Like horses in westerns, no modern action thriller is complete without a trusty set of four wheels.
No decades took this principle to heart like the '70s and '80s, and they produced some of television's most classic rides.
Here are 10 pics of famous cars from the golden age of car shows.
1
DeLorean DMC12
Unfortunately, DeLorean was already a bankrupt company when its DMC 12 appeared in 1985’s cult classic, Back To The Future. An objectively poorly made car, the movie restored its reputation, but DeLorean wasn’t around to capitalize.
2
The '60s Batmobile
Based on a 1955 Lincoln Futura concept car, the first Batmobile ever put to screen still might be the prettiest. Gracing our screens from 1966-1968 in the Batman television series, Christopher Nolan’s bulky tanks have nothing on this.
3
The Bluesmobile
The Bluesmobile is a 1974 Dodge Monaco, used in The Blues Brothers. Supposedly a decommissioned squad car, it handles impossible stunts with relative ease.
4
The Munster Koach
This 18-foot-long monster of a vehicle was created using the bodies of three Model-T Fords. It featured across The Munsters’s two season run, shuttling the show’s odd family around.
5
Ford Gran Torino
Nicknamed the "Striped Tomato," this red and white Ford Gran Torino was front and center in plenty of Starsky & Hutch’s chases. What good is a 1975 action show without a wide-bodied muscle car?
6
K.I.T.T.
A character in the 1982 action show Knight Rider, K.I.T.T. is an artificial intelligence housed in the body of a modified Pontiac Firebird Trans Am. A second K.I.T.T. appeared in the similarly titled 2008 movie and show as a Ford Shelby GT500KR.
7
A-Team Van
The A-Team was an action adventure series that ran from 1983 to 1987. Like every special force, the A-Team needed a vehicle, and found it in the form of a GMC Vandora. It might have looked good, but surely it didn’t need a spoiler.
8
General Lee
You might have an easier time recognizing this Confederate car in the air than on the ground, as “General Lee” had a tendency to take dramatic jumps during its chases in The Dukes of Hazzard . Not a problem for this 1969 Dodge Charger.
9
Aston Martin DB5
There’s no on screen car quite like James Bond’s Aston Martin DB5, first seen in the third Bond installment, 1964’s Goldfinger. It was an instant classic, and has been the world’s coolest man’s go-to ever since.
10
Pontiac Trans-Am
With its signature firebird logo, the Pontiac Trans-Am was one of the most recognizable muscle cars of the 1970s. That made its 1977 iteration the perfect choice for Burt Reynolds in Smokey and the Bandit.
