Where Have I Seen That Car? 11 Famous Vehicles

So many automobiles roll through the backgrounds of movies and on TV shows, only to meet a humble end of getting compacted into a cube at a junkyard. But other cars are the movies and the TV shows in which they appear, or else they make such a memorable impression that they carry on the movie’s legacy as they are sold or displayed in museums.

Most slides of the following famous cars were provided by Bob Hartwig, the director of rental operations at Cinema Vehicle Servicesin North Hollywood, CA, which creates and supplies cars that appear in movies and on TV. Two of the following vehicles were unearthed on the first season of SyFy’s new cinema props-hunting show, “Hollywood Treasure.”

Click ahead for a look at some potentially familiar vehicles!

By Colleen Kane
Posted 2 Dec 2010

No less than 36 classic-style Volkswagen Beetles were used in the production for the 2005 Lindsay Lohan vehicle (har de har), ‘Herbie Fully Loaded.’ Various versions of Herbie were created, including a reverse drive, a NASCAR style, a pimped-out version, a junkyard type, regular and special use types also, according to Bob Hartwig of Cinema Vehicle Services.

The Herbie pictured here is one VW Beetle capable of going bananas: it’s the souped-up NASCAR version, which hit speeds of 120mph at California Speedway.

This Attack Mode KITT of Knight Rider fame is not your Hasselhoff’s KITT. It’s from the 2008 remake of the Knight Rider series, and this one is based on a modern 2008 Shelby KR500 Mustang. Two were built for the show.

Attack Mode KITT started off as a stock Mustang GT with V-8 and factory Shelby KR500 parts added. Hartwig runs down the specs: “The attack parts are all custom fabricated with fake blower, working rear wing, L.E.D lighting, custom wheels, hi performance rear end, brakes and airbag system to raise and lower the front end.” And don’t forget the essential KITT features: vertically-opening doors and the sweeping red hood light, which is computer controlled with different patterns.

This vehicle was featured on SyFy’s new ‘Hollywood Treasure’ series, and it sold for $32,500 at auction held at Universal Studio's Globe Theatre on November 6.

You recognize this hot little number from the small screens of 1979 to 1985, when it raced around fictional Hazzard County, GA in “The Dukes of Hazzard” TV series. This particular 1969 Dodge Charger was used in the last three seasons, and is the only surviving original 440 R/T car. When those rascally Duke boys jumped their final gulch in 1985, 17 General Lees remained, out of around 235 crashed over the series’ 7 years.

When this General Lee was restored in 2005, an effort was made to keep intact as much original paint and parts as possible. The 440 motor was also rebuilt and puts out close to 500 horsepower now. Due to that big motor, this vehicle was used for burnouts and slides but never jumped.

And now, to shatter a few TV illusions: this car’s doors were never welded shut and the “Dixie” horn sound was always added in post-production.

Classic auto aficionados alternately salivated and cringed to witness this 1969 Mercedes-Benz 280 SE convertible cruised and abused in Las Vegas in the 2009 hit comedy “The Hangover.”

One of five models built for the movie, this Mercedes is one of the beauties that didn’t do stunts. It’s a timeless car that if fully restored, can be worth upwards of $130,000, says Hartwig. (Unlike in “The Hangover,” a small naked Asian man would not be included in the trunk.)

This whimsical 1920s-style racecar isn’t just any ye olden car someone drove in a movie, it’s the title character in the movie Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

It’s one of six made for the 1968 Dick Van Dyke movie, including a fully functional street vehicle, a “flying” version, a less detailed road car, an engineless version to be towed behind a camera crew, and an aquatic hovercraft version (mounted on a boat) that was destroyed after filming.

Cinema treasure hunter Joe Maddalena finds the pictured original Chitty Chitty Bang Bang car in England in an episode of Syfy’s ‘Hollywood Treasure’ airing this month. It will be sold at auction next year.

This formidable beast is the infamous 1989 Chevrolet one-ton “RV from Hell” truck from the Sylvester Stallone/ Kurt Russell action-comedy flick “Tango and Cash.”

