At one point in our lives or another, we’ve all seen that movie or tv car that we instantly wished we owned. Whether it was the big muscle of Death Proof, big block 502 Supernatural Impala, or the ’67 fastback GT500 from Gone in 60 Seconds, you can probably picture right now a car or two that moved you a few notches closer to euphoria at the thought of. They etch out a little soft spot in our hearts that brings warm fuzzy memories back years later. The thing about it is there’s a million others out there that feel the same way that you do with those same warm fuzzies but just because it was a pop-culture hit at some arbitrary point in time doesn’t mean you should go and get yourself one.
The cool thing about the club is, the other people in your club know what’s up – just like muscle car guys and bikers have the tendency to acknowledge each other in passing on the streets. The uncool thing is, just because it may retain some nostalgic value to you and other fans for whatever reason, that doesn’t mean the rest of us feel like that. Most movie cars should be a relatively safe bet, but there are some movie cars you should steer clear of. Supernatural Impalas are a big, fat green light for example, while you’re better off leaving the Wayne’s World AMC Pacer in the garage on a first date.
21 Hide It Away: The Dude's Gran Torino
The Dude’s ’73 four-door Gran Torino is something that looks like you could drag out of a wrecking yard for $500. It’s ugly, faded, smashed up and has just about as much surface rust as it has surface to begin with. As hard as it is to tell, his weather-worn rust bucket is the premium trim line designated by the "Grand" prefix and was actually considered to look futuristic in its day. Today, however, if you’re caught driving around in one of these you’re more likely to be pulled over and searched for possession rather than mistaken for driving a futuristic car.
20 Hide It Away: Mad Max Interceptor
As the subject of this piece focuses on how dateable any particular movie replica car makes you this has to go in the "no" pile by default no matter how cool it may be – we couldn’t have you thinking that pulling up to your Tinder date’s house in one of these is going to be scoring you any points. Rule of Attraction #457: Anything agreeably serviceable in a post-apocalyptic wasteland that has blowers sticking up past your roofline is not romantically inspiring. In fact, it has the opposite effect. #458: Put a skull on top of your blower and that’ll be the only road dome you’re going to see until you take it back off.
19 Hide It Away: Mutt Cutts Shag Wagon
#459: Drive the Mutt Cutts – see no action on dates. This shaggin’ wagon’s never seen a shaggin’ since the carpet was installed, and nor will you if you even step foot in this thing!
The only thing here up for debate is whether or not the 1984 Econoline looks better with or without the fur coat.
Removing the coat will only leave you with the bigger problem of now having to find a way to cover it back up again. This van is so worthless and ugly that you couldn’t give it away for the narrow beam of fame it once stirred up in 1994’s Dumb and Dumber.
18 Hide It Away: Ferris Bueller’s Ferrari 250 GT
School sucks but not as much as this car as far as Ferraris go. Taking the objective approach – sure, there were less than 100 made making it an extremely rare automobile but the three 250 GT cars in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off were only replicas of the GT California and did not operate authentic Ferrari hardware under the hood but rather, small block V-8 parts. Even as a replica, this Modena GT raked in a hammer price of $407,000; authentic Ferrari 250 GT Californias command upper seven-figure pricing and the sad part is, even authentic, it’s not extremely impressive. For the cost of one, I could have a showroom of classic muscle that would take it to the woodshed in any type of duel.
17 Hide It Away: Doc’s Delorean
One thing about the ‘80s is, since every single car was pretty much garbage, anything that could be done to hype up a heap of steaming nothing was done – and none of it was pretty.
In fact, had the DMC Delorean not been clad in stainless panels, it too would be shunned as badly as everything else from that era.
It was different, and unique with its gull-wing doors to accentuate the funky body lines. Most of its recognition comes from its role as Doc’s most successful invention (aside from the iced tea of course). Unless you have a portable 1.21-gigawatt power source, don’t be expecting any time travel.
16 Hide It Away: Ghostbusters' Ecto-1
This custom ’59 Cadillac ambulance/hearse combination is a no win for anyone not in the business of ghostbusting. Trying to brag to someone that you drive a Cadillac and then letting them see that your definition of a Cadillac is actually Ecto-1 is like taking a girl out to a movie except your version of a movie is Netflix at 11:45 pm; the disappointment ruins everything. Ecto-1 has its place in history, and that place happens to be just that – history. Even without all the ghost-hunting gadgets hanging off the roof you can’t just roll around it all day for no reason like it’s all good.
