Conversations with Ashley Hayward

Today we’d like to introduce you to Ashley Hayward.

Hi Ashley, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I’m a lifelong dinosaur fan, so when I got the chance, a couple of friends and I decided it was time to build a Jurassic Park car. That was back in the summer of 2017.

We spent nine straight months repairing and upgrading this ’92 Ford Explorer in order to join the Jurassic Park Motorpool for the previous Jurassic World movie premiere in Branson, MO. Over 50 Jurassic replicas and tribute vehicles all in one place. It was a really amazing adventure.

Before the world shut down in 2020, I lived in Delaware, so we did a lot of appearances and events in the Philadelphia area after building the car. Then I got stranded in Nashville during the lockdown, found love, and officially moved here.

And finally, after over two years of waiting, we were just able to go retrieve the Explorer from the East Coast, so we can officially say it’s home in Nashville now! Saying that each step in this journey has been its own adventure is an understatement.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It’s been a huge struggle to get here, honestly, but not for any reasons you may think. Creating the car itself was amazingly smooth, thanks to the expertise and help of my friends in the Motorpool. The biggest struggles in my journey have been almost all external.

As I mentioned before, I ended up unintentionally moving to Nashville when I got stranded here during the lockdown in March of 2020. Deciding to officially move after falling in love with an old friend, and subsequently moving my entire existence across the country during a pandemic was really difficult.

The car wasn’t able to make the first trip because it was promised at a big convention in Philadelphia that kept getting postponed due to COVID. So I spent over a year just waiting to see if the event was still going to happen. During that time, a former friend was taking care of the car, and by the time I realized the event was a no-go, that “friend” didn’t want to return the car.

I spent months trying everything I could to coordinate its retrieval from over 700 miles away. It was so difficult and frustrating. Ultimately, I was able to succeed, but at a decently large financial cost to myself and my father, who was scammed out of over $1200 for it.

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
We do appearances at weddings, birthday parties, conventions, and more! Basically, if you like Jurassic Park and want a cool photo op at your event, we’d love to be there.

We’ll even dress up as film characters, or an inflatable t-rex if that’s your preference. As part of the Jurassic Park Motorpool, you can know you are getting one of the best.

Can you talk to us a bit about happiness and what makes you happy?
I really love being able to connect to other people, both adults, and children, on this base level of thinking something is cool and just running with it.

A lot of times, people suppress those passions when they get older. When you grow up, nobody really asks what your favorite dinosaur is anymore, but why? Adults can have fun too.

I like being one of the ‘weird’ ones that actually care about that. Live your dreams, even if that dream is riding around in a dinosaur car. Life is too short to not have fun with it.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/exploringjp
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/exploringjp