Nerdful Things – My Favourite Vehicles From Movies and TV

I was watching Aliens the other night and a sudden pang of nostalgia hit me.  The first time I ever saw it was during the summer holidays when I was about six or seven years old.  I was staying at my Aunt and Uncle’s for a week and I spied the VHS tape on the shelf.  I remember my Aunt saying I should pick something else but I insisted.  I was blown away and it has remained one of my favourite films of all time.  I had never seen the original Alien until years later when it was on TV late at night.

Anyway, I digress.  Watching Aliens and seeing the APC that I used to wish I could drive and smash through Hadley’s Hope dishing out intergalactic justice on those ugly xenos made me think about the cool vehicles in movies and TV shows that I have adored.  My list is in no way me stating “these are the best, suck it“, I am merely listing my favourites from my childhood/early years.  The list is not in order of most to least favourite, these are just my favourites in no particular order.

As I mentioned before, kicking xeno ass in this beast would be immense.  It’s almost like a mash-up of various Batmobiles – sporting the greyish look of the Batman v Superman Batmobile crossed with Batman: The Animated Series…which, funnily enough is my next one…

I’m torn between this and my next one as to which is my favourite.   I was five years old when Tim Burton’s Batman was released and I always classed Michael Keaton as my  Batman but I spent a lot of my childhood watching and re-watching BTAS  Plus, I owned (and still have) the toy of it.

At the age of five, my father gave me Tim Burton’s Batman on VHS.  The only good thing he ever did for me.  I was awe-struck and soon developed a bit of an obsession with the bat.  This sleek car, complete with built-in weaponry and gadgets as well as remote control access was was, and still is, one of the best vehicles to grace the silver screen.  I wanted to show up to my wedding in this.  Sadly, it was way out of my price range.

Similar to Batman, I also fell in love with Ghostbusters.  Unlike Batman though, the animated series and the movie had the exact same vehicle.  The highly impractical Ecto-1 was a toy I wished I had as a kid.  One of my closest friends owned this along with the firehouse and I was super jealous.  I would love a Ghostbusters videogame to come out where  there’s a decent bit of driving around in this car.  Just hearing the siren gives me the goosebumps.

I’m not entirely sure on the name of this, if it even has one, but I fell in love with it when I first watched Tango & Cash.  It’s not a critically acclaimed movie nor is it deemed ‘good’ in most circles but it’s one of my favourite films – just stupid and fun.  And Teri Hatcher.  Oh, Teri… Anyhoo, this truck and its firepower was a thing of beauty and I would love to rip shit up tanking around in it!

Lastly, the DeLorean from Back to the Future.   I would be remiss  not to mention this iconic car from such a pivotal stage in movie history.  What kid (or adult) wouldn’t want a car that could travel through time at the princely speed of 88mph?

So, there we have it.  My fun little list of cars that gave me hours of a fun as a kid whether it was from watching them in action, playing with the toys or creating little stories and allowing my imagination to run wild – something I wish I was still capable of today.

What screen-famous cars did you love growing up?

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—The Trying Scotsman has a ‘Don’t Be A Dick’ policy that forbids, but is not limited to, personal insults toward anyone, hate speech, and trolling.—