This Classic ’80s Horror Movie Also Offers Some Amazing British Car Horror: Cold Start

One thing about recovering here in this glorious modern age is that one has free and easy access to a vast amount of movies, in a way never really possible before. Sure, maybe you had a huge DVD or Betamax collection, but if you have access to the internet and streaming services, you can pretty much think of a movie and have a good shot of finding it. One day not long ago, my pill-addled brains thought about a movie I hadn’t seen in a long time – the early ’80s horror-comedy classic An American Werewolf in London. It holds up, but more importantly, I had forgotten about all the great old British Iron in the movie, including one delightfully chaotic scene that smashes up an absurd amount of ’70s and early ’80s British market cars in Piccadilly Circus.

Also, look up there at the top image: the cop cars are amazing, as they are Rover SD1 cop cars, looking so sleek an modern, and even though these things were kind of a disaster of late ’70s British build quality, it seems that the cops genuinely loved these things. Also, that’s a Renault 16 (thanks, Ncbrit!) whizzing past.

Oh, and the dirty movie being shown at that theater? It’s called See You Next Wednesday? That is apparently a recurring joke in John Landis movies, showing up in some form in movies from the 1970s to well into the 2000s. It seems to have originated from a line in 2001: A Space Odyssey, and you can see a roundup of its appearances in movies in this handy anthology:

Look at all the important stuff you’re learning this morning! What a treat!

Anyway, let’s get to the wild automotive carnage from the werewolf movie. Oh, and I suppose I should note that, yes, there is a strangely buff werewolf in here, and there’s people getting mauled and hit with cars and flung through plate glass windows and all sorts of madness. So you’re warned.

Here it is:

What a mess, right? But so many great cars! Let’s look at a few specific ones:

Next to the double-decker bus is a Mk.2 Triumph 2000, an attractive Michelotti-styled sedan with a front end that matched the Triumph Stag sports coupé. These were never seen in America, for the most part, but are, I think, really attractive and appealing cars. These were also the last “big” Triumph, with the role of this car filled by the cop cars up there, the Rover SD1.

There’s just a ton of stuff here! A Jag, or possibly a Daimler, I think a Peugeot 504, and lots more. Plus, an Urgent Stock Clearance!

Look at this lovely Datsun Cherry, resplendent in yellow with a vinyl top, making what appears to be a cop sandwich with the car from yesterday’s Cold Start, a Hillman Avenger, as the other slice of bread! What are the odds?

I’m including this last shot because it has, over there on the left, a pretty uncommon Volkswagen Type 4 four-door sedan, and an early Range Rover nearby. There’s also, next to our SD1 cop car, an older Rover cop car, what looks to be a 3500.

(Commenters have pointed out what I thought was a VW Type 4 could be a Renault 20/30, and that’s definitely possible, even likely. I guess I just have some Type 4 biases to deal with.)

I’m not sure if I should apologize to you for throwing all this British car carnage in your face so early in the morning or not? If it bothered you, my apologies, but I hope for most of you this proved to be a great way to get excited for your day, which I hope is free of werewolves and being run over by anything from British Leyland.