While the latest version of the Volkswagen Beetle might be your choice of new car from Forces Cars Direct, a 1963 original, also known as a Type 117, became the much-loved ‘Herbie’, a car-with-a-heart-of-its-own. In typical Disney style, ‘The Love Bug’ adopted human characteristics and tugged at our heart-strings, while also being a tremendous comedy vehicle in six films produced between 1968 and 2005.
Car chases are a great source of viewer appeal and vaunted as one of the greatest is that of Steve McQueen’s Ford Mustang GT on the roller-coaster streets of San Francisco. The movie ‘Bullitt’ was a box-office hit but has become a cult classic, even leading to replica versions of the car being produced by Ford Motor Company, based on the most recent model.
While FCD will be unable to acquire a Russian Volga taxi in its latest guise, ‘The Bourne Supremacy’ sees Matt Damon’s character being hounded through the streets of Moscow in one of the most thrilling and painfully realistic of car chases. By the same token, the Pontiac Bonneville, driven by Gene Hackman’s character (‘Popeye Doyle’) in 1971 thriller ‘The French Connection’, established fresh parameters for movie car scenes.
Where would we be without the Batman franchise? There are so many Batmobiles to select, from the TV series, through several major movies, none of which seem to have any road car origins, although they were hidden most successfully. Nearly every Batmobile has features that are seldom less than fantastical but that most of us would love to have on our own cars.
Of course, when it comes to movie cars, the James Bond 007 franchise has plenty on offer, perhaps the most significant of which is the Aston Martin DB5, complete with ejector passenger seat, pop-up bullet shield and machine-guns in its front sidelights. A true ‘star car’, it has appeared in no less than seven of the Bond series of films. FCD will be able to obtain a box-fresh Aston Martin for you at a somewhat lower price than the telephone number values now attached to a DB5 model.
Talking of movie franchises, while the story-lines may verge on ‘creative’ at very least, the cars that front ‘The Fast and The Furious’ series are all fairly modern and include Mazda MX-5s and RX7s, Mitsubishi Lancer Evolutions and Subaru Impreza STis, although Vin Diesel’s character seems to rely on some classic Detroit iron in the form of a Dodge Charger. You may have a favourite in there somewhere.
While flying cars, which do not include those falling off buildings, are popular in the movie industry, one of the most charming is Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, the star of both the movie of the same name and, now, also a massive West End stage production. It may be hard to believe but the writer of the ‘Chitty’ story, Ian Fleming, was also the novelist behind the James Bond stories.
The silver DMC DeLorean mid-engined sportscar that featured in the ‘Back to the Future’ series, complete with its gullwing doors, was originally an ill-fated collaboration between Lotus, Renault and the British government, at a production facility in Northern Ireland, established long before the end of ‘The Troubles’. While the actual DeLorean was not as glorious as its flying and time-travelling movie alter ego, it does have its classic car fans, who treasure every remaining example of the stainless steel-bodied machine.
For sheer genius, the three Mini Cooper Ss used in the original and surprisingly low-budget ‘The Italian Job’ seem to have created a cult following way beyond comprehension. While re-enactors from all over Europe indulge in an annual ‘Italian Job’ commemorative run to Turin, none of them is allowed to drive through the city’s sewer network, down church steps, or across the roofs of buildings. A subsequent version of the film used the BMW Mini, the latest versions of which you can acquire through FCD at usefully discounted rates.
