Top 10 Star Cars From Film and Television

If you’re looking for inspiration to find the car of your dreams to import into New Zealand, then you don’t have to look much further than the silver screen.

Thanks to the return of the Mad Max movie franchise, four-wheel friendly films are back in vogue – so we thought we’d run through our top-10 favourite cars which have made a smash hit in front of the cameras.

10. Knight Rider

David Hasselhoff might have become a bit of a figure of fun these days, but back in the 80s he was as cool a star as there was – mainly thanks to his talking modified Pontiac Firebird called KITT.

9. Greased Lightning

Just look around the country at the number of hot-rod and classic car shows which feature great US cars. If you need any further reason why you should go hunting for one of your own (and you can stand the singing) check out the suped up 1948 Ford Convertible that John Travolta shows off in Grease.

8. Classic Minis

The Mini has gone all modern in recent years and, sure, that’s great if you want 4WD and lots of space for kids or suitcases to take on holiday. But if you’re into robbing banks and causing mayhem in Italy – or you’re as stone-cold cool as Michael Caine – then the 1969 BMC Mini Coopers from The Italian Job can’t be beaten.

7. The Love Bug

While we’re dealing with classic European models, there’s very little that can beat those smooth curves and slightly dorky face of the white VW Beetle from Disney’s Herbie movies.

6. Bullitt’s Mustang

To get the most out of a green 1968 Mustang GT 390 Fastback you apparently have to drive it like crazy up and down the suburban hills off San Francisco – well, it works if you’re Steve McQueen.

5. Starsky and Hutch

And while we’re looking stateside during the late 60s and early 70s, there’s no way you can miss out on this classic Ford Gran Torino. We just reckoned it looked better hooning around City Bay, California with David Soul and Paul Michael Glasier in the front seats rather than Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson.

4. The General Lee

You can still pick up models of the 1969 and modified 1968 Chargers used by Bo and Luke Duke – just make sure you keep that iconic orange paint job and 01 painted on the doors. Oh, and the horn that plays “Dixie” – that’s a must too.

3. The Batmobile

You’re going to look pretty strange pulling up at Countdown in the Batmobile, but it’s still worth its place on the top-10. There have been heaps of different models over the years – we reckon Tim Burton’s version from the 1989 film starring Michael Keaton is the coolest.

2. Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

If you like the really old days of motoring and this combination of a Mercedes chassis and 23-litre six-cylinder Maybach engine floats your boat, then new Top Gear presented Chris Evans is trying to sell his. In September it failed to reach the $500,000 to $700,000 he wanted for it – perhaps because it doesn’t actually fly.

1. Classic Bond

Bonds may come and Bonds may go, but the Aston Martin DB5 remains, for us, the real star of the show.