This is a tough list, and one I’ve had to think about for a while. There are just so many cool movie and TV cars. I’ve certainly had fun researching this one and admiring all the beautiful vehicles that we have had adorning our screens. I stumbled across this cool site too, called Pop Culture Cars, which lets you type in any year and view one of the main screen cars from that year. A very nice way to navigate through some iconic cars.
In terms of ranking my list, I had to chose a system. Should it be based on which car I would like to own? Or how iconic a car is within pop culture? Or the coolness factor? I could have ranked them a number of different ways. And I could also have included cars that had ‘special features’ or fictional powers. In the end, however, I’ve gone with reality and just how cool the cars look. I’ve also taken into account how iconic they are, their personality, if I would want one in real life etc. I think many people will disagree with my list here, and that’s cool. Let me know what you would have picked!
First of all the honourable mentions, of which there are many.
Blues Brothers – Bluesmobile
It is pretty iconic and it almost has special powers in the movie, but in reality it’s just a cop car so I’ve decided not to include it.
Manimal – Ferrari 400i
Yep, when Jonathan Chase wasn’t changing into panthers he was driving round in a pretty sweet Ferrari 400i convertible.
Miami Vice – 1972 Ferrari 365 GTS/4 Daytona
Before they switched to the Testarossa the cops in Miami Vice used to drive around in a very cool, black Ferrari Daytona Spyder.
The A-Team – Face’s Corvette
This suited Face right down to the ground. It’s cool but also quite fancy, with the paint job stripe. Pretty iconic actually but I’m just not sure I would want to own it, and so it doesn’t quite make my list.
Back to the Future – Toyota 4×4
I love trucks and 4x4s, and this one is awesome. It’s not really featured enough to merit a place in the list of course but I still had to mention it here. It feels very 80s to me.
The Cannonball Run – Lamborghini Countach
I don’t think any car was featured as much as the Lamborghini Contact in the 80s, and you can see my Top Ten Lamborghini Countach list too, but this particular Countach was really just one of many cars in this film and was a generic Countach so I didn’t think it merited a place in the main list.
Automan – Lamborghini Countach
Another Countach here. Again this one would probably be Top 3 of a fictional car list. So cool, appears out of thin air, can turn 90 degree corners at high speed. Oh and can also change into a helicopter, and maybe even a tank? Not realistic but damn cool.
Ferris Bueller’s Day Off – 1961 Ferrari 250 GT California Spyder
Very iconic scene in the film, and a beautiful car. It was sooo close to making my list but I just don’t like that particular style of old Ferrari enough personally. It’s purely personal reasons that keep this one out the list, and it misses out just by the skin of its teeth.
Magnum P.I. – 1978 Ferrari 308 GTS
Same thing here with the iconic Magnum Ferrari. It was a staple cast member of that TV show but for me it just doesn’t excite me like the other ones on my list and I just didn’t watch Manimal as much as the other movies and shows here, so for personal reasons it just misses out I’m afraid. I can hear some people shouting at their screens already.
James Bond – Multiple cars
That’s right. I don’t have any Bond cars in my list. I kind of feel that they need a list all to themselves, and I’ll probably do that as a future Top Ten list. If I was to include any it would certainly be the Aston Martin DB5 in Goldfinger and the Lotus Espirit from The Spy Who Loved Me. Both hugely iconic. I’m sure one of these may make my future Top Ten of fictional cars.
And now for the Top Ten List. And remember, this is just my personal list! Hit me up with your preferences in the comments.
10. Dukes of Hazzard – General Lee 1969 Dodge Charger
This is a pretty standard Dodge Charger, but the paint job is beyond iconic. Even with our without the Confederate flag on the roof, the orange colour and the number on the side are so recognisable. Add to that the image of it doing such cool jumps and the iconic horn tune meant that this one had to make my list.
An extremely cool 70s muscle car, but man what a paint job. Bright red with a huge white stripe down the side. Bizarre, bold and extremely iconic. The car itself doesn’t hugely excite me but its overall look is legendary.
Obviously this one isn’t a beautiful sports car or one that I would actually want to own or anything, but you can’t get much more iconic than the Ecto-1. It earns its place by simply being extremely unique and cool. It oozes personality (and slime).
This one may be a surprise to many, but I always loved this show and I loved this truck. I love the look, the colour scheme and what they could do with it. I would love to own one of these myself.
I’m sure many people will think that this should be number 1. On a list of Top Fictional Cars it probably would be no.1 or no.2. But if we’re just talking about the car itself, and not its fictional powers, then I’ve got slightly mixed opinions about the DeLorean. It’s insanely iconic and very cool, but a part of that coolness is how it is used in the film, the modifications Doc Brown made and the powers that it has. I’m not sure I would actually want to drive one around in real life. I’m torn and so it stays about halfway in my list.
As I have mentioned already, I do love vans and trucks, and the A-Team van just screams 80s icon. It was an ever present icon of my childhood. It is extremely cool and has another great paint job in the same vein as Starsky and Hutch. I also found it amusing that a team that was trying to stay under the radar would ride around in such a standout van. I can’t think of many things better than driving my own A-Team van.
This is an example of a car that would be at or near the no.1 position if we were taking into account its fictional powers. When you include the talking KITT and the Turbo Boost this car is a force to be reckoned with, but even without that it is still awesome. It just oozes cool. I would of course have to keep the strobing red scanner on the front. This is one that I would love to be able to drive down the street.
Another Pontiac here. While the Knight Rider Pontiac is ‘in your face’ coolness, this one driven by the Bandit oozes class. It is a thing of beauty and the paint job just takes it to that next level. Even if you didn’t have Burt Reynold’s smile and moustache, you would still feel like a king driving this bad boy. This might be a surprise entry for many, but for me it’s always been a car I’ve loved.
John Wick – 1969 Ford Mustang
Street Hawk – 1969 Ford Mustang
This was the no.1 entry in my list for the longest time and then I just swapped it out at the last minute, because it’s slightly breaking the rules. I’ve cheekily included three cars here, because they are extremely similar. One film is very old and one is very new, so they’re not quite in the sweet spot of my usual timeframe. And the other one from Street Hawk isn’t very prominent in the show. But they are all uber cool and if I actually won the lottery and wanted to drive any of the cars from this list around in real life I would 100% get one of these. I’d probably get the John Wick variation.
I’ve had multiple variations of the order of the top six cars in this list, and each one could easily be my no.1, but this one just kept coming back to the top spot. This one just ticks all the boxes. Is it cool? Check. Is it iconic? Check. Would I drive it? Check! Miami Vice was such an iconic show, which set trends and started fashions. The fact that it was policemen that were driving around in a Ferrari in the first place was cool. But the fact as well that it was white was so classy. Ferraris were normally red of course and I knew the red Ferrari Testarossa from the game Out Run, but to have a white version just seem so bold and different. The car became a huge part of the show. It has always been the epitome of 80s cool to me and it makes my no.1 spot.
