Where’s the Bluesmobile From ‘The Blues Brothers’ Now?
As Elwood says, it’s got a cop motor, a 440-cubic-inch plant, it’s got cop tires, cop suspensions, cop shocks, and it’s a model made before catalytic converters, so it’ll run good on regular gas. But what happened to Bluesmobile from The Blues Brothers, which had its Chicago premiere on June 16, 1980?
As it turns out, more than a dozen cars played the Bluesmobile in the SNL-inspired musical comedy film, which starred Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi as blues musicians on a mission from God (one that involves avoiding Chicago cops, neo-Nazis and a murderous ex as the duo try to save a Catholic orphanage). And one of those cars is yours for the viewing at the Volo Museum in Volo, Illinois.
As the museum notes, the former California Highway Patrol car on display has “Hollywood makeup” to make it look like it has seen some high-speed chases, and the oversized loudspeaker on the roof actually works. Plus, the front passenger door even bears an autograph from Elwood himself, aka Aykroyd.
During the production of The Blues Brothers, 13 different Dodge Monacos, all purchased from the California Highway Patrol, served as Bluesmobiles, according to Cracked.
Two of the cars were built for speed, and three were outfitted with one-gallon gas tanks for jump stunts, assistant director Jerram Swartz told The Chicago Sun-Times in 2005. A mechanic spent several months rigging one car for the scene in which the Bluesmobile falls apart at the end of a car chase, first assistant director David Sosna revealed to the newspaper. (“That is a very expensive gag,” he added.)
For the film’s squad cars, meanwhile, filmmakers reportedly purchased more than 60 police vehicles for $400 each, according to The Sun-Times. They enlisted actual cops to participate in the chases. They reinforced cars with steel cages. And they had a body shop running 24 hours a day to keep the vehicles running.
But sometimes, the stunts didn’t go as planned, as stunt driver Burt Levy recalled in a 2024 Chicago Magazine essay.
“The Bluesmobile was supposed to attempt a too-fast left turn, do a neat, tire-smoking 180, and immediately charge off in the opposite direction, thereby eluding all the pursuing cop cars,” Levy recalled. “They’d jimmied the ratcheting mechanism on the Bluesmobile’s parking brake so the stunt driver could yank it and goad the car into a spin on its under-inflated rear tires. (See almost any episode of The Rockford Files.) Only it didn’t quite work when the cameras were rolling. The Bluesmobile’s engine stalled out during that big, wild fishtail when the stunt driver yanked on the hand brake, and it upset the car’s hoped-for trajectory. The Bluesmobile squeegeed its way to a grim, tinny halt against the opposing concrete island. Thunk! Damn.”
Levy also revealed that Aykroyd didn’t get to fulfill his stunt-driving dreams on set, but perhaps got to sit shotgun: “[The actor], who is a genuine car and motorcycle nut, wanted to drive one of the stunt cars. The legal types on hand didn’t like that. So then he asked if he could just ride along in one of the stunt cars. And I think that may have actually happened. But the cool thing was the deference and respect that Aykroyd showed when talking with the stunt guys. They thought he was cool, but he thought they were even cooler.”
The Blues Brothers rode again — and caused even more automotive mayhem — in the 1998’s Blues Brothers 2000. For that sequel, John Goodman joined Aykroyd — filling in for Belushi, who died in 1982 — and Ford Crown Victorias played the Bluesmobile, according to Stuff.
By the way, the Bluesmobile is just one of many wheeled Hollywood stars featured at the Volo Museum. Other screen-famous vehicles in the exhibit include a Batmobile from Batman, KITT from Knight Rider, a 1946 Schwinn bicycle from Pee-wee’s Big Adventure, a 1921 Oldsmobile from The Beverly Hillbillies, a 1969 Dodge Charger from The Dukes of Hazzard, a 1981 DeLorean DMC-12 from Back to the Future, a 1972 Ferrari Daytona Spyder from Miami Vice, a 2002 Aston Martin from Die Another Day and the 1912 Renault from Titanic. (You know the one.)
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