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The amateur investigative antics of Scooby-Doo and the gang are a staple of entertainment to every generation. Regardless of whether you grew up with the animated series in the 1980s when Casey Kasem voiced the character of Shaggy, or if your first exposure was the live-action movies starring Matthew Lillard as the cowardly cohort of the canine crime buster, Scooby-Doo carved out its own place contemporary pop-culture.
Tributes to time-honored reveals like pulling off a Halloween mask and exclaiming, "It's Old Man Peabody, from the amusement arcade!" have found their way into movies like Wayne's World and even TV shows like Star Trek: Discovery.
It's been 20 years now since Matthew Lillard played that iconic role and to celebrate the anniversary, he's offering Airbnb users the chance to stay in the gang's vehicle of choice, the Mystery Machine. Yes indeed, years before the A-Team made transit vans cool, Fred, Daphne, Velma, Shaggy and Scooby were riding around in a hip, '70s-style, blue-green-colored van with orange lettering, busting small-time crime rings and wannabe crooks up and down the country.
"To celebrate, I’m throwing it back to 2002 with a totally groovy stay in the gang’s beloved Mystery Machine, monsters not included," Lillard writes in the Airbnb posting.
Booking opens at 1pm ET on Thursday, June 16 for just three stays on June 24, 25 and 26. So competition will probably be fierce. Lillard stresses though that guests are responsible for their own travel to and from Southern California, which is where he lives and the Mystery Machine is based.
For just $20 per night, guests will be immersed in Y2K nostalgia and will be welcomed by a virtual greeting from Lillard himself. While there might not be a huge amount of room in the Mystery Machine, everything has deliberate retro feel to it, including a CD player, mini TV and DVD player, lava lamp, some all-important Scooby Snack plus memorabilia, outdoor seating and hammock space. The Instagram opportunities alone boggle the mind.
You can guarantee heads will turn when you cruise down the Pacific Coast Highway in this bad boy. Let's hope the June Gloom has passed by South California by the end of June and whoever is lucky enough to secure a booking gets to share some Scooby-Doo love around Venice, Santa Monica, Malibu, Santa Cruz... and so on.