As the Canadian International Auto Show winds down after another successful 10 day run, a debate broke out in the Comix Asylum offices. While checking out some of the cool new rides coming out of the auto industry, we began to argue over which car was the best in the history of pop culture. After some heated discussion here’s Comix Asylum’s top ten rides in pop culture history.
10. G-2/Spacemobile
Driven by weapons expert and racecar driver Joe/Jason of the Gatchaman/Battle of the Planets series, the G-2 was inspired by F1 racecars. The G-2 came equiped with a gatling gun and had the ability to hover over water and drive up vertical walls. Housed in the nose of Gatchaman’s God Phoenix airship, the G-2 was usually deployed mid-flight to help combat the menace of Galactor that Gatchaman faced each episode.
9. Agent Coulson’s Corvette
When Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. first appeared in the Marvel cinematic universe and later in their own series, fans wondered when the agency’s flying car would make an appearance. Well they didn’t have to wait long as Agent Coulson’s Corvette took to the skies during an episode in the first season. Lola, as Coulson calls it, is a red ’62 convertible that has the ability to transform from a road vehicle into a traffic defeating aircraft with the flick of a switch.
8. Ferrari Daytona Spyder
Crockett and Tubbs, the most stylish cops ever to grace the small screen, spent 2 ½ seasons driving around Miami in the mid 80’s in a black Ferrari Daytona Spyder. Crime fighting never looked so good and the Ferrari was the perfect compliment to a show that featured all of the excesses of that particular decade. The car featured on the show was actually a replica that was custom built using a Corvette chassis. The cost of an authentic Daytona coupled with Enzo Ferrari’s displeasure with the show using a replica, led to Crockett driving a Testarossa for the rest of Miami Vice’s 5 year run.
7. Speeder Bikes
There have been a plethora of cool bikes in pop culture but somehow they never seem to get their due. From Easy Rider to Tron to Akira, motorcycles have graced the big and small screen and captured the imagination of gear heads and sci-fi aficionados. The speeder bikes in Return of the Jedi were part of one of the best chase scenes in the original trilogy. Other variations of speeder bikes have been ridden by Darth Maul and Anakin Skywalker in other instalments of the Star Wars movies.
6. Mad Max Interceptor
Mel Gibson burst onto the scene behind the wheel of a 1973 Ford Falcon Coupe in the Australian thriller, Mad Max. Dubbed the Interceptor in the film, the Falcon was a hit with fans and a love affair with the Mad Max version of the car exists to this day. Fans have even taken to building detailed, working replicas of the car and taking part in Mad Max fesitivals to celebrate the film series.
5. 1969 Dodge Charger
The image of Bo and Luke Duke jumping over a creek in the General Lee is one of the hallmarks of The Dukes of Hazard. The orange ’69 Dodge Charger played such an integral part of the show it can be considered as part of the cast. The show survived replacing the original Duke boys (Tom Wopat and John Schnieder) for a brief time, but it was the combination of the original cast and the gravity defying General Lee that made the show so successful.
4. Lotus Esprit
Bond and fine cars have gone hand in hand for over 50 years. After the DB5 was retired Bond, this time portrayed by Roger Moore, sped through his adventures behind of the wheel of a Lotus Esprit. The car and its place in pop culture lore is due to its prominent role in 1977’s The Spy Who Loved Me. In the film the Lotus not only races around the Sardinian countryside evading motorcycles and helicopters, but also transforms into a submarine before reverting back into a road vehicle.
3. 1964 Aston Martin DB5
Perhaps the most iconic and enduring of the rides on this list, the DB5 debuted in 1964’s Goldfinger. The DB5’s design was stylish and totally befitted its owner, the super suave British secret agent, James Bond. Armed with an array of weapons (e.g., machine guns, ejector seats, bullet proof shields, oil slick sprays) and the latest in 60’s tech, the silver Aston Martin was Bond’s vehicle of choice through the Connery years and made its return to the film series in Pierce Brosnan’s Tomorrow Never Dies.
2. Delorean DMC-12
Without a doubt Dr. Emmett Brown’s suped-up DeLorean DMC-12 is the most awesome time machine ever created. Powered by a nuclear reactor and later a garbage consuming fusion reactor, the DeLorean used a flux capacitor and needed to reach a speed of 88 mph to travel through time. Due to its ability to travel through time, modifications from the future enabled the DeLorean to hover above the ground and to fly.
1. The Batmobile
There have been many interpretations of Batman’s iconic Batmobile and several of them are classics. Whether you’re a fan of the 60’s TV show model, the one from Tim Burton’s first two films or the Tumbler from Christopher Nolan’s trilogy, the Batmobile has always been one of Batman’s coolest toys. The popularity of the Batmobile is evidenced by how many fans clamour to get their picture taken at comic book conventions with a replica of Adam West and Burt Ward’s version of the car.
