His Garage Makes His Puppets Look Almost Normal
Jeff Dunham has spent roughly two decades building a collection that now numbers around 130 vehicles, and there is almost no theme beyond buying things he finds interesting. Muscle cars, oddballs, movie props, supercars and George Barris customs all coexist in one wonderfully strange garage.
Here are 25 of the most interesting vehicles Dunham has publicly documented owning, ranked by a mix of performance, rarity, history and sheer cool factor. And once you reach the final few, the collection gets seriously wild.
Discovery, Jeff Dunham's the Cars That Drove Us (2006)
25. AMC Pacer
Dunham openly calls the Pacer one of his "horrible cars," but that is exactly why it belongs in his collection. The famously wide AMC hatchback offered inline-six and V8 power during its run, along with that enormous glass-heavy cabin. Dunham likes cars that start conversations, and few parking-lot arrivals accomplish that faster than a Pacer.
Thomas Vogt from Paderborn, Deutschland, Wikimedia Commons
24. AMC Gremlin Levi's Edition
This is peak Dunham. The Levi's Edition Gremlin used blue upholstery designed to resemble denim, complete with Levi's-style detailing, while Dunham's example has a V8. He has explained that he'd rather arrive in his Gremlin than an ostentatious exotic because unusual cars have personality and get strangers talking.
Screenshot from Jay Leno's Garage, CNBC (2015-2022)
23. Ford Pinto Cruising Wagon
You don't build a 130-car collection by making sensible decisions. Dunham owns one of Ford's gloriously strange Pinto Cruising Wagons, the late-1970s factory custom with porthole-style rear windows and van-inspired graphics. Performance was hardly the point. Its value to Dunham's collection is pure period weirdness.
22. Amphicar
Half car, half boat and not particularly brilliant at either job, the Amphicar is irresistible. Its Triumph-derived 1.1-liter four-cylinder produced roughly 43 horsepower, with twin propellers handling aquatic duty. Dunham even had his registered as both a car and a boat, and has taken it onto California's Castaic Lake.
Rudolf Stricker, Wikimedia Commons
21. Meyers Manx
Dunham doesn't simply own conventional classics. His collection includes Meyers Manx dune buggies, the lightweight fiberglass creations built around Volkswagen mechanicals that helped create America's dune-buggy culture. Bruce Meyers' story means enough to Dunham that he called the Manx installment of his 2026 series his favorite episode.
Screenshot from Jeff Dunham's The Cars That Drove Us, Discovery Channel (2026)
20. Barris T-Buggy
George Barris creations occupy a particularly important corner of Dunham's garage. His T-Buggy is one of the five Barris vehicles he has described as the most valuable and irreplaceable pieces in his collection. It's a VW-based kit-car concept with exaggerated hot-rod styling, exactly the sort of wonderfully impractical machine Dunham gravitates toward.
19. George Barris Hard Hat Hauler
Imagine somebody turning a construction worker's hard hat into a hot rod and you're getting close. The Hard Hat Hauler was one of Barris' outrageous promotional show cars, and Dunham now counts it among his prized Barris pieces. Horsepower matters considerably less here than preserving a genuinely bizarre slice of American custom-car history.
18. George Barris Calico Surf
The Calico Surf is another rare Barris machine in Dunham's collection. Built during an era when custom cars were supposed to attract crowds rather than chase Nurburgring lap times, it fits his philosophy perfectly. Dunham collects things that make people stop, laugh and ask questions, and the Calico Surf certainly checks those boxes.
17. George Barris Voxmobile
Now things get properly weird. Barris created the Voxmobile as a rolling promotional vehicle for Vox musical equipment, complete with giant guitars and amplifiers incorporated into the design. Dunham considers it one of his five most irreplaceable Barris vehicles. Calling it merely a "car" almost seems unfair.
16. Hummer H1
Dunham didn't buy his Hummer simply to park it under fluorescent lights. He used the civilian H1 as his everyday vehicle for nearly a decade. Its military-derived architecture, huge track width and geared hubs make it one of the most imposing machines he owns, while his example received dramatic color-shifting DuPont paint.
Screenshot from Jay Leno's Garage, CNBC (2015-2022)
15. Cadillac CTS-V Wagon
A supercharged V8 station wagon with a comedian behind the wheel sounds like a joke with a very good punchline. Dunham's 2014 CTS-V Wagon packs the 6.2-liter supercharged LSA V8, rated at 556 horsepower. He rated the car 9.5/10 and said it was probably the vehicle he drove most.
Charles from Port Chester, New York, Wikimedia Commons
14. Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat
Dunham once traded a Prius for a Hellcat, which may be the most concise description of his automotive personality possible. The Challenger's supercharged 6.2-liter HEMI V8 arrived with 707 horsepower, rear-wheel drive and enough torque to make rear tires nervous. He bought it to complement his classic 1970 Mopar.
13. 1994 Dodge Viper
This one matters because it started something. Dunham says the 1994 Viper was the first exotic car he bought and the machine that sparked his serious collecting habit. Its 8.0-liter naturally aspirated V10 produced 400 horsepower and 465 lb-ft of torque, with virtually no electronic babysitting.
