Motors At The Movies

09 May 2008

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Cars have played a big part in cinema, quite often stealing the limelight from their human co-stars. And cars are on the agenda again this week with the release of the Wachowski brothers' Speed Racer.

After the success of the films in the Matrix series, the Wachowski Brothers return to the director's chair with this adaptation of the classic cartoon.

Into The Wild's Emile Hirsch jumps into the Mach 5 car as Speed Racer, while John Goodman and Susan Sarandon play his parents.

Christina Ricci costars as Speed's girlfriend Trixie, and Matthew Fox (LOST) is Racer X, his biggest competitor.

FemaleFirst looked back over years of movies, featuring some of cinema's most famous motors, to pick out the most memorable.

Aston Martin

The Aston Martin is a big a part of James Bond movies as the guns, girls, gadgets and 007 himself.

Yet despite the love of seeing this car on the big screen the Aston Martin has only appeared in five movies: Goldfinger, On Her Majesty's Secret Service, The Living Daylights, Die Another Day and Casino Royale but it will appear in the Quantum of Solace.

Models have varied from the DB5, DBS, DB5 V12, V8 Vantage Volante and the V12 Vanquish.

With the gadget laden vehicle it's certain to keep Bond one step ahead of the competition.

The Batmobile

The Batmobile is the personal automobile of Bruce Wayne's crime fighting alter ego and resident of Gotham City Batman.

The heavy armoured car with high performance engine has undergone many alterations in the years that batman has been on the big screen.

In batman Begins the Batmobile, nicknamed the Tumbler, was more of a tank shaped vehicle rather than the sleek car in had been in Tim Burton's Batman.

In new movie The Dark Knight the car retains it's new tank like design but comes equipped with machine guns and tank treads instead of tires.

Herbie

Herbie was the little Beetle with a personality of it's own as Disney portrayed as a car with a heart.

The Love Bug a L87 pearl white 1963 Model 117 Volkswagen Type 1 Deluxe is a serious contender in racing competitions and has starred in a string of movies.

Named after a mechanic's uncle, a boxer with a permanently broken nose Herbie was last seen on the big screen in Herbie: Fully Loaded in 2005 which starred Lindsay Lohan and Matt Dillon.

Mini

The film The Italian Job took care of Mini's advertising in one swoop when they crashed onto the big screen in 1969.

The car was the star of the film as Michael Caine and co drove the Mini through the street of Turin as they try to get away with the loot.

Regularly voted as the best move car of all time the Mini got a face lift with the 2003 remake of The Italian Job.

Along with a brand new cast came the 21st Century car the Mini Cooper which, like it's predecessor, the car enjoyed massive commercial success.

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

Despite being depicted as a magical flying car Chitty Chitty Bang Bang was inspired by the aero-engined monsters raced by the evocatively named Count Louis Zborowski at Brooklands back in the 20s.

The famous film car was co-designed by Ken Adam, a WW2 fighter ace and set designer for Bond film.

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang's number plate number was GEN 11, the closest to the word "genie" that the UK motor vehicle registration system would have allowed up to the time the novel was written.