Automopedia’s Most Under-Appreciated Movie Cars
Everybody knows the Ecto-1 from Ghostbusters, KITT from Knight Rider and the Mustang Fastback from Bullitt. But what about Ferris Bueller’s Ferrari 250 GT (well, it’s really Cameron’s father’s) or the Pacer from Wayne’s World?
There’s more then a few automobiles that have stolen a moment in film history, but never went on to be as iconic as a KITT or Batmobile. But we’ll never forget these cinematic rides – whether their films were worth speaking of or not. Here’s our pick for the most under-rated movie vehicles. Let us know the cars you think should be more respected by moviegoers.
1977 AMC Pacer – Wayne’s World
It may have only been featured in a hand full of scenes, but Garth’s ’77 Pacer, complete with flame decals and Queen on its tape deck, steals every scene. The Pacer is so infamous it appeared again in Wayne’s World 2, and went to auction for $15,000 back in 2004.
Ferrari 250 GT California – Ferris Bueller’s Day Off
Cameron really didn’t want Ferris taking his father’s Ferrari 250 – but at the end he trashed it. It’s a metaphor, you see…oh heck. Forget it, this isn’t AP Philosophy, this is Ferris Bueller! But wait, there’s a twist: according to imdb.com – “Cameron’s father’s Ferrari wasn’t a real Ferrari. Because it was too expensive to rent one, they made three fake ones with a fiberglass body.”
Wagon Queen Family Truckster – National Lampoon’s Vacation
When Clarke Griswald takes the kids cross country, they go in style. One of the best Lampoon features, Chevy Chase gets hooked up with the “Wagon Queen Family Truckster” – which is actually a modified Ford LTD Country Squire station wagon. In February 2010, Chevy Chase and Beverly D’Angelo and The Truckster reprized their characters from Vacation movie in a Super Bowl ad for the vacation rental website HomeAway.com. None of which have aged very well.
1958 Plymouth Fury – Christine
When John Carpenter and Stephen King join forces you know it’s gonna get scary. One of this blogger’s personal favorite horror movies, Christine starred a possessed ’58 Fury, which went on to rack up a decent body count. As for the car itself, there was a total of “13 or 16″ Fury’s trashed, depending on your sources.
1973 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray – Corvette Summer
Ken loves to design and build exotic cars. When the High School shop class project car, a fully tricked out dream Corvette, is stolen, he begins searching for it. His search leads him to Las Vegas, where Vanessa, a teenage prostitute wannabe, helps him try to track it down. With Mark “Luke Skywalker” Hamill sporting recent auto accident scares on his face, the show is really stolen by this modded out ’73 Stingray. The big mystery about this particular film is where exactly its original Corvette is today.
Bruce Wayne’s Lamborghini Murcielago – The Dark Knight
When Bruce Wayne needed a lift after The Joker trashed his Tumbler, he took the “much more subtle” Lamborghini Murcielago LP640. IT speeds across the streets of Gotham City, just in time to get totaled in a stunt that took days to set up and only seconds to demolish. What a waste, but hey – it’s a tough job being Batman’s back-up ride.
1990 Lotus Esprit – If Looks Could Kill
High School senior Michael Corben (played by the versatile Richard Grieco) is off to France to catch up on his French lessons and hopefully graduate into a decent college. Unfortunately, Michael’s mistaken for a British Spy, and sent off on an adventure to save the lives or royalty and stop an evil assassin.
How does one 18 year old save European Royalty? With a 1990 Lotus Esprit of course. Grieco’s particular Lotus contained your usual James Bond knock-off gadgets: Rocket launcher, parachutes, oil slicks and shields. No matter how many explosions you put out, or cool driving stunts available, it’s still a Richard Grieco film.
Among these, I would place both the battered 1978 Toyota Gyoza Pickup from all the Pixar films (mainly Toy Story 1 & 2), and the backfiring heap of a 1975 Mercury Marquis Brougham from Uncle Buck.