Stranger Things
Stranger Things.
What makes it impressive to me is that they didn’t fall into the classic trap of period pieces.
Most street scenes in most period pieces populate the roads and parking lots with cool cars of that era. All the movies and TV shows based in the 50s have bright pastel colored tail finned cars that look to have about 30 coats of wax on them.
Stranger Things got it right (well other than Barbara’s car, but there’s a LOT of not right about how that character was treated). It’s supposed to be 1983. The parents generally own 5-10 year old cars. The cool car that is driven in 1984/85 by a high school student is a 79, or 6 year old Camaro. The street scenes and parking lots have a lot of dirty late 70s cars with some missing a hubcap or the like.
Which is reality. Imagine a show 30 years ago based in 2025 high school life. And half the parking lot was Hellcats and C8s with an occasional Telsa X or the like and not a single 2010 Camry in sight.
The thing is that Stranger Things Casting must have been hard. Finding a perfect 1983 325 Convertible is do-able in 2023. Finding a rusted out 4 door 1977 4 door sedan… not so doable, because that would have been scrapped
Have you considered that Steve might really just be that rich?
The Batman
The Batman (the most recent one with Pattinson) quietly had some brilliant car casting. Bruce Wayne showing up to a funeral in a C2 Corvette, Penguin driving a Quattroporte, the DA in his Lincoln. The scene where they are looking for clues in the garage had some pretty legit hardware in it too. On top of all of that, they took the Batmobile in a new direction that was sort of demon lovechild of a classic muscle car and a Dakar prerunner.
All of that mixed with insane Batman/Penguin chase scene has me convinced that somebody on the production team was a serious car person.
One of my first videos for Jalopnik was, when you really got down to it, just being horny for the Batmobile from this movie. I stand by that take.
Gattaca
I loved the cars in “Gattaca” at first sight. Every single one of them is gorgeous without being over the top. And the combo of futuristic e-sounds and greenish headlights still works perfectly for me.
I’m a big fan of colored headlights, though I do think they should be yellow. Can we do that to all cars now, to signify that we live in the future?
The Great Gatsby
The Great Gatsby, beautiful classics from the ’20s perfect match with the story and great cinematography. Honorable mention for the short lived HBO series, Perry Mason.
Gatsby has the advantage of being set in an era of truly beautiful cars. It’s cheating, really.
Robocop
The Ford Taurus in the original Robocop was a major change from the blocky cars of the 70’s to this more organic and rounded car. It really shaped a new generation of design.
I’m so thankful you specified the original Robocop here. I do not want to think about the other one.
Magnum PI
the entire cannonball run line up.
magnum PI. there is a guy in my area with a black 308. He drives it all the time and fully rocks the mustache. I even saw him with the short shorts on at the gas station.
station wagon from Better off dead (John Cusack)
I’d ask if it really counts as a Magnum PI reference if the car is black, but the mustache really seals the deal.
Breaking Bad
It’s been discussed ad nauseum, but Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul have some of the best car casting there is. Walt’s Aztek then his 300, Saul’s Esteem then his Cadillac, and even the Eclipse driven by Kim Wexler. Jesse had that low rider Monte Carlo at first, but then when he hooked up with Walter, he got that low profile Tercel. They’re all just perfect for each character.
Remember that time they paused the show to do a dubstep Chrysler ad? I remember that. No matter how hard I try, i’ll never forget that.
Mindhunter
The super creepy series Mindhunter NAILED the car casting. I also recently finished Dark Winds and that one was pretty good other than Longhorns Suburban being lifted and having a 90’s steering wheel. Love old period-correct cop cars.
Personally, I think if someone’s hunting minds in a vehicle, it should be a nautiloid. Maybe I’m just a traditionalist.
CHiPs
Pure 70’s cheese….CHiPs.The vehicles matched the characters perfectly.
The fact that none of these cars appear to be made from tortillas or potatoes makes me question the creators’ true commitment to chip accuracy.
Archer
Archer
Archer has the advantage of being sort of unmoored in time, which lets the creators pick and choose their favorite cars. They’ve got good taste.
Iron Man
Iron man. When he first rolled up in that V10 Audi R8, oof. That car just fit the character so well, it’s subtlety, beauty and tech. Then we have a scene in his Garage. you can see a Shelby, what I think is a Saleen S7, a Tesla roadster, and a couple of bikes. Interesting cast of vehicles.
Audi paid good money for Iron Man, and boy did it work. I still remember my first time seeing an R8 after the movie.
Glass Onion
Glass Onion.
The rich facing Bro Influencer D-bag has a 70 charger, 69 Mustang and a custom Harley, another drives an S Class.
There’s a Ducati Panigale V4S and the utlra rich Elon stand in has a “custom one off” car which is actually just a Porsche 918 Spyder with a Weissach package
I do still want to ride a Panigale V4S, that’s still on my bucket list, but a rich guy buying one as a display piece is so very on brand for rich guys.
True Detective
First season of True Detective.
I grew up in the Gulf Coast of Florida in the Nineties, it’s the only show I’ve ever seen that nailed life in that part of the country, and it was pretty much the same from Louisiana to Florida.
The cops rolled hard in unmarked Caprices and you could not throw a rock without hitting some 4x4s beat to hell but still running. Hell, even the riding mowers are correct.
If someone’s getting the lawn mowers right, you know they’re dedicated to an absurd degree.
Transformers
Here’s a different opinion. The original Transformers had a great cast of cars. From the at that time unreleased Camaro to the rest of the GM fleet of vehicles it featured
10-year-old Amber absolutely adored the Camaro from that movie. It was the coolest thing she’d ever seen at the time.
The Fast And The Furious
Millennium ones: Taxi (1998), Gone in 60 Seconds (2000), The Fast and the Furious (2001) & The Transporter (2002)
I still want every car from this movie. Nearly every car from this series, honestly. I want Mia’s Integra so incredibly badly.
