The Cars that could’ve been the Stars – plus a Fridge!

Check out the alternative timeline movie and TV posters

In some classic movies and TV shows, the cars became as big, if not bigger, icons than the human stars. Now we can’t imagine those films without the famous cars – well actually Bristol Street Motors can. It’s dug out the vehicles that might originally have featured, and created posters revealing the would-be alternatives. Some of the cars are quite surprising, but none moreso than the fridge!

The Love Bug (1968)
Volkswagen Beetle v Volvo P1800

The Volkswagen Beetle nearly didn’t make it to the big screen as The Love Bug! At Disney when the movie was being created the producers had no cars in mind when they thought of Herbie, so they held a casting call for car manufacturers, Volvo P1800 included. The VW Beetle was, luckily, the only car to elicit an emotional reaction from the crew, with many of them even reaching out to pet it, and thus the lovable Love Bug Herbie was born.

The Italian Job
Mini Cooper vs. Fiat 500

There has always a close competition between the two cars due to their similar size and target audience, even in 1969 when the film was being created. Upon consideration, Deeley just couldn’t make sense of British crooks driving Italian-produced cars in Italy, and so stuck with Mini Coopers.

Magnum PI
Ferrari 308 vs. Porsche 928

Originally, a Porsche 928 was the preferred choice of producers for Magnum PI. However, the 6 ft 4 actor Tom Selleck meant that the car had to be adapted to accommodate his size and Porsche refused to allow their car to be altered – so producers were forced to look for alternatives. Ferrari – the alternative choice?

Back To The Future
DeLorean DMC 12 vs. A Refrigerator

Bristol Street’s research reveals that in the first two drafts of the movie, a lead lined refrigerator took the role of the time machine. However, mobility became an issue and co-author Bob Zemeckis dared to ask, “Wouldn’t it make more sense to build the time machine into a car?” Besides, how would a fridge get up to 88mph?!

Batman
Lincoln Futura vs. Cadillac Series 62

A 1959 Cadillac was originally planned for the Batmobile, but three weeks before filming began it was decided that they needed something faster. Geoge Barris was brought in and thinking fast, he updated the Futura concept car and added some fail fins and other Batman-esque features – and the rest is history: ‘Atomic Batteries to Power, Turbines to Speed…’

007: Goldfinger
Aston Martin DB5 vs. Blower Bentley

In the Bond novels, the character counted his treasured Blower Bentley as his personal hobby. Ian Fleming received a letter from a fan one day encouraging the author to ‘have the decency to fix him up with some decent machinery’ as the Bentley was then 20 years old, and so gave Bond an Aston Martin DB3 which changed to the DB5 when the Goldfinger film came out 5 years later.