70 Fun Facts About Car Movie

What model of car does Steve McQueen drive through San Francisco in Bullitt?

Two Highland Green 1968 Mustangs were used, and the hero car sold at auction in 2020 for $3.7 million.

What car do the hitmen drive in the Bullitt chase?

The black 440 Magnum Chargers were reportedly faster than the Mustang, and stunt drivers had to hold back so the hero could keep up.

Bullitt won an Academy Award in which category?

Frank P. Keller's cutting of the roughly ten-minute chase is the reason the sequence is still taught in film schools.

The hero car from Bullitt sold at Mecum Auctions in January 2020 for roughly how much?

It had sat in a family garage for decades after Steve McQueen himself tried and failed to buy it back.

Who directed the 1983 horror film Christine, about a murderous car?

Carpenter took the job partly because The Thing had flopped the year before and he needed a hit.

Christine, the possessed car in the Stephen King story, is what make and model?

The production bought more than 20 Plymouths, many of them Belvederes and Savoys, and painted them red to play the same car.

In Ford v Ferrari, Christian Bale plays which real-life racing driver?

Matt Damon plays Carroll Shelby, and the film was retitled Le Mans '66 in several European countries.

Ford v Ferrari builds toward which race?

Ford's GT40s finished 1-2-3, but a staged photo finish cost Miles the individual win that the film's ending turns on.

Who wrote and directed Baby Driver (2017)?

Wright choreographed the chases to the soundtrack, so the gear changes and gunfire land on the beat.

Why does Baby, the getaway driver in Baby Driver, constantly listen to music?

A childhood car crash left him with the ringing, and the film's set-piece chases are cut to whatever is playing in his earbuds.

Baby Driver is set in which American city?

The story was moved there for tax credits, and the opening chase uses a red Subaru WRX the studio asked for because it looked 'sexier'.

In Gone in 60 Seconds (2000), how many cars must Memphis Raines steal in a single night?

Nicolas Cage's crew gives each target a woman's name, and 'Eleanor' is the one that always gets away.

'Eleanor', the unicorn car in the 2000 Gone in 60 Seconds, is depicted as what?

In the original 1974 film, Eleanor was a yellow 1971 Mustang; the remake's grey fastback was styled by Chip Foose.

Herbie the Love Bug is what kind of car?

He wears racing number 53 and red, white and blue stripes, and first raced in Disney's The Love Bug in 1968.

What racing number does Herbie carry?

The number was reportedly chosen by producer Bill Walsh after Dodgers pitcher Don Drysdale.

Which actress rescues Herbie from a junkyard in Herbie: Fully Loaded (2005)?

Her character Maggie Peyton takes him NASCAR racing, and Michael Keaton plays her father.

Mad Max: Fury Road was filmed mainly in which country?

Rain had turned the Australian outback green, so George Miller moved the shoot to the Namib desert.

Charlize Theron's character in Mad Max: Fury Road, the driver of the War Rig, is called what?

She has a prosthetic left arm, and the film won six Academy Awards, more than any other 2015 release.

Max's black Pursuit Special in the original 1979 Mad Max was built from what car?

The 'last of the V8 Interceptors' was an Australian-market Ford that never sold in the United States.

The 1979 Mad Max held a Guinness World Record for what?

George Miller said the whole picture cost between $350,000 and $400,000, and it launched Mel Gibson's career.

In Days of Thunder, Tom Cruise plays a NASCAR rookie named what?

Robert Duvall plays his crew chief, and Cruise met Nicole Kidman, cast as his neurosurgeon, on the set.

Who directed Days of Thunder (1990)?

It reunited the Top Gun team of Scott, Cruise and producers Simpson and Bruckheimer, and was shot around Charlotte and Daytona Beach.

In Talladega Nights, Sacha Baron Cohen plays Jean Girard, a rival from which racing series?

Girard reads Camus and drinks macchiatos in the pits, and John C. Reilly's Cal Naughton Jr. is Ricky's 'Shake and Bake' partner.

Ron Howard's Rush (2013) dramatizes the rivalry between Niki Lauda and which driver?

The film follows the 1976 season, when Lauda returned six weeks after being burned at the Nürburgring and lost the title by a single point.

