Eight Iconic Vehicles That Made Film History

Legends on Wheels: Cars That Shaped the Movies.
They’re movie stars...
beloved by folks in the theaters... and on the TV.
Heroes of the blockbusters...
and them good ol’ road movies.
Today... we’re takin’ y’all on a lil’ journey...
through half a century... of legends... on wheels.
Many a film... owes its magic... to a car.
On screen... the automobile can be a symbol of freedom...
a hero’s trusty sidekick...
or a deadly villain... in chrome and steel.
One of the most famous... is The Spy Who Loved Me.
Back in nineteen and seventy-seven.
Some say it’s the best Bond film... ever made.
And part of that... was that sleek British sports car...
the Lotus Esprit.
A car that turned into a submarine...
right before our eyes.
Today... one such Lotus lives in Germany.
A Bond fan done built his own.
Complete with smoke screens... underwater hatches...
and fake harpoons.
All in tribute... to that unforgettable film.
Lotus had a clever plan back then.
They parked their car...
right outside the Bond studios.
Producers got curious...
and the rest... well, the rest is history.
Underwater scenes weren’t no movie magic.
They built a full-sized shell...
operated by divers... down in the deep.
And one of them underwater Lotus cars?
Today it belongs... to none other than Elon Musk.
Not every car in a Bond film survives.
The Aston Martin from The Living Daylights...
was found years later... in sorry shape.
Rusty... broken... forgotten.
But one dedicated fan... took three long years...
to restore her to glory.
And on screen?
She had just fifteen seconds... of fame.
Now sometimes...
the car itself is the villain.
Y’all remember Christine?
Stephen King’s story...
of a killer 1958 Plymouth Fury.
One fella down in Florida...
he built himself a real-life Christine.
Gathered parts from wrecked movie cars...
put her all back together.
And today... well...
he calls her his wife.
They even held a weddin’...
right in front of Stephen King’s house.
For that film...
they wrecked the real cars.
No computer tricks.
Christine fixin’ herself?
Done with hydraulics...
rubber molds...
and runnin’ the film backwards.
A masterclass... in old-school effects.
Another legend...
is that truck from Duel.
Spielberg’s first big film.
The tale of a lone driver...
chased through the desert...
by one sinister Peterbilt.
Spielberg wanted that truck...
to look downright evil.
So they slathered it in dirt and oil...
made it sweat and drip...
gave it a life... all its own.
That very truck?
A collector found it... in North Carolina.
Still sittin’ there today...
as menacing as ever.
Now not every legendary car...
is out to kill ya.
Some... are built to travel through time.

Back to the Future.
The DeLorean DMC-12.
A car from a failed company...
turned into the world’s most famous time machine.
Two fellas in Germany...
built one of the finest replicas... ever seen.
Scrounged up rare parts...
matched every tiny detail.
Even the flux capacitor.
Fun fact:
that time machine...
was supposed to be a refrigerator.
But Spielberg changed it...
Didn’t want kids...
lockin’ themselves inside...
tryin’ to time travel.
Now some cars...
ain’t fast... nor dangerous.
They got character.
Like ol’ Columbo’s Peugeot 403.
Beat up.
Rusty.
Covered in dents.
Just like the detective hisself.
That original car?
It’s still around.
A fella in Florida owns it now.
And he refuses to wash it...
says it’s a piece of history.
And then... there’s the road rebel.
Convoy.
Rubber Duck’s black Mack truck...
lead’n a convoy of outlaw truckers.
The original’s long gone...
But one dedicated fan...
tracked down a factory-built replica.
And even showed it...
to Kris Kristofferson hisself.
‘Cause sometimes...
cars ain’t just props.
They’re heroes.
Villains.
Characters...
with a story... all their own.
Now one more tale...
A true monster... of the road.
The Peterbilt tanker... from Duel.
It wasn’t no high-dollar show truck.
No sir.
It was a grimy, ancient beast...
picked by Spielberg himself...
to scare the life outta audiences.
They only had fourteen days...
to shoot that film.
Spielberg mapped out every shot...
down to the second.
And the truck...
became a legend.
Today... that battered old Peterbilt...
still sits in a private collection.
Silent...
but ready... to chase again.
And remember the DeLorean?
The German builders...
even tracked down parts from aircraft scrap...
to make their time machine authentic.
Inside and out...
It’s a faithful tribute...
to the most famous time machine on wheels.
And so we come full circle.
From the depths of the ocean...
to the highways of the desert...
to the folds of time itself...
These machines shaped the movies we love.
From the roads of the silver screen...
to the memories we carry...
these machines remind us... why we love the movies.