50 Cars from Film and TV

Thursday 04 June 2009

Aston Martin DB5 Goldfinger Aston Martin DB5

The object of a million childhood fantasies. Every boy that saw the film in 1965 wanted a DB5, even without the bulletproof shield and ejector seat. There is a story that this car actually led to the invention of satellite navigation. Apparently the US President was so impressed with the idea of James Bond tracking Goldfinger via an in-car screen, he demanded to know if such a thing was possible. The result was ultimately the American GPS system.

Mini Cooper The Italian Job (original) Mini Cooper

The cheapskates at BMC would not give the production company free Minis – they all had to be bought. No film has ever shown off the attributes of a car to better advantage. The script was like a checklist of everything that was good about the Mini: handling, agility, cheekiness and style. The red, white and blue colour scheme added to the air of tongue-in-cheek patriotism.

Ford Mustang Bullitt Ford Mustang

One of the great car chases of all time – later recreated to advertise the Ford Puma (which, although rather slower, did handle a great deal better than Steve McQueen’s car). San Fransisco, Steve McQueen and one of the best looking cars of the 1960s – what more could you ask for?

Lamborghini Miura The Italian Job (original) Lamborghini Miura

OK, all it did was drive up a mountain pass and get blown up in a tunnel. But with that music (On Days Like These, Quincy Jones) and the scenery of the Italian Alps, that was quite enough to guarantee immortality. The Miura actually shared more in common with the other great car of the film than you might expect. The mechanical layout of the Miura was based on the Mini – transverse engine with the gearbox in the sump. Not a lot of people know that.

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

It drove, it flew it did everything, but what was it? The name came from a series of three aero-engined racing cars, built by Count Louis Zborowski in the 1920s. The Count lived in Kent, although he was descended from a Polish count and an American heiress. The car used in the film had rather more prosaic origins – the chassis came from, wait for it, a Ford Transit van. Apologies for destroying your illusions.

TVR Tuscan Swordfish TVR Tuscan

This caused a sensation in the USA. Not because of any particular action sequence, but because of the fabulous styling of the car itself. US car-nuts inundated Blackpool with requests to buy a Tuscan, but were all cold-shouldered. TVR did not homologate their cars for the USA and were terrified of having to meet the reliability expectations of American buyers (and their lawyers). Then, TVR could afford to ignore the USA – now the company does not even exist.

DeLorean Back to the Future DeLorean

The perfect choice – not only was it futuristic, it could be the butt of jokes about its unreliability. As DeLorean had gone bust, there was no-one to complain when it refused to start at critical moments in the film. The highlight of the series was the DeLorean fitted with a “Mr Fusion” reactor – just add kitchen waste and the car would zap away at light speed. If only…

Lotus Esprit The Spy who Loved Me Esprit

One of the highlights of James Bond’s love affair with Lotus in the 1970s. The Esprit survived being attacked by a helicopter gunship and being driven underwater (a model of an Esprit, in fact, being used). Customers with leaky cars might not have seen the funny side of Roger Moore dropping a fish out of the window as he emerged on to the beach.

Alfa Romeo Spider The Graduate Alfa Romeo Spider

The Alfa did not have to do much except look cool and sophisticated next to the American Chevrolets and Buicks that surrounded it. Thanks to the iconic status of the film, the Alfa became associated in the public mind with 1960s non-conformity. Alfa tried to cash in with a “Graduate” special edition in the early 90s – a tacky reminder of the car’s glory days. It was like being propositioned by Mrs Robinson’s grandmother.

Jaguar XK8 Austin Powers Shaguar XK8

“Shaguar” absolutely nailed the sexy appeal of Jaguar convertibles, from the 1960s E-Type to the current XK. Unfortunately Jaguar completely missed the point themselves. All their current saloons have been styled to appeal to customer clinics of fat, dumb Americans living in retirement homes. How could they fail to realize that Jaguar is supposed to mean sex, not Zimmer frames? Ford Mondeo Casino Royale Ford Mondeo

What is so great about a Ford Mondeo rental car on screen for 10 seconds? In fact, this was the most expensive car in the film, costing hundreds of thousands of pounds. When the film was made, the Mondeo had not yet gone into production. However, Ford was so keen to feature it that they hand built a perfect copy of a production car – in a neat reversal of the usual process, whereby a production car is adapted from a prototype.

