Get in the fast lane to love as we reveal the coolest cars from some of Hollywood's greatest romance movies - just in time for Valentine's Day 2024.
When it comes to a Tinseltown tear-jerker, cars can feature just as prominently as the A-list actors themselves.
And to celebrate the greatest motoring supporting roles of all time, here we examine the highest-ranked romance movies and the four-wheeled heroes that appear in them - while we also look at what buying those cars might cost today.
If you're preparing for your own hot date this Valentine's Day, remember that the state of your car might have a bearing on how well the relationship blossoms.
One recent study found that a dirty or messy car can be a major 'turn off'.
So if you need a vehicle to impress, check out our very lease deals and special offers, carefully selected with love by our passionate leasing consultants!
Memorable Scenes from Famous Films
To get our list of flicks, we first looked at the highest-rated romance movies on the website IMDb.com, and then cross-referenced them with another website, the Internet Movie Cars Database, or IMCDb.org, to see which of those Valentine's day films also featured vehicles the most prominently.
It left us with a Top 5 - so buckle-up and read on!
It's a Wonderful Life (1946)
A Christmas film, for sure - but is this Frank Capra classic really a romance?
It is according to IMDb, who assures us that the central love story between George Bailey (James Stewart) and his childhood sweetheart Mary (Donna Reed) is fundamental to the entire plot. The pair's infamous 'phone kiss' is also one of the most memorable ever committed to celluloid.
The car featured in this film is a 1917 Dodge Brothers Touring, driven by main protagonist George. It's a vehicle he ultimately wraps around a tree before wandering out to the railroad bridge contemplating suicide. He's fortunately saved by his guardian angel.
And George might have wanted to save the car, too... as it's now worth around £99,300 on average at auction!
The actual convertible from the flick - dubbed a 'symbol of the film's key messaging' – sold at auction in 2022 for a whopping £411,000
Casablanca (1942)
For those looking for a slightly younger classic car from a similar era, look no further than the 1940 Buick Phaeton featured in epic Casablanca.
This car is featured throughout the film, as a stylish prop for the main protagonist Rick Blaine (Humphrey Bogart). Most memorably this car features in the final scene, where he pulls up to the airport to put lover Ilsa Lund (Ingrid Bergman) on a flight - ensuring her safety but ending their romance - with the immortal line, 'Here's looking at you, kid'.
Whilst the original movie car sold for £363,000 at auction in 2013, a non-movie example of this classic car will set you back around £19,700 on average, depending on the condition.
La La Land (2016)
This modern-day musical sees jazz pianist Seb Wilder (Ryan Gosling) and aspiring actress Mia Dolan (Emma Stone) first bumping into each other during a moment of road rage on an LA freeway.
And what's the eye-catching convertible that Seb is driving at the time? A lovely red Buick Riviera Convertible from 1982, which appears throughout the flick as Seb's trusty ride.
The good news is that the 80s Buick Riviera Convertible is fairly cheap to buy, if you can find one here in the UK, with global auction prices hovering at around £9,500.
The Graduate (1967)
The 1966 red Alfa Romeo Spider 1600 Duetto driven by Benjamin Braddock (Dustin Hoffman) in the 1967 classic The Graduate is next on our list.
Fans of the film might remember Braddock driving his love interest Mrs Robinson (Anne Bancroft) home in the iconic red car.
To own one of these classic roadsters, fans will be looking to pay around £39,400, on average, at auction.
Now, just plug that Simon & Garfunkel cassette into the tape deck...
Titanic (1997)
Titanic is, of course, a relatively family-friendly tragedy-romance.
But James Cameron's weepy also features one scene that might have parents squirming - and it's when Jack (Leonardo DiCaprio) and Rose (Kate Winslet) get 'intimate' in the back of a car that's being stored on the doomed ship. Cue steamy windows all round!
The vehicle used in the scene is a replica of a 1912 Renault Type CB Coupe de Ville. That car was actually aboard the real-life Titanic when it went down in 1912, and it was one of just two examples that were exactly alike ever made.
So, there's just one real 'Titanic car' remaining in existence, which sold in 2008 for a whopping £211,220 at auction.
Most Popular Cars in Romance Films
We wanted to see if there was a certain type of car that appears more often in romance movies than any other vehicle. So, we went back to the Internet Movie Cars Database and crunched the numbers for a staggering 173 motors that appear in the best-rated love flicks on IMDb.
We expected little red convertibles to sweep the board.
But, in reality, there are more bog-standard Ford saloons from the early 1980s than another type of car.
And the most popular car colour wasn't red - the passionate colour of love - but BLACK, which is a bit of a disappointment!
If you want to enjoy your own automotive love story, we've got vehicles to get passionate about here at Select Car Leasing.
Note: Average sale prices for each car from the last five years according to Classic.
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