Famous Movie & TV Cars and Their Drivers
Famous Movie & TV Cars and Their Drivers
Writer - John Linden
One of the key components of some movies and television shows is the vehicle the main character drives. These cars often become iconic vehicles, and sales of the same make and model go through the roof. Here are a few of these iconic vehicles and the people who had the privilege of driving them. Herbie
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Herbie-1138.jpg
Herbie wasn’t just a car for the main character to drive—he was the main character of the movie The Love Bug and other films. This 1963 Volkswagen Beetle is “alive” in the movies and helps his driver win a number of races. In the original series of films and television shows, Dean Jones played Herbie’s driver Jim Douglas. According to reports, Jones did almost all of the stunt driving necessary for the role. Later, in the 2005 remake, Lindsay Lohan was behind the wheel. She probably didn’t do any stunt driving, though!
The DeLorean from Back to the Future
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ttg_delorean_pax.jpg
Driven by Christopher Lloyd as Doctor Brown and Michael J. Fox as Marty McFly, the 1982 DeLorean DMC-12 looked like a car that had traveled back in time. However, they were actually mass produced by the DeLorean Motor Company in 1981 and 1982. Sadly, they didn’t sell that well, and the company went out of business before it could really capitalize on the popularity of the film trilogy. While Lloyd and Fox did some of the driving, most of the stunts were done by professionals. The DeLorean used in the movie is still in great shape today, and it can often be seen at various comic cons and other science fiction conventions. It’s often kept under water-proof, dust-proof car covers when not in use to keep it protected.
The Echo-1 from Ghostbusters
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ghostbusters_Ectomobile.jpg
This 1959 Cadillac was modified a bit to create the iconic Echo-1 that the Ghostbusters drove around New York City. There were three different versions of this car created for the two films. They both used a Miller-Metero Futura Ambulance/Hearse combination mounted on the 1959 Cadillac Fleetwood Professional Chassis. The vehicle was built by Steve Dane and was driven by the actors who played the four Ghostbusters and professional stunt drivers.
The General Lee from Dukes of Hazzard
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Another famous car that’s synonymous with a television show is the 1968 Dodge Charger named the General Lee. This car appeared in all of the episodes of The Dukes of Hazzard. Of course, because the show was very stunt-heavy, the car took some damage. It was actually owned by John Schneider and Tom Wopat, the actors who started in the show. There were also 20 different production cars that were used whenever the General Lee had to take damage. Schneider eventually sold the last remaining General Lee at an auction in 2007 after updating it with a new engine and several other parts.