Lotus Elan The Avengers Lotus Elan

A great choice for Emma Peel (the incomparable Diana Rigg). In the 1960s, this was as modern as a moon rocket. At the time Lotus was one of the fastest-growing car companies in the world and seemed set to become the next Porsche. However, a “stuff-you” attitude to customers led buyers to take the same view of the company. Lotus sales started to decline in the late 1960s and have never recovered to this day.

Fords Casino Royale Ford everything

There is a scene early on in the film where James Bond pulls into a big car park. Every single car (and there are hundreds) is made by Ford. When Ford invited journalists to a preview of the film, this scene got the biggest laugh of the night – no-one could believe the lengths the company had gone to in order to associate itself with 007.

Alfa Giulietta The Day of the Jackal Alfa Giulietta

Effortlessly stylish with an air of menace – just like Edward Fox who played the Jackal. This was one of the few cars in the film that was right for the period. As the film was made only a few years after the events it depicted, the crew shot actual street scenes. They didn’t care that Peugeot 504s (introduced in 1968) were in the background of a film set in 1963.

Volvo P1800S The Saint Volvo P1800S

This should have been a Jaguar (Shaguar?) E-Type, but Jaguar saw no need to hand out free cars when they could not make enough to meet demand. The result was the second-choice Volvo which, in truth, was an inspired piece of casting. The P1800 was stylish and a bit mysterious in 1960s Britian, and Volvo was still too obscure to be associated only with safety and golden Labradors.

Ford Cortina GXL Life on Mars Ford Cortina GXL

The perfect car to reflect all that was superficial about early 1970s Britain. The Mark Three Cortina was an awful car – one of the worst Ford ever made – but the GXL tried to cover it up with “Rostyle” wheels and metallic paint. Bizarrely, the TV series is fuelling increasing prices for all early 1970s saloons. These are now regarded as classics – people are now even searching out Allegros (really).

Citroen 2CV For Your Eyes Only Citroen 2CV

For once James Bond eschewed Aston Martins and BMWs in favour of a Citroen 2CV. Many people rate this as the best Bond chase scene of all, mainly because the 2CV is such an unlikely star. In fact, the film car was not quite as slow as you might expect: it was fitted with a flat-four engine from the Citroen GS, giving around double the standard car’s 29 bhp. Citroen made a 007 special edition, but only fitted with the standard flat?twin engine. Shame – a 90 mph 2CV would have given people quite a shock.

Lotus 7 The Prisoner Lotus 7

The obvious choice of car for a natural-born rebel. The 7 was Lotus’s first real road car, introduced in 1957 and dropped when Lotus went upmarket in 1973. Ironically, the 7 turned out to be the most commercially successful car Lotus ever designed, living on as the Caterham 7 to this day. The upmarket models designed to turn Lotus into a junior British Ferrari (Esprit, Eclat and Elite) were all financial flops.

Aston Martin DBS The Persuaders Aston Martin DBS

While wide-boy Tony Curtis had a Ferrari, English gent Roger Moore naturally chose an Aston. It looked like the classic V8, but in fact it was fitted with the old 4.0 six-cylinder engine from the DB6 – the producers had heard all about the reliability issues of Aston’s brand-new, fuel injected V8 engine.

Bentley The Avengers Bentley

When the Avengers was made, the Bentley was already 40 years old – about the same age as Emma Peel’s Lotus Elan is today. However, while the Elan still looks pretty modern (the Mazda MX-5 looks essentially similar), the Bentley looks like something from the early Jurassic era. Not bad, just very, very old. In fact, Steed did not drive one Bentley, but a variety of 1920s models – it seemed anything available in British Racing Green got roped into the programme.

Jaguar Mark II Inspector Morse Jaguar Mark II

Apparently, John Thaw was not a great fan – the example used in the programme was not in perfect condition. However, a good Mark II is a stunning car – even today it is a pleasure to drive (unlike many so-called classics). The curvaceous styling has held the motoring world in thrall ever since – which is why the Jaguar S-Type looks like such a poor pastiche of a 60s Jaguar saloon.

Mercedes SL Dallas Mercedes SL

This was not so much product placement as typecasting – it seemed that 90% of wealthy females in the 1980s aspired to one of these. Elegant, safe, prestigious and dependable, it was ideal transport for wafting to lunch appointments.

