Top 10 Movie Cars
By Rob Stevens
26th June 2009

1 The Lotus Esprit (The Spy Who Loved Me, 1977)
Yeah you read right, not the Aston Martin DB5. Controversial? Maybe, but lets have a look at the facts. The Lotus is so much sexier than the Aston. Its involved in a much better car chase than the Aston, in fact the Spy Who Loved Me car chase – which features a car, a motorbike and a helicopter against James Bond is a series highlight. Plus, it can go underwater, the Aston merely has an ejector seat. Joking? I never joke about my work, 007.

2 The Batmobile (Batman, 1989)
I know there will be fans of the Tumbler from Batman Begins, but for me, there can only be one Batmobile, Michael Keaton’s. While the Tumbler reflects the realistic aesthetic of the reboot, the 1989 Batmobile showed of the stylish fantasy element of the Tim Burton films. It keeps in touch with the iconic (and brilliant) 60s Batmobile, while streamlining it (He has no Robin yet here) and making it seem the coolest car in the world.

3 1981 Delorean DMC 12 (Back To The Future, 1985)
“I figure if you’re going to travel in time, why not do it in style” and there-in lies the genius of the Delorean. It’s a car from the past, but to every child of the 1980s it looked like a car from the future with its cool upswinging doors and seductive shape. It was originally going to be a fridge, oddly, I think we’re all glad that never came to pass.

4 The 1970 Dodge Challenger (Vanishing Point, 1971)
Even Tarantino couldn’t ruin this one. While Death Proof was the cinematic equivalent of QT masturbating over the car section of DVD collection (Dude, just make a list like the rest of us) nothing can take away the striking power of the original Vanishing Point, a film that takes the idea of a car chase, and expands it to an entire film, as our intrepid hero Kowalski has to drive his beautiful Challenger across a state in time to win a bet, with the police at his back. If you haven’t seen it, you really should.

Ferris Bueller's iconic Ferrari

5 1961 Ferrari 250 GT California Spider (Ferris Bueller’s Day Off 1986)
Not all cars in cinema, are about car chases. When cocky hero Ferris Bueller decides to take a day off school to teach his best friend Cameron that it isn’t worth living his life in constant fear, he convinces him to take his dad’s car, which is so incredible its taken up all of his fathers attention for years. We’re supposed to be on Ferris and Cameron’s side but…who can blame him, really?

6 Red, White and Blue Mini Coopers (The Italian Job, 1968)
They don’t come a great deal more iconic than this, the film that seared the Mini Cooper into the British conciousness for the rest of eternity. The film is magic, but the last section, an extended car chase though the streets of Italy in Mini’s the colours of the Union Jack is absolutely classic.

7 1966 Ford Thunderbird (Thelma and Louise, 1991)
A road movie needs an iconic car. And few cars come better than a Ford Thunderbird. Jean-Paul Belmondo looks irrepressibly cool in one in Breathless, the same 1955 model cropped up in Cars. There was even one in an episode of Murder, She Wrote that I saw once. The most memorable though, is Thelma and Louise, especially, without wanting to spoil the film, at the end.

8 1973 Ford Falcon XB GT Coupe (Mad Max, 1979)
The most badass police car of all time surely? It looks like its been beamed from another planet. Disspointingly though, the supercharger button was just a prop.

9 1968 Ford Mustang GT390 Fastback (Bullit, 1968)
The films not really that good, so why does your dad always go on and on and on about it? Because of the Mustang, and the cool chase sequence. Steve McQueen is obviously one of cinema’s coolest presences and with him sat behind the wheel of the Mustang, frankly it was always going to a winning formula.

10 1959 Cadillac Miller-Meteor (Ghostbusters)
Who didn’t want to drive this as a kid? Who wouldn’t drive it now? Sure its just a clapped out Ambulance, but crikey, it looks amazing.