And the winner for ‘Best Awesome Car in a Starring Role’ is…
Movie icon Steve McQueen was known as “The King of Cool,” and judging from the overwhelming Facebook response to our question about movie cars, McQueen’s sweet ride in Bullitt can henceforth be referred to as “The Car of Cool.”
In the spirit of the Academy Awards, earlier this week we asked you to cast your vote for “Best Awesome Car in a Starring Role,” and Bullitt’s dark green 1968 Ford Mustang fastback won in a landslide. Among the comments, “Hard to beat” and “hands down (winner)” summed it up nicely.
Bullitt is best remembered for a 10-minute car chase in which McQueen, driving the Mustang, relentlessly pursues a black 1968 Dodge Charger in and around San Francisco. The Charger has its share of fans too; in fact, it received a vote in our poll.
Second place was secured by the 1977 Pontiac Trans Am that Burt Reynolds drove in Smokey and the Bandit. Four decades after the movie hit the big screen, the Bandit car is still instantly recognizable, even by folks with limited automotive knowledge. In January, Reynolds’ personal promo car from the movie sold for $550,000 at Barrett-Jackson’s Scottsdale Auction.
It should be noted that this isn’t the first time the Bandit has taken a back seat to a slightly more popular model. In 1977, the movie was released two days after Star Wars, and we all know how that turned out.
The three Mini Coopers featured in the 1969 film The Italian Job also received multiple votes (one of you pointed to the Cooper’s “cheeky charm”), as did the 1932 Ford hot rod that John Milner drove in 1973’s American Graffiti.
Among the interesting one-vote cars were the 1967 Ferrari 275 GTB/4 in The Thomas Crown Affair (1968), the 1920s custom car in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968), the 1970 Dodge Challenger R/T in Vanishing Point (1971), the 1965 Cadillac Coupe deVille in Gone in 60 Seconds (1974), the black Lamborghini Countach in Cannonball Run (1981) and the Dodge M4S in The Wraith (1986).
Editor’s Note: Wrong. It’s the Countach.