Fiat Dino Coupe The Italian Job (original) Fiat Dino Coupe

Featured as the transport of the Mafia boss who vainly tries to stop the robbery, the choice of car was very well-informed. The Dino, beautiful though it was, never sold well in its home market, as it became infamous as the Mafia staff car. You could see the appeal – Bertone body, Ferrari engine and enough boot space for, well… we’ll leave that to your imagination.

Ford Consul GT The Sweeney Ford Consul GT

Usually pictured demolishing strategically placed cardboard boxes in pursuit of an original Jaguar S-Type, the Consul/Granada was the epitome of the big no-nonsense bruiser. When it came out as a replacement for the utterly dire Zephyr/Zodiac in 1972, it rapidly became the best-selling executive car in Britain. The London world of the Sweeney was more glamorous than the Manchester suburbs, so Life on Mars (A Sweeney remake with added metaphysics) had to make do with a Cortina – the Consul’s little brother.

Reliant Regal Only Fools and Horses Reliant

Not a Robin, but a Reliant Regal – the most comically inappropriate name ever applied to a car (although the later Reliant Kitten did run it a close second). In the 1960s Reliant was actually pretty strong as there were still plenty of older people who only had a motorcycle licence and so were restricted to three wheels rather than four. Amazingly the company that made this heap also made cars for royalty: Princess Anne drove a blue Reliant Scimitar GTE. The profits to design the excellent Scimitar came from selling lots of nasty little three wheelers.

Tucker Tucker

Not many cars have a feature film made about them – especially one that never got as far as the showroom. The Tucker was a brave attempt to take on the Detroit giants, but it was doomed – it was like an amateur football team trying to beat Chelsea. About the same time as the Tucker, Kaiser, an American steel giant, announced its entry into the car market. The boss presented all their plans, their hundreds of millions of dollars and their designs. At the end of the presentation a journalist at the back of the room said drily, “Give that man one small chip.” The moral: in post-war America even the biggest companies looked tiny when put next to General Motors.

Cadillac Ambulance Ghostbusters Cadillac Ambulance

In America ambulances used to be adapted from Cadillac saloons – after all, at 18 feet long, a Cadillac was quite big enough. In fact, the same basic design was used for both ambulances and hearses (just paint in the appropriate colour as required). This was a 1959 model with the number plate “Ecto One”.

Shelby 500 Gone in 60 seconds (remake) Shelby 500

Now resting in the same American Museum as the Ghostbusters Cadillac (Volo Auto Museum), “Eleanor” as she was called, is a Shelby Mustang. Caroll Shelby was a racing car driver/designer and all-round American legend. He was also responsible for the terrifying AC Cobra and any number of other over-powered muscle cars. This 1967 Mustang has earned a second incarnation as today’s Mustang GT 500 – essentially a remake of the original. Incidentally, the manners of the current version are not much different, although at least the brakes work now.

Dodge Charger Dukes of Hazzard General Lee

A Dodge Charger from 1970 or, rather, 211 Dodge Chargers from 1970 – with only one survivor. Apparently most stunts destroyed one car, thanks to the production team’s habit of weighting the rear of the car to give the distinctive nose-up landings. The back end could not take the pressure, much to the delight of anyone who owned a similar Charger. With so many written off, surviving examples were bound to increase in value…

Ferrari 308 Magnum PI Ferrari 308

By the standards of American TV, the 308 was almost modest – certainly compared to the Ferrari Testarossa used in Miami Vice. The series faithfully tracked the development of the model from the 1979 308 GTS, through the 1981 308 GTSi to the 1984 308 GTS QV. The GTS (GT Spyder), incidentally, was the open-top version of the 308, the closed version being called 308 GTB (GT Berlinetta).

Dodge Charger Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry Dodge Charger

Yet another Dodge Charger. What with the Dukes of Hazard and all the other films writing off Chargers, it is a wonder any still survive today. This film “only” destroyed two 1969 Chargers as Peter Fonda tried to outrun the police in his 440 cubic inch Dodge (that is just 7.0 litres on this side of the Atlantic). Dodge fanatics get very excited about the colour of the film car. Apparently it is a 1971 model-year “Limelight” yellow/green painted on to a 1969 car by the film crew. So now you know.

Audi S8 Ronin Audi S8

What a nice change – a civilised European luxury saloon in a car chase. Not that the Audi looks particularly civilised in this film with its black paint and nitrous injection for extra performance (the standard 340 bhp just not cutting it). This is one of the few cars in the list that you could actually buy for reasonable money today – a decent S8 is under £10,000 (nitrous extra). You might have to explain the Ronin connection though – your friends might just think it is an old Audi A6.

