Michael Jackson's 'Moonwalker' Stratos Zero Stunt Car Hits the Market

A slice of both automotive and pop-culture history is up for grabs: one of the three fiberglass Stratos Zero body shells built as a prop for Michael Jackson’s 1988 film “Moonwalker” has been converted into a fully street-legal machine and is now being offered for sale.

The story begins with the original Bertone Stratos Zero, the radical wedge-shaped concept that Marcello Gandini penned in 1970. Sitting only 33 inches tall and riding on Lancia Fulvia mechanicals with a mid-mounted 1.6-liter V4 driving the rear wheels, it became one of the most recognizable show cars of the 20th century and the stylistic seed for the Lancia Stratos HF rally legend, which went on to claim three straight World Rally Championship manufacturers’ titles from 1974 to 1976. The one-off original now resides in a private collection, which makes this replica the closest most enthusiasts will ever get to owning the shape.

For “Moonwalker,” the production reportedly commissioned three hollow fiberglass shells to depict Jackson’s character transforming into the car during the “Smooth Criminal” segment. British custom builder Andy Saunders picked up one of these silver, opening-free props in 2003 and set about turning it into a real automobile. To do so, he selected a Fiat X1/9 as a donor, measuring its wheelbase to within about 0.7 inches of the Zero’s — a fitting match, since the X1/9 was also a Gandini design later produced by Bertone. He retained the Fiat’s floor pan, 1.5-liter single-overhead-cam four, five-speed manual, MacPherson strut suspension, disc brakes and rack-and-pinion steering, then fabricated the doors, windows, grilles and lighting the prop had never had.

The build was completed in 2006 in a Lamborghini Mica Orange finish with Bertone badging. It was subsequently exported to the United States and titled in Michigan in 2008. The car is now available with accompanying documentation, service records and that Michigan title — a rare chance to acquire a vehicle with genuine Hollywood provenance and genuine road-going capability in equal measure.