We continue our trawl around the 50 greatest imaginary cars. You may not agree and, if that’s so, let us know. Whether you do or not, read on, there’s bound to be something you didn’t know about our next five picks…
The Top 50 So Far…
50 The Delorean DMC 12 from Back to the Future
49 KITT (Pontiac Firebird Trans Am) from Knight Rider
48 Herbie, the 1963 Volkswagen Beetle
47 The Mean Machine 00 from Whacky Races
46 The Batmobile
45 The General Lee from The Dukes of Hazzard
44 Ecto-1 from Ghostbusters
43 Mad Max’s Pursuit Special
42 Scarface’s 1963 Cadillac
41 Bumblebee, the Chevrolet Camaro, from Transformers
40 The 1958 Plymouth Fury in Christine
39 The Mystery Machine (Scooby Doo)
38 The Audi RSQ in I, Robot
37 1977 AMC Pacer from Wayne’s World
36 1979 Ford Country Squire LTD
35 Hong Kong Phooey’s Phooeymobile
34 The 1932 Deuce Coupe in American Graffiti
33 Racer X’s Shooting Star
32 Jackie Chan’s Subaru GL in Cannonball Run
31 Magnum’s Ferrari 308 GTB
30 Out Run’s Ferrari Testorossa
For anyone growing up in the mid-Eighties, Out Run’s Ferrari Testarossa lent young minds every bit of glamorous excitement they could only wish for. One of the first video games to put the driver right into the action with a sit-down simulator, steering wheel and gear stick, Outrun let young drivers cruise at top speeds complete with beautiful blonde girlfriend and classic Italian styling. Did You Know? In 2010, artist and designer Garnet Hertz built a drivable version of the sit-down Out Run arcade cabinet.
29 The Spider Mobile
In a pretty weird storyline, even by Spiderman’s standards, Spiderman was conned into building The Spider-Mobile by a couple of ad executives. In fact, the car was largely built by Spidey’s friend, Johnny Storm (aka The Human Torch from the Fantastic Four). Initially distrusting wheels over webs, Spidey caught criminals from Hammerhead’s gang before crashing The Spider Mobile into the Hudson River. When he went to drag The Spider Mobile from the river it had been stolen by The Terrible Tinkerer (Ironically, what a terrible, terrible name for a Supervillain) who used it to attack Spider-Man. After defeating TT, Spiderman eventually returned the mobile to the ad execs and had no more to do with the four wheels. It’s a shame, The Spider Mobile looks like real fun!
27 The Trans Am from Smokey & The Bandit
The three original films used four 1977 Pontiac Trans Am SE (Special Edition), one of which was demolished in the famous bridge jumping scene. The SE made ample use of its gold decals – the headlight-grill, wheels and centre caps, hood and body. There was even gold on the steering-wheel spokes and gear stick. It’s easy to see why such an evidently macho car went down so well in America where it remains among the nation’s best loved rides. Did You Know? Trans Am sales jumped from 69,000 in 1977 to 93,000 in 1978 and then to 117,000 in 1979?!
27 Blade Runner’s Spinner
Spinner is the generic term for the flying cars in Blade Runner. Spinners can be driven as a conventional car or take off, hover and cruise. Spinners were conceived and created especially for the film by Syd Mead who also designed Tron’s light cycles and Aliens’ Sulaco spaceship. In case you’re in the area, you can see a Spinner on exhibition at the Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame in Seattle, Washington, USA.
26 The Boulder Mobile
A strange choice you might think, but did you know that, according to FIA Formula One pointscoring system (25 points for first, 20 points for second, 15 points for third), The Boulder Mobile, (three wins, eight seconds and three thirds) would be Whacky Races champions on 280 points? The Boulder Mobile driven by Rock and Gravel Slag won four races, the total equalled by Peter Perfect in the Turbo Terrific 9; The Ant Hill Mob in The Bulletproof Bomb; Luke and Blubber Bear in The Arkansas Chugabug; and Penelope Pitstop in The Compact Pussycat? Did You Know? Rock and Gravel were ably assisted by a pet Pteranodon. They accelerated by hitting their car with their clubs and the car was re-designed for Captain Caveman!
