The American car: few things define an individual better than the car they drive and nothing better defines a movie or TV series than the car the lead character drives. For years people from all walks of life were known by their cars and that recognition spilled over into TV shows and movies in a big way.
Throughout the 60s, 70s and 80s cars played a big part in just about every TV series and film – to the point that audiences would see the car and immediately associate it with a particular (entertainment) brand. Sometimes the car was just an iconic mode of transportation meant to show the societal class of the person driving it – like Fred Sanford’s beat up 1951 Ford truck in Sanford & Son, Colt Seavers’ early 1980s model GMC pickup truck in the Fall Guy, or Sonny Crockett’s 1986 white Ferrari Testarossa in Miami Vice.
Other times, the automobile overshadowed its lead actor, becoming a focal point of attention well after the show or movie it appeared in had stopped being popular – cars like K.I.T.T. in Knight Rider, the General Lee in the Dukes of Hazzard, or Herbie in The Love Bug.
Still there were other times where a TV show’s car was meant only as a cool form of transport reflecting the “hipness” or “swagger” of its driver – in other words, it was secondary, and purely there for looks. Examples of these cars are the Batmobile in Batman and Robin, the 1978 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am from Smokey and the Bandit, or the Ferrari 308 GTS from Magnum P.I.
Regardless of their use, each of these cars had one thing in common : They became iconic.
In this article we’ll discuss what makes a car iconic, as well as list some of our favorite examples from various decades. Also, we’ll dig into why the use of iconic cars might have been permanently garaged by Hollywood.
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Criteria
In order to understand what makes a car iconic we should start with the definition of the word “iconic” – courtesy of Dictionary.com:
“Relating to, resembling, or having the character and sign or
representation that stands for its object.”
For the sake of this discussion, an “iconic” car will be one that reminds the viewer of the TV series or movie it represents – simply by seeing it. We’re going to add a couple other qualifications to the list as well:
- The vehicle should have a unique look, paint job, or function.
- The vehicle must be a car or truck – no planes, trains, boats or helicopters for this list (sorry Airwolf fans).
- The vehicle must be driven by a person and must always be in its original, “iconic” form (sorry Optimus Prime fans).
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The 60s
Hollywood was just starting to dip its collective toe into the car pool (pun intended) during the 60s, and the further into the decade they got, the more elaborate, fancy, and often fantastical the cars became. Some of the most popular and iconic cars recognized today came from this decade. Here are just a few of our favorites:
Scooby-Doo, Where are You! - 1963 Ford Econoline Custom Van (as used in the cartoon)
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Goldfinger – 1963 Aston Martin DB5
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The Love Bug – 1962 Volkswagon Beetle
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The Green Hornet - 1966 Chrysler Imperial
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Batman – 1955 Ford Lincoln Futura Concept Car
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Continue for the most iconic cars of the 1970s…
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What about the ’65 Stingray from the mid 80′s series ‘Stingray’? Or the Dodge Viper from the short lived (thankfully so) series Viper? Or (and I’m very very very amazed I didn’t see this one on the list) the late 1960′s Dodge Charger from the series ‘The Dukes of Hazard’?? Or what about the Monkee’s GTO (granted it was a highly modified GTO but still a GTO underneath it all)? Maybe the list should have been more like “The 100 Most Iconic Cars from TV & Movies”? As I’m sure there are many many many more than even just the ones other people have mentioned in the comments here. Heck even the old Jeep from the series ‘Roswell’ comes to mind now that I think about it some more, lol
There are a lot of cars missing form this list. How about Dan Tanna’s T-bird on Vegas, or Spencer’s ’63 Mustang from Spencer For Hire? The Munster’s hot rod? Or the maxed out Lincoln in the movie The Car? How about the time machine in the Back to the Future movies, a rebuilt DeLorean? Or the 58 Plymouth Fury in Christine? If you’re including vans, how about The A Team? Or The Fall Guy’s pickup.
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Supernatural – 1967 Chevrolet Impala.
This car is a much part of the show, as the lead characters. I would say it needs to be in the list.
I just wanted to mention the Winchester Brother’s 1969 Chevy Impala sedan from Supernatural. I see that car at a show and I think of Supernatural.
Tina
sorry it is a ’67 impala that the boys driva, and a ’69 Chevelle that Bobby drives in season two.
trying to find a movie from late 70′s to early 80′s, a highway patrolman that chases drug runners across the desert in high end cars. I remember a white chevy pick-up chopped & souped up, and the patrolman supercharges his cruiser but crashes it, and buys, I think a lambo to catch the runners. If anyone could help with title please do, I’ve been trying to find it for 10 years.
Thanks, Ron
Ok, so it took me awhile and I found out what movie this is.
Banzai Runner staring Dean Stockwell. I was trying to figure out this movie forever and finally tracked down the truck. HOpe this helps.
Jack Bauer on 24 drove a Yukon XL to start with, after that he switched to an Expidition. After that idk, I quit watching it after the 2nd season.
What about the customized corvette from corvette summer with mark hamill and annie potts. And the shelby cobra from the best car chase movie ever the gumball rally,
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Great article. I am going through a few of
these issues as well..
No General Lee? I think that’s right up there for me with the Green Hornet’s Imperial.
Whoops…just realized there are different pages for the decades and The General Lee is represented in the 80s. I’m dumb.
Awesome list! One addition that comes to mind would be the “Eleanor” Ford Mustang from the “Gone in 60 Seconds” movies.
Revisiting this page, still gettin comments on cars years after the fact. I like the Doge Challenger From Nash Bridges , even though I think it was called a 70 but it was a 71 . A furure iconic car might be newer Knight Rider the mustang, had sme good cars in that show, cant wait to see what they come up with in Mad Max 4 in filming, and wanted to mention the cars of fast lane & the cover car on the dvd MotorWay The newer Dogde Challenger which I also have , but it’s an R/T, not a SRT-8