Tom Hanks’ famous Airstream, Land Cruiser sell at auction

Tom Hanks bought the 2011 Ford F450 Super Duty Lariat to tow his Airstream. Photo: Bonhams

Actor Tom Hanks has some extra cash in his pocket after the Bonhams’ Quail House auction in Carmel, California that saw a number of his vehicles sell.

The standouts were his Toyota Land Cruiser and a special Airstream, with the Tom Hanks Collection also including a 2010 Ford F-450 Super Duty pick-up and a high-performance 2015 Tesla Model S P85D.

Hanks commissioned the special 1980 Toyota Land Cruiser FJ40 to be competent both in the wilderness and on the highway. Professionally built to high standards, it benefits from an upgrade to a 2000 model year GM L35 4.3-litre Vortec V-6 engine with sequential port fuel injection rated to 180 horsepower from the factory.

It was estimated to sell between NZ$110,000–NZ$180,000, and in the end it was bought for NZ$175,673.

The 1992 Airstream Model 34 Limited classic trailer was used by Hanks on a dozen film sets as such iconic movies as The Green Mile and Forrest Gump.

Its windows are adorned with replica slates (clapperboards) identifying eighteen locations where it was used from Sleepless in Seattle in 1993 to The Circle in 2017.

"I got it in the days when movies moved slower,” Hanks told Bonhams Magazine. “I had spent too much time in regular trailers with ugly décor and horribly uncomfortable furniture, so I decided to buy a brand-new Airstream shell with an interior made to my own request.”

It was estimated to sell for NZ$220,000-$360,000, and the top bid was NZ$335,377.

To tow the Airstream, Hanks used a 2011 Ford F450 Super Duty Lariat that has everything even remotely desirable for towing. It sold for NZ$119,777 at the Carmel auction.

His 2015 Tesla Model S is the high-performance, dual-motor, all-wheel-drive version that was used regularly around the Los Angeles area by Hanks and his wife Rita Wilson. It sold for NZ$95,822.