50 Coolest Movie Cars

Features
By published

Desirable drives to deliver that need for speed

Up In Smoke (1978)

Starsky And Hutch (2004)

The Car: David Starsky's red-with-a-white-stripe Gran Torino was probably the least appropriate vehicle for an undercover cop.

Coolest Detail: According to fan legend, the car is affectionately known as the Striped Tomato after a comment made by original Starsky Paul Michael Glaser.

Boyz N The Hood (1991)

The Car: Why pimp your ride if your ride is already pimpin'? No doubt that Doughboy is a playa in the hood when he drives this 1964 Chevy Impala.

Coolest Detail: The car actually belonged to Ice Cube.

Le Mans (1971)

The Car: A Gulf-Porsche 917K racing car, driven by Michael Delaney (Steve McQueen) on screen and for real in the actual Le Man 24-hr race by pro drivers Jo Siffert and Brian Redman.

Coolest Detail: McQueen owned his own Porsche racing car in which he had competed - he loaned it to the crew to use as a camera car to capture the on-track action.

The A-Team (2010)

The Car: Just because a disgraced crack commando unit needs something practical to drive around it, that doesn't mean it shouldn't look good, too - hence the Team's signature red-striped GMC Vandura.

Coolest Detail: Everybody thinks the car is black, but some sections are actually metallic grey - a mistake that even tie-in toy merchandisers get wrong.

The Living Daylights (1987)

The Car: While James Bond moved with the times, he remained loyal to British manufacturers like Aston Martin. By 1987, the model to own was the V8 Vantage Volante, albeit heavily modified for winter use in the Alps.

Coolest Detail: As 007 points out, he's had a few optional extras installed, including a computer-controlled missile for the discerning driver who'd much rather not be stopped at a roadblock.

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968)

The Car: As the creator of James Bond, you'd expect Ian Fleming to have a love of weird and wonderful vehicles. Yet his most bonkers contribution to cinema traffic was the titular vintage racing car, custom designed for the film by Ken Adam and Frederick Rowland Emett.

Coolest Detail: It can fly!

Smokey And The Bandit (1977)

The Car: A Pontiac Trans Am purchased by bo Darville (aka 'the Bandit') to act as a decoy on the road, deflect attention from pal Snowman's truck filled with illegal booze and generally mess with Sheriff Buford T. Justice's head.

Coolest Detail: While director Hal Needham chose the car based on the 1976 Special Edition, he was forced to give it a facelift to make it look more than the imminent 1977 model, in order to ensure he wasn't out of date.

Cars (2006)

The Car: Rookie Lightning McQueen looks like your inner child's dream car and was designed as such, with Pixar creating the character from scratch based on favourite automobile influences "from GT40s to Chargers."

Coolest Detail: OK, so we still don't understand the mechanics of the film's storyworld. Even so, we're talking about a sentient car that lives to drive. Which is cool.

Mad Max (1979)

The Car: Standard issue for the Main Force Patrol in post-apocalyptic Australia, the Pursuit Special is based on the real-life Ford Falcon XB.

Coolest Detail: The bespoke nosecone created for the film, with its distinctive (if non-functional) supercharger on the bonnet.