Top 10: Best car films

1

Vanishing Point (1971)

Pill-popping Vietnam-vet ex-race car driver Stanley Kowalski fires across Death Valley in a souped-up, 1970 two-door Dodge Challenger, for no other reason than he fancies the challenge. With plenty of influences from the 1960s — namely the use of recreational drugs and a naked woman on a motorcycle — Kowalski sets off on the epic challenge of driving from Denver to San Francisco in less than 24 hours.

Mixing chases and stunts with spectacular desert scenery and soul music, Vanishing Point is a classic road movie that will have you dreaming of thundering V8s and driving for the fun of it. The Dodge Challengers were prepared by Max Balchowsky, the same genius who prepared the vehicles for Bullitt, and no modifications were made other than uprated suspension for the jumps.

Fun fact: (Spoiler alert) The car that runs into the bulldozers in the final scene was actually a Chevrolet Camaro with its engine and gearbox removed and towed by one of the Challengers.

Buy it now

Vanishing Point [1971] [DVD]

£17.95

3

Gone in 60 Seconds (1974)

Forget about Nicholas Cage; this the original 1974 film which was written, directed, produced and starred H.B. Halicki — he even did most of the stunt driving in the film too. The film is about insurance investigator Maindrian Pace, who has an illegal side business ‘ringing’ cars. He's approached by a drug lord to steal a list of 48 vehicles. Pace’s efforts end up centred around a Mustang named Eleanor as the police close in.

Filmed on a tiny budget — many of the cars appear in several scenes because Halicki could only afford so many vehicles — the production values are low but the authenticity is high. Many of the crashes and spills happened for real, and Halicki injured himself several times during filming. A definite must for the true enthusiast with a 40-minute car chase in the final act.

Fun fact: In filming all of the stunts in the film Halicki suffered broken ribs, a broken leg and ten compressed vertebrae following the final jump.

5

The Italian Job (1969)

Michael Caine, sporting a cockney accent, organises a heist to steal $4 million in Mafia gold located in Turin using red, white and blue Mini Coopers. The charming classic is silly, but endearing, with the success of the current MINI Cooper owing a lot to The Italian Job and the 2003 remake.

The epic car chase through the streets of Turin, Italy is well loved by both film buffs and car enthusiasts alike. But the famous car chase through the sewers, in which the robbers try to throw off the police, was actually filmed in Coventry. Though the mafia actually shut down whole sections of Turin for filming, resulting in the real traffic jams you see in the movie, as well as the reactions of the drivers.

Fun fact: Each of the three Mini Coopers would have had to carry about 1070kg (2300lb) for the film's $4 million dollar heist - in addition to the driver and passenger. Since a 1968 Mini only weighs 630kg (1400lb), each of these vehicles would have realistically had to carry one and a half times its own weight in gold.

Buy it now

The Italian Job - 50th Anniversary Edition [Blu-ray] [1969] [Region Free]

£7.99

7

Death Proof (2007)

Death Proof is Quentin Tarantino’s homage to low-budget slasher films, inspired by stunt men who death-proofed cars to survive crashes in films. Though an unusual choice in this list, it fantastically mixes horror, car stunts and a generally bizarre premise - that of a a stunt driver (Kurt Russell) who enjoys killing carloads of unsuspecting women.

Filled with extended scenes of seemingly irrelevant dialogue and violent action - especially in the chase scene between the 1970 Chevy Nova and a 1969 Dodge Charger - it's a typical Tarantino-esque experimental movie, though not everyone will like it (as it's mediocre Rotten Tomatoes score suggests). Tarantino once said, "Death Proof has got to be the worst movie I ever make. And for a left-handed movie, that wasn’t so bad."

Fun fact: One of the main characters in the movie (the one that's stuck on the bonnet of the Dodge Charger in the chase scene) is a professional stunt woman named Zoe Bell, played by professional stunt woman Zoe Bell. She had never acted before, but she had worked with Tarantino on Kill Bill as Uma Thurman's stunt woman.

Buy it now

Death Proof (Two-Disc Edition) [DVD]

£6.97

9

The Cannonball Run (1981)

Possibly one of the slowest-starting films ever made, The Cannonball Run eventually gets into gear and delivers a mix of tongue-in-cheek comedy and outlandish stunts that has never been bettered. Inspired by the actual race of the same name and written by Brock Yeats, a US automotive journalist who helped conceive the race itself, the film contains many elements taken from the real races including the idea of using a heavily-modified ambulance as an unstoppable racer.

Starring Burt Reynolds, Farrah Fawcett, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr, Jackie Chan and Roger Moore playing a brilliantly self-deprecating version of himself, The Cannonball Run delivers laughs and thrills by the truckload.

Fun fact: Director Hal Needham included a gag reel at the end of the film after it proved so popular on a previous film, Smokey and the Bandit II - also starring Burt Reynolds.

Buy it now

The Cannonball Run [Blu-ray]

£10.99