Fuzz Townshend’s favourite classic cars from popular culture

A flying car – what’s all this about? That is perhaps what five-year-old me might have said when first confronted by the wonderful ‘Chitty Chitty Bang Bang’ featured in the 1968 film of the same name. A film which I went to see five times in one week, three of which were on the same day, back to back. Imagine the amount of ice cream sundaes eaten on that day…

The car concerned was of course a complete confection, a made-up machine, using the parts bins of the day to make a pastiche of a pre-World War I racing machine. In the 1960s, complete accuracy was not a prerequisite of filmmaking, and so this hotchpotch of Ford Zephyr engine, proprietary axles, with a bespoke wooden body was absolutely acceptable, and it certainly worked well enough for the audience of millions.

The result – a resurrected faux former Grand Prix car, with the additional benefits of being able to fly and float on water – was a dream car for this particular five-year-old. I managed to get through at least two Corgi Junior models of it, although by the time I’d finished with them I had managed to chew off their wings, and they never floated either, as I determined when having a bath.

That film may have been a tough act to follow, but then I wasn’t expecting the original version of the Italian Job, which hit the cinemas in 1969. Let’s face it, anything featuring great iconic British cars, driven by criminals, in one of the greatest bank heists imaginable, has to be an absolute winning formula for a great film.

The forays into beautiful, unspoiled European countryside of the late 1960s makes one want to jump into a period car and travel across the Channel, tout-de-suite.

Sticking with the late 1960s – for that is when perhaps the greatest car-related films were produced – we have the now almost-forgotten ‘Monte Carlo or Bust’. 

This film features a plethora of pre-war cars driven by some brilliant actors.

The film’s race, and overland rally to Monte Carlo takes place in snow, ice, rain and shine, and of course some fantastic roads of the time, all in pre-war cars, and is a complete delight. It has been, perhaps, the most formative film of my life, leading as it did to my deep love of truly ancient cars.

Of course, how could I forget Herbie the Volkswagen Beetle, star of ‘The Love Bug’, and the subsequent sequels. This little car beloved by children all over the world still encapsulates the spirit of trying, and triumphing over adversity. My own children have loved it and I’m sure that future generations will too.

Of course no discussion of cars on film would be complete without the many models featured in the James Bond films, perhaps the best being the Aston Martin DB5 packed to the gunwales with deadly spy-evading equipment. 

 

Let’s face it, any car fitted with wonderful wire wheels has to be a winner, but when the spinners extend to rip the tyres of adjacent cars, they have to be the pinnacle of devious devices.

Needless to say, the numerous other vehicles featured in the many James Bond films, including the sub-aqua Lotus Esprit, and the decapitated double-decker AEC Regent bus, are splendid automotive fayre, as we pass through the movies of the 1970s.

However, perhaps the pinnacle of all vehicles, and one that is still universally adored, is the DeLorean DMC-12, as featured in the ‘Back to the Future’ movie franchise. What a car. Indeed one might say ‘what a dreadful car’, powered as it was by a puny engine. It never lived up to the dream in reality, but on film, it was an absolutely amazing time travelling wonder.

No mention of flying cars can omit perhaps the greatest of them all, designed from the very start to look like it would fly, but destined in standard form to rarely be able to raise a wheel from the tarmac. I am talking about the wonderful Ford Anglia, which developed its abilities to fly in the Harry Potter books and subsequent film versions. 

The very first car that I ever bought was a blue Ford Anglia, so imagine my delight when the book’s author decided to turn one of these into a real flying machine, something which mine definitely was not. 

Perhaps there can be no better flying car than the Anglia, especially a slightly down-at-heel smoky and rusty version. The amphibian grin of its radiator grille seems to exude delight at its newfound levitation ability. Perhaps the original designer foresaw its role.

Cars will always play a hugely important role in popular culture as they are with us almost at all times, standing ready to transport us to wherever we desire to go, day or night. They are extensions of our houses, they are our mobile rooms, and as such they will remain on our screens for as long as they remain on our driveways.