Screen Star Cars: Which were real, and which were fake?

Some make it to the end of a movie or season without a single scratch, while others are rolled down cliffs, blown up or piled into walls at speed, evoking the question “did they use a real car?” (and often destroy a large amount of money) Or was it a replica? Or some other type of car, different from the real thing?

Sometimes, it’s difficult to tell whether the car used was real or fake, but in this gallery, we set the record straight.

Yep, that’s right. This poster car was the real deal. In The Wolf of Wall Street, a drugged-up Jordan Belfort (played by Leonardo DiCaprio) drives a Bianco Polo US-spec 25th Anniversary Lamborghini Countach into several cars, a golf cart, and through various signposts before being apprehended by the Police.

The film had the money; it later turned out that this film about corruption and fraud was largely financed with money from an enormous fraud in Malaysia. In 2023, the smashed Countach sold for $1.655 million at auction.

The 1980s crime drama featured two undercover detectives working Miami’s drug-ridden streets. They were sharply dressed and patrolled the streets in a 1972 Ferrari 365 GTS/4 Spyder for the first two seasons before being blown up in season three — a sore moment for global car fans. However, the two cars used on the show were glorified Chevrolet Corvette C3s and weren’t destroyed. Instead, they were used in another film before being abandoned in a desert for two decades.

Ferrari North America was distressed that such a popular TV show used a replica of one of its most famous models, so it supplied two new 1986 white Ferrari Testarossas for free which starred for the rest of the show’s life.

1.21 gigawatts, a flux capacitor and 88 mph: the time travel recipe that could send a DeLorean DMC-12 back to the future. The DMC-12 might not have excelled as a sports car, but it became one of the most desirable big-screen cars of all time. Six cars were used in filming. These included the A car for main filming, and the B car, which was destroyed by a train. Another car, known as the C car, was sliced in two and used for interior shots, while a fibreglass car was used for flying or landing shots.

This poor ‘Ferrari’ met its demise after it screeched backwards through a large window before falling into a ravine in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off; a scene where time stood still as the camera panned to the wrecked 250 GT. It was fake, as they were (and are) extremely valuable; one sold in 2024 for $17 million.

The car used was a Modena Designs replica, and it’s reported that around four cars were used for production, including one without an engine or transmission (used for the ravine scene). The car that went out of the window was later fully restored and sold for $337,500 at auction.

The Fast franchise made many of us fall in love with souped-up cars — we’re looking at you, Toyota Supra. Another star was the heavily modified Nissan Skyline R34 GT-R used by Brian (Paul Walker), a car that divided opinion with many speculating it was a GTS-T.

However, this myth was debunked by Fast and Furious technical advisor Craig Lieberman, and all cars used were full-fat GTRs. Five GTRs were purchased via Motorex and were modified for the movie; the ‘jump car’ was destroyed after a stunt.

Two Rollers were used in a View to a Kill: one real and one fake. James Bond (Roger Moore) is driven around in the impressive Rolls in several scenes, a car owned by Bond film producer Albert R. ‘Cubby’ Broccoli, which used license plate 354 HYK during filming and CUB 1 afterwards.

And then Bond is locked into a Rolls and pushed into a lake – but this car was a replica.

How do you make an Aston Martin DB5 cooler? Add ejector seats, machine guns, tyre shredders, and cloaking. Yep, four real DB5s were used to film Goldfinger, but only one had the above gadgets installed. However, Bond’s DB5 truly vanished after it was stolen from a Florida hangar in 1997 before being found 25 years later in the Middle East.

Bumblebee, a Chevrolet Camaro, impressed the audience when the original Transformers movie hit the big screens in 2007. Chevrolet was tasked with building a one-off running concept for the film, but the production car wouldn’t be released for another two years. The car from the first movie was later modified to star in the second movie, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.

The chop-topped 1932 Ford Coupe looked the business in American Graffiti with its exposed V8 and side exit exhausts; it would’ve been easy to tack such parts onto a knackered car, polish it for its big-screen appearance and then dispose of it afterwards. However, this was the real deal. The movie’s producer purchased the car for $1300.

It was then equipped with skinny black wall tyres and painted yellow before being fitted with a V8 (either 283 or 327 – accounts differ), which had sprint-car headers, a Man-A-Fre intake setup with four Rochester two-barrel carbs and an aluminium manifold.

In the first Fast movie, Dom (Vin Diesel) takes Brian (Paul Walker) into a garage which houses a stunning Dodge Charger R/T, complete with a monstrous blower. Each of the five cars was a 1969 model, converted to a 1970 R/T. The blower wasn’t even attached to the engine, and a large 445 cubic-inch motor was borrowed for filming close-ups and was returned to the engine shop afterwards.

