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A car is not usually the first thing that comes to mind when you think "movie star," but there are a select few that have become Hollywood legends.
Batman simply wouldn't be the same without his Batmobile. Neither would James Bond without his 1964 Aston Martin DB5.
Here's a look at our list of the 10 most famous movie cars of all time.
While cars are rarely the stars of movies, except perhaps in the Pixar film "Cars," motor vehicles often play critical roles in films. James Bond's globe-trotting adventures would be a lot less exciting without his fleet of heavily armed and armored cars prepared by Q. And the Caped Crusader would be considerably less impressive if he had to spend all his time running around on foot.
Steve McQueen's "Bullitt" wouldn't have been nearly as memorable without the now-iconic car chase featuring a menacing Dodge Charger on the hunt for the hero's 1968 Ford Mustang Fastback.
The cars on this list so greatly enhanced the films in which they were featured that they transcend the individual movie, becoming part of the greater cultural landscape.
Certain star cars like General Lee from "The Dukes of Hazzard," KITT from Knightrider, and the A-Team van were left off the list. Even though many of them have taken their turn on the big screen, their fame is mostly centered around their time on TV.
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Without further ado, here is our list of the most iconic cars in cinematic history:
The 1968 American comedy "The Love Bug" put a 1963 Volkswagen Beetle front and center as the main character of the film. But this was no ordinary punch buggy — It was a sentient VW named Herbie who sported red, white, and blue racing stripes and would, perhaps surprisingly, be featured in a half-dozen films over the decades following the release of the original.
9. 1959 Cadillac Miller-Meteor ambulance Ecto-1
Ecto-1 is the name the "Ghostbusters" gave their odd, now-iconic Cadillac featured in the 1984 film.
The car, heavily modified for the movie, was strange enough looking even without the added lights, sirens, and fantastical detection hardware on the roof — the 20-foot long, 6,500-pound 1959 Cadillac Miller-Meteor ambulance had huge tail fins and a massive front end bearing multiple lights and a big, shiny grill.
8. Lotus Esprit S1 Wet Nellie
The Lotus Esprit S1 featured in the 1977 James Bond film "The Spy Who Loved Me" was part car, part submarine, and completely awesome. So much so, in fact, that none other than Tesla and SpaceX founder Elon Musk purchased the original submersible vehicle a few years ago and says he plans to restore it into a working submarine once again.
Of course the movie featured two different vehicles, one a regular road-ready car, the other a unit created specifically for the underwater scenes. But “Wet Nellie,” as the movie car was known, looked great above or below the waves.
7. 1973 Ford Falcon XB GT Pursuit Special
The original "Mad Max" car — the "last of the V-8s," as a mechanic in the post-apocalyptic 1979 film pronounces it, was a dark horse for famous movie car.
Against the odds, "Mad Max" became a cult classic that spawned multiple sequels, remakes, video games, and launched the career of Mel Gibson. And the modified 1973 Ford Falcon XB GT featured in the film has also cemented in its place in culture.
6. 1961 Ferrari 250 GT SWB California Spyder
The stunning, cherry red 1961 Ferrari 250 GT SWB California Spyder featured in the 1986 comedy "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" is truly iconic, and its demise is one of the most memorable scenes of the film.
According to Gooding & Company, Ferrari made 37 examples of the covered headlight 1961 250 Ferrari GT SWB California Spyder, with one of them auctioning off at Pebble Beach for $16,830,000 in 2015.
5. 1977 Pontiac Firebird Trans AM
The 1977 film "Smokey and the Bandit," starring Burt Reynolds and Sally Field, was a box office success that would lead to a trilogy of films and several spinoffs. But what many people remember most about the movie isn't the acting, but the featured car.
The 1977 Pontiac Firebird Trans AM, complete with gold-accented black paint and a huge spread-winged firebird graphic on the hood, roared its way to fame from the first frames in which it was seen.
4. 1968 Ford Mustang Fastback
Without the cars, the 1968 film "Bullitt," starring Steve McQueen, would have been, well ... nothing. Car chases define the action-packed classic, and the deep emerald green 1968 Ford Mustang Fastback was the "hero car" of the film. The car was featured in a famous car chase scene in which the drivers, with McQueen himself at the wheel in many shots, screeched around the streets of San Francisco.
3. DeLorean DMC-12 Time Machine
Had the 1985 film "Back to the Future" been made a few years earlier, the DeLorean Motor Company may have survived its infancy. Sadly, the upstart automaker went bankrupt in 1982.
Fortunately for the maker of the unique gull-wing doored, stainless-steel-bodied sports car, the DeLorean DMC-12, franchise's producers thought it was the perfect starting point for their now iconic time machine.
2. James Bond's 1964 Aston Martin DB5
The 1964 Aston Martin DB5 may well have become famous of its own volition because the vehicle was as much a work of art as an automobile. But when featured as legendary spy James Bond's ride in the film "Goldfinger," the car became an on-screen icon.
Two Aston Martin DB5s were used in the "Goldfinger" film: one fitted with Bond's gadgets for effects, and the other for driving scenes. Many other Aston Martins would be featured in Bond films over the subsequent decades.
1. The Batmobile
Though it's one of the most iconic on-screen vehicles of all time, various versions of the Batmobile predate the on-screen appearance by many years, with its debut feature in the Batman comic book series as far back as the 1930s.
In 1966, the Batmobile served a critical role as Batman’s go-to vehicle for saving the citizens of Gotham City in the first season of "Batman" TV show. The Batmobile was modeled after a Lincoln Futura concept car with a front steel "slasher" blade, 15 inch single-ribbed Rader Wheels, and a U-shaped steering wheel designed to resemble the yoke of an airplane.
Since its debut, the Batmobile has made appearances in all sorts of films, both animated and live action, most recently seen in the 2016 "Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice" movie.