It was driven by Russell’s character, Cash, or rather it was jumped by a stunt double, because this was the stunt truck built for the big jump scene at the excavation yard. The RV from Hell features a mid-chassis mounted 454 and is fully caged.

As all proper vehicles from Hell probably should, this one still has the original moving multi-barrel machine gun built onto the driver side. And according to Hartwig, this baby “still has ‘The pink slip from Satan’ and terrorizes the streets of Los Angeles on occasion.”

Behold, the 1935 Rolls Royce Phantom Coupe from the 2010 Disney film “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice,” as driven by Nicolas Cage’s character, Balthazar Blake. In the course of the movie, Balthazar’s car changes into a Mercedes McLaren SUV and later it becomes a 1976 Ford Pinto.

An extremely rare original (owned by Nic Cage) and this replica were used in the movie. This Rolls was built in less than six weeks for stunts, mounted on a 2003 Chevy pickup chassis. It’s made from Rolls parts and other fabricated pieces to create the look.

In a press release for the film, Cage explains the car choice: “We came up with the idea that Balthazar should have that particular Rolls-Royce because the Rolls-Royce factory developed the Merlin engine that was also in the Spitfire airplanes that defeated the Nazis in World War II. Many cars have won the Grand Prix, but only one had ever stopped a war. So for me, it was a perfect addition to the movie because it showed the concept of Merlinians at work; behind the scenes protecting mankind and how they are present even though we are not aware of it.”
…Oooor, maybe it was just that he wanted to show off his rare Rolls.

This is the star automobile known as Eleanor in the 2000 Nicolas Cage/ Angelina Jolie car-theft flick ‘Gone in 60 Seconds’ (a remake of the 1974 original). In it, car thief Randall “Memphis” Raines (Cage) has tried to steal old Eleanor on multiple occasions, and when he finally gets her in the movie, an action-packed high-speed chase ensues.

Eleanor is a 1967 Shelby Mustang GT500 coated in pepper grey metallic. For this movie, 11 Eleanors were made, and eight survived production. “The signature body kit makes the car sit low and mean,” observes Hartwig, noting that it also runs a 428 dual quad with 4 speeds and nitrous. Which is to say: the car is super fast.

For the right jumpsuit-wearing keymasters, this oldie is a fine set of wheels for fighting ancient refrigerator demons and avoiding exploding marshmallow men. That’s right: as if there were any mistaking it, this 1959 converted limo-style Cadillac ambulance was the iconic transportation for the trio of heroes of the comedy smash “Ghostbusters.”

Although other Ectomobiles emerged throughout the ‘Ghostbusters’ franchise (sequels, video games, cartoons), and toy versions were mass-marketed, the car depicted here is the only original known to survive from the first ‘Ghostbusters’ movie from 1984.

Fun fact: In the original script written by Dan Akroyd, which was much more ambitious and too expensive to produce, the Ectomobile had the power to travel through time. (The following year, of course, the movie-going public learned that time travel was best left to DeLoreans.)

This 1970 Dodge Charger is from the 2009 film, “The Fast and the Furious 4.” Hartwig says that the same style was used in 2001’s ‘The Fast and The Furious’ and the upcoming sequel, "Fast Five.”

This Charger has a 350 Chevy crate motor, rack and pinion steering, a Ford 9-inch rear end, 18-inch wheels and tires. It’s fully caged with fuel cell and custom gauges.

To Hartwig, who, mind you, works with famous cars on a regular basis, “this Charger represents the epitome of movie car fame and recognition.”

Now that Fury Road, the 4th installment in the dystopian Mad Max series is in production, it’s time for a look back at one of its first icons. This evil cinematic vehicle emerged off the assembly line in 1974 as the Australian-only make Ford Falcon Coupe XB, but in 1979 it was converted into its true destiny as the Interceptor in the first ‘Mad Max’

This replica was build to represent the first film, Hartwig notes, adding that it’s a right-hand drive with left-hand four-speed (remember, it’s from Oz), with a 351 Cleveland, and it’s built for top-end speed.