Re: Steve McQueen’s Mustang in Bullitt .
The movie is still awesome, as is the chase. but…
what’s up with the sound effects? Does that car have an unsynchronized 8 speed? Double-clutch upshifts? And so much shifting! Needless shifting is to this movie what needless gun racking is to every modern action movie.
And would it have hurt to get a car with a locking rear end? One tire burnouts are so wimpy!
It’s perfect, and a lot of credit goes to the friend/neighbor, who’s a car guy, who recommended it to Kripke when Kripke asked.
But it’s such a BOAT! And a four door. There are no four door muscle cars. Four doors are for getting groceries or taking the kids to school.*
Sure, good for going to drive-in movies, and hauling bodies in the trunk, but it isn’t a “good” car. Other than its age, it has nothing to recommend it.
*\ My kindergarten “school bus” was a black on black '57 Chevy. A four door. 
I haven’t actually seen the show, but from what I gather from the other comments it’s supposed to be their Dad’s car from their childhood. So those things are exactly why it’s such a good choice for the character. Dads don’t buy muscle cars; they buy practical four door sedans to drive the kids around in. A muscle car would be completely out of character.
This thread isn’t about cars we think are cool, it’s about cars that are a good fit for the characters that drive them.
John bought it on Dean’s recommendation (time travel; long story). The major point he made was: take care of it and it’ll last forever. Also it was a perfect car for Sam and Dean to grow up in - lots of room for them. Tons of room in the trunk for a Hunter’s tools of the trade.
And on the subject of cars that aren’t cool but fit the character well… back in the OP I mentioned in the first episode of Ozark Marty had to sell his car to pay back the cartel. That car was a Toyota Camry. Normally I would consider a Camry kind of lazy car casting, but in this instance it was a great choice. The director pretty clearly wanted to make the audience think that Marty was a really dull guy before we learned about his money laundering escapades. And a Camry is exactly what a dull person would drive.
What about the stairs truck on Arrested Development? A ridiculous car for an absurd comedy.
First thing that came to mind.
The Sunbeam Talbot from the film “To Catch a Thief”, driven by Grace Kelly
Jake and Elwood’s Blues mobile was a good fit.
I’m kind of torn about Starsky’s Torino. Hardly a car guys car. But then Starsky wasn’t particularly smart, but he was brash and unpredictable.
The Jaguar E-type hearse from Harold and Maude was the perfect car for Harold’s obsession with death.
Diana Rigg’s Mercury Cougar in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service:
“Teresa is a saint; I’m known as Tracy”.
All of the cars in American Graffiti:
It’s got a cop motor, a 440 cubic inch plant, it’s got cop tires, cop suspensions, cop shocks. It’s a model made before catalytic converters so it’ll run good on regular gas. What do you say, is it the new Bluesmobile or what?
True. On first glance, it’s probably not the car you expect a cool musician type to drive, but on the other hand being a blues musician doesn’t pay all that much. Realistically, a crappy old car that they picked up cheap at auction it what they would drive. And if you want a fast car for cheap, an ex-police car isn’t a bad choice.
Fix the cigarette lighter.
A 1993 Land Rover Range Rover County is exactly the vehicle someone as douchey as Dennis Reynolds from It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia would drive.
Simon Templar’s Volvo in TV’s The Saint:
I really wish the P1800 was even close to being as fast as it looks.
The Impala I had was lucky to last the trip to 7-11. It was a great first car because I had to learn a lot of auto mechanics just to keep it running.
The show had a whole fleet of those Impalas because they broke down so often. The doors squeaked, even on the show, and the suspension on those things is floppy and primitive.
Still the perfect car for them, though.
Chevy came out with an all black Impala SS in 1995 with an awesome ad campaign:
I wonder if the Supernatural crew did up the old Impala in black/chrome because of this.
This far down and nobody’s mentioned Herman Munster and Grandpa?
In the original Hawaii Five-O, Jack Lord always had a black Mercury Park Lane Brougham, exactly the kind of car a hard-nosed top cop like Steve McGarrett would drive.
