With eagerly-awaited new instalments in the Fast & Furious and Mad Max series rolling into cinemas over the next couple of months, as well as our own petrolhead proclivities, we got to thinking about the most iconic cars in the world of movies. Some survive their screen appearances, while others are not so lucky – but all beat tough competition to the finish line to claim their spots here.
10. 1976 AMC Pacer
Wayne’s World (1992) / Wayne’s World 2 (1993)
Wayne Campbell (Mike Myers) may have had his name plastered all over an Illinois cable access TV show, but it was his best mate Garth Algar (Dana Carvey) who possessed the keys to “the mirthmobile”. This baby blue AMC Pacer not only sported flames on the body and a licorice dispenser inside, but provided the setting for a scene that would change Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody forever.
“What if he honks in the car?” “I’m giving you a no-honk guarantee.”
Get ‘WAYNE’S WORLD’ / Watch trailer
Get ‘WAYNE’S WORLD 2’ / Watch trailer
9. 1966 Ford Thunderbird convertible
Thelma & Louise (1991)
It’s not the size of the car (though it helps) – it’s what you do with it. Thelma and Louise dropped the top down and hooned their way around Texas, on the lam after a series of traumatic events turned them into killer and accomplice. While their Thunderbird is a beauty, they’re sort of dime a dozen. Until, that is, you put pedal to the metal, leave the world of scumbag men in the rearview, and drive it off the edge of the Grand Canyon.
“Get away from her, you f-ckin’ a–hole, or I’m gonna splatter your ugly face all over this nice car.”
Get ‘THELMA & LOUISE’ / Watch trailer
8. 1968 Ford Mustang
Bullitt (1968)
Never shy of getting behind the steering wheel (or handlebars), the awesome Steve McQueen played the titular San Francisco cop whose nearly 10 minute duel with his vehicular quarry resulted in one of the greatest car chases committed to celluloid. Three weeks of shooting, Oscar-winning editing and San Francisco’s famously hilly streets also played their part, but it’s the sheer performance of this American muscle car that sealed the deal.
“What the hell is going on here?” “A high-speed pursuit!”
7. 1961 Ferrari California Spyder
Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986)
After a dream directorial trifecta (Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club, Weird Science) the great John Hughes knocked this screenplay out in a week and made the ultimate film about truancy. Ditching school in favour of downtown Chicago, Bueller (Matthew Broderick), his mate Cameron (Alan Ruck) and girlfriend Sloane (Mia Sara) head off in Cam’s dad’s prized Ferrari – only to discover an unexpected 100 miles on the odometer that the anal parent is certain to notice. So begins a harebrained scheme to wind it back, only to… well, you know.
“Look, it’s real simple. Whatever mileage we put on, we’ll take off.”
Get ‘FERRIS BUELLER’S DAY OFF’ / Watch trailer
6. 1966 Lincoln Continental
National Lampoon’s Animal House (1978)
The frat movie to end all frat movies (ok, it actually inspired about four billion of them) is a giant middle finger directed at the establishment, a digit that took vehicular form when the members of Delta Tau Chi House follow the exhortation “Don’t get mad, get even”. Their response to being booted off campus (after being on “double secret probation”) is to convert a borrowed, damaged car into the incredible Deathmobile pictured above, part of their successfully implemented plan to wreak havoc on their college town’s annual homecoming parade.
“I’ll tell you what. We’ll tell Fred you were doing a great job taking care of his car, but you parked it out back last night and in the morning, it was gone.”
Get ‘NATIONAL LAMPOON’S ANIMAL HOUSE’ / Watch trailer
5. 1970 Dodge Challenger
Vanishing Point (1971) / Death Proof (2007)
Kowalski (“the last beautiful free soul on this planet”) was an adrenaline junkie who set out to deliver this Challenger on a high-speed cross-country mission in 1971. Guns n’ Roses quote the film, Primal Scream made a whole album referencing it, and Zoë Bell (“You never, I repeat, NEVER, call a Kiwi an Aussie”) was an adrenaline junkie who set out to play a dangerous game on this Challenger on a high-speed mission in 2007. In both cases the car looked like a million bucks – well, at the start…
“If had I known that I was gonna come to America and have the chance to play ship’s mast on a f-cking Vanishing Point Challenger, I would have added a however. Right?”
Watch ‘VANISHING POINT’ trailer
Get ‘DEATH PROOF’ / Watch trailer
4. 1964 Aston Martin DB5
Goldfinger (1964) / Thunderball (1965) / GoldenEye (1995) / Tomorrow Never Dies (1997) / The World Is Not Enough (1999) / Casino Royale (2006) / Skyfall (2012)
James Bond really liked this car, and so he bloody should have – just look at it! Of course the finest British spy needed the finest British automotive engineering, and so Aston Martin were convinced to supply the prototype of their flashest new vehicle for Goldfinger. Initially intended to just have a smoke screen device, the crew got gadget-crazy and kept adding to the car’s capabilities – helping to cement its fan favourite status in the 007 universe. Its reappearance in Thunderball added to its legacy, but its a bit of a shame to consider the relative merits of the 90s instalments the Aston Martin pops up in.
“Ejector seat? You’re joking!” “I never joke about my work, 007.”
Get ‘GOLDFINGER’ / Watch trailer
3. 1973 XB GT Ford Falcon Coupe
Mad Max (1979) / The Road Warrior (1981)
Max Rockastansky’s V8 Interceptor is one of the last remaining tools being used to maintain order in Outback Australia after a societal collapse. Facing off against scavenging, scumbag motorcycle gangs requires a grunty, Aussie-made motor – one that’s as much battering ram as a means of catching up to criminals. After filming, the customised Ford was returned to legal roadworthiness, and toured throughout Melbourne shopping centres before being put up for sale – but no-one wanted to buy it! Lucky, as it happened, with the Interceptor’s services being required for The Road Warrior – the sequel that took off in the United States and influenced a generation of action pics.
