The Most Famous Cars From Film & TV

Throughout film and television history, numerous cars have entered the spotlight and left their mark on cinema.

Anything that is featured in a film or television show that has any sort of meaning or significance to the story usually becomes inextricably related to said film or show. Whether it is a famous line or an object of importance, movies and TV shows have a knack for inadvertently making things iconic. Songs, quotes, cities, houses, and more become globally recognized thanks to the series and films that feature them. Something that film and television have been able to turn into instantly recognizable character pieces is cars. Cars more often than not act as an accessory to a character, and can even feel like a character on their own.

A car is often an extension of a person. People grow fond of their cars because as humans, we spend a large portion of our lives driving or riding in motor vehicles. Just as many of us may have a favorite jacket or a pair of shoes that we never want to part with, many people have a favorite car that they keep for as long as they can. Films and TV shows translate this sentiment into their characters by having them drive a car that is fitting for both the character and the plot. It could be a car that has sentimental value, an objectively cool car, or simply a car that is responsible for getting a character where they need to go. Throughout film and television history, numerous cars have entered the spotlight and left their mark on cinema. So, let's take a look at 20 of the most famous cars from film and TV:

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Modern audiences most likely recognize the 1963 Volkswagen Beetle from the 2005 movie Herbie Fully Loaded starring Lindsay Lohan, but the Love Bug's first movie appearance came in 1968 with The Love Bug. Herbie is a little race car with a mind of its own that helps whoever drives it win races. Herbie has a lively personality and will showcase his personality by opening and closing the doors, flashing the headlights, honking the horn, and more. The Beetle loves to interact with its driver and develops a sense of loyalty to that person, which always ends up reciprocated by whoever drives it.

The action thriller Twister is one of the most well-known catastrophic event movies, and it is universally loved by fans of the genre. The film follows soon-to-be-divorced storm chasers Dr. Jo Harding (Helen Hunt) and Bill Harding (Bill Paxton) as they attempt to insert a revolutionary measuring device into the heart of a deadly tornado sweeping through Oklahoma. Storm chasers obviously need a reliable mode of transportation to get them around the country and physically chase the storms.

The Hardings, along with their storm-chasing friends, relied on the iconic yellow 1995 Dodge Ram pick-up truck to get them to storm sites and carry their gear. Regardless of whether you know the make and model of the truck, if you have seen the movie, then you absolutely know this truck. It drove right into the twister's path of destruction and protected the group from fatal harm. It was as much a part of the movies as the characters were.

Dumb and Dumber follows two unbelievably incompetent best friends whose lack of common sense or common knowledge befuddles everyone. When they find a suitcase full of money that belongs to a woman named Mary Swanson (Lauren Holly), they decide to embark on a cross-country road trip to return it to her in Aspen. What do the two silly best friends travel around in? None other than the Mutt Cutts van, a commercial van that is adorned by a giant dog costume custom-fit for the van. The pair hit the road in this behemoth of a vehicle to reach their destination, not once really understanding how completely ridiculous they look driving a van disguised as a dog.

The Griswold family takes a rather strenuous road trip across the country to get to the amusement park Wally World in their wood-paneled station wagon in National Lampoon's Vacation. The 1979 Ford LTD Country Squire station wagon is an unattractive shade of green complete with the staple wood side paneling that was too common in the '70s and '80s. The Griswolds travel through suburbs, cities, highways, and back roads in this boat of a vehicle, and it gets rather beat up along the way. The station wagon is one of the most notable props in the movie, as the Griswolds spend the majority of the movie in this vehicle. The wagon is so unappealing that it has been cited as the worst car in movie history. Still, it doesn't change the fact that it is also one of the most famous movie cars.

James Mangold's Ford v Ferrari tells the real-life story of race car driver Ken Miles (Christian Bale) and car designer Caroll Shelby (Matt Damon) as they fought off corporate interference and defied physics to build a revolutionary race car to defeat Ferrari in the mid-60s. Considering the movie follows the lead-up to the 24 Hours of Le Mans race between the Ford and Ferrari car manufacturers, it should be expected that multiple cars will be featured throughout the movie.

