MONTREAL - A Canadian prankster made a car out of snow so real it fooled the local police who thought it was an illegally parked vehicle.

Simon Laprise, a 33-year-old artist and machinist, crafted the car with snow outside his home on "a beautiful day" earlier this week.

"I decided to do something out of the mountain of snow, to do a little joke to the snow guys, and have fun sculpting a car," he told VICE.

He sculpted a life-size replica of a DeLorean DMC-12 - the car model made famous in the Back to the Future films.

The car was carved with real-looking windows, windscreen and even an wiper blade to complete the effect. Laprise said he did it as a joke for the regular snow-clearing patrols. Getting the police's attention was an added bonus.

In one photo that got a lot of attention online, a policeman is seen staring suspiciously at one of the car's carefully carved icy windows. In other, two police cars are at the scene.

The police eventually figured out the prank and seemed to enjoy the joke. They left a note on the car saying "you made our night! Hahahahaha".

Laprise said on his Facebook page that the two police officers also paid him a visit the next morning - not to press charges, but just to figure out the mastermind behind the prank.