Here are 24 of the greatest ever movie cars

Back to the Future, 1985

“Are you telling me you built a time machine… out of a DeLorean?” Co-writers Bob Gale and Robert Zemeckis initially planned to use a refrigerator for the time machine, but figured that younger audience members might take it too literally. Then it was a device lugged around in the bed of Doc Brown’s pickup. When Gale realised it should be mobile, the DeLorean’s gullwing doors and stainless steel body were deemed sufficiently futuristic-looking (better than the Mustang that Ford was prepared to, er, pony up for).

The real DeLorean story is a movie in itself: ex-GM VP John DeLorean used British government money to build his Giugiaro-designed, Lotus-engineered ‘ethical’ sports car in Belfast at the height of the Troubles, before being busted by the FBI for cocaine smuggling. He was acquitted… (NB: a DeLorean also stars in Steven Spielberg’s Ready Player One.)

Ghostbusters, 1984

The Ecto-1 was based on a 1959 Cadillac ambulance conversion by the Ohio-based Miller Meteor company, a 20ft-long, three-tonne behemoth powered by a 6.3-litre V8, with strong Eldorado visual cues. Dan Aykroyd, who co-wrote the script, envisaged a darker, less cartoonish look, but the cinematographer, the great László Kovács, gently suggested that wouldn’t cut it in the film’s many night shots. The Ghostbusters’ car was created by Stephen Dane, who had worked on Ridley Scott’s mighty Blade Runner; he also created the proton pack, particle thrower and ghost trap.

The A-Team, 1983–1987 (TV) 

In the Seventies and Eighties, the UK was subjected to a lightweight but hi-octane US telly takeover, epitomised by The A-Team, in which a bunch of ex-special forces renegades blew stuff up, rescued women and crashed cars. The van, a 1983 GMC Vandura with quad headlights, was a mobile command unit whose stealth status was undermined by turbine mag wheels, red stripe and roof spoiler. Didn’t see them coming...

The Phantom Menace, 1999

“One-man vehicles featuring a cockpit placed behind two huge engines,” StarWars.com says with comical restraint. Its appearance in the Boonta Eve Classic enlivens the otherwise execrable Phantom Menace. George Lucas is an obsessive motorsport fan, and the pod racers’ sound design samples Nineties F1 power units in a brilliantly executed sequence. Bar the fact that turbines don’t have geared transmissions.

The Hangover, 2009

2009’s hit comedy made stars of Bradley Cooper, Zach Galifianakis, Ken Jeong and Mike Tyson’s white tiger. They also destroyed a lovely old 1965 Merc. Berks.

The Dukes of Hazzard, 1979–1985 

Across 147 episodes and seven seasons, Bo and Luke Duke evaded Boss Hogg and his idiot police cronies in a seemingly indestructible ’69 Dodge Charger, the General Lee. 

The Cannonball Run, 1981 

The most politically incorrect supercar driven by two provocatively clad women in 1981’s dumbest box office hit. Cemented its status as ultimate bedroom-wall fodder. 

The Blues Brothers, 1980 

A ’74 Dodge Monaco with a beefed-up 440 Magnum engine. Co-writer and star Dan Aykroyd based the roof-mounted loudspeaker on a Cold War air raid siren in his primary school yard. 

The Fast and the Furious, 2001 

Shabby ’93 Supra miraculously transformed for key role in climactic FAF shoot-out, as driven by the late Paul Walker. Made $185k at an auction in 2015. 

Cars, 2006 

Strip ‘The King’ Weathers is one of the emotional cornerstones of Pixar’s Cars. He’s also a blue ’69 Dodge Charger Daytona Hemi, voiced by Richard Petty. Studio boss John Lasseter is the devout petrolhead son of a parts manager at a Chevrolet dealership, and Cars was partly a paean to racing, partly prompted by a Lasseter family roadtrip. But it was also inspired by a documentary called Divided Highways, which examined the impact of the US interstate highway system – in particular, on the Mother Road, Route 66. “Car people are tremendously passionate. Cars are their life. I really wanted to be able to get the details right for them,” Lasseter notes.

Mad Max, 1979 & Mad Max: Fury Road, 2015 

A masterpiece of low-budget Australian cinema, George Miller’s Mad Max proved that necessity is the mother of invention. The movie’s art director, Jon Dowding, opted to use an Aussie Ford Falcon XB coupe as the basis for Max Rockatansky’s Pursuit Special, mainly because it was tough and parts would be easier to source. Fitted with a supercharged 5.75-litre Cleveland V8 making 600bhp, its look was inspired by Concorde, a wild 1977 concept van by local Ford designer Peter Arcadipane.

