Filmmakers have often used cars to give their films some added box-office appeal.
In fact, in some cases a film is even based around a car. Sometimes the car is the star, sometimes the hero, other times the villain.
Here are our 10 best movie cars of all time.
1Eleanor from Gone in Sixty Seconds
The iconic Ford Mustang from the original movie and the remake. The car in 1974’s original (pictured at the top) was a customized 1971 Mustang Sportsroof, while the 2000 remake, starring Nicolas Cage, used seriously modified 1967 Mustangs (pictured above).
The latter (pictured) has to be one of the meanest-looking movie cars. All the ‘Eleanors’ used in the film were built by Cinema Vehicles.
2Herbie from The Love Bug
This little guy had a mind of his own. Wearing racing stripes and the number 53, this VW Beetle starred in a series of films from 1968 onwards.
Herbie was very protective of his owner and would do anything to look after them, including squirting engine oil over unsuspecting enemies!
If you’re in a bad mood, The Love Bug will put a smile back on your face.
3The Italian Job Mini Coopers
The cheery and cheeky trio of Coopers had the wheels driven off them by equally cheeky Cockney thieves in the 60s classic heist movie.
Tearing around the streets of Turin, these diminutive Minis helped the robbers evade the Italian police and thread their way through the narrow streets. You can’t help cheering them on!
4James Bond’s Aston Martin DB5
The epitome of sophistication? More understated than an E-Type but still has the ability to snap knicker elastic at fifty paces.
Slow and underpowered by today’s standards, but that’s not really important. As beautiful inside as it is outside, the DB5 really is a shight for shore eyesh.
Ian Fleming had James Bond in a DB Mark III in his novels, but the DB5 was Aston’s latest offering by the time Goldfinger was released.
The DB series of cars was named in honor of Sir David Brown, who headed Aston Martin from 1947 to 1972.
5Ford Mustang 390 GT from Bullitt
A famous car and a famous actor – Steve McQueen’s ride in Bullitt.
The baddies were driving a black Dodge Charger 440 Magnum but they never could quite hang on to the 390 GT as it careered around San Francisco.
If you like car chases, this is the movie for you – just don’t expect them to be entirely realistic!
McQueen is, as ever, effortlessly cool, but the Mustang gives him a good run for his money! Undoubtedly one of the best movie cars of all time.
6Dodge Challenger from Vanishing Point
The 1971 film starred Barry Newman (in a role that was far-removed from his TV cop ‘Petrocelli’) on a drug-fueled drive from Denver to San Francisco in a white Dodge Challenger.
The cops kept coming after him, but Barry’s trusty Challenger (and a cocktail of drugs) helped him to outpace them all.
Speeding across America, he seemed to be on a never-ending journey. Until the roadblock at the end of the film…
7AMC Pacer from so many 80s movies and Wayne’s World
This car has had a stellar (you could say) film and TV career. It’s appeared in all kinds of stuff over the years.
A weird-but-cute compact car, the Pacer’s passenger door was four inches longer than the driver’s.
The Pacer was ‘different’ for its time and had other unusual features, such as a huge glass area for better visibility and very short overhangs to maximize interior space.
The car was also designed to meet anticipated future safety regulations. Check out this list of the Pacer’s film and TV highlights.
8Pontiac Trans-Am from Smokey and The Bandit
A Trans-Am, Burt Reynolds, a superb moustache and Sally Field – what a combination! And of course, not forgetting Buford T. Justice!
Aided and abetted by truck-driving pal Cledus (and his four-legged friend, Fred), the Trans-Am out-runs the cops time and again as the Bandit tries to get a truck-full of beer across county lines.
9Pontiac LeMans from The French Connection
A brown Pontiac sedan may be a surprise addition to this list, but this was the car that ‘Popeye’ Doyle (played by Gene Hackman) used to chase the bad guys in 1971’s The French Connection.
Some of the chase sequences were unplanned and not exactly legal, with a bunch of off-duty NYPD officers helping to control the traffic.
It just goes to show that you don’t need a sports car to pull off a cool chase sequence.
Gene Hackman even did some of his own driving – a brave man!
10Plymouth Fury from Christine
Christine was the movie car from hell in the film adaptation of Stephen King’s novel.
Christine, like Herbie, is sentient, but Christine kills anyone who mistreats her. I can’t imagine Herbie taking such vengeful action!
Christine is destroyed by a group of youths who realise she is evil, but Christine repairs herself. Creepy stuff…
The 1958 Fury was a rare car – Plymouth built only around 5,300 units. Some 20 Furies were used to make the film, but only two still exist.
Perhaps the remainder are slowly putting themselves back together. Maybe in a junkyard near you…