~ This guest post was written by James Harper on behalf of The Plate Market, experts in the UK for helping you buy and sell private number plates for your car.
In the real world, concept cars are gradually starting to look less futuristic and more like normal cars. Customization options for car owners are limited, with decals fancy alloy wheels and private number plates being the main options for drivers that want to express themselves. Fortunately, the world of cartoons can still provide us with a lot of eye candy. Here's a look at a few of our favourite cartoon cars.
Bumblebee
Bumblebee comes in different forms, depending on whether you're a fan of the original Transformers series or the new one. To traditionalists, he is a transforming Volkswagen Beetle. To fans of the new series, he's a 2010 Chevrolet Camaro. Whatever car form he's in, though, it's hard to deny how awesome he is. If only technology would catch up to cartoons so we could have talking, transforming cars in the real world.
The Flintstones Car
Most of us have, at some point in our lives, owned a car that was slow, unreliable, or beat-up enough that we've considered knocking out the floor plates and driving it Flintstones style. The Flintstones car is perhaps one of the most iconic fictional vehicles. It's cute and lovable, and instantly recognizable to many generations of TV viewers.
The Jetsons Hover Car
The Jetsons was set in 2062 - so we have only 50 years to develop a car as awesome as the hover car that this futuristic family used as a daily driver. When The Jetsons first aired, it seemed like 2062 was a lifetime away, now it seems like it's just around the corner! I'm not sure whether we should be wishing for the ideal of flying cars, or dreading their arrival because of the chaos they'll cause while people are learning to drive them.
Wacky Races - The Mean Machine and More
There were several cars featured in the Wacky Races, although the most popular and well known were probably the Mean Machine (driven by Dick Dastardly) and the Compact Pussycat (driven by Penelope Pitstop). The Wacky Races cars ranged from exaggerated modern vehicles to almost steampunk-style retro vehicles. You may never dream of putting one on the road, but they were sure interesting to look at.
Lightning McQueen
Lightning McQueen is perhaps the most realistic of the vehicles in this list. In fact, in the cartoon his lack of real world features is actually turned into a joke, as he earns the nickname "Stickers" for having stickers in the place of headlights. Of course, in the real world your sporty car has some cherished number plates and gleaming headlights where Lighting has a mouth, and your car has a windshield where he has eyes, but beyond that he's a pretty realistic car.
Lightning's friends, Mater (inspired by a 1951 International Harvester), Luigi (inspired by the Fiat 500), and Doc Hudson (based on the 1951 Hudson Hornet) are all memorable characters and iconic cars too. If only the real things would drive themselves and take themselves to the petrol station to top up by a gallon or two!
Comments