Charles from Port Chester, New York, Wikimedia Commons
12. 2009 Dodge Viper ACR
If the early Viper was raw, the ACR turned the dial considerably farther. Dunham has displayed a 2009 ACR, which used an 8.4-liter V10 producing 600 horsepower and 560 lb-ft. Massive aero, serious brakes and track-focused suspension transformed the already unruly Viper into something built to hunt lap records.
Greg Gjerdingen from Willmar, USA, Wikimedia Commons
11. McLaren
Dunham's collection isn't entirely Detroit iron and weird American customs. GQ's tour of his garage also documented a McLaren among the serious performance machinery. It represents the other side of his taste: advanced engineering, exotic construction and huge performance, sitting a few spaces away from cars like Gremlins and Pacers.
Damian B Oh, Wikimedia Commons
10. 1970 Plymouth 'Cuda
This is the sort of muscle car collectors lose sleep over. Dunham's 1970 'Cuda is a numbers-matching example restored so accurately that Mopar expert Galen Govier reportedly found essentially one incorrect detail: a screw's finish. Dunham rated the car 9.9 out of 10. For him, it's American muscle done properly.
Greg Gjerdingen from Willmar, USA, Wikimedia Commons
9. Ford GT
Dunham remembers seeing Ford's retro supercar and immediately becoming fascinated. The 2005-06 GT paired a supercharged 5.4-liter V8 with 550 horsepower, a six-speed manual and aluminum construction. He eventually bought one partly as an investment, but unlike plenty of collectors, Dunham actually drives his cars.
8. Ford GTX1
Then he made the GT experience even wilder. Dunham also owns a GTX1, the Ford-approved open-top conversion created by Genaddi Design Group. His modified example was described during GQ's garage tour as producing roughly 800 horsepower at the flywheel. Dunham particularly enjoys the open-air experience compared with the enclosed GT.
Dietmar Rabich, Wikimedia Commons
7. DeLorean DMC-12
The stainless-steel DMC-12 fits Dunham's collection because its story is every bit as interesting as the machine. The production car used a rear-mounted 2.85-liter PRV V6 producing roughly 130 horsepower, so outright speed wasn't its strong suit. Its design, gullwing doors and extraordinary history are the real attraction.
Screenshot from Jeff Dunham's The Cars That Drove Us, Discovery Channel (2026)
6. Vector W8
A Vector W8 is exactly the sort of car you'd expect to find here: rare, ambitious and slightly unhinged. The American supercar used a twin-turbocharged 6.0-liter V8 rated around 625 horsepower and looked like a fighter jet escaped onto a freeway. Dunham's fascination with the Vector's remarkable backstory led it to open his 2026 automotive series.
Screenshot from Jeff Dunham's The Cars That Drove Us, Discovery Channel (2026)
5. 1966 Batmobile Replica by George Barris
Dunham grew up dreaming about the Batmobile driven by Adam West, and his collection eventually gained a Barris-built replica of the famous 1966 television car. The original design was based on the Lincoln Futura concept, but specifications almost feel beside the point. For Dunham, this one traces directly back to childhood.
4. Custom 1934 Ford
Some collectors commission vanity plates. Dunham put Achmed the Dead Terrorist into a hot rod. His modified 1934 Ford incorporates his famous character into the grille, making it one of the most personal vehicles in the warehouse. ABC documented the Ford among his collection years before it grew to today's enormous scale.
Screenshot from Jay Leno's Garage, CNBC (2015-2022)
3. Fisker Karma Previously Owned by Colin Powell
Dunham's relationship with the Fisker Karma is wonderfully strange. After an unreliable early example drove him crazy, he later decided he wanted another because Fisker's troubles made the car historically interesting. The replacement turned out to have an extraordinary seller: former Secretary of State Colin Powell.
The Karma itself combined a battery-electric drivetrain with a turbocharged 2.0-liter gasoline range extender, producing a combined 403 horsepower. Dunham essentially bought one twice because the story became more interesting after the car became problematic, which tells you plenty about how he collects.
Indianhilbilly, Wikimedia Commons
2. George Barris Cars As A Collection
Picking only one Barris creation doesn't really explain this part of Dunham's garage. He has specifically identified his five Barris vehicles, including the '66 Batmobile replica, Voxmobile, Calico Surf, Hard Hat Hauler and T-Buggy, as his most irreplaceable group. They represent an era when custom cars were rolling theater.
That matters because Dunham isn't simply collecting horsepower. His garage increasingly resembles an archive of American pop culture, and few builders blurred entertainment and automotive design more successfully than George Barris.
Michel Curi, Wikimedia Commons
1. The Screen-Used Batman Returns Batmobile
There really couldn't be anything else at number one. Dunham owns one of the hand-sculpted Batmobiles used during production of Batman Returns. Originally constructed as a fiberglass-and-plywood movie prop intended for extremely limited driving, it wasn't exactly ready for a Sunday cruise.
Dunham preserved its film appearance while making the underlying machine genuinely usable. The conversion included a Chevrolet LS7 V8, revised suspension, air conditioning, cameras to compensate for the terrible visibility and modifications that made it street legal. He actually drives it. For a collector who loved Batman's car as a kid, owning a genuine movie Batmobile is about as close to completing the automotive side quest as anyone gets.
Screenshot from Jeff Dunham's The Cars That Drove Us, Discovery Channel (2026)
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