Thought I'd take today's automotive fun thread in a slightly different direction. Today's list of cars centers on cars that were "celebrities" (and no, I don't mean the crappy A-body from Chevy) during the 1980s. Why not just top 10 famous cars? Because then I couldn't milk this another couple of weeks, duh...
1. The General Lee, "Dukes of Hazzard". Hugger orange paint job. Confederate flag on the roof. Welded doors. "Dixie" horn. Able to leap small canyons without suffering frame damage. Yep, the General belongs on any list of "famous" cars, even if the show started in 1979...
2. The DeLorean, "Back to the Future". Back to the Future has got to be one of, if not the, defining movies of the 1980s. Starring Michael J. Fox, who starred in "Family Ties", one of the enduring shows of the '80s, the entire movie was a comparison between the "current" year and the 1950s, much like right now we're comparing to the 1980s themselves. Le plus ça change...
3. KITT, "Knight Rider". Fellow car nuts out there have already filled in K.I.T.T. as "Knight Industries Two Thousand, the full name of the William Daniels-voiced Trans Am that attempted to upstage David Hasselhoff on a weekly basis. Bulletproof, rocket-proof, but not cliché-proof, the T/A proved to be the intellectual superior of Hasselhoff regularly.
4. Christine, "Christine". A possessed 1958 Plymouth Grand Fury that hunts down 1980s punks and crushes them. What's not to like? Even better, I have a buddy who owns a 1958 Plymouth Belvedere that is a perfect replica of Christine. It's a head-turner, to be certain, especially given that he tows a boat with the same paint scheme with it...
5. 1974 Mount Prospect Police car, "The Blues Brothers". The old Bluesmobile was traded (for this? No. A microphone. I can see that), so Elwood picked up the police car cheap (practically giving them away). Fix the cigarette lighter.
6. Ecto I, "Ghostbusters". Starting life as a 1959 Cadillac Miller-Meteor hearse, the "Ecto I" had it all - Ghost-siren, seating for six, and pull-out racks for the proton accelerator packs. There was a scene that wound up on the cutting room floor of ticket placed on the windshield of Ecto-I being reduced to ash right before the meter maid's eyes...
7. A-Team van, "The A-Team". Complete with storage compartment for stainless Ruger AC-556s that couldn't hit anything, the A-Team van was an obvious holdover from the '70s conversion van craze. Why on earth no one ever noticed the distinctive custom van and the presence of the A-Team coinciding I'll never know...
8. Ferrari 308 GTS, "Magnum PI". It's hard to tell what was most iconic about that show - the Ferrari, the 1911 Magnum carried, or Tom Selleck's mustache... In any case, the bright red Ferrari coupled with a hunk in a Hawaiian shirt was a staple of the 1980s.
9. Pursuit Special, "Mad Max"/"Road Warrior". This modified Holden Monaro was barely introduced in 1979's "Mad Max" and was far more prominent in 1981's "Road Warrior", so it counts for a 1980s car. No word on whether or not it comes with the hacksaw...
10. Coyote X, "Hardcastle & McCormack". I remember nothing else from this show than the Coyote X, a modified McLaren with near-mythical powers of speed and handling. Hey, the show came out when I was 12... And the fumes from David Hugh Kelley's jerri-curls was making me dizzy...
Well, that wraps up another automotive list of greats. As always, feel free to rebutt, add, critique, or just gawk at the pictures.
That is all.
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13 comments:
Dude? What about the Smokey & The Bandit Trans Am? First movie was in the 70s, granted, but I think it was an 80 Trans Am in the 2nd movie (which was better anyway). I'd bump anything below the A-Team van for that one.
Dude, look for post about Famous 1970s cars in the near future.
Like, oh, next Friday...
Ok, the one I thought of was a 70's show, too.
Guess I'll wait and see.
Of course, there was the Michael Keaton - era Batmobile....
I actually saw a DeLorean pulling out of a farm on my way to work - I live in one of the more rural parts of BFE, WI so it was a shock. I laughed all the way to work thinking "when this baby hits 88 miles an hour you're going to see some serious shit!" :)
Also, no Bluesmobile would be complete without a statuette of "Our Lady of Blessed Acceleration".
The Mad Max cars were actually modified Ford Falcons: http://www.madmaxmovies.com/cars/mad-max-interceptor/index.html
Keep going with the link at the bottom of each page that continues the story.
How about a little Knight Rider trivia. What are the names of the two vehicles that were KITT's nemesis.
Brass
Bandit TA! Yeah!
Rob Beat me too it. The Pursuit Special (Bonus points for getting it right, Many fans refer to it as "The Black Interceptor" but the real name is mentioned in the first film) is a Ford Falcon XB
I was hoping you wouldn't forget my favorite 80s car!
What, there was a car in Dukes of Hazzard?
Dang. Must have been watching the Daisy Dukes ....
Sam Malone's Vette could be the most famous car of the 80s that was never seen.
That is a great list of cars. I'm watching ghostbusters right now so I looked up ecto one and found this page. Great to see the interceptor from Mad max. C'mon Aussie! And the back to the future DeLorean is a personal favourite. Great page.
nice car's.....but I miss that car from the serie "stingray"
greez from germany
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