Nevertheless, the most prominent car in the film is the 1965 Ford GT40. It is the sleek, aerodynamic race car that Miles drove at Le Mans and brought positive press to the Ford brand. If it wasn't for a botched PR plan, Miles would have driven it to victory. It is the car that Shelby and Miles worked tirelessly on to bring Ford that victory, and it was Miles' pride and joy.

The Bluth family got involved in countless shenanigans over the years as Arrested Development was canceled, revived, and moved from a network to a streaming service. The Bluth family was constantly trying to make a quick buck after facing financial ruin when the patriarch of the family was sent to prison, which lead to many hilarious schemes and elaborate plans.

One of the most memorable things any of the Bluths did was drive around a monstrous commercial truck with a giant staircase built into the back of it. The stair car was meant to advertise the Bluth Company, but really it was a huge eyesore that people couldn't help but look at. It was one of the few modes of transportation still available to the Bluths, and a begrudging Michael (Jason Bateman) was usually the schlep who had to drive it.

The 1992 model of the Jeep Wrangler is inevitably tied to the original Jurassic Park film. The film used multiple Wranglers decorated with the park's logo and custom colors, making it instantly recognizable to movie fans. They were used to pick up guests at the entrance to the park and take them on tours of the grounds. Of course, one of the most memorable scenes featuring the Jeeps was the scene in which the kids are stuck in one vehicle, and Grant (Sam Neill) and Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum) are stuck in the other while a T. Rex attacks them. The Jeeps made such an impression that they were shown again in the 2015 continuation of the franchise Jurassic World, despite the park not using them anymore by that point.

James Bond has always been known to drive gorgeous sports cars. It's basically a character trait of his to own an objectively cool car. The car that stands out the most is Aston Martin DB5 from the 1964 Bond film Goldfinger, starring Sean Connery in his run as 007. The car is sleek, smooth, and completely made to drive fast and with purpose. It is undoubtedly the most famous Bond car, but it is also certainly one of the most famous cars in the history of cinema. It is one of the stand-out pieces from the film and is almost always mentioned in lists of famous cars.

So many scenes in Ferris Bueller's Day Off are iconic at this point that it could have its own list of memorable moments. Between Ferris' (Matthew Broderick) crafty schemes and his sister Jeanie's (Jennifer Grey) determination to catch him in the act, there is a plethora of entertaining moments in John Hughes' beloved teen comedy. Arguably one of the best characters in the entire movie is Ferris' monotone, worrisome best friend Cameron (Alan Ruck). Cameron is the complete opposite of his outgoing best friend. He is afraid of everything and paranoid about getting in trouble.

Naturally, when Ferris insists on taking Cameron's father's 1961 Ferrari 250 GT out for an afternoon spin in downtown Chicago, he worries. It's also understandable why Ferris wanted to take it out on the town. It's an electric red and smoothly glides down the busy streets of Chicago and its suburbs. It is easily one of the most famous cars from any movie or show, and is a major plot device in the film.

In the pre-Heisenberg era of Breaking Bad, chemistry teacher turned drug lord Walter White (Bryan Cranston) was a very simple man with a simple life. He worked at his local high school and lived in an average house while he struggled to make ends meet for his wife and son. By the time Walter was diagnosed with cancer, it was obvious he was fed up with the bad hands life had been dealing him. Of course, he eventually turned all of this around when he decided to break bad with former student Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul), but he still drove the same ugly car for most of the show.

Walter drove a beige 2004 Pontiac Aztek for most of the series until he finally switched to a Chrysler 300 SRT-8 when he made an obscene amount of money. The Aztek acted as a symbol for the mundane, average life he led before fully embracing his Heisenberg persona. It's a very basic car with no bells or whistles, but it's reliable and gets you to and from work, which is all Walter really did before getting involved with cooking drugs.

