From The SFX Archives: Some of the best flying cars (and buses) – that actually LOOK like cars (or buses) – from science fiction and fantasy (with one exception, for product placement reasons).
( This is an updated and extended version of a feature published in 2010 .)
Back To The Future 1, 2 & 3 (1985, 1989, 1990)
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“Roads? Where we’re going, we don’t need roads.” And to prove his point, Doc Brown reveals that his time traveling car has more than one trick up its exhaust: it can fly. One of the best final scenes in a movie ever, surely? The DeLorean used in the trilogy was a 1981 DMC-12, with a 6-cylinder PRV (Peugeot/Renault/Volvo) engine. And it’s amazing to think that with three blockbusters’ worth of publicity, the car company still went bust.
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The Last Starfighter (1984)
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The Starcar that whisks top videogamer Alex Regan off to the planet Rylos was cinema’s first ever CG flying car. There was a “real”, full-sized version as well, which later had a cameo in Back To The Future 2 . Although it may have superficial similarities to a DeLorean (especially the wing doors), it is not, in fact, a DeLorean.
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