Are these the seven best car movies ever made?

Over the years there have been loads of amazing car movies, ranging from police chases and post-apocalyptic mania to motorsport biopics and epic heists.

We’ve trawled through these films that have been enjoyed by countless thousands of cinemagoers to bring you our list of the seven best car movies ever made.

• Bullitt

In Bullitt, king of cool Steve McQueen plays loose cannon police officer Lieutenant Frank Bullitt.The plot of the film involves Bullitt being tasked with protecting a defector from the Chicago mob, so he can testify at a hearing on organised crime.

The 1968 thriller features a number of epic scenes, including assassination attempts and a gunfight on an airport runway, but the highlight is undoubtedly the car chase, with Bullitt in his Ford Mustang GT and two baddies in a Dodge Charger R/T.

This showdown on the streets of San Francisco between two legendary American muscle cars has become one of the most iconic movie scenes of all time, and even prompted Ford to launch a special edition Mustang Bullitt in 2018.

Best quote: ‘Why don’t you just relax and have your orange juice and shut up, Delgetti?’

• The Italian Job (1969)

The Italian Job sees Cockney criminal Charlie Croker, played by Michael Caine, putting together a team to pull off a gold heist in the Italian city of Turin. From the opening scene of a Lamborghini Miura being blown up in an Alpine tunnel to the mafia pushing an Aston Martin DB4 Volante and two Jaguar E-Types off a cliff, the film is full of car-based action.

But, despite the presence of the aforementioned classic sports cars, the real heroes of the film are the three Mini Coopers used in the amazing getaway chase that sees the red, white and blue vehicles driving through shopping centres, over rooftops and into underground tunnels in order to escape the Italian police.

The movie’s cliff-hanger (literally) ending was so perfect that no sequel was necessary. A remake of the film starring Mark Wahlberg was released in 2003, but it couldn’t hold a candle to the original, which went down in history as a classic.

Best quote: ‘You’re only supposed to blow the bloody doors off!’

• The Blues Brothers

The Blues Brothers is the cult classic musical comedy about Jake and Elwood Blues – two brothers, played by John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd, who set out on a ‘mission from God’ to reunite their old band.

Upon finding out that the Roman Catholic orphanage in Chicago where they were raised is being shut down due to outstanding property taxes of $5,000, they set off in the Bluesmobile – an ex-police 1974 third-generation Dodge Monaco – to track down all the former members of the Blues Brothers band and put on a charity gig to raise the money.

However, they make a whole host of enemies along the way, including the Illinois State Police, Jake’s murderous ex-wife, a group of neo-Nazis, and a country and western band called the Good Ol’ Boys.

There are a number of frankly ludicrous car chases throughout the film, two of the most notable being a destructive escape through a shopping mall and a race to the office of the Cook County assessor, while being pursued by the army.

Sadly, its sequel – The Blues Brothers 2000 – was a massive failure both critically and commercially.

Best quote: ‘It’s 106 miles to Chicago, we’ve got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it’s dark and we’re wearing sunglasses.’

• The Living Daylights

The Living Daylights is the fifteenth entry in Eon Productions’ James Bond series and the first to star Timothy Dalton as the MI6 spy codenamed 007.

Perhaps one of the most underrated Bond films, it sees 007 get tangled up in a Soviet plot involving defections, assassinations and, most importantly, one of cinema’s greatest car chases.

In the dramatic setting of a snow-covered route between Bratislava and the Austrian border, a face-off with the Soviet armed forces allows Bond to show off all of the upgrades in his specially modified 1985 Aston Martin V8 Vantage, including a radio that can pick up police communications, wheels that can fire laser beams, missiles that fire from either side of the front grille, bulletproof glass windows, skis deployed from the side-skirts, spiked tires and a massive rear rocket motor.

Best quote: ‘I had a few optional extras installed.’

• Baby Driver

The newest film on our list, Baby Driver instantly became a massive hit with audiences and critics when it was released in 2017. Directed by Edgar Wright, it tells the story of Baby, a young getaway driver played by Ansel Elgort.

Following a car crash that killed his parents when he was a child, Baby was left with tinnitus, which he blocks out by constantly listening to music on his iPod.

After stealing a car that belonged to a powerful criminal who organises heists, Baby is offered the chance to repay his debt by using his exceptional driving skills as a robbery getaway driver.

The result is a film that features amazing driving stunts, incredible car chases and dramatic action scenes, all accompanied by one of the best movie soundtracks of all time.

Best quote: ‘In this business, the moment you catch feelings is the moment you catch a bullet.’

• Rush

Rush is a biopic that tells the story of the rivalry between legendary racing drivers James Hunt and Niki Lauda, played by Chris Hemsworth and Daniel Brühl respectively.

The film starts with Hunt and Lauda competing against one another in Formula Three races during the early 1970s. The story carries on to when the pair faced off against each other in Formula One, covering both the professional and personal aspects of what happened, including the 1976 German Grand Prix, where Lauda was badly burned after his car crashed on the Nürburgring.

From its beginning with Hunt seducing a nurse, to the climactic final race at the 1976 Japanese Grand Prix at the Fuji Speedway, Rush is a truly epic film that perfectly captures the glamour and drama of the golden age of motor racing.

Best quote: ‘The closer you are to death, the more alive you feel. It’s a wonderful way to live. It’s the only way to drive.’

• Cars

Cars is an animated comedy-adventure film from Pixar.

Set in a world populated by anthropomorphic vehicles, the movie follows the story of Lightning McQueen – a rookie racer, played by Owen Wilson, hoping to win the famous Piston Cup championship.

On his way to the final race in Los Angeles, McQueen ends up getting stranded in Radiator Springs – a run-down Californian town on Route 66.

However, it turns out to be a blessing in disguise, as it’s there he meets retired racing legend Doc Hudson, voiced by Paul Newman.

Unfortunately, the two sequels spawned by the film’s success didn’t live up to fans expectations.

Best quote: ‘Float like a Cadillac, sting like a Beemer.’