, the the fact that the design of this car is so close to that of the Citroën Karin makes it desirable on that fact alone. As a bonus, the company that built it is among the best in the world at what they do.

Why would you buy a car like this? I see three reasons: 1) Display it as a static curiosity in a home or museum collection. 2) Find a way to make it legally drivable and show it. 3) Reverse-engineer it as the basis for a kit car empire.

Since this is 2025, #3 is probably an idea best left in the 1960s. Personally, I’d love to tackle one of the first two options. I doubt my wife would approve of such a purchase, however, so I think I’ll just let this beauty serve as the inspiration for building my own custom vehicle someday.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Wolf and Mare provides car finding, appraisal and auction services for sellers and buyers of collector European cars. We also provide importation services. Give us a call or drop us a line!