INSIDE AUTO: Top 10 movie cars
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Herbie
James Bond's Aston Martin
By Mike Covello
For The News-Herald
The Batmobile
Most movies set in modern times will have cars in them, but some movies elevate the automobile's status to an element that actually advances the plot and provides more than just transportation for our heroes.
10. Christine: While this 1983 movie was far from Stephen King's best book or film adaptation, it might be the most infamous movie car of all. A 1958 Plymouth Fury had malevolent powers that confounded vandals and both amazed and then terrified the film's protagonist. If nothing else, this movie should teach us all to love and appreciate our cars; who knows what good or evil lurks within?
9. Ferrari 250 GT California Spyder: Ferris Buller's Day Off did more than launch Mathew Broderick's career. One of the most expensive Enzo-era Ferraris appeared in a jewelry-case setting glass garage and set the hearts pitter-pattering among both nascent and mature admirers of Italian beauty. Its infamous demise still makes Ferrari aficionados cringe despite repeated viewings.
8. Pontiac Trans-Am Firebird: Burt Reynolds' Smokey and the Bandit burst onto the scene in 1977 with a black and gold muscle car that fired the imagination of many young men throughout the late '70s through the 80s. It's said that GM design chief Bill Mitchell chose the black and gold scheme based on his admiration for the Lotus John Player Special F-1 racecars. Certainly former-stuntman-turned director Hal Needham's action packed scenes helped to boost all Firebird sales.
7. Herbie the Love Bug: When Disney introduced The Love Bug in 1969, who would've guessed that Herbie would ride again in 1974, go to Monte Carlo in 1977, go bananas in 1980, and become fully loaded with Lindsey Lohan in 2005? Volkswagen Beetles were a cultural phenomenon in the Sixties, and with their VW microbus brethren, they're still capable of evoking a bygone era just by the pop-pop sound of their air-cooled flat four-cylinder engines.
6. Porsche 917K: Few would try to argue that Steve McQueen's Le Mans is a great movie. The dialogue occasionally rises to the level of stilted, and flounders the rest of the time. But McQueen's ability to capture the magic of Porsches and Ferraris battling down the Mulsanne Straight at 250 mph make this one of the most memorable movies starring a car ever.
5. Chitty Chitty Bang Bang: We still haven't given up on the idea of a flying car: one was unveiled at the 2012 New York Auto Show. And Amphicar semi-successfully sold a car that doubles as a boat in the sixties. But Dick van Dyke and Leslie Ann Warren's characters would've had nothing to sing about without the contraption known as Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. The grandeur of the car evoked the Bugatti Royale but was entirely fabricated onto a customized Ford frame.
4. Steve McQueen's Bullitt Ford Mustang: While some might argue that the Gone in Sixty Seconds Eleanor represented a better developed movie character, I pick the San Francisco hill jumping '68 Mustang fastback for the impact the chase scene made on the movie industry. Car chases date back to the Keystone Cops' days, but seeing that Mustang chase the bad guys' Dodge Charger added an aerial acrobatic dimension to land vehicle pursuits that inflamed stunt drivers for generations to come. Oh yes, the spectacular gas pump crash at the culmination of the chase made movie endings like Vanishing Point's a part of spectacular climaxes
3. The Delorean Time Machine: If a stainless steel, gullwing door, two-seat sports c! ar isn't exciting enough for you, let's add time travel to the Delorean's list of accomplishments. John Delorean may have made his mark in the 60s by pushing the Pontiac GTO through the birth canal of early Sixties GM, but it was his BFI-busted venture of manufacturing Deloreans in Ireland that brought him the most pop culture fame. Many more young folks recognize his creation when it's equipped with its time travel apparatus. The Back to the Future movies couldn't have happened without this fascinating piece of 80s car culture.
2. James Bond's Aston Marten DB5: Certainly 007 has been seen in many different vehicles through his forty years and five actor portrayals. But for many Bond fans, Sean Connery and the tire-cutting, oil slicking, machinegun-spouting, ejector-seat-deploying DB5 best sums up both the elegance and hidden dangerous nature of "Bond, James Bond." Continued...
1. The Batmobile: I have to say that of the many versions of Batmobile that have appeared in the Batman movies, it's actually the converted 1955 Lincoln Futura show car that George "King of Custom" Barris concocted for the TV show that men of a certain age might remember best. No matter how sleek or butch a Batmobile appears, a key feature is that it always has Batman (and sometimes Robin's) back. The ability to spout flames, fire machine guns, track bad guys, or even drive itself to Batman's aid remind me of Bruce Wayne's butler Alfred. Michael Cain is the embodiment of a faithful servant, and so is the Batmobile.
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