Cars in Movies Trivia Questions & Answers

Answer: Volkswagen Beetle

Herbie was a 1963 Volkswagen Beetle, painted pearl white with a red, white and blue stripe running over top of the car from bumper to bumper. His racing number was 53.
Although designed as the people's car, the distinctive and much loved Beetle was used by the German Army as military vehicles during the Second World War.

Answer: Ferrari 250 GT California

Only a handful of these cars were ever made and the one featured in the movie is in fact a replica.
The movie centres around a day in the life of a school boy with the gift of the gab, who fakes an illness to get the day off and really makes the most of it by going to Chicago with his best mate and his girlfriend. They have the best day of their lives and everybody comes out of it a more rounded person than they started.

Answer: Aston Martin

Various Aston Martins have appeared in Bond films over the years, however it is the DB5 mostly strongly associated with the fictional spy. It first appeared in the Bond movie "Goldfinger" in 1964. In the 2021 film, the DB5 (complete with M134 miniguns in its headlight housings, a mine dispenser and smokescreen generator) is joined by three other Aston Martin models: a Vantage, a DBS Superleggera and a Valhalla. The image shows a DB5.

Answer: Back to the Future

Marty McFly is a 1980's teenager who accidentally gets sent back to 1955 in his friend 'Doc' Emmet's DeLorean time machine. Unfortunately Marty bumps into his future parents and prevents them meeting as his mother is actually more smitten with Marty than his father. Marty's dilemma - how to get his parents to meet up, and how to make his way back home to 1985.
Six DeLoreans were used in the making of the "Back to the Future" series, plus a seventh all fibreglass model for exterior shots and airborne scenes. Following the movie release, body kits were sold which made DeLoreans look like time machines.

Answer: He got out of the cab and followed the car on foot

In "The Return of the Pink Panther", Inspector Clouseau is called in when the famous diamond is stolen again. The cabby following the car on foot has become a classic variation on the original theme.

In "A Shot in the Dark", a previous film in the franchise, Inspector Clouseau told the driver of a police car to return to headquarters. The driver did so, before the Inspector got in the car. This is yet another variation on the same theme.

Answer: Two Lane Blacktop

Monte Hellman directed James Taylor, Dennis Wilson, Warren Oates and Laurie Bird in "Two Lane Blacktop". Oates was referred to as G.T.O. and Dennis Wilson played a character referred to as The Mechanic. Taylor and Wilson portrayed a pair of drifters roaming around in a 1955 Chevrolet 150 challenging people to drag races. Oates' character challenged them to a race across country against his GTO with their respective cars as prizes. The plot also involved their relationship with a hitchhiker played by Laurie Bird, simply called The Girl. Dennis Wilson missed several summer concerts with the Beach Boys in 1970 while filming the movie. The film did not receive the support of the studio for promotion so it didn't do well upon release. Two of the 1955 Chevrolets used in the film were later featured in "American Graffiti" in 1973.
"The Young Racers" was a 1963 movie about a Grand Prix champ starring William Campbell.
"The Wild Racers" (1968) starred Fabian as a driver who gave up stock car racing to race in the Spanish Grand Prix.
"Thunder Alley" was another Fabian movie released in 1967 that paired Fabian with Annette Funicello. Fabian played a driver who struggled to get back into the circuit after causing a fatal accident while racing.

Answer: BMW Convertible

The car used in this film is the first luxury vehicle Daniel Miller purchased, in the short history of his life. It was technically a 325iS (2.5 liter) inline 'sport' or convertible. In the auto dealership, Miller was first shown the 750, a much bigger model, and then pointed to his own (smaller) reserved vehicle. "I wish you didn't show me the 750 first." Spoiler: The vehicle came complete with a CD player in the sound system, use of which created the distraction which lead to his collision with an oncoming bus.

Answer: Dodge Challenger

Kowalski was driving to San Francisco in a white 1970 Dodge Challenger which belonged to a car delivery service.
Dodge Challengers were only built between 1970 and 1974 and were based on the Plymouth Barracuda.

Answer: Pontiac Trans Am

The Trans Am "Firebird" (so called because of the large image of a Phoenix rising from the flames emblazoned on the bonnet) is always black with gold detailing, in all three movies.
The film follows the "Bandit" (Burt Reynolds), who is hired to escort a consignment of beer into a "dry" county. Throughout the journey he is pursued by a hapless sheriff and his troops, but needless to say the Bandit always has the last laugh.