15 Hide It Away: Night Rider
The ’82-’86 series that stars KITT the talking car is comprised of around 20 black Trans Am and Firebird hardtops throughout its four-year run. There are only five left today and it wasn’t all the movie stunts that messed up the ones that didn’t survive.
In one instance, an auto-hauler derailment in 1983 allowed NBC to nab about 11 of them from GM for only $1 each with the stipulation that they be destroyed at the end of filming.
In an act of compliance, a wrecking ball was dropped on each and every one. It’s everything that was right and wrong about the ‘80s at the same time but in this case, the ‘80s need to go back to where they came from.
14 Great On Dates: Supernatural Baby
Prior to the hit series Supernatural, arguing for the validity of your four-door muscle car was an underinflated, uphill battle to say the least – face it, coupes are just cooler. Four doors can even ruin a Tri-Five Chevy as hard as that is.
For all of you ’67 Impala owners out there, a Baby-themed Supernatural Impala is nothing short of awesome.
Sure, you may not have the 500hp big-block rattling around underneath your hood (or a trunk full of anti-demon hardware in a secret compartment), but you’ll score massive points with any Supernatural fan who will recognize you for the badass you really are.
13 Great On Dates: Death Proof Nova
Black Chevys seem to know no boundaries in film, you can run a matte black wrap with a white skull on the hood and a Convoy hood ornament or a glossy smooth clear on a big-bodied, four-door Impala with the same positive results. They just look good doing whatever they're doing which in turn will help you look good doing the normal, unimpressive stuff you’re doing every day. Sometimes you can even get away with sliding an extra few doors in there without much damage to the image like this Nova did. If you do a Death Proof car, however, the Convoy duck is mandatory.
12 Great On Dates: Gran Torino – Eastwood Style
In the climax of the war on horsepower, one of the last great dying breaths of the almighty cubic inch was the Gran Torino. Essentially the Ford version of the Chevelle, a side-by-side comparison reveals many very similar design features, as if the two cars were split from the same chromosome and incubated by different parents. From the hood lines and grille profile to the sweeping fastback design and window framing – they are very alike. Never mind the fact that the Chevelle is valued at twice that of the Torino, that just means you can have two Gran Torinos for every Chevelle your neighbor has.
11 Great On Dates: Avenger ‘Vette "Lola"
The 1962 C1 Corvette was the vehicle of choice for S.H.I.E.L.D agent Phil Coulson – only this one could hover, apparently. I guess hover mode is just another super-necessary thing to add to a special-agent car with a bullet-proof windshield, which is absolutely necessary with an open cockpit. It also had guns and uh, yea…a flamethrower. Maybe your replica car won’t be throwing any flames or hovering but it’s cool because you only need red paint on a first-generation ‘Vette to make it happen and red ‘Vettes are sweet anyway as long as you’re cool being spotted by the world from blocks away.
10 Great On Dates: Iron Man NSX Concept
Good luck getting your hands on this one, but it sure would be cool – although not too many people will believe how cool. It’s $9 million dollars cool – and was styled specially for the Iron Man movie itself.
That’s the bad news, but the prohibitive price tag doesn’t necessarily bar you from owning your own Iron Man rod – after all, it’s just a 1991 NSX with some pretty fender work – literally, that’s it.
There are a few extra doo-dads here and there like leather bucket seats but a majority of the magic happened out front and on the fenders to morph the NSX into a hero car that should make NSX fans proud. The $9 million dollar buyer, however, is probably starting to count how many Ferraris he could have had right now.
9 Great On Dates: Gone in 60 Seconds – Eleanor
Thanks to the new Gone in 60 Seconds, we’re washed clean of the Mach 1 stain that was left in our mouths after the original, mustard-yellow hero car blasted across the screen in action sequences hardcore enough to just about destroy any car. Leaving the past where it belongs, the updated 2000 version featured a much nicer ’67 fastback that was actually not a GT500 but painted Pepper Grey with black stripes and a custom body kit. It gave the car an unparalleled aura of grimy amidst the natural lustrous beauty that you almost can’t look at from enough angles.
