1. DELOREAN DMC-12
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.)
2. CADILLAC MILLER-METEOR
Ghostbusters, 1984
The Ecto-1 was based on a 1959 Cadillac ambulance conversion by the Ohio-based Miller Meteor company, a 20ft-long, three-ton 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.
3. THE A-TEAM VAN
The A-Team, 1983–1987 (TV)
In the ’70s and ’80s, the UK was subjected to a lightweight but hi-octane US TV takeover, epitomized 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...
4. POD RACER
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 ’90s F1 power units in a brilliantly executed sequence. Bar the fact that turbines don’t have geared transmissions.
5. MERCEDES-BENZ 220 SE
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.
6. GENERAL LEE (DODGE CHARGER)
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.
7. LAMBORGHINI COUNTACH 5000S
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.
8. THE ‘BLUESMOBILE’
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.
9. TOYOTA SUPRA
The Fast and the Furious, 2001
Shabby ’93 Supra miraculously transformed for key role in climactic shoot-out, as driven by the late Paul Walker. Made $185k at an auction in 2015.
10. THE KING
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.
11. FORD FALCON XB COUPE ‘INTERCEPTOR’
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-liter Cleveland V8 making 600hp, 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.”
12. AUDI S8
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.
NOTE: This article first appeared on TopGear.com. Minor edits have been made.
