Cult British film director, Christopher Petit, who once remarked that to steer behind the wheel of a moving car is the quintessential cinematic experience. A sublime marriage of machine, driver and journey where the windshield becomes the frame, the accelerator creates the action and the stereo supplies the soundtrack.
The ubiquitous automobile has, for decades, pervaded our psyches and our films to such a degree that it, quite often, has stolen the show completely.
Now, there’s only so much to remark about a million-dollar actor, inside a million-dollar car, within a million-dollar chase sequence. So, what follows here is an attempt at a slightly more discerning list. The memorable movie cars below had something more than just horsepower going their way. They packed their very own star power too. Unforgettable, anthropomorphised automobiles that not only transported their human co-stars, but also transported the story itself to somewhere otherwise unreachable.
With any justice, a more official award awaits these beauties in the near future. (Right, Academy?) But, until then, may they find some consolatory satisfaction from landing on this here humble list.
10. 1969 “General Lee” Dodge Charger (The Dukes Of Hazard)
The film surrounding it was dog shit. Hell, I’m not even confident that the TV show was much better. But that’s precisely what makes the General Lee so remarkable. Not even the worst efforts of recent co-stars Johnny Knoxville and Seann William Scott could sully the liberating spirit behind pop culture’s number one muscle car.
9. 2005 “Tumbler” (Batman Begins and The Dark Knight)
Super heroes require super transportation. It makes perfect sense. By 2005, Batman was already the proud owner of at least two fine automobiles from past film incarnations. But it wasn’t until the military-inspired Tumbler rolled out onto the streets of Gotham, that the whole notion of a Dark Knight felt, for the first time, one hundred percent possible.
8. 1976 Lotus Esprit (The Spy Who Loved Me)
An effective spy needs a special kind of car too. In which case, it’s hard to go past the timeless Aston Martin DB5, forever synonymous with Sean Connery’s portrayal of James Bond. Having said that, I have gone past it. Straight over to Roger Moore’s sea diving Lotus Esprit. Yes, that’s right: sea diving. It still blows my mind.
7. 1932 Ford Deuce Coupe (American Graffiti)
The Deuce Coupe finds a place here not simply because of its scene-stealing good looks, but also because it has come to embody the entire hot rod and custom car industry that became permanently invigorated following the Deuce’s on screen impact in George Lucas’ masterpiece about cruising.
6. 1971 Chevrolet Nova (Death Proof)
When it comes to movie cars that were designed to destroy, both The Wraith and the entire fleet from Death Race 2000 come straight to mind. But Stunt Man Mike’s 1971 Chevy Nova (built for killing because it’s built for surviving) has thrilled me the most. Sharing a license plate with Steve McQueen’s Mustang Fastback from Bullitt also helped.
5. 1958 Plymouth Belvedere/Fury (Christine)
Christine was not the first movie car to be possessed by evil, but she was certainly the most irresistible. Nowhere else have car enthusiasts felt more irrepressibly awkward and conflicted than within this intense, intimate, somewhat erotic portrayal of driver meets car of his dreams.
4. 1970 Lancia Stratos Zero Concept (Moonwalker)
Bueller’s Ferrari GT California could surely go here. As could the ’88 Lamborghini Countach that made, arguably, the coolest on-screen entrance during the opening credits of Rain Man. But ultimately, not even those fine European stars compare to when an eight-year-old me watched Michael Jackson morph into the one-of-a-kind Lancia Zero concept car. I lost my shit back then, and I still can’t find it today.
3. 1972 Honda Z600 (Malcolm)
Australian film has delivered more than its fair share of cars to be remembered. However, only one such car has ever managed to successfully split itself in two, splitting my childhood imagination wide open with it.
2. Benny The Cab (Who Framed Roger Rabbit?)
In an agonising coin toss between the charming Volkswagen Station Wagon from Little Miss Sunshine and the not-so-charming Benny The Cab, Benny won out. Who could deny such a nimble set of wheels that also does all of the road raging for you? - This time, in Spanish.
1. 1981 DeLorean DMC-12 (Back To The Future trilogy)
Finally, far less attractive than that other flying car of the future (Syd Mead’s spinners that debuted in Blade Runner), the iconised flying DeLorean remains slightly more memorable for its endearing combination of crude gull wing doors, ahead-of-the-curve sustainable fuelling, and an unmatched ability to travel through time. Gary from Back To The Future Parts.com can better explain.