TOP TEN MOVIE CARS

Cars.com staff picks the top ten movie cars. Shot and produced by: Alex Braun, Sarah Gersh and Eric Rossi Edited by: Lindsay Bjerregaard and Alex Braun

CORGI: STARSKY AND HUTCH FORD GRAN TORINO

The red and white ‘Starsky and Hutch Ford Gran Torino’ capitalized on the highly successful American ‘cop’series and captured the imagination well. However, its contours were a little crude and the wheels were far too small. The white stripe label was also prone to being poorly aligned. Early versions of this 1/35th scale model had clear windows and a yellow interior, and featured posed figures of Dave Starsky and Ken Hutchinson apprehending a suspect. Later versions had solid black windows without any interior or figures, but it did gain twin rear aerials due to the casting being altered slightly for the Corgi Torino Road Hog. Production ceased in 1985/86. A limited run included the Junior version in the same box.

1976 Ford Gran Torino "Starsky & Hutch" Diecast Car Model 1/18 Die Cast Car by ERTL

McHENRY's TRIKE IN MAGIC ROUNDABOUT

To complement the earlier 'Magic Roundabount Car', corgi produced a complete range of vehicles, figures and setting that included the 'Mr.McHenry's Trike' (no.859). The Trike, also plastic and finished in red, featured Mr McHenry at the controls and Zebedee inside a working Jack in the box trailer that was permanently coupled. The real finishing touch, though, was the 'Playground' diorama that included a musical carousel and an assortment of figures. The car, train and trike were able to run on the racked road system that ran around the edge of the layout. An excellent, well portrayed range available for only one year and now extremely rare.

CHARLIE'S ANGELS CHEVROLET VAN

Charlie's Angels is a television series about three women who work for a private investigation agency, and is one of the first shows to showcase women in roles traditionally reserved for men. The series was broadcast in the USA on the ABC Television Network from 1976 to 1981 and was one of the most successful series of the 1970s. Charlie's Angels was created by Ivan Goff and Ben Roberts and produced by Aaron Spelling and Leonard Goldberg. In pre-production, the original proposed title was The Alley Cats.
Three women, the Angels (originally Kate Jackson, Farrah Fawcett-Majors, and Jaclyn Smith), graduated from the Los Angeles police academy only to be assigned such duties as handling switch boards and traffic. They quit and were hired to work for the Charles Townsend Agency as private investigators. Their boss, Charlie (voiced by John Forsythe), is never seen full face — in some episodes the viewer gets to see the back of his head and his arms, talking through a phone while surrounded by beautiful women — assigning cases to the Angels and his liaison, Bosley (played by David Doyle), via a speaker phone.

Charlie's Angels is episodic in nature, as opposed to serial, thus each episode shows the Angels finding themselves in new situations in which they would go undercover to investigate. The undercover aspect of the show creates much of the plot interest and tension. In the early seasons of the show, the Angels, under their assumed identities, use a combination of sexual wiles and knowledge learned for the situation in which they are being placed, but by the third and fourth seasons, the writing has a tendency to stray from the sex appeal and focus more on the case at hand.

The Chevrolet van was the basis of quite a few TV related models. The first and by far the best was the bright pink ‘Charlie’s Angels silhouette logo emblazoned on each body side. Opening rear doors and transparent roof panels served to display the cardboard custom interior of this 1/40th scale van which could be found with either solid or four-spoke whizzwheels. A very tastefully produced model that lasted until 1981. See more.

JAMES BOND'S LOTUS ESPRIT

'James Bond's Lotus Esprit' from the film "The Spy Who Loved Me", was modelled by corgi in its undersea guise with wheels covered and windows shuttered. The stabilisers and fins were retractable, but once retracted the model look odd, as the road wheels were not modelled. Small whizzwheels tucked under the chassis served only to allow the model to glide a couple of millimetres from the floor. the 007 label on the bonnet did not appear on the real car, again for obvious reasons, but the salvo ofb rockets that could be fired from the rear window was authentic. A nice model, and always very popular, it was finished in white to 1/36th scale. It is easily found quite cheaply today, as it was available until 1984. See more

