1972 Gran Torino Sport – Gran TorinoThe Bullitt Mustang might be the most famous and valuable pop culture Ford in history, but the Gran Torino earned movie title status in 2008. Clint Eastwood directed and starred in that film as Korean War veteran Walt Kowalski, who befriends a Hmong teenager named Thao (Bee Vang) after Thao tries to steal Walt's prized 1972 Gran Torino Sport. Thao and his sister Sue (Ahney Her) gradually endear themselves to Walt throughout the film, and Walt protects Thao from local gang members who challenged him to steal Walt's car as part of an initiation. Walt dies at the end of the movie, and leaves his dog Daisy and car to Thao, on the condition that he not modify the car with spoilers or the like. In one of the film's final scenes, Thao drives the Gran Torino along the Jefferson Avenue riverfront in Detroit with Daisy in the passenger seat. Don Ripple, the film's mechanic, bought the car in Utah prior to filming and also procured the white Ford pickup Walt drove throughout the film. Eastwood bought the Gran Torino after the film wrapped and added it to his sizable car collection. 1973 Falcon GT Interceptor – Mad MaxThe 1979 action flick "Mad Max" was centered on blacktop battles between police and gangs of bandits, so naturally cars would be at the center of the story. The film was set and shot in Australia, where Ford has a substantial market presence. Several specially outfitted early '70s Ford Falcons were used as police interceptors throughout the film, and the titular Max (Mel Gibson) uses a '73 Falcon GT 351 with a monstrous supercharger poking through the hood in the movie's later sequences. "Mad Max" also starred a fleet of motorcycles, including a sidecar-equipped Honda CB750.Other Ford-made vehicles that have smaller parts in "Mad Max" include a 1973 Lincoln Continental, a 1977 F-100 ambulance, and a 1934 Ford V8. The black Falcon GT was customized for the film by Ray Beckerley of Graf-X International with help from Ford designer Peter Arcadipane. When filming was completed, the car was given to set mechanic Murray Smith, who was owed money by the film's then-broke producers. "Mad Max" became an unexpected hit, and they bought the car back for use in the 1981 sequel, "Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior." The car is destroyed in that film, but the producers burned a stunt double instead of the original Falcon. The original interceptor was then passed around a bit before landing in the Miami Auto Museum in 2012. It went up for sale in 2020, and its whereabouts are currently a mystery. 1973 Gran Torino - The Big LebowskiThe 1998 Coen brothers film "The Big Lebowski" is undeniably a comedy, but it has a few tragic elements of varying degrees of severity. Jeff "The Dude" Lebowski (Jeff Bridges) is assaulted on multiple occasions, has a prized rug stained by human urine, and loses his bowling buddy Donny (Steve Buscemi) to a heart attack. The Dude's car is subject to repeated abuse, including at least two collisions, one theft, and a parking lot arson that triggers Donny's fatal heart attack. Lebowski's unlucky sedan is a 1973 Gran Torino, which is not nearly as well-kept but almost as beloved as Walt Kowalski's '72 model. Bridges reportedly developed a fondness for the car during production, but declined an offer to take it home when the film wrapped. A Burbank car collector named Bruce Orlando supposedly acquired it temporarily, but the Dudemobile's current whereabouts are unknown. 1973 Gran Torinos with similar patina appeared in the 1999 Martin Lawrence film "Blue Streak" and on a Season 6 episode of "The X Files," but it's doubtful that either of these were the same car used in "The Big Lebowski."