As an impressionable young man, I fueled my first car lusts with television shows- and movies. Knight Rider, Herbie the Love Bug, The Dukes of Hazzard, Christine, these kinds of pictures... CNBC ran a bit on 13 cars made famous by the movies- and although I'll contest- some of these cars are as obscure as the movies they stared in, having a car in the pictures can literally create a frenzy, for what would have been a "lost" or average car to begin with.
The Astrial Silver Mercedes-Benz 280 SE Convertible, as featured in The Hangover is such an example. Was the car iconic to begin with? Absolutely, it's a vintage Mercedes convertible- but truth-be-told, while there's collector interest in these hand-built four-seater cabriolets, the 280 SE is not the most preferred, investment-grade version; nor is it the most desirable- in fact, the 280SE was the middle-of-the-road variety- the more desirable 300 SE and later, low-grill 280SE 3.5 being the most sought-after, technically speaking.
They used the better part of half-a-dozen 280 SEs in the movie- and while its painful to see its abuse and destruction in the film- rest assured- the five or so cars that gave their lives to the production were in-fact saving tens or dozens down the road. (I'd say hundreds or thousands- but they never made as many...)
My point? People will be dusting-off these 280 SEs now more than ever. In fact, while CNBC claims they go for over six-figures when restored, this is only half true- nice, low-mile models can be had for less than half that quote; with only the very best of specimens, mainly the 3.5s, go for the "big" six-figure numbers.
But perhaps the biggest pop in collector interest for a single car (and ironically not one featured in the CNBC article) was for the 1958 Plymouth- as featured in the film-version of Stephen King's Christine.
They used something like 25 different 1957 and 1958 Plymouths in the films' production- destroying nearly every one of them.
Of some interest (in the original book) Christine was a specially-ordered, Autumn Red Plymouth Fury sedan- only one problem- Plymouth never made a such a car. And Autumn Red? It didn't exist.
The car featured in the movie is actually most similar to a '58 Plymouth Belv
edere Sport Coupe with a Golden Commando V8- though many call it a Fury, painted Toredor Red with Sportone trim- another car that never existed in real life- Furys in 1958 came one way- Buckskin Beige with special Goldtone trim. They were limited, sport editions, of the shittiest, lowest cars Chrysler made at the time, really...Collectors of these Forward Look beauties cringe and cry over it today- for to find any 1958 Plymouth (regardless of color and trim) is a rare sight- many surrendered to rust long ago- but the hard fact remains- it's Christine that has forever immortalized this Plymouth, and many like it as a desired collectible.
So while the movie destroyed a couple dozen cars- it saved and promoted hundreds, maybe thousands.
I guess these cars are like famous people- while many spend their lives fascinated by celebrities, truth-be-known, their just regular people with better, more visible jobs and lives than the rest of us.
But while the famous still put their pants on, "one-leg-at-a-time" (or so many still claim)- these cars are just average, made-up at best, that got lucky into the land of make believe- the movies.
