Photograph Courtesy RM Sotheby's
Ask anyone what their favorite car from a television show or a movie is, and chances are they'll name something like a DeLorean DMC-12, a Toyota AE86 or a 1977 Pontiac Trans-Am Special Edition–cars that are exponentially more recognizable by the non-enthusiast public than most cars popular in our scene.
While we like that these vehicles can act as a link between automotive enthusiasts and everyone else, their popularity can often bring unwanted attention virtually everywhere they go–people wanting to take pictures, get up close and tell the owner stories when all they wanted to do was grab a few things from the store after a long day.
What are some other cars that are harder to enjoy because of their pop culture status? Also, if you've ever owned one of these cars, what was the experience like?
Mk4 Supra. I mean I get that they are pretty good cars, but I'm not convinced they would be nearly as valuable if it weren't for a certain movie series hyping them up. These days they have far surpassed the actual value and are over-priced garage queens IMO.
I saw a Mk4 Supra the other day, it looked to be completely stock. I think it was a Supra, it looked awfully small. But all the 90s cars do today and it's hard to mistake that wing.
AE86. They were a great Locost donor until the drift tax.
I always liked the 240SX, specifically the S14. Good looking little RWD coupe. And then the drifters discovered them and beat them all up.
Even though they were merely featured in the films and were not the hero cars, S13s and DSMs.
The reason being that on the scale of performance capability versus price they were in the attainable range of the audience of the films while being more capable then the B15 Sentra and MK3 Jetta, which were also featured in the films. It's not so much that they were initially priced out of the market it's that clean unmolested ones disappeared.
911T from The Big Chill. Damn I wanted to be a drug dealer with one nut.
EDIT: I read the question wrong and went with one that I love more due to a movie.
I can't really think of any that I do not like due to pop icon status...
In reply to Keith Tanner :
Both my son and I were looking for a 240Sx; we thought it could be a fun car to lightly modify. Finding one that hadn't been plagued with the craptastifiction / drift tax was a real uphill battle. For the same 8K budget he found a nicely modded Lexus LS400. He's spent another $1500 rectifying a few things (exhaust was beat to hell from it being to low).
In reply to Keith Tanner :
I remember someone pulling out the 4AGE from an AE86 to drop it in an MR2. They're probably kicking themselves by now.
68-70 Dodge Chargers. A good looking car made more desirable thanks to a certain TV series as well as more than a few movie roles. I could have bought one in the early 90's, but it would have stretched me a bit. Now prices are so far out of reach it's not likely I'll ever own one.
JAdams said:Mk4 Supra. I mean I get that they are pretty good cars, but I'm not convinced they would be nearly as valuable if it weren't for a certain movie series hyping them up. These days they have far surpassed the actual value and are over-priced garage queens IMO.
To a degree, yes, but the turbo ones have always been expensive. As is usually the case with car values, it's about rarity -- they only brought about 7000 turbo mk4 Supras to the US over the whole production run. That's the lowest numbers of any of the 90s "Japanese supercars", even the 1st gen NSX has more than that.
Vista Cruiser
Ian F (Forum Supporter) said:68-70 Dodge Chargers. A good looking car made more desirable thanks to a certain TV series as well as more than a few movie roles. I could have bought one in the early 90's, but it would have stretched me a bit. Now prices are so far out of reach it's not likely I'll ever own one.
This particular problem was made worse by all the Chargers destroyed by the show itself.
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