Literature Review
Introduction Movies and the car culture are normally two different entities that tend to stay separate, that is, unless you’re talking about movies like the James Bond series, Back to the Future, and of course, the Fast and Furious movies. Movies like these create associations in the minds of not only car fans, but movie fans as well. The purpose of this lit review is to explore three different movies that are not only favorites of movie fans, but car enthusiasts, as well. You don’t have to know a lot about cars to know James Bond and Aston Martin go together. Movies that make cars the focus have made certain cars permanent icons in the auto world and having a car featured in a great movie does wonders for the value of the car itself. They become collectors’ items that any car collector would be proud to own. A starring role in a feature film could be the saving grace of a car company, as was the case with DeLorean and Back to the Future.
Back to the Future and the DeLorean The 1985 instant-classic, Back to the Future, as well as its two sequels, made famous a car from an automaker with only one model: the DeLorean DMC-12. The stainless steel-paneled sports car was only produced from 1981-1983. Unfortunately, DeLorean went bankrupt in 1982, ceasing production of any more DeLoreans. Production of the DeLorean ended before the first movie was even made. The DeLorean was certainly a very unique car (unique from other cars, not other DeLoreans, as all of them were identical in appearance from the factory). The gull wing doors gave it a kind of an exotic and “high-end” feel, but the car was anything but “high-end” when
you got under the hood. Lauren J. Rilley knows from experience, being an owner of a 1981 DeLorean. “Its engine, a 2.8-liter V-6 developed jointly by Peugeot, Renault and Volvo (known as the PRV6) was too flaccid to rival any Ferrari”, Rilley claims, “It went from zero to 60 miles an hour in 8.8 seconds, slower than a Mazda RX-7 at the time” (Chang, 2008, p. 5). So the DeLorean DMC-12 wasn’t the prettiest or fastest, but it was unique enough to be chosen to be the star car (or star time machine) of the Back to the Future trilogy, and that’s what made it popular today. There are DeLorean owners clubs around the country, forums all over the internet, even a specific club dedicated to turning a regular DeLorean into the time machine from the movies. Even Rilley agrees that “Back to the Future definitely helped the car rise above its merits” (Chang, 2008, p. 6). The movies have give the DeLorean the title of one of the most iconic movie cars ever.
James Bond and the Aston Martin DB5 It’s hard to think of James Bond without also thinking of martinis, cool gadgets, beautiful women, and most importantly, expensive cars. From the Sunbeam Alpine in Dr. No, to the Ford Fairlane in Die Another Day, James Bond has gone through quite the collection of cars. You would never associate him with those cars, though and only a hardcore James Bond fan would know they were even in one of the movies. The brand that has become synonymous with the movies is none other than the british automaker, Aston Martin. “Bond cars are the original high-profile film product placement. Astons have been in seven Bond films, beginning with the DB5 that Sean Connery drove in ''Goldfinger'' in 1964” (Patton, 2006, n.p.). The DB5 would go on to be the star car in 5 other James Bond films, making it the most famous Bond car ever. So famous, in fact,
that people are willing to pay millions of dollars to own a DB5 like the one in the movie. According to Dave Kinney, a writer for The New York Times, in 2010, a “1964 Aston Martin DB5 James Bond film car...sold for £2,600,000. With the addition of auction fees, the final figure is expected to be over $4,600,000” (Kinney, 2010, n.p.). The incredible price can be attributed to the fact that it was the actual car Sean Connery drove in the movie. It also came with all the props like the machine guns and ejector seat button in the gear selector. All DB5’s were still highly regarded cars, even if they weren’t a movie prop. Mckeel Hagerty, chief executive officer of Hagerty Insurance Agency, a company that insures classic cars, stated that “the association with the franchise gave Aston Martin a halo effect” (Stock, 2015, n.p.). Production units have an average value of $509,630, according to Hagerty.com. You can also see how influential the movies are on the car’s value if you look at the price trend from a few years ago until now on the same site. Skyfall was the latest James Bond movie as well it was the latest film to feature the DB5. From 2008 until 2011, the value of the DB5 hovered at around $330,000. The release of Skyfall in 2012 more than doubled the value to ~$705,000 and as of now, you’d be hard pressed to find one for less than ~$787,000. James Bond did to Aston Martin what Elvis did to sideburns: he made them iconic.
Fast and Furious and Too Many to Name As the unofficial anthem of car fanatics, the Fast and Furious franchise did more than increase the value of a handful of cars, it created a cult following. The movies have a little bit of everything for everybody: imports, domestics, tuners, muscle cars, high-end sports cars, and even some trucks thrown in there because why not? The Fast and Furious movies, or at least the first three, brought a lot of attention to the tuner culture
and JDM (Japanese Domestic Market). The first movie consisted almost exclusively of JDM cars, all modded out with Nitrous, underglow, and crazy decals that inspired a whole movement of people doing this to their cars in real life. There are car meets all over the country dedicated to people who have slammed their cars to the ground and put an unnecessary amount of camber on their wheels. Since the passing of the star of the series, Paul Walker, a memorial car meet in his name happens every year around the anniversary of his death. If you didn’t get enough crazy modded Japanese cars from the first movie, the third movie, Tokyo Drift, takes place in the JDM capital of the world. With the exception of Sean’s (the main character) old, beat up Monte Carlo, a Dodge Viper, a ‘67 Mustang, and Vin Diesel’s Plymouth Roadrunner that makes a cameo in the very last scene of the movie, every car falls under the classification of ‘tuner’, and it makes sense given the setting of the film. The first three movies popularized the tuner culture. Luckily, though, the rest of the movies shifted gears and are dominated by classic American muscle, while still staying true to the series’ roots and appeasing the JDM culture with a few Nissans here and there. The Fast and Furious movies were ones that every group that’s part of the car culture can enjoy as well as the movie lovers.
Conclusion Movies and the car culture aren’t necessarily so heavily intertwined, but they do have influences on one another. Having a certain model of a car star in a movie can skyrocket the value of that car, depending on how well received the movie is, of course. Back to the Future, James Bond, and Fast and Furious were are all pretty likable films
with even more likeable cars. Each car owes some of its fame to their respective movies. There’s not much out there that could satisfy the “official research” descriptor, which is why I’ll use my findings in my own research. What I have found will help me form my interview and survey questions so I can really start to explore my research question.
References
Chang, R. S. (2008, April 6). Ask me about my flux capacitor. New York Times. p. 1. Retrieved from http://0search.proquest.com.bianca.penlib.du.edu/docview/897787151/pageviewPDF/C7F0173 10B5B40EAPQ/1?accountid=14608
Kinney, D. (2010, Oct 31). James bond's aston sells for $4.6 million. New York Times (1923-Current File) Retrieved from http://0search.proquest.com.bianca.penlib.du.edu/docview/1461220620?accountid=14608
Patton, P. (2006, Nov 19). At aston, life beyond bond. New York Times Retrieved from http://0-search.proquest.com.bianca.penlib.du.edu/docview/433430769? accountid=14608
Stock, K. (2015). 007’s next mission: Saving aston martin. Bloomberg Businessweek, (4410), 21-22. Retrieved from http://businessweekme.com/Bloomberg/newsmid/190/newsid/415