Unless your movie’s a fantasy or set in a historical setting, it’s going to feature cars in some form or fashion. That’s just one of the many realities of cinema. And it’s not really that hard to figure out why that is when you think about it – movies are just a reflection of our daily lives, and in reality we use cars to get everywhere and do everything. Some countries, such as America (which, you know, produce 99.9% of all movies that the world cares about) rely so much on cars that public transportation is barely even mention! And since we, as human beings, have a tendency to like things which help us and we are exposed to often, is it any wonder why so many of us have a car fetish? Hollywood knows this perfectly well, and as such has attempted to turn certain cars into “icons” for quite a while, mostly for advertisement purposes. The majority of the time, their attempts are pretty laughable (yeah, take a shot whenever you watch a Marvel movie and see the characters driving a car with a very obvious logo on the front), but sometimes, in some very rare occasions, it actually works! Let’s take a look at the five most iconic vehicles from the big screen!

5. Herbie

Herbie is often considered to be the very first car icon of Hollywood, debuting in 1968 with “The Love Bug” and having a pretty successful career up until the modern day, with six movies under his belt. Of course, I’m referring to Herbie as a “him” instead of as “it” because he’s entirely sentient, capable of driving himself and even expressing himself! How is he sentient? Is it magic? Is it science? Is it the black arts? Is it the power of love? Is it bored Disney executives looking for a new live action hit? I don’t know! It doesn’t matter! What matters is that, through some unknown means, we got an unshakeable movie icons that made Volkswagen Beetles everywhere look just a little bit cuter. Herbie would go on to drive on the road to a love bug empire… Right up until a movie starring Lindsay Lohan put him in the scrapheap in 2005. We’ll never forget you, Herbie!

4. Bond’s Aston Martin

Bond has driven a whole lot of cars over his 24 movies – I mean, that’s kind of his thing! In every movie he’s got his toys, his girl and his car. The tradition has been going on since the 60s, so naturally, we’ve got a whole lot of toys, girls and cars to choose from when picking favorites. My personal favorites, in that order, are the crocodile suit from “Octopussy” (which was actually referenced with a very similar item in one of my favorite games, “Metal Gear Solid 3”), Pussy Galore from “Goldfinger” (because come on now), and, of course, the Aston Martin, which is so popular and so beloved that it has appeared in twelve movies in the franchise – that’s literally half! I’m not going to go into too much detail about it because I already wrote an entire article about it, but let’s just say, it’s a thing of beauty! If your heart didn’t skip a beat when Bond unveiled it again in “Skyfall”, you’re not a real fan.

3. ECTO-1

When there’s something straaaaange in your neighborhood, who you gonna call? Well, whoever it is, they better have a damn fine ride with which to arrive! Leaving the 60s for a little bit, we’re moving onto the 80s, which were another incredibly iconic decade for, uh… Practically everything, really. We got some of the best music, some of the best cars, some of the best music, some of the best everything in that decade! Honestly, when I think of the 80s, there’s two movies that pop into my mind, one of which we’ll get to a little bit later, and the other is “Ghostbusters”, the comedy that started a franchise… Which died pretty much instantly the moment the terrible sequel was released. Awkward. But hey, on the bright side, we got one of the coolest cars ever! In the movie, the Ghostbusters kind of cobble their equipment together from whatever it is that they’ve got available, and their vehicle really portrays that – the thing does not look safe to drive whatsoever, but at least it looks cool as hell!

2. The DeLorean

“The way I see it, if you’re gonna build a time machine into a car, why not do it with some style?” You know what, Doc Brown? I absolutely agree with you. When you hear the word “time machine”, what’s the first image that pops into your brain? I’m willing to bet that it’s either a blue police box or a silver car with gullwing doors! It’s definitely not… Whatever the hell they used in the 2002 movie “The Time Machine”. Can you remember without looking it up? I sure as hell can’t, because it just wasn’t as stylish as travelling back in time in one of the coolest cars ever invented! Indeed, the time machine from “Back to the Future” made DeLoreans so popular that they’re still the most sought-after cars out there, thirty years after the movie’s release! They’ve become a symbol of pop culture, appearing everywhere from books like “Ready Player One” to videogames like “Hotline Miami”. You can’t stop the DeLorean, and frankly, you shouldn’t. It’s the coolest car on the planet, and the best way to travel through time! But if the coolest car ever is only No. 2 on this list, what could possibly be No. 1?

1. The Batmobile

Yep, the top spot could only be taken by a car that is literally so cool it couldn’t possibly exist (because it’d cost roughly $10 million to construct). There’s no doubt in my mind whatsoever that the Batmobile is the most iconic movie vehicle ever! Which one? All of them! The 1960s car, as goofy as it was, was actually what gave food to the notion that Batman should have his specialized Bat-themed car (throughout his early history Batman just used whatever normal car he used). Then we have the Tumbler from “Batman Begins” and “The Dark Knight”, which did what Christopher Nolan’s Batman movies did in general and brought a very goofy concept into a realistic setting by essentially turning the Batmobile into a Bat-Tank. But by far the best-looking one is the Tim Burton Batmobile, which looks stylish as hell. No other car has even come close to looking as remarkably good as that version of the Batmobile, and perhaps none ever will again. I can’t think of any other vehicle more worthy of the No. 1 spot!