Cars and Celluloid

Too bad good 'ole BDR 529 ended its life in a heap in Chicago's Daley Plaza.

T

he list of iconic four-wheeled vehicles present in movies and TV shows is way too long to catalog fully here, so we’re going to pick out five of our favorites. From ghost-chasing station wagons to talking Trans Ams to time-traveling sports cars, here they are, in no particular order.

The DeLorean from Back to the Future.

DeLorean (Back to the Future trilogy): Only a trilogy about a time-traveling teen could make an underpowered symbol of '80s automotive excess so popular that it would remain a part of the public consciousness nearly 30 years later. There's no way the DeLorean would've been so beloved on its own.

Cadillac Station Wagon (Ghostbusters): OK, so Ecto-1 wasn't a normal Caddy wagon. And it didn't see much action in either movie. Who cares? It's cool and it got our favorite ghost chasers from point A to point B. That's enough for us.

Cop Car (Blues Brothers): It's got cop shocks, a cop motor—and more cool factor than pretty much any other cop car that was once property of the Mt. Prospect, Illinois police department. Too bad good 'ole BDR 529 ended its life in a heap in Chicago's Daley Plaza.

KITT (Knight Rider): The car that made both talking cars and '80s Pontiac Trans Ams cool. Not to mention the original self-driving car.

General Lee (The Dukes of Hazzard): Once upon a time it was acceptable to drive around in a cool car with the Confederate flag on top. We never understood why the Duke boys insisted on jumping in the window to enter the car, NASCAR-style (seriously, Cooter could've fixed those doors), but we appreciated the efforts of those two 99-percenters to fight off Boss Hogg, the ultimate one-percenter.

We're stopping at five because the list could go on forever, but we'll throw out honorable mentions to Eleanor, the object of thieves' lust in Gone in 60 Seconds; the A-Team's van, Herbie the Love Bug (VW Beetle), the Ferrari that ended up in a ravine in Ferris Bueller's Day Off; the Minis from The Italian Job; and Jim Rockford's Firebird; to name just a few.

We left a lot of vehicles off this list: which ones are your favorites?