8 Great On Dates: Fast and Furious MK IV Supra
Paul Walker’s legacy lives on under the clear coat of brightly painted orange Supras everywhere – and he quite literally rejuvenated the namesake of the car with its role in the movie. Even though it was cool when it came out, re-watching the feature today also rejuvenates a corniness of the eight-movie chronology that makes it hard to watch with lines from Diesel like, “I live my life – a quarter-mile at a time.” Seriously, who says that? The Supra was already beloved in its tight-knit circles before the movie, but its popularity blasted through the roof once fans saw just how furious Hollywood can make 220hp.
7 Great On Dates: Fast and the Furious Charger
How could we feature a Fast and Furious Supra and leave out the Charger? We couldn’t – so here it is. If the dramatic acting of the film fails to captivate you, fear not – 900hp Chargers are on the scene to wheel-stand on the green and walk the Supra through a lesson in hooking up. The actual car in real life will not hook its nose into the sky, nor will it blow through quarters in nine seconds but it does sound like a death machine from the depths of the darkest corners of hell and is just about as much fun to drive as it looks, if not more.
6 Great On Dates: Smokey and the Bandit Trans Am
The ’77 Pontiac Trans Am is recognizable even vaguely by most people still today, even if they haven’t seen the movie. It still retains enough relevance to start bidding on authentic promo Trans Ams at over a half-million dollars.
That makes sense when you realize that it was the second-highest grossing film in ’77 only being beaten out by Star Wars.
Maybe that means they’re famous enough to forget the fact that the "muscle" cars of the mid-‘70s didn’t produce nearly the horsepower they did in the late-‘60s. Either way, it took four of the Trans Ams to make a movie that six were ordered for – and now a Star Wars-sized demographic of people that’ll recognize them.
5 Great On Dates: Bumblebee Transformer Camaro
Originally a Type 1 Beetle, Bumblebee is the distinctive, yellow Autobot that helps fight the Decepticons. He’s thankfully been upgraded from his old, European roots as a Volkswagen into something a little more period-trendy; fifth-generation Chevy Camaro trendy. The fact that we actually see Bumblebee take on a variety of different Camaro forms throughout Transformers suggests there’s no wrong way to Bumblebee a Camaro. If an ugly, second-generation Camaro can pull off a weaponized, 18’ robot in"‘car mode" there’s no reason you can’t pull it off either; ixnay on the weapons part though – you won’t be needing those.
4 Great On Dates: The Duke
There’s just about nothing the General Lee can’t do. Better stated – there’s just about nothing 300 replica General Lees can’t do and make it look like the real one. You’d probably be surprised to learn how many movie cars get eaten up sometimes. The stunts are all highly destructive and even ones that may look unimpressive on film can easily total a car. The General Lee has been airborne at least 150 times during the course of seven seasons. However seemingly fine it appeared on screen after the jump, rarely did a General survive one of these stunts. It is estimated that two Chargers were destroyed per episode. Kinda makes you cry a little bit inside, doesn’t it?
3 Great On Dates: Talladega Nights – Daddy’s ’69
Here’s an awesome replica of more than one car at this point. See, you may recognize this car as Will Farrel’s father’s Chevelle in Talladega Night, and you’d be correct in your assumption.
What you may not realize is that movie car is actually based on, as ironic as it is, one of NASCAR’s biggest rule-bending scoundrels in history.
With tricks like fuel lines big enough to hold an extra five gallons of gasoline Smokey Yunick was notorious for pulling every trick in the book, and adding a few of his own. His Chevelle was painted exactly like you see it in Talladega Nights and he was thought once to have tried to race with a 7/8 scale car.
2 Great On Dates: Wayne’s World Pacer
Are you ready for an excellent adventure? Well, blast up your ’76 AMC Pacer to look like the Mirthmobile in Wayne’s World. There are two reasons you should do this immediately: 1) You have an AMC Pacer in the first place and therefore, nothing lower left to stoop to anyway; and 2) at least you can piggyback on the leftover fame with a look-alike of a Pacer that wasn’t doing you any favors in the first place. After the show, the original car bounced around a bit and eventually ended up being bought by a Pawn Stars guy for $9,000 and sold for $37,400 at auction. Schwing!