Jurassic Park fan fulfils childhood dream of recreating Jeep
Zakary Weyer's obsession with Jurassic Park drove him to learn different skills to build a replica of the Jeep that appears in the iconic blockbuster.
Zakary Weyer's obsession with Jurassic Park began before he was even born.
"My parents actually went and saw it in the cinema when my mum was still pregnant with me. So I think that's probably where it started," he said.
When he grew up, he turned his childhood dream into a reality and built his very own Jurassic Park Jeep.
Zakary Weyer's Jurassic Park Jeep turns heads whenever he drives it. (ABC News: Brant Cumming)
"It's always been a dream of mine, since I was a kid, to have one of these,"
he said.
It took a while to find the right car, and while it is not perfectly accurate to the movie, he was still able to make it look as detailed as possible.
"I've done a few different professions in my time and sort of picked up a lot of different skills that I needed," he said.
"So welding and the metal bending and electrical work for the lighting and all that kind of stuff. [I] just picked it up over the years.
"There's always some little thing you want to change or make better."
Zakary Weyer developed the skills needed to build his very own Jurassic Park Jeep. (Supplied: Zakary Weyer)
A T-rex sized hit
Jurassic Park premiered in 1993 and quickly became the highest-grossing movie of all time, dethroned five years later by Titanic.
For a generation of dinosaur-mad children it remains a cornerstone of pop culture, with six sequels and numerous books, TV shows and video games released in the three decades since.
The dinosaurs are the stars of Jurassic Park, but vehicles play a major role in many of the film's iconic moments.
There's the scene where Dr Alan Grant — played by Sam Neill — and Dr Ellie Sattler — played by Laura Dern — watch in awe from a Jeep as a Brachiosaurus walks past, or when a Tyrannosaurus rex breaks free and attacks the park's tour cars.
Mr Weyer no longer uses his Jeep for the daily commute, but whenever he takes to Adelaide's roads he can expect the same reaction.
"Every time I park somewhere basically I get people coming up asking for photos," he said.
"One guy nearly actually crashed his bike getting a gander [as] he was going past."
Fandom finds a way
There is a global community dedicated to recreating the cars from Jurassic Park.