Five Things: Alternatives to famous pop culture cars

Monday, 2 November 2020

Iconic pop culture cars are instantly recognisable and loved the world over. But what if the movie and TV series makers had gone in another - entirely possible - direction?

We are all very familiar with the iconic movie and TV cars like the Lincoln Futura-based Batmobile, 007’s Aston Martin DB5 and Herbie the lovable Volkswagen Beetle, but did you know that all of those cars (and more) were not actually the first choices for their roles?

Our friends at UK car dealership Bristol Street Motors did and thanks to them, today we take a look at five roles that nearly went to other cars, plus a bonus one that almost didn’t go to a car at all!

Batman

One of the most iconic and recognisable Batmobiles in Batman’s screen history nearly wasn’t anywhere near as recognisable with American custom car designer Dean Jefferies originally contracted to modify what was believed to be a 1959 Cadillac Series 62 (details are sketchy).

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While the Series 62 is undeniably cool, a massive luxo-boat really isn’t Batman's style, which is something that the producers finally figured out a mere three weeks before shooting was due to start.

Enter Hollywood car customiser extraordinaire George Barris who had to act fast, so he nabbed the unproduced Lincoln Futura concept car off Ford, painted it black, added some tail fins and a bunch of batfeatures and a legend was born. Very quickly.

The Italian Job

While the classic 1969 heist film The Italian Job is synonymous with the Mini Cooper, it very nearly wasn’t that way.

The three Minis were incredibly close to being replaced with Fiat 500s because, although the British Motor Corporation (BMC) sold the production three at cost price, they had to buy an additional 30 for action scenes.

Meanwhile, Fiat boss Gianni Agnelli offered them an unlimited supply of 500 Abarths for free and personally offered the producer, Michael Deeley, a Ferrari and $50,000 towards the picture. However, Deeley just couldn’t see British crooks driving Italian cars so decided to stick with the Minis. We wouldn’t have had quite so strong an artistic vision. Not when a free Ferrari was involved…

Goldfinger

If you are a mildly pedantic James Bond nerd then a Blower Bentley is the car Bond should always have been driving in the movies, after all it was his personal car in a number of the original books.

However, if you are an extremely pedantic one (puts hand up) you would know that by the time the late 50’s rolled around the Bentley was more than 20 years old and author Ian Fleming decided to upgrade Bond to an Aston Martin DB Mark III for the 1959 novel Goldfinger.

When the movie came out five years later the producers put him in the now-famous DB5 which wasn’t actually in production yet, so the cars in the movie are actually DB4s with DB5 bodies.

Magnum P.I.

During the development of a then-new series about a retired Navy SEAL who was living a sweet life as a private investigator in Hawaii supported by an unseen, but extremely benevolent millionaire, the producers desperately wanted Thomas Magnum to cruise around in a Porsche 928.

But because the 6-foot-4-inch Tom Selleck was too tall to fit easily – and because they wanted lots of sweet aerial shots with the actor on show – the car would have to have a removable hardtop installed.

Porsche refused to allow their car to be altered for the show, so the producers had to look for alternatives and Ferrari was more than happy to supply its new 308 GTS which would go on to become a TV icon…

The Love Bug

Despite the fact that the Volkswagen Beetle was custom-made to be a lovable movie character, it seems that when the classic 1968 movie that would eventually be called The Love Bug was being planned, producers didn’t actually have a specific car in mind – obviously the title came later.

According to Bristol Street Motors the producers held a casting call for cars so that manufacturers could show their cars to Disney executives and crew who would be working on the movie.

A bunch of Toyotas, a couple of Volvos and a TVR were some of the dozens of different cars that took part, but the Volkswagen Beetle was the only car to elicit an emotional reaction from the crew, with many of them reaching out to pat it. And a decision was made.

Bonus ‘not a car’ entry: Back to the Future

Would legendary 1985 movie Back to the Future be quite so beloved if the awesome DeLorean DMC-12 wasn’t the star of the show (all due respect to Micheal J. Fox of course, he did a fine job too…).

How about if the time machine hadn’t actually been a car at all?

No, we don’t think so either, which is why we are extremely relieved that the producers didn’t go with their original idea of using a fridge.

Yep, that’s right the first three drafts of the script had the time machine as a lead-lined fridge.

Apparently writer Bob Zemeckis came up with the idea of using a car because “mobility was an issue with a fridge” and chose the DeLorean because, according to Zemickis’ co-writer Bob Gale “(John Z.) DeLorean was on trial. He was news. And that stainless steel finish looks great”.