I think car enthusiasts have a tendency to be pigeonholed these days as gear heads who left their childhood whimsy behind a long time ago. But the truth, I think, is a little more complicated. I think that if you took a good long look at just about any profession in America, you’d find an incredible number of men and women, young and old, who still carry a torch for the magic of Star Wars.
And that’s what makes this infographic so appealing; it perfectly combines the magic of childhood with the more grown-up world of car ownership. It’s a match made in, well, a Galaxy Far, Far Away. And I think the results are just about perfect.
From Luke Skywalker’s 1989 Camaro to the Ewoks’ Volkswagen bus, these car choices seems to perfectly match the spirit of their paired characters. I mean, who wouldn’t expect Emperor Palpatine to get around midtown in a jet black Rolls Royce limousine?
The new Star Wars movie, The Force Awakens, comes out in December, so there’s never been a better time to indulge our inner child with a good dose of nostalgia. That, and watch the original trilogy on rerun until December 18th.
Hopefully you’ve enjoyed this quirky infographic. If you’d like to watch it in video form, don’t forget to visit the original blog post here.
What do you think? Did we get it right?
We put a lot of thought into this and had several different options for each one. For Han Solo, we thought right away that he should have a Mustang. Not a fancy new 2015 one, though; that’s just not his style. He would go with an old ‘67 Mustang that has been through hundreds of races and maybe even a few crashes. Han’s also made a lot of special modifications himself on the Millennium Falcon, which is something he’d be able to do with a Mustang as well. Our second choice for Han was going to be the RV from Spaceballs.
Chewbacca fit nicely in a monster truck. He’s loud and wants to smash through anything he can. We also thought about putting him in an old jalopy pickup truck, too.
R2D2 and C3PO were easy, and so was Jar Jar Binks. Jar Jar is often considered the most hated Star Wars character and our recent poll on Reddit showed that a PT Cruiser is the most hated car.
Darth Vader had several options, all of them black. A stretch limo might do the job, as well as just about any BMW. But the custom Black Maybach Exelero that Jay-Z drives was a perfect fit for Luke Skywalker’s father.
Speaking of Luke: his was the most difficult. He’s the main character, but not very flashy or over-the-top. He’s considered an “Everyman” type of character, so we considered having him drive an F-150 since that’s the most popular vehicle in the US. However, he just doesn’t seem like a truck kind of guy. We went with the old Camaro that he could wreck while driving through Beggar’s Canyon.
Boba Fett was another tough one, but fit nicely in a black Mclaren P1. Fett isn’t usually flashy, but he can afford something nice from being one of the most feared bounty hunters in the land. Speaking of land, Lando Calrissian was a no brainer. He would be cruising around Cloud City trying to impress the ladies with an overly cheesy gold Hummer.
The next four were perfect fits. Obi-Wan’s 1950’s Cadillac looks just like a landspeeder, and Jabba the Hutt could easily be seen in a creepy, brown, windowless van (if he could fit in it). The Jawas would drive a double decker bus that matches their Sandcrawler, and the side view of a VW Beetle looks just like Princess Leia’s hair.
Yoda could have also been a smart car, but he’d still need a booster seat for it. We went with a little green Vespa that he could zip around on.
The Emperor was another tough one, and could have gone with several different black cars just like Vader. Since he has more power though, the Rolls Royce Limo was our best option. Darth Maul’s red and black Kawasaki Ninja looks like it was made just for him and was an easy pick.
We tried very hard to make an “it’s a trap” joke for Admiral Ackbar, and considered putting him in a death trap of a car. We ended up with a silver bullet RV, since that matches his huge ship, Home One. If you can come up with a better joke for him, please let us know.
We end with the Ewoks. They live off the land, tend to worship things of the earth, and dance around like crazy when they’re happy. So the obvious choice was an old VW Hippy Bus, which could fit at least 20 of the little guys. You may even see one of these in the deleted scenes of Return of the Jedi.
So what did we get right? What did we get wrong? Let us know in the comments and make sure you share with all your Star Wars fans and car buffs!
For an animated version of the above infographic, visit our blog here.