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2025 GMC Terrain ReviewThe 20 Most Iconic Cars from Non-Car Movies
Not every great movie car has gotten the starring role. These are the most iconic automotive costars from non-car movies.
Automotive Costars
If you’re like me, when you watch movies and TV with family members, you’re constantly interrupting at critical moments to point out that the 1935-36 Auburn Boattail Speedster on screen is obviously a replica (the dash is all wrong) and anachronistic since the show takes place in 1933, an unappreciated revelation to which our spouses roll their eyes, make a barf face, and shush us all at the same time.
Yes, our love of cars can be distracting when movie going, but as car people we more keenly appreciate when cool cars show up on screen, whether in a starring role, like Dom’s Charger in The Fast and the Furious, or just in the background like that Corvette parked outside the drive-in in American Graffiti.
We love car movies, those based around the car world like Days of Thunder, The Fast and the Furious movies, or Smokey and the Bandit. However, for this list we’ve focused on those great, iconic cars from non-car movies. These automotive co-stars play pivotal roles in non-car movies where the overarching story is about say time travel, penny stock scam artists, or being on a mission from God.
Ferris Bueller’s Day Off – Ferrari 250 GT California Spyder
Cameron’s dad’s Ferrari brought joy to Ferris Bueller’s day (and those of the parking attendants), and even coaxed a little smile out of Cameron himself. That is, before he realized their plan to roll back the odometer didn’t work, and he kicked the priceless car out of the garage window where it fell a good 50 feet to its demise. No worries though, the car(s) used in the movie were replicas of the ultra-rare, ultra-expensive Ferrari 250 GT California Spyder.
Back to the Future – DeLorean DMC-12
The temporal entanglements of Marty McFly might not make sense on paper, but Doc Brown’s DeLorean time machine, with its flux capacitor and Mr. Fusion reactor, was so cool suspending disbelief was a breeze. Though not a car movie per se, the DeLorean time machine in Back to the Future has become arguably the most iconic movie car of all time(s).
Wayne’s World – AMC Pacer
By the time Wanye and Garth were giving rides to their drunk friends (“just don’t hurl”) and rocking out to Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody, the AMC Pacer had passed from sales marvel to obsolete to a rolling punchline. And yet Wayne’s World reminded us that with the right tunes and the right company, even the most laughable of vehicles can make a great ride.
Wolf of Wall Street – Lamborghini Countach
Among The Wolf of Wall Street’s many memorable scenes, its most iconic involves Jordan Belfort, played by Leonardo DiCaprio, desperately fighting off the effects of high-grade pharmaceuticals to pilot his 25th anniversary edition Lamborghini Countach back home from the country club. The scene is hilarious, horrifying, and a memorable PSA against inebriated driving.
Ghostbusters – Ecto-1 Cadillac Fleetwood
A catchy theme song and a giant marshmallow man were enough to make Ghostbusters a good movie. To make it a classic, it needed Ray’s Ecto-1, a Cadillac Fleetwood ambulance further modified into the ultimate vehicle for busting specters, shades, phantoms, wraiths, apparitions, and all such forms of ghostly, ghastly ghouls.
Rain Man – ’49 Buick Roadmaster
Definitely, definitely one of Dustin Hoffman’s best performances. What might go unnoticed by the non-car-obsessed is the rare and excellent Buick Roadmaster convertible the Babbitt brothers Raymond and Charlie take on their cross-country trek to LA. Raymond sure knew the car, as he noted, “I definitely know this car. It’s a 1949 Buick Roadmaster, straight-8 — Fireball 8 — only 8,095 production models,”
John Wick – ’69 Mustang Boss 429 Mach 1
If the John Wick movies have taught us anything it’s that you don’t mess with a retired hitman’s dog or his car. Though the movie says Wick’s car was a Boss 429, the pinnacle of first-gen Mustangs, the actual movie car was a less rare Mach 1.
Blues Brothers – Dodge Monaco
When you’re on a mission from God, only the best will do. That’s why Elwood Blues procured a Dodge Monaco. “It’s got a cop motor, a 440-cubic-inch plant. It’s got cop tires, cop suspension, cop shocks. It’s a model made before catalytic converters, so it’ll run good on regular gas.” The only necessary modification? A giant megaphone on top. Elwood’s choice proved itself as he and brother Jake evade the cops time and again, leaning heavily on that 440 and the Dodge’s otherworldly durability.
Dazed and Confused – Pontiac GTO
Set in 1976, Dazed and Confused follows a motley assortment of teens on their last night of high school. Much of the night involves cruising the local strip and so there are naturally plenty of classic muscle cars throughout the movie. The coolest car, however, comes in the opening to the film, an orange 1970 Pontiac GTO Judge that set the tone for the rest of the film: fast, fun, and dripping in nostalgia.