Ferrari replicas are commonplace, but the cars used in Magnum P.I. were real. It’s argued that the Ferrari 308 GTS was the real star of the 1980s TV show. Of course, there wasn’t just one Ferrari as the model changed throughout the show’s eight seasons.

At the beginning, Magnum drove a 1979 carburettor model before switching to a fuel-injected GTSi for season 2, and the show ended with a four-valve QV. 6-foot-four Tom Selleck struggled to squeeze into the car, so padding was removed from the seats so he could sit lower in the car.

From Aston Martin to Lotus, James Bond’s car collection usually leaves us excited. In the 1999 movie The World Is Not Enough, Bond swaps to a BMW Z8, a car that never existed until 2000. The story goes that the production version of the BMW Z8 wouldn’t be ready in time, so BMW gave the producers unfinished cars and specs to create custom cars.

Each car used a Chevrolet V8 with Jaguar suspension, although the Z8 left the movie early after being cut in half.

Rather than tacking GT parts and badging to an inline-six Mustang to cut costs, Bullitt’s producer used real 1968 GTs. Two cars were used in the movie: one for stunts and one for driving scenes, and each had various modifications, including reinforced suspension and brakes.

The film features 10 minutes of car chase nirvana: an intense sequence through the streets and hills of San Francisco that’s arguably one of the best in movie history.

We say almost everything because some cars, like the Shelby GT500 Mustang used for beauty shots, were real, but the majority were fake. Replica cars included a Saleen S7, which lacked a front badge and windshield wipers, a Bugatti Veyron SS, a Lamborghini Sesto Elemento, a Koenigsegg Agera, a McLaren P1 and a Spania GTA Spano.

We’re glad replicas were used, however, as crashing any of the aforementioned for a shot would have been an enormous waste. The production team had just six months to build every car.

Being a rare machine worth millions, it's easy to understand why so many replicas exist. However, the 1968 Gulf/Mirage car used in the Steve McQueen film was the real deal. Chassis no. P/1074 was a lightweight racing car, which raced in 1968 before being sold to McQueen’s Solar Productions; the car never appeared on-screen but was used as a camera car.

The Auburn Boattail Speedster is a key element in the opening chase sequence of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, where the car is seen racing through Shanghai while hitting almost everything in sight. The Speedster is a stunning machine, and it would’ve been blasphemy to have destroyed a real one.

Therefore, the production team built a replica. Not much is known about the build, however.

Another rare beast used in the Le Mans movie was a Porsche 917K race car, specifically chassis no. 917-022. Like the aforementioned GT40, the car was sold to Steve McQueen’s production company, Solar Productions. Steve McQueen is said to have driven the car for the movie’s stunt scenes before it was retired from Hollywood and returned to racing.

This very car went on to win multiple real-life endurance races at Monza, Spa, Daytona, the Osterreichring, and Montlhery, all in one year. It is now owned by Jerry Seinfeld.

The ultra-rare Hemi Cuda convertible used in the ‘90s San Francisco cop show was a clone. Like most movies, multiple cars were used, and the production company purchased various Cudas and Barracudas to replicate the convertible. The original movie cars were to be painted in Lemon Twist, representing the golden age of American muscle, but the colour didn’t look good on camera, so it was changed to deeper Curious Yellow.

Dressing up a Chrysler 300C as a Rolls-Royce would’ve been too obvious, so the producers purchased two identical Phantoms and destroyed them. Both cars were fully assembled from the factory but were cut up to the production team’s specifications. The body panels and roof were cut off and reattached using wire and glue, while the panels were smoothed out with Bondo and Mylar.

The Skyfall scene where Bond traverses the Scottish Highlands in an Aston Martin DB5 is art, and the steep valleys, low mist and single-track roads help set the film’s dramatic end (pictured). But we all know what happens in Bond movies, and the producers felt that smashing up original cars would be sinful.

So, three 3D printed models, a third of the size of the original car, were made for destruction scenes, while an original DB5 was used for driving scenes.

The Lamborghini Murcielago can be seen drifting across the ice while dodging missiles from a helicopter in The Fate of the Furious. And rather than building a replica, the production team used a real Murcielago. Of course, such stunts meant the car was equipped with a roll cage, which meant removing the back glass, and the interior was a shambles.

YouTuber Tavarish purchased the car for $80,000 before restoring it to its former glory. The producers used three Lamborghinis for filming, one of which survived.

As previously mentioned, Ford GT40s are valuable rarities, and it's understandable why so many replicas exist. The 2019 blockbuster featuring Christian Bale and Matt Damon sees several GT40s race the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1966. However, the cars used in the movie were replicas built by companies like Race Car Replicas and Superformance. Each car was carefully crafted to match original specifications.

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