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Not quite the movie that made Tom Cruise a star, but definitely a movie that put him on Hollywood's radar, Risky Business stars the modern movie star as Ivy League-bound Joel Goodsen. He is a good son, as told by his last name, and has a bright college future ahead of him. When his parents go away for a weekend trip and leave the house to him, Joel rule-following tendencies jump ship. He gets entangled with a call-girl and her boss, and winds up turning his house into a brothel in order to raise enough money to pay for the water damage he caused to his father's 1979 Porsche 928.

Joel takes his father's precious car out on the town a few times before it ends up submerged in the lake when Lana (Rebecca De Mornay) bumps into the gear shift. Joel spends the rest of the movie desperately trying to get his father's car fixed and find the missing items Lana's boss stole from his house before his parents get home.

In a movie that is all about cars and racing, it is guaranteed that more than one memorable car would be shown throughout. The first installment in the Fast and Furious franchise, The Fast and the Furious, is not remotely similar to what the movies have become in the last ten or so years. The first movie sees Paul Walker's Brian O'Connor go undercover to infiltrate a street racing gang who the L.A. PD believes to be petty criminals.

The cars shown in this movie are better suited for street racing as opposed to high-stakes chases in foreign countries, and the orange 1994 Toyota MK Supra is one of the notable cars Brian drives throughout the movie. Brian brings the car to Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) as repayment for the destruction of his Mitsubishi Eclipse in a race. Dom and the rest of the gang restore the rusted Supra and transform it into the ultra-fast orange speed-demon it became known for, and he uses it in races and chases for the rest of the movie before giving it back to Dom.

Ghostbusters has one of the most iconic theme songs of all time, and it also has one of the most iconic cars of all time. The Ghostbusters crew drives around New York City in a monstrous white 1959 Cadillac Miller-Meteor Sentinel. The humongous limo-style vehicle is an end-loader combination car, meaning it was an ambulance conversion vehicle. The car, named the Ectomobile, carries all the Ghostbusters' ghost-hunting equipment while sporting the team's famous logo featuring a red slash mark over a rather surprised ghost. Since the Ectomobile was built to be an ambulance, it has working ambulance lights on the roof that the Ghostbusters use to their advantage.

If there was only one popular sports car from the '70s that a person could choose to have, it would likely be the Pontiac Trans Am. An American muscle car through and through, this car was a dream back in the day. Younger audiences might remember the Trans Am from That '70s Show, but long before that, the muscle car was made famous in Smokey and the Bandit. The movie centers around Bandit (Burt Reynolds) who is hired to transport a truckload of illegal beer across state lines from Texas to Georgia, and inadvertently picks up a hitchhiking runaway bride along the way.

Bandit doesn't actually drive the truck, his friend Cledus (Jerry Reed) drives it, and Bandit follows along in hid 1977 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am. In a slick all-black paint job and a firebird emblem emblazoned on the hood, the car is undeniably cool. Bandit drives it throughout the Southwest and Southeast while being hunted down by an angry and determined sheriff, and every shot of the car just oozes coolness and power.

There may not be a more iconic cartoon than the original Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! There is almost certainly no other animated car more famous than the groovy Mystery Machine. The Mystery Machine is recognized immediately by anyone who knows anything about Scooby-Doo, regardless of whether you grew up watching the show or not. Both Scooby-Doo and The Mystery Machine are pieces of pop culture history that maintain their status as a prominent figure no matter how much time passes.

When Scooby and the gang solve mysteries and expose corrupted people who pretend to be monsters, they only use their trusted Mystery Machine to get them there. The blue and green van is essentially the sixth member of Mystery Incorporated, as it goes on every mission with them and has remained their only mode of transportation in every iteration of Scooby-Doo.

