Race to the bank in these valuable movie cars

From Doc’s DeLorean to Herbie the Beetle, many cars have become iconic through their big screen appearances. Excluding custom makes such as the ‘Batmobile’, comparethemarket.com has analysed which mass-produced ‘movie star’ models, have increased most in value on their original sale price.

Top five movie car investments

1. 1963 Aston Martin DB5: With an original sale price of $5,511.00 and an average value from recent sales of $620,229.72, there’s no denying Bond’s famous vehicle would have been a great investment for anyone lucky enough to have bought one early on. This 11,154% increase has spanned across five appearances in Bond movies: Goldfinger (1964), Thunderball (1965), Goldeneye (1995), Tomorrow Never Dies (1997), and Casino Royale (2006).

1. 1967 Shelby Mustang GT500: After the popularity of the 1973 Mustang Mach 1 named ‘Eleanor’ in the 1973 cult classic Gone in 60 Seconds, they had to pull out an equally iconic car for the 2000 remake. Enter the 1967 Shelby Mustang GT500, affectionately dubbed ‘Eleanor II’. This car was originally worth $4,195.00 but has recently been sold for around $178,200.00 meaning an increase of 4,134%.

1. 1968 Ford Mustang GT390 Fastback: The car driven around San Francisco by Steve McQueen’s determined cop, Frank Bullitt, has seen a 1,200% price growth since it’s 1968 launch. Originally sold for $3,500.00 the car can now often reach sales of around $80,745.72.

1. 1970 Dodge Charger: This 1970 model was made famous in the first The Fast and the Furious movie in 2001, as the car Dominic Toretto claimed could race a quarter-mile in 9 seconds. With an original value of $3,711.00 and a 1,120% increase since then, this car has recently sold for around $82,629.36.

1. 1963 Model 117 Volkswagen Type 1: First featured in The Love Bug this little beetle has had quite the lucrative film career with five sequels over 31-years. This may have contributed to the Type 1’s 931% price increase since 1963, going from $1,595.00 to around $16,493.40.

Lower Investments

Owning an iconic movie car doesn’t necessarily mean you will always get these amazing returns on investment. Some of the very well-known but not as fortuitous cars on our list include;

• 1977 Chevrolet Camaro: One of the stars of the 2007 Transformers reboot is the ’77 Camaro ‘Bumblebee’. With an original price tag of $4,233.00 and an average recent sale price of $12,012.00 there has been a 183% increase. While this is an impressive appreciation it doesn’t come close to those at the top of the list.

• 1981 DeLorean DMC-12: Many people may be surprised to find the DeLorean one of the most famous movie cars of all time, at the bottom of this list. However, with an original 1981 sale price of $25,000.00 the generic model goes for just 29% more than that now, at an average recent sale price of $32,378.28. Special editions of the car either used in the movie or modified to look like the time machine can fetch a lot more than this.

The original research can be found here.