Hollywood has done some pretty good car movies over the years. Movies with nice looking cars, nice looking gals, great car chase scenes, and sometimes just spooky cars make up this list of must see movies.  Before heading out to a swap meet like Pomona, try brushing up on your classic car movie references with some movie hits.

Okay, it probably doesn’t get better than American Graffiti.  This 1973 hit with little Opie Taylor (Ronnie Howard) all grown up and a younger Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) has some major big hitters. The movie centers around a dusk to dawn night and a bunch of teenagers and their cars. This one features a ’55 Chevy, and ’58 Chevy, and a five window ’32 Ford.

Smokey and the Bandit is just that feel good, feel American kind of movie. Burt Reynolds goes against the cops in a run to get a truckload of Coors into a dry county a few states away.  Though not a heavy hitter in number of classic cars, Burt spends the movie in a pretty nice ’77 Trans Am.  This movie sold more Trans Ams than any advertising campaign GM has ever come up with.

Burt Reynolds again shows up in Cannonball Run with co-stars like Jackie Chan, Dean Martin and Roger Moore.  This 1981 classic is all about a timed race across country and the crazy events the racers find themselves in along the way.  You will spot a Ferrari 308 GTS and a Lamborghini Countach, along with a Rolls Royce Silver Shadow among others.

Bullitt is one you’ve probably heard of.  The iconic Steve McQueen shifts and shifts some more in his green ’68 Mustang GT.  This movie is famous for its concluding car chase scene.  Definitely more believable than the computer generated scenes we see in movies these days.

Goldfinger is a James Bond must see movie.  Definitely one of the best, and Sean Connery was really on his game in this one.  This is the one movie where Q really gets his moment in explaining the gadgetry on Bond’s Aston Martin DB5.

The Blues Brothers.  How could you go wrong with Dan Akroyd and John Belushi?  Granted the one real car in this is a ’74 Monaco Police Package, but the cool pileups and great music more than make up for the lack of cars.

Sticking with comedies, there’s the 1993 coming of age cult film Dazed and Confused, chronicling the adventures of  Texas high school and junior high students on the last day of school in 1976. Between the hazing and partying, the kids cruise a great array of 60’s and 70’s classics.

Elvis Presley and Ann Margaret star in 1964’s Viva Las Vegas.  Elvis may not have been great as far as actors go, but the music sure is nostalgic.  In Viva Las Vegas, Elvis enters the Vegas Grand Prix to make some money.  Cobras and Corvettes are some of the classics you will see in this one.

Ah, Christine, the ’58 Fury that wouldn’t die. Christine shows a teenager no bond should be stronger than a boy and his car.  This spooky classic based on the Stephen King novel proves we never can take too good of care of our cars.

So see some of these classics, let them help you reminisce about good times and drool over the cars.  And if one spurs you on to fix up that old ’67 Camaro gathering dust out back, get out to the Pomona Swap Meet and Classic Car Show, get some build ideas and find those hard to find parts and accessories to help you get your classic back in the picture.