Utah YouTuber builds ‘Cybercop’ out of a Toyota Prius

You know that neighbor who goes all out for Halloween? Like, literally builds a pirate ship in his front yard? Or the one who takes trunk-or-treating so seriously that the setup includes moving parts and bubbling liquids? Well, they’ve got nothing on Johnny Lange. 

The local Youtuber and car enthusiast has outdone them all. He built a cyber vehicle, which looks suspiciously like a Tesla cop car would, out of a 2004 Toyota Prius he found on KSL Cars. If you’re a fan of science fiction, or just appreciate an oddity now and then, you’ll be a fan of Lange’s “dumb” project, the Cybercop. 

“It’s cool, but it’s dumb in the sense of ‘why in the world would somebody do this?’” he said. And he wants people to know up front, “It’s a joke. It’s just purely fun and silly.”

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What do you do when you have a bit of spare time? Build something otherworldly. Photo courtesy @UtahJohnnyL

You built what?

Custom car builds aren’t anything new for Lange. In 2020, at the height of the Covid pandemic, he spent his free hours turning a Chevy plumber’s van — which he also found on KSL Cars — into “The A-Team” van. He even dressed up as Mr. T for Halloween, mohawk and all.

So when it came time for another project, the former law enforcement officer did what he knows best: He built a car that looks futuristic and fierce, complete with a roof rack of flashing red and blue lights. It also sports sci-fi looking gun turrets made out of cable boxes, paintball barrels and PVC pipe. They’re attached to the front fenders.

Cable boxes and sprinkler pipe make some convincing gun turrets. Photo courtesy @UtahJohnnyL

“Everyone loves guns, right?” he says in his YouTube video documenting the transformation. “The guns are cool, and the fact that I made those out of boxes and sprinkler line? It’s just that little bit of creativeness” that makes it fun. Although it doesn’t sound like much when you consider the parts, the completed project looks like the real deal.

Come together, right now

When Lange first considered building a cyber-looking vehicle of his own, he bounced the idea off some friends. “Could I do something more than imitate the Cybertruck?” he wondered.

“I had an old surplus light bar that a sheriff donated to me,” he said, and it got him thinking. “We could do something with that.” Then, he thought, what about adding bars to the rear windows to look like prisoner cages? And what about guns? “Would this be cool?” he asked himself. “Yeah, it would be.”

Lange was inspired to make his Frankenstein into the Cybercop after looking at a salvaged light bar he had in his garage. Photo courtesy @UtahJohnnyL

Lange also attached four (non-working) antennae for the roof, positioned in a square to imitate the LoJack GPS system on some police vehicles. It’s a detail perhaps only a veteran officer would notice. But those, along with spotlights and push bar, only add to its authenticity. If you’re going to build a cop car, you may as well do it right.

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All right, folks, nothing to see here

But Lange is quick to point out that he doesn’t want it confused with a real police vehicle. When he drives it on the road, he covers up the red and blue light bar. The decals, made by a friend, say “Space Patrol,” “Droid Division” and “Not a Real Cop.” It even has a custom black license plate with “CYBRCOP.”

Just keep building

While it all came together in a matter of months, it wasn’t necessarily easy. In fact, there were times when Lange considered scrapping the idea all together. “Definitely, I had those moments,” he said, laughing. But by that point, he’d already taken the body panels off, and there was no going back. 

“It got to the point that I was wondering what I was doing. It started as something I thought would take a month or so, and soon I realized, oh boy, this is going to take a while.” When it got to be too much, he said, it was “best just to put the tools down, go take a shower, sleep it off and start over.” Incidentally, he’s selling those Prius panels on KSL Classifieds.

The Cybercop started life as a white 2004 Toyota Prius before Lange, pictured, went to work. Photo courtesy @UtahJohnnyL

Ticket to ride

Was spending all his free time on the Cybercop worth it? “Yes! I’ve only had it out the one day at the Cars & Coffee event (in Draper), and the amount of people that were just, I don’t know if they were confused, amused or entertained. It definitely received a lot of strange looks and laughs, and I met a bunch of great people.”

In fact, at the September show “I met a nice gal who arrived in her Cybertruck, and she agreed to park by mine.” The drive to and from the event garnered some attention, too. “There were necks being turned,” he said. “I went for a hamburger after, and a woman and her kids chased me down and asked to take photos.

“I think what drives me and is exciting to me is the reaction from people. I’ve always liked Halloween for the same sorts of reasons — the shock factor and the fun factor. For me, it just floats my boat to drive it around, and the conversations and people asking ‘how did you do this? And why?’

“Why not? It’s fun. It’s fun for me. If it gets chuckles, if it inspires someone to do something creative,” he said, well, then it’s all worth it.

Lange built a skeleton for his creation by welding together square steel tubing. Photo courtesy @UtahJohnnyL

What is that?

