Spielberg’s Most Iconic Movie Cars, From Duel’s Valiant to Jurassic Park’s Jeeps

Spielberg's put some pretty unforgettable cars in his movies over the years. Some because wild stuff happened in them, others just because they fit so perfectly.

Plymouth Valiant - Duel

Spielberg's first movie ever was this 1971 TV thing called "Duel" and it's genuinely scary. Dennis Weaver's just some guy driving through the desert who passes a ratty old tanker truck. Truck driver takes it personally and spends the rest of the movie trying to murder him.

Weaver's driving this dusty red Plymouth Valiant that's got maybe 60,000 miles on it. Course the radiator picks the absolute worst time to blow while he's flooring it up a hill trying not to die.

After watching it you'll never see an old Valiant the same way.

Dodge Polara - The Sugarland Express

Spielberg's first actual theater movie was "The Sugarland Express" in '74. Goldie Hawn breaks her husband out of jail, they jack a cop car, this big 1973 Dodge Polara, and half of Texas ends up chasing them around. That Polara's in like every scene.

Old cop Polaras were monsters. Big 440 V8, everything built tough. Apparently some had a button you could hit to shut off the AC during chases to free up more power. Wild.

DeLorean - Back to the Future

The actual DeLorean was pretty much junk with a weak engine. But in the movie? Come on. Perfect.

Spielberg produced it and supposedly the script originally wanted Doc Brown to use a refrigerator as the time machine. He was like nah, let's get that weird DeLorean with the doors that go up. Turned out great because it already looked like it came from somewhere else.

Used three of them to make the movies. One survived, one got chopped up for camera shots, third got totaled.

Explorer and Wrangler - Jurassic Park

"Jurassic Park" made both of these famous in '93. Neither Ford nor Jeep ever made real movie versions but people build their own anyway. Jeep sold some sticker kits later but they're not quite right.

Explorers were those automated tour cars on tracks. Wranglers were what people actually drove around to, you know, check on the dinosaurs and stuff.

Lexus 2054 - Minority Report

That concept Lexus from "Minority Report" with Tom Cruise. Movie's from 2002, set in 2054. Spielberg was driving a Lexus SUV at the time so he got the company to build this thing.

Gets assembled around Tom Cruise on screen in this automated factory and he just jumps in and takes off. Actually worked too, not all movie magic. Electric, bunch of batteries, real doors and steering and everything. Some of the screen stuff was fake but the car itself was legit.

Spielberg just knows how to pick them. Every single one fits.