When does a movie car become iconic?

Submitted by YourOwnBiggestFan t3_z66b4m in movies

You've probably heard of the phenomenon of the car that becomes famous through its cinema appearance - Herbie from The Love Bug, the Aston Martin DB5 from Goldfinger, the Pontiac Firebird Trans Am from Smokey and the Bandit... Sometimes even the manufacturers catch wind of such notability and capitalize on it through products like the Ford Mustang Bullitt. But when does a car become as notable as the stars in it - or even more?

I'd say that there are three key rules:

  1. The car needs to be tied to the protagonist(s) - it has to be the one that they drive during every extended driving sequence, and it needs to match their personality. For example, every time Dude Lebowski gets into a car, it's his trusty Ford Gran Torino that's as haggard as he is. Also, this is why Baby Driver failed to launch any automotive stars - when Baby hops from everything from a Saturn Aura to a Dodge Challenger Hellcat, it's hard to determine that single important one that really matches him.

  2. The car needs to be there during the really important parts - for example, the DeLorean in Back to the Future is always on the screen when time travel is involved, and the Minis in The Italian Job are the getaway cars during the escape from the heist.

  3. The car should get as much screen time as the script allows - while being on screen from the start to the very end is not an imperative, such a role certainly helped machines like Kowalski's Challenger, Bandit's Firebird Trans Am or the Bluesmobile join the four-wheeled pantheon.

And it also helps when the car is special in some way. Sure, a stock-looking machine has the possibility of earning its fame (The Italian Job, Bullitt, The Graduate), but the miraculous nature of Herbie, the gadgetry of Bond cars, or even the crappiness of Vacation's Family Truckster has helped a lot.

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Sekhen t1_ixzmsbc wrote

The key ingredient is that the movie should be good.

No one gives a fuck about the Geo Metro (Big Trouble, 2002)

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spinne1 t1_ixzwjtl wrote

A car becomes iconic when it gets seared into people's brains. When someone sees a similar car, do they immediately think of that movie? If yes, then the car became iconic. Some examples of cars that became iconic to me: 1958 Plymouth Fury (Christine), 1958 Chevy Impala (Peggy Sue Got Married, American Graffiti--probably only iconic to me cause I love that model car), 1959 Cadillac Miller-Meteor (Ghostbusters), 1974 Dodge Monaco sedan if painted like police car (Blues Brothers), 1970 Chevy Nova (but only if blue and crappy looking)(Beverly Hills Cop), 1976 AMC Pacer (Wayne's World). I'm sure there are others, but those are some I can think of.

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ixoniq t1_ixzqf8g wrote

When it has been driven by Batman or James Bond.

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reatter t1_ixzvivl wrote

Nah, Bond drove some cars who aren't iconic at all, then he drove Aston Martin.

Also, Bat-Things are iconic, not Batmobiles.

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reachedmylimit t1_ixzz0ls wrote

When Steve McQueen drives it in Bullitt

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Ebolatastic t1_iy0skn2 wrote

You forgot to mention one of the most important features of an iconic movie car: car trouble. The entire plot of back to the future 1/3 hinges on the delorean being broken. The bluesmobile falls apart at the end of Blues Brothers. Ecto 1 is a complete piece of junk when it's introduced. The car in Ferris Beuhler gets driven off a cliff. The list goes on and on. I know Bond is the exception, but it's pretty much the exception.

It's like the millennium falcon. If something is glitchy, twitchy, destroyable and/or falling apart - it feels more real.

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King_Delorean t1_iyes84o wrote

Not to be pedantic, but the Delorean had fuel issues, uranium and then gasoline, other than the starting issue in the finale of the first movie it ran fine.

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milennialpariah t1_ixzvr3x wrote

I think Eleanor from (the original) Gone in 60 Seconds is iconic because it was actually part of the plot. Of all the cars they had to steal, that one gave Pace and his crew the most trouble.

Pace tried to steal it at the airport but a woman was sleeping in it, he stole it but returned it at his gf’s insistence because it was uninsured, stole another and then it got smashed up during the lengthy car chase, and by pure chance Pace found a fresh one rolling out of a car wash which allowed him to finally finish the job once and for all.

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fart-debris t1_iy0254g wrote

When it gets mentioned in advertisements for a car show.

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TangentiallyTango t1_iy03hzi wrote

When you can own a replica and make money renting it out.

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WhyWorryAboutThat t1_iy04dis wrote

Bennett the Sage has a YouTube video called Top 10 Hero Cars that asks the same question and reaches pretty much the same conclusion. It has to be inseparable from the work of fiction itself as well as its actual driver. And it usually should make you envious. If I got to drive one, gimme Cobra's car in Cobra.

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Bigis_Dikus t1_iy2oulj wrote

The Mini Cooper in Bourne Identity had only one scene but man was that iconic!

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gazchap t1_iy5s25w wrote

The truck in Spielberg’s Duel is up there for me, but is not a car and fails your first rule…

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claytonianphysics t1_iy66uf9 wrote

Right after Diamonds Are Forever was released, our neighbors bought a Ford Mustang Mach 1.

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