Ford Mustang, Chevrolet Camaro, Pontiac Trans-Am, Dodge Challenger, Plymouth Roadrunner, Ford Gran Torino, Lincoln Continental Mark III... all fast and/or significantly sized American cars – also known as muscle cars – that race along the interstate highways and dirt roads through the vast landscapes of the United States. These cars became iconic due to their use in road movies that prominently appeared on the billboards of many drive-in cinemas starting in the late 1960s.

The emergence of the road movie remains strongly associated with American cinema and the increasing use of cars in the second half of the 20th century. In the 1970s, it grew into an important film genre, displacing the traditional western which lost popularity, though it shared the frontier mythos. This mythos is embedded in the historical expansion from the East to the Wild West of the continent, to a place on the edge of civilization, an open land with unlimited possibilities. The road movie often has a metaphysical angle, exploring themes like rebellion, escape, (self) discovery, and transformation, which resonated well with the counterculture generation of that era. The protagonists are usually men (individually or as a duo, the so-called buddies) rebelling against conservative social norms, with the two main storylines being the quest or journey of discovery and the outlaw chase and race.

The Alpine white 1970 Dodge Challenger remains the car of Vanishing Point, immortalized in popular imagination by Richard C. Sarafian's legendary film from 1971. Anti-hero Kowalski's doomed nonstop cross-country road trip from Denver, Colorado, to California places itself, with its relentless action sequences and death-defying stunts, in the tradition of Bullitt with Steve McQueen from 1968. However, Sarafian trades hard-boiled and macho theatricality for a more subdued and desperate post-1968 tone in this strange, obsessive odyssey of a man driven by an inexplicable need to keep going.

We end with the original Gone In 60 Seconds from 1974, a completely unique and energetic orgy of car crashes and high-speed chases, and one of the most remarkable passion projects in film history. H.B. “Toby” Halicki, owner of a junkyard and auto salvage business, single-handedly and without any film experience, creates an action film where, without a significant script, he serves as producer, director, and lead actor, while also conceiving, coordinating, and performing the most spectacular (and sometimes illegally filmed) stunts himself. Despite the low budget, an unknown cast (mainly consisting of men in turtlenecks with 1970s mustaches and long sideburns), and a rather long build-up to the unparalleled 40-minute nonstop finale, the film easily outdoes the CGI-laden Dominic Sena and Nicolas Cage remake with its authenticity, maverick craftsmanship, and unabashedly unpretentious film fun. And yes, that is H.B. Halicki himself in the yellow Ford Mustang, jumping 10 meters high and 60 meters far, compressing ten vertebrae and never walking the same way again.