Iconic Movie Cars That You'll Never Forget

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Submitted by Bill Casticart on Thu, 04/07/2022 - 10:48

According to the Internet Movie Car Database (IMCDb), the most popular car ever used in movies is the Ford Mustang, which has featured in 809 movies including Bullitt, Goldfinger, Death Race and Gone in 60 Seconds. Some of the most successful movies not only bring us car chases and races, but also feature the car as being one of the main characters. Let us not forget Christine, Herbie, and of course Lightning McQueen. These iconic movie cars were a delight to watch on the big screen, and also inspired a new generation of motor enthusiasts to buy the car of their dreams.

Smokey and the Bandit

The greatest racing movies of all time feature cars that are as much a character as the plot. They are vehicles that should probably attract their own salary. The car in the iconic movie, Smokey and the Bandit is just that. Whilst on a farcical mission to obtain beers to drink at a truck show, Burt Reynolds drove around in a 1977 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am. The car had a 6.5 liter engine and 300 horsepower, although interestingly, the engine noise you hear in the movie was a 1955 Chevrolet Custom. This was the car used in American Graffiti. After Smokey and the Bandit was released, Reynolds was actually gifted a Firebird as a thank-you present - the car was sold at auction this year for almost $500,000.

Back to the Future

Back to the Future, possibly the greatest time travel movie of all time, featured a 1981 DeLorean DMC with legendary gull-wing doors and outer body panels brushed in stainless steel. In the movie the car needed 1.21 gigawatts of power and to reach the speed of 88 mph to be able to time travel. In reality the DMC could reach 60 mph in 8.8 seconds and had a top speed of 109 mph. Only 9,000 DeLorean DMCs were ever produced, as the company making them filed for bankruptcy in 1982. If you want to buy a DMC today, it will set you back around $40,000.

The Italian Job

The Mini Cooper may be small, but it is fierce and mighty. The Italian Job actually featured 16 Minis in total, all Mk1 models from pre-1968. Sadly every single car was either destroyed or badly damaged during filming. It’s a shame, because they were only supposed to blow the bloody doors off. However, David Norton, a Mini fanatic from Newcastle bought three of the damaged ones at an auction for £6,000. He lovingly restored them to their former glory with the help of the chief stunt driver from the movie, Remy Julienne, and none other than Sir Michael Caine himself.

The most iconic movie cars are those that play a central role, integral to the plot. They are cars that we all secretly wished we were driving on our way to the grocery store.