Times Five
Damien O’Carroll looks at some famous pop culture cars and the ones that missed out.
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. Although the Series 62 is cool, a massive luxo-boat really isn’t Batman’s style, which is something the producers finally figured out. Instead, Hollywood car customiser George Barris nabbed the unproduced Lincoln Futura concept car off Ford, painted it black, added some tail fins and a bunch of bat features 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. The three Minis were incredibly close to being replaced with Fiat 500s because, although the British Motor Corporation 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.
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 several of the original books. However, if you are a more pedantic one you would know that by the time the late 50s 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 then yet in production, so the cars in the movie are actually DB4s with DB5 bodies.
Magnum P.I.
During the development of a thennew 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 Tom Selleck was too tall to fit easily – and because they wanted aerial shots with the actor on show – the car would have to have a removeable hardtop installed. Porsche refused to allow this, so the producers had to look for alternatives and Ferrari was 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 custommade to be a loveable movie character, it seems that when the classic 1968 movie that would be called The Love Bug was being planned, producers didn’t 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 manufacturers could show their cars to Disney executives and crew who would be working on the movie. Toyotas, Volvos and a TVR were some of the cars that took part, but the VW Beetle was the only car to elicit an emotional reaction from the crew. And a decision was made.