7 Lightning Facts about Cars from the Big Screen

In case you haven’t noticed by now, we really do like to talk about cars. And, when we’re having a break from talking about our awesome lease deals, you’ll find us nerding out over all the famous cars in movies – the real stars of the show!

You can’t quite beat the 1975 Lotus Espirit, which turns into a submarine in The Spy Who Loved Me or when the turquoise Ford Anglia 105E starts flying in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.

Fasten your seatbelts and pass the popcorn. We’re about go on one hell of a ride.

1. The original 1966 Batmobile sold for £3.8 million in 2010

The OG Batmobile was designed by Hollywood car builder George Barris. He created it out of Ford’s concept car – the 1955 Lincoln Futura – which was eventually sold at auction for a whopping £3.8 million.

That’s batsh*t crazy!

2. The first Ford Mustang appeared on the big screen in 1964

Incoming: another Ford.

The 1964 Mustang – the first of its kind – made a debut appearance in Goldfinger, the third film in the James Bond series.

Whilst we can’t lease you the original Mustang, we do have some pretty good alternatives.

Browse our Mustang Convertible lease cars now.

3. 532 cars were destroyed in Transformers: Dark of the Moon

You’re probably thinking that’s a hefty amount of perfectly good cars ruined – we were alarmed too!

The 532 cars had been donated to the movie as they were flood damaged.

By law, the cars would have been destroyed anyway, so they may as well have fun with them first.

4. Actors in The Italian Job did a lot of their own stunts

The 2003 re-make saw the actors doing a lot of their own stunt driving after very intense training.

32 Minis were used in production but only three were seen in the film. When it comes to The Italian Job, the Mini Coopers really are the stars of the show.

We have a marvellous Mini selection available to lease. FYI, we do not condone stunts in any of our lease cars – soz.

5. The Ecto-1 conked out for real in Ghostbusters II

In the opening scenes of Ghostbusters II, the smoke rising from the Ecto-1 was not a special effect. In fact, the Ecto-1 – based on the 1959 Cadillac Futura Duplex – became particularly unreliable in the second film.

The infamous mobile even broke down on Brooklyn Bridge causing a major traffic jam. Not everyone can say that they sat in traffic caused by the Ghostbusters.

6. The most expensive car in The Fast and Furious franchise appeared in Furious 7

Now it wouldn’t be a post on cars in movies without touching on one of the many, many impressive cars from the Fast and Furious films.

We found out which one broke the bank the most. Costing a whopping £2.8 million, the 2013 W Motors Lykan Hypersport is the first-ever car to have 440 diamonds embedded in its headlights.

Unfortunately, we don’t have any diamond embellished cars for you to lease. We’ll make a note.

7. The DeLorean was not part of the original Back to the Future script

It seems criminal to imagine Doc Brown without the legendary DeLorean in Back to the Future. Surprisingly, in the original script the time machine was going to be a fridge.

Would the fridge time machine become as huge a symbol of 80s pop culture as the DeLorean has?

We’re glad the time machine was changed to something on four wheels instead – it’s a lot more up our street. Plus, it’s one of the most beloved cars in movies, leading to plenty of iconic quotes – ‘Roads? Where we're going, we don't need roads.’

We’ve heard leasing a car from ZenAuto is the next best thing to starring in a movie where you get to drive around in an unbelievable car. Sounds legit.

Just Zen it.