In the 1969 film The Italian Job, the gold heist takes place in which city?

The Minis raced through the Fiat factory's rooftop test track and down the steps of the Gran Madre di Dio church.

Which small cars carry the gold in the 1969 Italian Job?

BMC would not donate the cars, so the production had to buy them at trade price while Fiat offered as many of its own as they wanted.

How does the 1969 Italian Job end?

Michael Caine's Charlie Croker gets the last line — 'Hang on a minute, lads, I've got a great idea' — and the film cuts to black.

What does the Bandit drive in Smokey and the Bandit?

Sales of the black-and-gold Trans Am roughly doubled in the two years after the film came out.

What cargo is the Bandit hired to bootleg from Texarkana back to Georgia in Smokey and the Bandit?

Coors was not sold east of the Mississippi at the time, which made hauling it across state lines bootlegging.

Smokey and the Bandit was the directorial debut of which former stuntman?

Needham had doubled for Reynolds for years; the film finished 1977 second at the box office behind only Star Wars.

The Bluesmobile in The Blues Brothers is a retired police car of what make?

Thirteen ex-California Highway Patrol cars played the 1974 Mount Prospect cruiser, and the film held the record for most cars wrecked.

The Blues Brothers' indoor car chase through the shops was filmed in what kind of place?

Dixie Square Mall in Harvey, Illinois had already closed; the crew re-dressed the stores and drove straight through them.

What speed must the DeLorean reach to travel through time in Back to the Future?

The plutonium reactor was later swapped for a Mr. Fusion unit that runs on household garbage.

What device does Doc Brown say makes time travel possible in the DeLorean?

It is a Y-shaped arrangement of three flashing tubes, and Doc says he dreamed it up after hitting his head on a toilet.

The Ghostbusters' Ecto-1 is built on a 1959 model from which manufacturer?

It is a Miller-Meteor ambulance conversion that Ray Stantz buys for $4,800 with a long list of needed repairs.

James Bond first drove an Aston Martin DB5 in which film?

One of the original promotional cars sold in 2019 for $6.4 million, and the DB5 has returned in Bond films for six decades.

Who bought the Lotus Esprit submarine car from The Spy Who Loved Me at auction in 2013?

'Wet Nellie' fetched £550,000, and Musk said he wanted to make it actually transform.

Who voices Lightning McQueen in Pixar's Cars?

Paul Newman voiced Doc Hudson in one of his last roles, and Larry the Cable Guy voiced Mater.

The forgotten town where Lightning McQueen gets stranded in Cars is called what?

It sits on a bypassed stretch of Route 66, inspired by John Lasseter's own cross-country road trip.

The Fast and the Furious (2001) was based on an article in which magazine?

Ken Li's 1998 piece 'Racer X' described New York's street-racing scene; the film moved it to Los Angeles.

What car does Brian O'Conner deliver to Dom's garage as a wreck and rebuild in The Fast and the Furious?

The orange Mk4 Supra becomes his signature ride, while Dom's father's 1970 Dodge Charger provides the finale.

In Fast Five, the crew drags a bank vault through the streets of which city?

Two Dodge Chargers tow the vault, Dwayne Johnson debuts as agent Hobbs, and the franchise pivots from racing to heists.

Duel, in which a salesman is stalked by a tanker truck, was the feature debut of which director?

It aired as an ABC Movie of the Week in 1971; Richard Matheson adapted his own short story and the truck driver is never shown.

American Graffiti's single night of cruising is set in which California town in 1962?

George Lucas grew up there, and the film's $777,000 budget returned more than $200 million.

What car does Kowalski drive from Denver toward San Francisco in Vanishing Point (1971)?

A blind DJ called Super Soul cheers him on over the radio; Tarantino later put the same car in Death Proof as a tribute.

Steve McQueen's 1971 racing film Le Mans includes footage shot at the real race in which year?

McQueen's Michael Delaney drives the #20 Gulf Porsche 917 against a Ferrari 512, and there is barely any dialogue for the first half hour.

Ryan Gosling's character in Drive (2011) wears a satin jacket with what emblem on the back?

Nicolas Winding Refn called it the character's armor; the film won him Best Director at Cannes.

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang was based on a children's book by which author better known for spy novels?