For Mad Max 2, two enlarged fuel tanks were fitted, the passenger seat was removed, and Max rigged the Interceptor with booby traps. Reappears in 2015’s brilliantly deranged Fury Road. “I drive a hybrid,” says Miller, “but I shouldn’t confess that.”

Ronin, 1998 

Ronin were roaming samurai without masters. In John ‘creator of the car chase’ Frankenheimer’s modern classic, they’re mercenaries. The S8’s quattro 4WD was removed for max oversteer.  

Risky Business, 1983 

Tom Cruise’s breakthrough film is a rite-of-passage Eighties classic. Director Paul Brickman cast the 928 because it was less obvious than a 911. 

Le Mans, 1971 

Strictly speaking not a movie car, but the motorsport-dominating 917 is the saviour of Steve McQueen’s otherwise misfiring vanity project.  

The Italian Job, 1969 

Aosta valley, Lamborghini, Quincy Jones soundtrack: in many ways, the opening sequence is the greatest three minutes of any film, ever. 

American Graffiti, 1973 

George Lucas’s ’73 classic helped reignite America’s fading hot rodding subculture. The star car is a 1932 Ford Deuce Coupe. 

Batman, 1989 & Batman Returns, 1992 

Tim Burton’s 1989 Batman reboot was the movie event of the year, partly thanks to the director’s Gothic aesthetic. Genius production designer Anton Furst reimagined the Batmobile as a priapic hot rod, with a huge jet turbine front and centre, and air intakes for the afterburners. Side-mounted grappling hooks and a central spar enabled it to rotate through 180°, and the car could encase itself in full body armour. Forget that there were two Chevy Impala chassis welded together underneath.  

Wayne’s World, 1992 

AMC’s Pacer enjoyed a postmodern afterlife courtesy of Mike Myers’s Saturday Night Live spin-off. Unlike the similarly uplifted DeLorean, the Pacer really was rubbish, and therefore perfect for duty in this tale of gormless suburban rock fans Wayne and Garth whose cable TV show becomes unexpectedly huge. The Pacer, meanwhile, was described by its maker as the ‘first wide small car’. Schwiiiing? Not so much.

The Graduate, 1967 

The last car to be signed off by Italian design maestro Battista ‘Pinin’ Farina, a ’66 series one Alfa Spider didn’t just shuttle Dustin Hoffman’s character Benjamin between existential crises, it symbolised Sixties America’s youthful hunger for freedom, sex and sticking it to The Man. Much as that dream would be scuppered by the Vietnam war, so would the lissom little Alfa run out of fuel at the critical moment in the film’s denouement.   

Transformers, 2007 onwards 

In the Transformers universe, Bumble Bee is an Autobot and one of Optimus Prime’s most trusted lieutenants in the battle to defeat the Decepticons. In Michael Bay’s highly nuanced, Bergmanesque Noughties film franchise ($4.3bn and counting), he’s disguised as a classic Seventies Camaro to begin with, before upgrading to the current model. Well, it explains those gaping shut-lines, if nothing else. 

For Your Eyes Only, 1981 

Bond cars are indivisible from Bond movies, and the obvious choice is the DB5. But if 1981’s FYEO is the connoisseur’s film – bringing 007 back to Earth after Moonraker’s excesses – then the Esprit Turbo S3 is a more informed choice than the white submersible in The Spy Who Loved Me. A white Turbo is destroyed early on. The other car was bronze to stand out more sharply for the scenes in Cortina. Looked great with skis, too.  

Dumb and Dumber, 1994 

Although officially banned from Top Gear, the only adjective appropriate when it comes to the Mutt Cutts “shaggin’ wagon” is “iconic”. Lloyd Christmas and Harry Dunne, the duo who provide the emotional and intellectual heart of the Farrelly brothers’ debut masterpiece, embark on a journey of discovery from behind the wheel of a Ford Econoline van, expertly modified to resemble a shaggy dog. (NB: there’s a Lamborghini Diablo in the film, too, but it’s not disguised as a giant dog). 

Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, 1986 

In a parallel world, director John Hughes would be as revered as Spielberg. Ferris Bueller is one of his best, an escapist fantasia where the guy bunks off school in spectacular style, gets the girl – and the car... a Ferrari 250 GT Cali Spider. Only it was a replica, created by Modena Design and powered by a Ford V8. The real thing is worth many, many millions. Bueller...

Smokey and the Bandit, 1977 

Second only to Star Wars at the box office in 1977, this tale of a getaway driver and his trucker friend duelling with the law may as well have taken place in a galaxy far, far away, as that’s what the Deep South looked like here. It’s essentially one long car chase, with a Pontiac Trans-Am (indestructible, obvs), Burt Reynolds in his moustachioed prime and a sheriff called Buford T. Justice. For a while, we all wanted CB radios.