Based on the novel written by literary horror master Stephen King and directed by fellow horror master John Carpenter, Christine is a must-see for anyone who is a fan of either horror auteur. The movie centers around a nerdy teenage boy named Arnie (Keith Gordon) who catches a ride to school with his only friend Dennis (John Stockwell). When he sees a wrecked 1957 red Plymouth Fury, he immediately falls in love with the car and starts working to restore it. The antique car was given the name Christine by its previous owner, and as Arnie works tirelessly to restore her, his personality shifts from timid to cocky.

This list wouldn't be complete without a mention of the horror's best killer, possessed car. Christine is an evil entity unlike any other. Even when she sustains damage to the car's body, Christine is able to fix herself back up. It's a fun, wild ride that only someone like Stephen King could come up with.

A movie about various vehicles that transform into talking robots is bound to have its fair share of famous cars. In the first movie, Transformers from 2007, the Autobot that the film spends the most time with is Bumblebee. The Autobot is found by teenager Sam Witwicky (Shia LaBeouf) as a dilapidated 1977 Chevy Camaro before he transforms into his true robotic form. Bumblebee takes on a second Camaro alter ego in the form of a fifth generation 2006 model, the most well-known model from the movie. It's stark yellow with two black stripes running down the middle of the car and over the hood. Bumblebee has taken on many forms throughout the Transformers movies, but the yellow Camaro with two black stripes is certainly the most famous and the car type that he sticks with the most.

If there is anything in this world Dean Winchester (Jensen Ackles) loves as much as his brother Sam (Jared Padalecki), it is his Baby. Baby is the all-black 1967 Chevy Impala that was passed down from their father John (Jeffery Dean Morgan) to Dean. The Impala isn't just a car to Dean, it's his prized possession and the only item he owns that he probably couldn't live without. Baby isn't just a car to the show either, she is a character of her own. Baby takes the Winchester brothers across the country day in and day out for every case or end-of-the-world scenario the boys find themselves in.

In fact, Baby is the only character aside from Sam and Dean that appears in all 327 episodes of Supernatural's 15 seasons. The series even had an entire episode from the Impala's perspective, aptly titled "Baby", in the 11th season that detailed just how important the classic car is to both Dean and Sam's monster hunting. It wouldn't be Supernatural without the Winchesters, and it wouldn't be Supernatural without their Baby.

Both Batman and the Batmobile have gone through seemingly endless iterations and transformations over the years in film and television. At least ten different actors have played The Dark Knight in either movies or shows, and each version of the character has had his own Batmobile. The car has changed a bit over the years, but the one that started it all would be the one shown in Batman the TV Series from the late '60s.

The Batmobile that Adam West's Caped Crusader drove was black with red trim, and it fit the campy style of the show perfectly. Batman has been depicted in many ways over the years and has lately been depicted as dark and gritty. However, the earliest portrayals of the character leaned into the comedy and comic book origins of the superhero. The Batmobile that is featured on the show fits perfectly for that version of the character, and is part of what makes the series still a part of pop culture 55 years later.

"Doc, you mean to tell me that you built a time machine... out of a DeLorean?" That line spoken by Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) is one of the most iconic lines of all time, and it's talking about one of the most important pieces in Back to the Future. Marty travels back to 1955 when his parents were his age thanks to Dr. Emmet Brown's (Christopher Lloyd) unhinged idea to turn a sports car into a time machine.

The DeLorean is a staple of all three BttF movies and allows Marty and Doc to travel between time periods and fix their time period they actually live in. The car famously needs to hit 88 miles per hour and use up 1.21 gigawatts of power in order to send anyone to the date in time of their choosing. It uses Doc's flux capacitor to travel through space and time and needs plutonium in order to work. The DeLorean is one of the most famous cars in cinema history, if not the most famous, and is recognizable even by people who aren't fans of the trilogy.

Taryn is a freelance writer originally from New York. She earned her Bachelor's degree in Media Studies from Mercy College with Summa Cum Laude honors. Taryn is a dog mom, a classic rock fan, and perhaps knows a bit too much about Marvel. When she's not writing or watching a movie, you can find her curating the perfect comfy-yet-stylish outfit for her next Target run.