Roald Dahl co-wrote the screenplay, and the Sherman Brothers of Mary Poppins fame wrote the songs.

Thelma and Louise make their final drive in what car?

Callie Khouri won the Oscar for the screenplay, and a young Brad Pitt got his breakthrough as the hitchhiker J.D.

The car Cameron's father cherishes in Ferris Bueller's Day Off is what?

The wide shots used Modena Spyder replicas; a real one would have been far too valuable to reverse through a garage window.

Which automotive journalist wrote The Cannonball Run, having created the real race it depicts?

Yates's Cannonball Baker Sea-to-Shining-Sea Memorial Trophy Dash ran across the US in the 1970s; the film's cast included Roger Moore, Jackie Chan and Dean Martin.

Two-Lane Blacktop (1971) starred which two musicians as the Driver and the Mechanic?

They race a primer-grey '55 Chevy against Warren Oates's GTO for pink slips, and the film is now in the National Film Registry.

Where was the Thunder Road drag race in Grease filmed?

The concrete channel between the First and Seventh Street bridges has hosted dozens of movie chases, from Terminator 2 to Drive.

In The French Connection, Popeye Doyle commandeers a car to chase what?

The 1971 Pontiac LeMans tears under the BMT West End line in Bensonhurst, and the film won Best Picture.

Death Proof was released in 2007 as half of a double feature called Grindhouse — what was the other film?

Robert Rodriguez directed the zombie half; Tarantino's stuntwoman Zoë Bell plays herself riding the hood of a Challenger in the 'Ship's Mast' game.

What vehicle carries the family to the pageant in Little Miss Sunshine?

When the clutch fails they have to push-start it and pile in through the sliding door on the move.

At the end of Gran Torino, Walt Kowalski leaves his prized car to whom?

The bequest comes with one condition: no modifications. Clint Eastwood directed and starred, and set the film among Hmong families in Highland Park, Michigan.

The Griswolds' Wagon Queen Family Truckster in National Lampoon's Vacation was built from what?

Chevy Chase's Clark drives it to Walley World with Aunt Edna eventually strapped to the roof.

Why was Bumblebee a Chevrolet Camaro in the 2007 Transformers film, unlike in the cartoon?

He was a yellow Beetle in the 1980s cartoon; the film starts him as a battered 1977 Camaro before he upgrades himself.

The Mirthmobile in Wayne's World is what kind of car?

Baby blue with flames and mismatched wheels, it is where Wayne and Garth headbang to 'Bohemian Rhapsody'.

The 2008 film Speed Racer was written and directed by whom?

It adapted Tatsuo Yoshida's 1966 manga, put Emile Hirsch in the Mach 5 and lost money on a $120 million budget.

In Rain Man, Charlie Babbitt inherits which classic car from his father?

Because Raymond refuses to fly, the brothers drive it cross-country, and the film won Best Picture.

The General Lee in The Dukes of Hazzard is what car?

In the 2005 film Johnny Knoxville and Seann William Scott drive it, with Jessica Simpson as Daisy and Burt Reynolds as Boss Hogg.

How many cars were destroyed during the 40-minute chase in the original 1974 Gone in 60 Seconds?

H. B. Halicki wrote, directed, produced and starred in it; the chase is the longest in film history.

In which two French cities do the acclaimed car chases of Ronin (1998) take place?

John Frankenheimer had professional racing drivers perform the stunts; David Mamet co-wrote under a pseudonym.

In The Transporter, what are Frank Martin's three strict rules?

He breaks the third when he opens a package to find a woman inside.

In Death Race 2000, how do racers in the Transcontinental Road Race score points?

Roger Corman produced it to cash in on Rollerball's publicity, with David Carradine as 'Frankenstein'.

The Gumball Rally (1976) was inspired by which real cross-country race run by Brock Yates?

The same race inspired Cannonball, Cannonball Run and Speed Zone, plus the real Gumball 3000.

Below what speed will the bus explode in Speed (1994)?

Jan de Bont's directing debut won the Oscar for Best Sound and was 1994's fifth-highest-grossing film.

In the French comedy Taxi (1998), Daniel drives a customised white example of which car?

Luc Besson wrote it and it launched a series with four sequels; Marion Cotillard co-stars.