“The last of the V8 Interceptors… a piece of history!”
Get ‘MAD MAX’ ‘/ Watch trailer
Get ‘THE ROAD WARRIOR’ / Watch trailer
2. 1974 Dodge Monaco sedan
The Blues Brothers (1980)
The last thing Jake Blues (John Belushi) expected to be picked up in after getting out of the slammer is a clapped-out police car. But having sold their original Bluesmobile to buy a microphone, that’s what his brother Elwood (Dan Ackroyd) is waiting for him in. Jake’s unimpressed, but as the movie goes on and they find themselves “on a mission from God”, the car reveals unexpected, possibly divine, abilities: outrunning, outjumping and outflying anything in its way. Well, until it gets these unlikely heroes to their destination. Not that this stopped the Bluesmobile from causing incredible vehicular chaos for the police, earning a world record for the most cars destroyed in one film, held until the making of its sequel. Which we have otherwise opted not to think about.
“It’s got a cop motor, a 440 cubic inch plant, it’s got cop tires, cop suspensions, cop shocks. It’s a model made before catalytic converters so it’ll run good on regular gas. What do you say, is it the new Bluesmobile or what?”
1. 1981 DeLorean DMC-12
Back to the Future (1985) / Back to the Future Part II (1989) / Back to the Future Part III (1990)
Originally intended as a laser which wound up attached to a refrigerator, Back to the Future‘s time-travel device would have been only that, a device, as opposed to this instantly recognisable, often replicated four-wheel classic. That the Delorean DMC-12 already looks futuristic as hell before Doc Brown’s add-ons certainly didn’t hurt the car’s iconic status – nor did the bankruptcy of Delorean Motors, limiting the cars’ production. Founder John DeLorean found himself desperately seeking cash to keep his company afloat, and ended up caught on tape seemingly accepting money to take part in trafficking a 100kg cocaine shipment. If these things really could travel in time, that’s one thing he would have done differently…
“If my calculations are correct, when this baby hits 88 miles per hour… you’re gonna see some serious sh-t.”
Get ‘BACK TO THE FUTURE’ / Watch trailer
Get ‘BACK TO THE FUTURE PART II’ / Watch trailer
Get ‘BACK TO THE FUTURE PART III’ / Watch trailer
HONOURABLE KIWI MENTIONS
1978 British Leyland Mini
Goodbye Pork Pie (1981)
Geoff Murphy’s second feature, this low-budget yarn became a blockbuster and the first New Zealand film at Cannes. Not a bad little road trip for this eye-catching Mini (and its mismatched occupants) after it departs Kaitaia as a rental car and ends up a wreck in Invercargill. Remarkably (and remarkably Kiwi), two of the three Minis used for filming remained unscathed – and were returned to the New Zealand Motor Corporation, who had loaned them to the production. As they traveled the country, the film captured New Zealand like nothing before it, and in doing so became the first significant financial success in modern New Zealand film.
“We’re takin’ this bloody car to Invercargill boy.”
Get ‘GOODBYE PORK PIE’ / Watch trailer
A, um, Battletruck
Battletruck (1982) AKA Warlords of the 21st Century
In the early ’80s a wave of post-apocalyptic shockers arrived on the heels of The Road Warrior, as did another surge in low-quality production – feature films shot in New Zealand to get tax breaks. With a shoestring budget, some desert wasteland, and a brilliantly basic title (even if they couldn’t quite commit), Battletruck is an enjoyably erratic curio. Standing out from its contemporaries thanks to the sheer New Zealand-ness of it, from the familiar faces that pop up (Bruno Lawrence, John Bach, Mark Hadlow, Ross Jolly) to the number eight wire aesthetic holding it all together, it may not actually be set here, but it’s well worth a viewing for Kiwis.
“You’ll be sorry when your skin turns green and your teeth fall out.” “Just drive the truck.”
1980 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am Replica
Shaker Run (1985)
We wouldn’t think that pink was the most masculine colour for a stunt car back in the ’80s, but it’s certainly unmissable on screen. Tearing around the streets of New Zealand in what is one of only a very few true action films set here (Never Say Die now welcoming The Dead Lands as other contenders), two stunt drivers try to elude an army of secret police who are after their passenger – a doctor carrying a deadly virus for the CIA. Speeding the length of New Zealand (hmm, maybe someone saw Goodbye Pork Pie) this preposterous film also brought to you by ’80s tax breaks still boasts some solid practical stunt work.
“Delivered a lot of bootleg in my life but I’ve never delivered a bunch of damn bugs.”
1987 Honda Civic Hatchback
The Devil Dared Me To (2007)
It’s not the flashest vehicle in The Devil Dared Me To – those honours go to stuntman Randy Cambell’s rocket car, with which he intends to make the jump between North and South Islands. But nothing sums up the blatant puerility of the pic like rival stuntman Dick Johansonson’s piece of… Civic. Matt Heath rose to the occasion as an utter arsehole behind the wheel of this stuntman’s dream. Sorry, nightmare.
“What about me? People pay to see Dick.”
Get ‘THE DEVIL DARED ME TO’ / Watch trailer
Want more car movies?
Check out this blog post Aaron Yap wrote – Skid Marks: Cool Car Movies For Your Consideration
