YOU'VE drooled over them on the screen – but unless you've got more money than God/Elon Musk, you can pretty much forget about putting any of the most famous movie and TV cars in your garage.
By way of proof, insurance giants Hagerty have just unveiled their new Power List, which includes the top 10 screen-used 'star cars' sold at auction ranked by their added value – or 'delta' – over and above equivalent non-famous vehicles.
We're talking hefty six and even seven-figure sums here, so read on to discover which movie cars have mattered most under the hammer...
10) Fast and Furious: 1994 Toyota Supra
THE 1994 Toyota Supra driven by the late Paul Walker in both The Fast and The Furious in 2001 and 2 Fast 2 Furious in 2003 sold for $550,000 (£394,237), representing a hefty movie margin/mark-up of 784 per cent.
9) Batman: 1966 George Barris Batmobile
The original 1966 George Barris Batmobile sold for $4.62 million (£2.91m) at the Barrett-Jackson West World Auction in 2013. Hagerty's statisticians calculate that it fetched 25,928 per cent more than the Lincoln on which it was based would have done at the time.
8) Ghostbusters: 1959 Cadillac Miller-Meteor Ambulance
Who you gonna call if you want to see a spooky 577 per cent gain on a 1959 Cadillac? Ghostbusters, of course. At the 2010 Barret-Jackson auction in Scottsdale one of three original Ecto 1 wagons bought by Universal Studios and autographed by the cast sold for $88,000 (£53,900).
7) The Thomas Crown Affair: Myers Manx, Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow
The Thomas Crown Affair is the first of two films where Steve McQueen's magic touch sends prices soaring. At Bonham's San Francisco sale in 2006, bids for the titular character's Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow coupé with bodywork by Mulliner Park Ward hit £36,715 – a delta of 371 per cent – and in 2020 the screen-used Myers Manx buggy made £352,887 at Bonham's Amelia Island, a 640 per cent McQueen mark-up.
6) Herbie: 1963 VW Beetle
Volkswagen Beetle prices go bananas when you throw Herbie into the mix. At Barrett-Jackson's Palm Beach sale in 2018 a 1963 VW that featured in 1972's Herbie Goes Bananas fetched £82,123 – 609 per cent more than the average bug would have achieved.
5) Rain Man: 1949 Buick Roadmaster
In their 1988 hit Rain Man, Dustin Hoffman and Tom Cruise take a trans-American road trip in a mint 1949 Buick Roadmaster. When Hoffman auctioned one of two screen-used cars in January of this year, it had barely been driven in three decades.
"The Buick's been in storage too long. It should be driven, enjoyed, and cherished," he said, shortly before it sold for £303,717 – a 631 per cent delta. Which, ironically, probably makes it too valuable to ever be driven again.
4) Wayne's World: 1976 AMC Pacer
It was definitely 'party time' at the Barrett-Jackson Scottsdale auction in January, as the 1976 AMC Pacer from Wayne's World hit a truly excellent price of £64,823 – a staggering 1,053 per cent more than a provenance-free Pacer would have fetched. That's one serious Mirth Mobile margin.
3) Smokey & The Bandit: 1977 Pontiac Firebird Trans-Am
There have only been four sales of Bandit 'birds since 2009. As a result, the average price is 1,544 per cent higher than for a vintage Firebird not handled by Burt Reynolds. Bandit Trans-Ams have flown since that first sale when a buyer bagged one for £34,798 – the latest price achieved, at Barret-Jackson Scottsdale in 2022, was £448,776. Now that's a 'speedy' car.
2) Risky Business: 1979 Porsche 928
"Porsche: there is no substitute." Tom Cruise quoting the German sports car maker's ad line in 1983's Risky Business guaranteed the 928 cult status, but while Cruise's character boasts of making $8,000 in a single night, that's nothing compared to how much one of the 1979 hero cars earned at Barret-Jackson, Houston in September 2021: an extraordinary £1,440,105 – up by 4,759 per cent on a standard 928 of the era.
1) Bullitt: 1968 Ford Mustang
Steve McQueen's custom Mustang sets the record for the movie car with the most magnificent margin. The Bullitt Mustang had absolutely everything going for it: the star car in one of the most famous car chases in movie history, it was 'lost' for years before resurfacing with watertight provenance – including a letter to the family who kept the car locked away for years from McQueen himself in which he asks to buy 'his' car back.
At Mecum Auctions Kissimmee in 2020, one of two Highland Green 1968 Ford Mustang fastbacks featured in the film sold for a hefty £2,863,267. That's a delta of 15,952 per cent compared to a Mustang not used and abused by the King of Cool.
