Our five favourite cars from the land of TV

From 70’s flair, to 90’s nostalgia, these are the small screen cars that we love the most.

The start of a new year always makes us feel aspirational.

This could be the year we finally commit to becoming a runner. It could be the year we finish writing the novel we’ve been working on since 2013 (ouch).

It could be the year we get the car of our dreams.

But when thinking about our absolute dream car, it’s not always the current market we turn to. We want something bold. Something beautiful.

Something that gives us, shall we say, main character energy.

That’s why we’ve turned our eyes to the small screen and ranked some of the most iconic cars from the land of TV. Basically, if we were the star of our own TV show, these are the cars we’d want to go tearing around in. 

And there are no limits.

Ranging from Thunderbirds to Supernatural, our five fave picks can be from any decade and of any make (real or imaginary).

How many do you recognise?

Ford Cortina Mark III GXL – Life on Mars

We’re going to hold our hands up and admit (not for the first time), that we love the look of the 70’s.

There’s something about that particular decade that begs you to feel nostalgic, even if you were never actually around to witness it firsthand. And if you’re looking at the 70’s, nothing embodies that look quite like the Ford Cortina, as seen in noughties smash Life on Mars.

Is it the bygone body-style?  The colour? We don’t see cars come in brown these days.

Or maybe it’s just the Gene Hunt Factor.

We too would like to swagger around in the Cortina, foul-mouthed, bolshy, and not giving a monkey what anyone thinks.

It’s casual confidence in a classic package.

And in today’s world of premium SUVs, there’s something to be said for a car that doesn’t conform.

Lady Penelope’s FAB1 – Thunderbirds

Forget the Barbie dream car; we’re swooning at Lady Penelope’s set of wheels.

Her pink FAB1 has six of them.

And it’s decked out with a range of gadgets and weapons that would make James Bond jealous, like a smoke-screen canister, front and rear mounted machine guns, and even grappling hooks.

It’s the ultimate adventure-machine. Sleek, slick and designed to handle every hurdle: with a car like this, it’s no wonder Lady P never panics, no matter the situation.

We’d love to have her poise, that cool-as-a-cucumber under pressure vibe that means it’s all under control.

And we’d love to parade around in her car.

We wouldn’t say no to having our own chauffeur either.

1967 Chevrolet Impala – Supernatural 

It’s the show that made us think, how many seasons is too many?

But looking back on it, what was the show’s legacy – a million and one memes starting with the 2020 United States Presidential election…or the lasting image of a classic car driving into the sunset?

Forget the Mystery Machine, the Winchester brothers hunted the paranormal in something much more suave.

Dean Winchester’s Impala (affectionately referred to as “baby”) is featured so heavily throughout the course of the show we’d argue it’s basically a main character all on its own.

It functions as home, transport, storage, and even, on occasion, as a weapon. (Honestly, it gets trashed so many times throughout the show it may as well have nine lives).

Black, sleek, sporty – if we were going to go ghost hunting, this is the car we’d choose to do it in.

1991 Nissan Figaro – The Sarah Jane Adventures

There’s probably nothing more British than Doctor Who. And while we’d love to put the TARDIS on this list, it’s not technically a car.

So, we’ll go for the next best thing – Sarah Jane’s Nissan Figaro in her eponymous spinoff show. We love its small size, retro design and soft paint colours named after the four seasons.

We’d actually say it does the opposite of the TARDIS. Rather than travelling through time and space, it’s evocative of one particular time, one particular place.

If you can’t have a time machine, why not go for a postmodern time capsule? We have to admit, the Figaro looks well at home roaming the streets of London.

It’s a class act for the nations favourite Doctor Who companion. And we wouldn’t turn our noses up at it either.

Kaiser Jeep M38A1 – Roswell

This one might be a bit niche, but we grew up on cult classics like Buffy the Vampire Slayer and lesser-known, but no less loved Roswell.

It’s a show about alien-human hybrid teens living in Roswell, New Mexico trying to keep their identity under wraps. We loved it at the time, and we love it now – it has that unmistakable, but timeless look of having been made in the 90s.

It’s in the setting, the fashion, and yes, the car.

Maybe it’s being nostalgic for childhood, but there’s just something about the look of the modified Jeep M38A1 our alien trio cruise around the desert in.

It has no doors, a distinctive rounded hood and fenders, and most of the time, no roof.

It’s a soft-top with grit.

Not surprising, as the M38A1 started life as a light military vehicle – it was literally built for high-stake shenanigans.

Maybe that’s what makes it so understated and still somehow effortlessly cool.

And even though it’s been 20 years since the show left our screens, we’d still pay a small ransom to get behind the wheel and feel the desert wind in our hair.

While we may struggle to get our mitts on one of these fab cars, we can still look to them for inspiration for our next car lease. Because we all deserve to feel like the star of our own show when we get behind the wheel.