Answer: Taxi

"BASEketball" was a 1998 sports comedy film in which professional stock car driver Dale Earnhardt made a cameo appearance as a taxi driver. At one point he was asked if he could drive any faster. That fare ended with him deploying a drag racing chute to slow down at the destination. The taxi bore his racing number, no. 3.

Answer: The Love Bug

Jim Douglas, a past his prime racecar driver, becomes the owner of a Volkswagen Beetle (Herbie) which can drive itself. Once Jim lets Herbie do his thing on the racetrack, he is on his way to winning the championship, despite the efforts of his less than sporting rivals.
To make Herbie appear to be self-driving the producers installed a system of cogs and pulleys for a driver sitting in the rear seat (out of camera view) to steer and control the car with. Dean Jones, who plays the part of the race driver in the movie, owns the only surviving, fully tricked out Herbie capable of squirting oil and opening its own doors. The racing number "53" was chosen by one of the producers who was a fan of baseball player Don Drysdale.

Answer: He is stealing the car

The Fab Four go by train, from Liverpool to London, to perform a concert that is to be recorded for posterity. Led astray by Paul's grandfather, Ringo goes missing in London and the chase is on!

Answer: Back to the Future

Christopher Lloyd and Michael J. Fox teamed up for Robert Zemeckis' "Back to the Future". This 1985 movie was produced by Stephen Spielberg and was a great success, topping the charts for eleven weeks. The film had two sequels and won one Academy Award (for Best Sound Editing, but, a win is a win).

The story of "Back to the Future" tells of teenaged Marty McFly who gets sent from 1985 back to 1955, accidentally, after seeing his friend Doc Brown get killed by Libyan terrorists. Marty ends up changing how his parents first met and altering the timeline of his own reality. Marty must team up with the 1955 Doc Brown in order to send himself back to his present while fixing the timeline and making sure his parents fall in love.

Answer: The Indianapolis 500

In "Roar of the Crowd" Howard Duff's character promised his fiancée that if he got to race in the Indianapolis 500 he'd give up racing. He was injured in a qualifying race and went to work as a salesman for a parts company. His wife eventually changed her mind and in the finale, Duff eventually raced in the Indianapolis 500. The movie included small parts for actual drivers Henry Banks, Johnnie Parsons, Duke Nalon and Manuel Ayulo. Duff's first film role was in 1947 in "Brute Force". He went on to appear in several notable films, radio shows and television series. In 1971 he played Dustin Hoffman's attorney in "Kramer vs. Kramer". His granddaughter is actress Hilary Duff.
Helene Stanley began acting at age 14 under the name of Dolores Diane. She retired from films after doing voice-over work in One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961)when her son was born.
In 1932 a film called "The Crowd Roars" starring James Cagney as a champion driver was one of the first talking films to feature auto racing as the central theme.

Answer: Ford F-150

We saw Paul Walker's character, Brian O'Connor driving a red Ford F-150 company vehicle shortly after he wrecked his Mitsubishi Eclipse in the first race of the movie. The vehicle was apparently used as a parts delivery truck, and wasn't seen much thereafter.

Answer: Ford Gran Torino

David Starsky's car of choice, for undercover policework, was a bright red Ford Gran Torino with a very conspicuous white stripe down the side. It was probably not the best choice of car for undercover work but the "Striped Tomato" was a great looking car. Torinos were first produced in 1968, but the 1974 to 1976 models were the ones used in "Starsky and Hutch".

Answer: Jaguar XJ12

The Jag ends up being used to trap Shaun's zombified step father, and the rest of the gang have to set off on foot.
Shaun of the Dead is a British comedy take on the classic zombie genre; it places zombies into the mundane world of a shop worker, and turns him from a useless layabout into a dynamic leader of men. He wins back his girlfriend, and lives happily ever after, when all the zombies have been sorted out.

Answer: Ford Anglia

It was a 1962 Ford Anglia 105E that received the flying car treatment from the wizard Arthur Weasley. In reality, the engine was removed and it was mounted on a crane for filming purposes. Various Anglias were used during filming - some were cut in half for in-car filming, others had racing engines fitted and some were destroyed to a greater or lesser extent to simulate the 'Whomping Willow' scene.