The movie “The Car” from the late ‘70s has become a cult classic. Here is the type of car that was used in the film and what happened to it.
Automobiles and Hollywood go together like peanut butter and chocolate. From the many variations of the Batmobile to the time-jumping DeLorean, James Bond’s gadget-laden Aston Martins, and the 1968 Ford Mustang GT in the movie „Bullitt“, cars have been and always will be as pop-culturally impactful as the award-winning actors and actresses who star beside them.
Then you have the spooktacular line of films that feature vehicles possessed by some otherworldly entity or helmed by a psychotic driver. In 1971, Steven Spielberg (yes, that Steven Spielberg) directed a made-for-TV movie called „Duel“ where a massive tractor-trailer chases after a commuter. In 1974, an ancient life-form on a small Pacific Island takes over a piece of construction equipment and becomes a „Killdozer.“
And, of course, you have two of the all-time great Stephen King killer machines. The star of the 1983 film „Christine“ was a red 1958 Plymouth Fury, while 1986 not only gave us Emilio Estevez fighting a semi-truck monstrosity with a huge Green Goblin head in „Maximum Overdrive“, but we also got to see Estevez’s brother Charlie Sheen starring as a cosmic spirit in „The Wraith“, driving a Dodge M4S Turbo Interceptor — one of the handful of movie cars that actually exist.
A film that tends to get overlooked by the general public is one released in 1977 simply called „The Car“, which featured a custom-designed ride possessed by a phantom, a demon, or maybe even the Devil himself (which was the film’s tagline). Under the sinister veneer sat a 1971 Lincoln Continental Mark III.The Car was meant to be Jaws on land
„The Car“ starred a young James Brolin (the father of Josh Brolin, also a big film star) as the local sheriff tasked with stopping . the car. It had a cast that included several familiar (at the time) Hollywood faces, such as Kathleen Lloyd, John Marley, John Rubinstein, Ronny Cox, and R.G. Armstrong. Directed by the award-winning Elliot Silverstein, it might have been a much bigger hit if not for timing.