OLDSMOBILE STARFIRE FROM THE MAN FROM UNCLE

The Man from U.N.C.L.E. is an American television series that was broadcast on NBC from September 22, 1964, to January 15, 1968. There were 105 episodes created by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer that made up this series. The first season was broadcast in black-and-white.
The series centered on a two-man troubleshooting team for a fictitious secret international law-enforcement agency, the United Network Command for Law and Enforcement (U.N.C.L.E.): American Napoleon Solo (Robert Vaughn), and Russian Illya Kuryakin (David McCallum). Leo G. Carroll played Alexander Waverly, the British head of the organization (Number One of Section One). Lisa Rogers (Barbara Moore) joined the cast as a female regular in the fourth season.

Here is the Corgi model 1961 Oldsmobile Starfire from ‘Man from UNCLE Thrushbuster’. The Thrushbuster as modelled featured of Napoleon Solo and Ilya Kuryakin seated within, and by pressing the roof-mounted periscope, both would ‘shoot’ their pistols through the open side windows.

Rotating spot-lamps (which seem to be well over-scale) were sited on each front wing and a label depicting the UNCLE logo was affixed to the bonnet. This latter feature never actually appeared on any UNCLE vehicles for obvious reasons, but it does add to the appeal of the model, giving it a sort of identity. For good measure the logo was also cast onto the baseplate and three bullet holes adorned the windscreen. Earliest and rarest versions were finished in a creamy-white with a matching interior, whilst all later versions were a metallic dark blue (almost purple) with a yellow interior. A casting difference is evident between the white and the blue versions, the later castings having a raised-relief rectangle on the bonnet to facilitate the application of the UNCLE label.

THE 'JAMES BOND ASTON MARTIN'

The ‘James Bond Aston Martin’ first saw the light of day in the film Goldfinger; it was the title of the film that resulted in the model being finished in metallic gold instead of the proper metallic silver in which it appeared in the film. At 96mm long, this was the smallest of three eventual versions and was to 1/48th scale. James Bond was seated in the red interior along with a passenger which could be ejected through the flip roof section. A front ram, machine guns and rear bullet shield were the other operating features. Apart from the colour, the model at first glance seems to be well portrayed, even to the spoked wheels. Closer examination reveals that this is, however, Corgi’s old DB4 model with the front end re-tooled to resemble a DB5. The rear end is unaltered. This hybrid model lasted until 1968 when it was superceded by a larger and more accurate version

CORGI TOYS - POPEYE'S PADDLE WAGON

Popeye's Paddle Wagon was another cartoon based model, but its authenticity this time is in question. Nevertheless it is still a beautiful model with its own particular charm and although it was available for three years, it is a ver y rare item today. The body was finished in yellow with a red chassis and a white deck, and as the vessel was moved along, the figures of Popeye and Olive Oyl would rock from side to side, the head of Bluto and Wimpy would move up and down in the pistons on each side of the smoke stack, whilst the figure of Sweet Pea could be lowered from the rear cradle in his small life boat. Half car, half paddle boat, this imaginative model even in cluded a rope and anchor on the front running boards and tins of spinach lined up at the rear.

'JOE 90' TV SERIES

Joe 90 is a 1968 television series concerning the adventures of a nine-year-old boy, Joe McClaine, set in the years 2012-13. Devised by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson, a single season of thirty 25-minute episodes was completed, and it was the last show to be made exclusively using a form of puppetry called "Supermarionation". It was created for Lew Grade's ITC Entertainment by Century 21 Productions (by this time also under Grade's ownership), and was first broadcast on the British ITV network by Associated Television.

CAPTAIN SCARLET TV SERIES - MAXIMUM SECURITY VEHICLE

One of three vehicles released from the ‘Captain Scarlet’ TV series was the ‘Maximum Security Vehicle’. With a white body, red base and side stripes, it featured opening gull wing doors with access to the red interior and ‘radio-active’ packing case. This 1/48th scale model is an accurate representation in all but colour, as the vehicles in the series were silver-grey with an orange stripe. No variations were noted in its eight year run, except possibly a speed wheel version with a blue interior, said to have been released on a blister card around 1975. See more.