Ford Thunderbird Thelma and Louise Ford Thunderbird

This was a 1966 model – the fourth generation (out of nine) of the Thunderbird, which first appeared in 1955 and survived as a weird pastiche of itself until 2005. The mid-sixties were the high point of the model, when it was one of the great American luxury cars (that is luxury by US standards: it looked stylish but was just another Ford underneath). The engine was a 6.4 litre with 315 bhp. However, bhp figures in 1960s Detroit were whatever the marketing men fancied; with a 0-60 mph time of 11 seconds, they must have been the weediest 315 horses ever harnessed.

VW Beetle The Love Bug VW Beetle

Car number 53 was a dream come true for the marketing department of VW North America. For years, they had been claiming that the Beetle was a far better choice than bigger, flasher American cars and here was a film ramming the same message home for the best part of two hours. By the time of “Herbie Rides Again” in 1974, VW had a “Herbie” in every showroom in North America – by that time the Beetle was well past its sell-by date and a desperate VW needed all the help it could get. However, the 1975 Golf gave the real-life VW story a happy ending…

Ford F150 Kill Bill Ford F-150

Believe it or not, the F-150 is America’s best selling “car”. Of course it is not a car at all, but a slice of good-ol’-boy America. Recent rises in fuel prices and talk of some obscure European concern called “global warming” have cut sales a bit, but registrations of all F Series pick-ups still totalled over 900,000 in 2006. Quite why so many people need a 2 tonne vehicle with a minimum engine size of 4.2 litres is anyone’s guess.

Ferrari Testarossa Miami Vice Ferrari Testarossa

This car truly epitomised the 1980s – and not entirely in a good way. The Testarossa graced a million boys’ bedroom walls with its swoopy shape and dramatic side air-intakes. It was the height of style 20 years ago – but then so were shoulder pads. Today, it looks crass compared to the delicate 365 Boxer Berlinetta it was based on, or the stylish F355 that followed it. The Testarossa was “loadsamoney” on wheels, but Ferrari prefers a rather cleaner look today.

Plymouth Fury Christine Plymouth Fury

The main problem when this film came to be made was that Stephen King had made a mistake in the book. He wrote about a 1958 four-door Fury in red, but the ‘58 model was only available as a two door in beige – the car he wrote about was actually the very similar Plymouth Belvedere. For the film, the car became a two-door Fury, resprayed in red. The film got through over a dozen Plymouths, both resprayed Furies and original Belvederes.

Dodge Challenger Vanishing Point Dodge Challenger

The 1970 Challenger R/T (Road/Track) was a classic American muscle car that still resonates with the public today. So much so that Dodge recently showed a “Challenger” concept which may go into production in 2009, styled almost exactly like this car. In fact the US market is starting to look like the motorised equivalent of tribute bands – Ford already has a 1967 Mustang remake in production, Chevrolet will have a new 1969 Camaro in production by 2009 and Dodge may have the 1970 Challenger. Just so long as we are spared a remake of the 1970 Morris Marina…

Dodge Monaco Blues Brothers Dodge Monaco 1974

Dodge Monaco sounds quite snappy, but the upmarket versions of this car were saddled with some truly terrible monikers – Royal Monaco (just in case Americans did not get the upmarket connotations of the European principality) and even Royal Monaco Brougham (who would admit to owning one of those?). The base Monaco was a cheap, big saloon mostly supplied to police forces and taxi firms when new. When used, Hollywood acted as an unofficial disposal operation, destroying hundreds in various films in the 1970s. Probably no film had a higher car body-count than this one, though.

Ford Falcon GT Mad Max Ford Falcon GT

This was based on an Australian Ford Falcon XB from 1973. The Falcon is something of an Aussie legend, being the model that won the biggest saloon car races such as the Bathurst 500. Originally a pure US Ford Falcon made in Australia in the early 60s, the Australian Falcon was mostly locally-designed by the early 1970s – although it did have an uncanny similarity to the American Ford Torino and Mustang of the era. There is now a thriving business in creating Mad Max replicas – but they are not cheap at up to £40,000.

