The Top Ten Celebrity Cars
January 13, 2009 by Brad - Your Car Guy
In the U.S. the car is more than just a tool for transportation. Cars are our friends. They are family members. We name them and talk to them and somtimes we even wrap our arms around their shiny fenders while stroking their bumpers and kissing them gently on the hood. Okay, maybe that last one is only me. But you get the point. Yes we love our cars.
Of course we also love movies and celebrities. So, it is no wonder that many of our cars, that have been in TV and movies, have gone on to achieve as much, if not more, celebrity status than the people who play beside them.
Loving cars as I do, I have decied to create a list of some of the top automobiles from throughout the history of American TV and film. These cars are true superstars and deserve all the attention have received. Give a hand to our list of America’s top ten celebrity cars.
10. Nelly Belle
– Everyone has heard of Roy Rogers horse Trigger, and those old enough to remember the show also remember a 1946 Willy’s Jeep, driven by Roy’s sidekick Pat Brady, named Nelly Belle. Nelly Belle was a favorite of a whole generation of kids who tuned in each week to see Pat talk sweetly to the Jeep, in the hopes of getting a little cooperation, just to have it clunk out, at the most inopportune moment, on him time and time again.
9. The Striped Tomato
– Everyone may not recognize the name, but everyone recognizes the car. The Striped Tomato was the 1975 Ford Gran Torino that Hutch was always sliding across the hood of. With a 351 Cleveland and Holley four barrel this car was as mean as it looked.
8. Greased Lightning
– Why, this car is automatic, it’s systematic, it’s hydromatic, Why, it’s greased lightning. Greased Lightning, go, Greased Lightning. The 1948 Ford Deluxe convertible from the movie Grease is a hot rodder’s dream, though the setting of the big race was rife with stagnant puddles that left much of the cast and crew sick.
7. Christine
– This is the red 1958 Plymouth Fry that dreams, or nightmaqres, are made of. After purchasing the car for $250 dollars Arnie Cunningham finds out that the car might not actually be such a bargain. Well, I mean, if you want a car that doesn’t kill people, that is. Don’t mess with Christine….doyouknow-whatImean…Vern?
6. The Bandit’s Trans Am
– This car upstaged some of the bioggest stars of the era. not even Burt Renolds nor Jackie Gleason could boast the popularity achieved by the 1977 Trans Am following the Smokey and The Bandit movie. Featuring a hood scoop surrounded by a golden firebird, T-Tops and gold honeycomb wheels the special edition car from the movie became a superstar. Though, there were actually five cars used in filming as the stunts took there toll.
5. Herbie The Love Bug
– A 1963 Volkswagon Beetle, Herbie is the star of of a number of feature films. This anthropomorphic car first won over the hearts of moviegoers in 1969 and has enjoyed the spotlight for four decades. With the original film holding a place as one of the highest grossing movies in history up until the mid-70′s Herbie has enjoyed a movie star career any Hollywood hopeful would be proud of.
4. Kitt
– Following in Herbie’s footsteps as a car with a personality of its own, KITT is a 1982 Trans Am housing an artificial intelligence micro-processor with something of an attitude. Named by an acronym for Knight Industries Two-Thousand this car had everything from an olfactory sensor to a flame thrower to a laser power pack. Needless to say, these options were never offered by local GM dealers.
3. The Delorean Time Machine
– Built from a DeLorean DMC-12 the time machine, used Mr. Fusion, given some plutonium for fuel, to generate the 1.21 gigawatts needed to power the flux capacitor. For some reason, the car had to be driven to 88 miles per hour in order to activate the flux capacitor first. though the car is a DeLorean its nuclear reactor was actually made from a Dodge Polara hudcap and the engine noises used in the movie are of a Porsche. Close your eyes and listen…can you hear it ? “The Power of Love”…swoons Huey Lewis and the News.
2. The Batmobile
– Crash! Bam! Vroom! The Batmobile is one of the most iconic cars of all time. This car began life as a concept car put out by Ford named the Lincoln Futura. The engine and transmission were actually from a Ford Galaxy since by the time the show was made the Futura was over a decade old and had some mechanical issues. Later Batmobiles have followed in recent movies but the original still holds a special place in the publics mind as the real Batmobile.
1. The General Lee
– There is no mistaking this car. The iconic automobile known as the General Lee is a 1969 Dodge Charger 2 door coupe, though given those Duke boy’s customary entrance the dorrs were optional. Sources have stated that up to 256 General lee’s were used in filming over the course of the Dukes of Hazard series. No wonder. Thhe Charger spent more time soaring through the air than it did on the ground, one of the big reasons fans loved it and one of the reasons it finds itself as the 31 car on this star car list.
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