Our son wanted to be Lightning McQueen this Halloween so we pulled out his toy cars and coloring book for ideas on the look and shape. I drew a pattern on paper and then traced 2 side panels on coroplast (corrogated plastic). I cut those out using an exacto knife.
For the hood and middle of the car, I cut a 15″ x 48″ piece of coroplast. I laid one side panel flat on the table and marked the hood piece every place there was a curve. I then made a cut halfway through the corroplast so it could be formed around the sides without breaking into separate pieces. I then used duct tape on the inside to attach the sides and body of the car.
Next, I covered the entire outside of the car with red vinyl. I used foam board for the wheels with wooden craft wheels painted silver for the middle. I had vinyl decals made with the emblems for the car. I also made numbers for his helmet.
The Homemade Lightning McQueen Race Car Costume was finished out with black ribbon for the shoulder straps. He loved helping make the costume but came down with H1N1 just in time to MISS Halloween! Now, his costume is ready for next year and we may hang it in his room for decoration!
Related costumes:
Amazing Lightning McQueen Costume 
The Jetsons Costume for a Family with Hand Built Space Car! 
65+ Coolest Homemade Pokemon Costume Ideas 
Coolest Lightning McQueen Costume 
Coolest Flintstones Family Halloween Costume with Hand Built Car! 
Homemade Thor Costume: He Who Wields This Hammer Commands the Lightning and the Storm 
Coolest Lightining McQueen Costume 
65+ Coolest Homemade SpongeBob Costume Ideas
too cool…… my son loves McQueen
Love the costume!! Hopefully he can re-use it this year. Just a couple questions- when you say that you covered the entire thing in vinyl…Did you glue the vinyl to the coroplast frame? Also where did you have the vinyl decals made? Finally where did you purchase the coroplast?..a craft store? Thank you!
Julie- I am making this costume as well this year and I found coroplast at a sign shop. You are going to have to call around for prices because it definitely varies.
Home Depot carries online, but it is for multiple big sheets and I only needed one.
Any for sale???
I would totally pay to have this made!
This is amazing! My son wants to be DJ from Cars (the blue “bad guy” car) and I’m hoping to make one similar. Could you describe more about how you made the middle section? And where did you find red vinyl? This looks fantastic–I hope he gets to go trick-or-treating this year! :)
can you post step by step how to make this design?
This is insane. Can you share info on how you created the emblems? Do you have a file and a vendor you can share? Thanks! My son is “struck”.
Would you be so kind as to send me step by step instructions on how you made that costume. I would love for my 2 year old baby to have one. His 2nd birthday party is at the end on June.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Thank you
Juli
Julionorata[at]yahoo[dot]com