Ford Mustang Mach 1 Gone in 60 Seconds (original) Ford Mustang Mach 1

This film managed to wreck 93 cars in its chase scene. In truth, it was only really a chase scene – the film was a kind of giant home movie, being the brainchild of one man, called HB Halicki, who produced, wrote, starred and did his own stunts (with compressed vertebrae to prove it). The Mustang, known as Eleanor, was a 1971 Mustang Mach One (although modified to look like a 1973 model). The later 2000 big-budget remake of the film used the earlier, and much better looking 1967 Shelby Mustang – but they could afford it.

Pontiac Trans-Am Knight Rider KITT

A super-intelligent Pontiac Trans-Am, KITT was an unlikely world-wide hit. Of course, the TV car barely traded on the actual characteristics of the 1982 Pontiac (just as well – it was no classic American muscle car), being more Battlestar Galactica than Bullitt. One of the many original KITT cars is now in Keswick, Cumbria at the Cars of the Stars Museum – like all TV series that used car stunts, they got through an awful lot of cars.

1932 Ford American Graffiti 1932 Ford

A low-budget semi-independent film made for under $800,000 by a nobody called George Lucas and starring an unknown called Harrison Ford (whatever happened to those two?). The 1932 Ford Coupe was the classic hot-rod in 1950s America, later sung about by the Beach Boys (“Little Deuce Coupe”). The reason was that it was the first affordable V8 model in the world and it was also quite compact and light. By the 50s, many were rotting in scrapyards and young guys could pick them up for next to nothing and rebuild them into straight-line street racers.

Ferrari 250 GT Spyder Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Ferrari 250 GT Spyder

This was not really a Ferrari 250 GT – it was an MGB with a replica body. With astonishing naivete, the company who made it used real Ferrari badges: they were lucky only to be put out of business. The GT Spyder was part of a huge range of 250 models – probably the most sought after of all Ferraris. A closely-related 250 GTO was once valued at over £8 million. The name 250, by the way, refers to the size of one engine cylinder – the engine was a V12 of 3000 cc.

Pontiac GTO The Monkees MonkeeMobile

This was the brainchild of a certain John Z DeLorean, before he took to embezzling money from the British government. In the 1960s, he was the trendy boss of Pontiac who wanted to inject some sparkle into the stuffy brand. As well as developing lots of Pontiac muscle cars, like the Trans-Am, he thought a heavily customised Pontiac GTO driven by America’s answer to The Beatles would be just the thing.

Ford Torino Starsky and Hutch Ford Torino

The Torino was never really chosen for the role: the studio that made the programme happened to have a lease agreement with Ford at the time, and they suggested a Torino. Originally the car used was a standard 5.7 litre production model, but later cars were fitted with a 7.0 litre engine for the full tyre-smoking effect. Ford cashed in on the series with a limited edition Starsky and Hutch model – without the 7.0 litre engine, though.

Toyota 2000 GT You Only Live Twice Toyota 2000 GT

The 2000 GT coupe was Japan’s first high-performance sportscar – a sort of bonsai E-Type. However, when it came to filming You Only Live Twice, it was just a little too bonsai – Sean Connery could not fit inside. Undaunted, Toyota created the even better-looking convertible just for him. Unfortunately, having gone to all that trouble, Toyota never bothered to put it into production.

Aston Martin Vanquish Die Another Day Aston Martin Vanquish

Actually this was hardly an Aston Martin at all. To make it perform on the ice, the entire Aston Martin drivetrain was ditched and replaced with a supercharged American Ford V8, plus a four wheel drive system from the utilitarian Ford Explorer SUV. Most cars are upgraded for film work – this must be a rare case of a car being downgraded.

Lincoln Futura Batman (TV series) Batmobile

Surprisingly, this car was already 10 years old when the series was made. In 1955 Lincoln showed a concept car called the Futura, which was later sold for $1 to a car customiser in California. When he heard that a TV company needed a car for the TV series, he offered the Futura. Most of the changes for TV were cosmetic – wheels, paint etc. The whole job was done in just three weeks.

Plymouth Valiant Duel Plymouth Valiant

Only in America would a car the size of the Valiant be called a compact. This was Chrysler’s answer to the VW Beetle – a smaller, more affordable alternative to the traditional full-size American models of the 1960s. In truth, the Valiant was pretty anonymous, which may have been why it was chosen for the film – in UK terms, it was about as interesting as a Ford Escort. With hindsight, the real star of the film was the director – one Steven Spielberg.