Lange said people who saw the Cybercop on its first official outing were curious about the foundation, “and they were a little shocked to hear it was a Toyota Prius.” Not surprising, since he made the vehicle 2 feet longer and boxier, although he didn’t alter the shape too much. But, “I was impressed by the number of people who figured it out,” he said. 

Why a Prius? It had to be an electric car, we suppose, being from the future and all. But really, Lange said he chose the hybrid because it essentially has the same lines as the Tesla Cybertruck, including the large front window. His version, while certainly not more practical, is definitely more affordable. 

It took about seven cans of spray paint to turn the once white Prius into a black one. Photo courtesy @UtahJohnnyL

How much does a Cybertruck cost? About $150K. How much does a Cybercop Toyota Prius cost? “Not even a tenth of that, 5 to 10% of the cost,” Lange cryptically said with a laugh. He doesn’t really want to know himself — or tell his wife — the final number.

And it only took him four months to complete, not counting the eight months he spent ruminating on the idea. Amazingly, he didn’t draw up any physical plans. “I did it all in my head. I looked at the Cybertruck a bunch of times online and studied a few in person. That’s how I work, these crazy ideas in my head,” he said.

An aluminum body keeps the weight down so the low horsepower Prius would still be drivable. Photo courtesy @UtahJohnnL

It ain’t heavy, it’s my aluminum truck

While the shape was right, there were other challenges. “One thing I had to consider is that the Prius doesn’t have a lot of horsepower. It’s an economy car. It’s flat out slow, so weighing it down with a bunch of metal and so forth would really have killed it. Weight was definitely a consideration. The aluminum worked out very well.”

Lange created the skeleton by welding together half-inch square tube steel. After making the initial frame, he attached it with duct tape. “I would adjust the tube with the duct tape, step back about 20 feet and just look at it,” making adjustments until the lines looked right. “Initially,” he said, “it looked like an A-frame cabin.”

Once he got the frame where he wanted it, he used basic black spray paint to cover the entire contraption.

Carefully cut aluminum panels make of the skin of the Cybercop. Photo by @UtahJohnnyL

Geometry, my dear Watson

Then came the most challenging part, he said: Putting on the skin. “Just for the fact that I had to make sure the panels were exactly cut as they needed to be to match the frame. Obviously there were no parts to take off and trace, so there was a ton of measuring, double, triple checking before I started cutting up the pieces.” 

Although he purchased the aluminum sheeting through a friend, it was still expensive and he didn’t want to risk wasting it. “That was the most time consuming part,” he said, “to make sure the lines really matched up.” In fact, Lange said the geometry of the whole thing was the most crucial part — making sure all the seams abutted with minimal gaps.

Johnny Lange added 2 feet to the length of a Toyota Prius so it would match the lines of a Cybertruck. Photo courtesy @UtahJohnnyL

And, in case you were thinking of trying it yourself, take note. “Cutting aluminum is messy. You have to use special blades, and it really just produces a lot of dust and shrapnel pieces. That wasn’t a lot of fun to deal with, either,” he said.

Finally, he wrapped the entire thing in brushed silver vinyl. But even that wasn’t as easy as expected. Just when he thought he was at the finish line, Lange realized he was short of materials. Because he had to follow the grain of the pattern, it took more vinyl than he had anticipated, so he had to order more.

Too legit to quit

Despite the additions to the outside, the Cybercop is completely street legal. Lange said he even “printed out the rules” to refer to while he was working, just to be sure. The front windshield and side windows stayed the same, and he left an opening in the rear window so he could see out when backing up.

It may look like a cop car, but Lange doesn't want you to mistake it for a real one. Photo courtesy @UtahJohnnyL

All the safety features are still intact, from the horn to the brake lights and turn signals. The headlights are three LED front bar lights — Amazon specials, he said. “They’re not super bright, but it’s the perfect amount of brightness to mimic the Cybertruck.” 

Indeed, if a Tesla cop car existed, it would probably look something like this. “And,” Lange added, “it’s perfect at night. They’re bright enough that they act as headlights. 

“Inside, it’s a regular Prius,” he said. “It’s slow, but it’s fun. It actually drives down the road pretty darn well.”

Just an unassuming Toyota Prius dressed up for Halloween. Photo courtesy @UtahJohnnyL

Stupid feelings

In case you couldn’t tell, Lange clearly doesn’t take this vehicle seriously. Next to the caution tape trim along the bottom of the car he added, “Another dumb idea by @UtahJohnnyL.” He and his wife may take it out again on Halloween. 

“We might just drive around. I think we’ll get a lot of looks, and I’ll get a kick out of that.” And for a costume to go along with it? “Maybe an alien cop or something. That would tie in well.”

Lange repeatedly calls his cybercop creation a stupid idea, though the results are anything but. Indeed, it is one pretty cool looking machine. “I’ve built a lot of cars,” Lange said. “I had some crazy projects in the past, but never something like this. And it was fun. It was a lot of fun.”

Ready for a new project? Or maybe just a fun trunk-or-treat idea? Find a vehicle to do it with on KSL Cars.