From makes and models being switched between scenes to gaffes like “high-rise double-pump carburetors,” these errors are groan-inducing
Have you ever been watching a movie and seen someone do something in a car that drove you crazy—because you, as an enthusiast, knew it was impossible? Whether it’s a technical detail that feels like a slap in the face to anyone who’s ever held a wrench; a driving technique that’s being used for looks rather for actual speed; or a movie’s inability to properly identify the vehicles shown on screen, Hollywood has a history of playing fast and loose with automotive representation.
Here are 11 of the weirdest, funniest, and most annoying goofs and high-octane errors guaranteed to grind your gears.
Fast and Furious: The Mystery of the Missing Brakes
In reality, every car used in the production had functional brakes, but the stunt cars didn’t feature the same big rotors and calipers found on the “hero,” or primary camera car (which was loaned to the production by a private owner eager to avoid it being abused). To keep the stock stoppers from looking puny on camera behind oversized rims, they simply covered up the braking system with larger fake rotors, which of course weren’t linked to calipers or pads.
Budget Cuts: When High-End Cars Are Replaced by Cheap-O Models
Twister Can’t Decide Which Dodge Ram Should Be On-Screen
Sometimes, it’s a little harder to understand why movie cars can’t stay consistent from one scene to the next, even if it’s only likely that eagle-eyed watchers will catch the differences. The movie Twister is a perfect example.
Back to the Future: The DeLorean’s Fudged Speedometer
It might seem like a nitpick to get caught up on interior details, but the producers of Back To The Future were facing down a real conundrum with their choice of hero vehicle. It turns out that when you need Marty McFly to hit 88 mph in order to open a temporal portal, it’s a problem when the car he’s driving has a speedometer that stops at—85 mph.
Fast and Furious…again: The Hemi in Dom’s Charger Dates to a Different Era
It turns out that, yes, that’s a Hemi on screen, but, no, it’s not what you’d find nestled between the front fenders of an early 1970s Mopar. The engine, which was sourced from Chuck Taylor Racing, is clearly based on the original 392-cubic inch Hemi design from the 1950s, which is given away by the location of the distributor.
Bumblebee Has a High-Rise What?
Clueless: No One Seems to Know If Jeeps Have Airbags
The vehicle on the screen clearly doesn’t even have full doors, let alone anywhere a side airbag could get stuffed. In fact, the TJ didn’t have a single airbag, period—not even for the driver.
Death Proof’s Dodge Challenger Features an Odd Extra Part
Rush: The Sparkless F1 Engine
The movie Rush, which detailed a classic era in Formula One racing, did its best to stay authentic when it came to on-track action. Dig into the nitty-gritty of how F1 powerplants were portrayed, however, and you quickly run into some glaring errors.
Keep Your Limbs Inside the Vehicle at All Times
Minivans are among the most practical vehicles on the road, which in the 1990s and early 2000s made them the family ride of choice. It’s also the reason Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie have one parked in the driveway as the titular couple of spies in Mr. & Mrs. Smith (part of their cover as average, everyday citizens).
How Does Shifting Work Again?
We’re not going to dissect everything that’s wrong with movie-car shifting—there’s so many examples, we wouldn’t know whether to start with street racers in Fast and Furious moving through a dozen cogs in the space of 10 seconds or professional pilots in Ford v Ferrari shifting up a gear for more power.
The first is technical: in a NASCAR racer, the clutch pedal is only ever used to put the car in first gear while leaving pit lane. On an oval like Daytona, all other shifting is done by matching revs, which doesn’t involve clutching at all. Then there’s the fact that shifting is rare in circle-track racing (most of the race takes place in top gear). You certainly would never see a driver grab a lower gear coming out of a corner onto a straight unless they wanted to put their pistons through the hood.
Sign up for our newsletter Blind-Spot Monitor and follow our social channels on X, Tiktok and LinkedIn to stay up to date on the latest automotive news, reviews, car culture, and vehicle shopping advice.