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood – Volkswagen Karmann Ghia
The films of Quintin Tarantino are known for their cross-movie motifs: women’s feet, revenge narratives, and charismatic villains. Another is the blue Volkswagen Karmann Ghia. That’s the Euro-coupe driven by Cliff Booth in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, a car that mirrors the character’s mysterious past. A blue VW Karmann Ghia also happens to be the car driven by Beatrix Kiddo in Kill Bill Vol. 2. The very one Uma Thurman crashed while filming.
The Graduate – Alfa Romeo Duetto Spider
One word, plastics. That sage bit of advice was lost on Benjamin Braddock (Dustin Hoffman, again) whose coming-of-age tale illustrates the perils of romantically pursuing your girlfriend’s mother. Ben’s judgement might have been questionable, but his taste in cars was not as he drove a very dapper red Alfa Romeo Duetto Spider in the film.
Batman (1989) – Batmobile
The Burton-esque thing about Tim Burton’s Batman was unquestionably the Batmobile. Like the Batmobiles that had gone before, and followed since, the 1989 film version of the Batmobile is over-the-top in all the right ways. Its turbine engine, pair of Browning machine guns, rear fins, and an armored cocoon mode make this one of the best Batmobiles of all time.
National Lampoon’s Vacation – Ford LTD Country Squire
Vehicles in movies are supposed to reflect the character who drives them. In the case of the pea-soup colored Family Truckster perfectly embodies the indefatigable mediocrity of Clark Griswold. Modifications to the Ford LTD to transform it into the Family Truckster included a set of quad-quad headlights, triple louvers on the sides, and an extra-large roof rack.
The Matrix – Lincoln Continental
The 1965 Lincoln Continental is sleek and stylish, with its signature suicide doors providing that necessary additional dose of intrigue. Like Neo, we’d be more than a little skeptical of the goth kids offering a ride to see a guy who calls himself Morpheus. But a black, rain-streaked Continental, with rear doors beckoning, is tough to resist. When it comes to this Lincoln Continental, consider us red-pilled.
Risky Business – Porsche 928
Who among us as teenagers didn’t “borrow” dad’s car when he was out of town? Few of us, however, were lucky enough to have that car be a Porsche 928. And even fewer of us were unlucky enough to have that car roll its way into Lake Michigan. If you thought the main plot of Risky Business was farfetched, remember that the drowned 928 was supposedly repaired in time for dad’s return home.
Goldfinger – Aston Martin DB5
Bond’s cars have been less outlandish than Batman’s, but only just so. The first of Bond’s cars was an Aston Martin DB5, heavily modified for espionage. Among its gadgetry was a bullet proof shield, oil slick grease gun, machine guns hidden in the headlights, and an ejector seat. Though Bond movies aren’t strictly car movies, the series has delivered awesome car chases for decades.
Thelma and Louise – Ford Thunderbird
Again, Thelma and Louise isn’t a car movie per se, but the Ford Thunderbird in the movie is central both to the plot and to the underlying themes. At the outset, the Thunderbird is the literal vehicle of escape from the characters’ humdrum existence. The classic convertible personifies the freedom they seek. By the time the titular pair take their final drive into the Grand Canyon, the Thunderbird has become a talisman of friendship and a defiant expression female autonomy in the face of misogyny.
Taxi Driver – Checkered Cab
Because he works for a taxi service, Travis Bickel drove more than one yellow cab in Taxi Driver. Those anonymous yellow cabs still make our list of iconic movie cars, however, because they are part of Travis’ self-imposed prison, they are the literal windows through which his view of humanity becomes warped. As icons of New York City in themselves, the yellow cab became all the more indelible as part of the tapestry of the Scorsese classic.
Jurassic Park – Jeep Wrangler
The Jeep Wrangler had both good and bad moments in Jurassic Park. One did manage to outrun a T-rex (sure, T-rexes probably couldn’t run all that fast anyway but….). Another Jurassic Park Jeep had terribly inefficient windshield wipers, leading poor Dennis Nedry to crash and meet up with a hungry, hitchhiking Dilophosaurus.
Bonnie and Clyde – ‘34 Ford Sedan
Ford V8s got a lot of praise from 1930s bank robbers, including both John Dillinger and Bonnie and Clyde, for their ability to outrun cop cars. The 1967 movie about the latter pair concludes just as careers of those two criminals did in real life, with a hail of machine gun fire and Bonnie and Clyde as bullet riddled as their 1934 Ford Sedan. The real car was used as the template for the one in the film and now resides at the Volo Auto Museum.
This is a cool article. I would like to see one for tv shows too. Like Mannix Cuda convertible. The 60’s Batmobile. The Dodge paramedic truck from Emergency.