» The Italian Job (2003) takes its gold thieves on wheels deep into LA’s subway system. However, in real life, petrol vehicles are banned from the network. So, just for these underground shots, TIJ’s producers engineered two electric cars which were identical on the eye and ear to the minis used for the rest of the action.

» Musical comedy The Blues Brothers (1980) has a Nazi-driven station wagon plummeting to its doom off a vertigo-inducing bridge. To get this shot, the makers first needed permission from the US Federal Aviation Administration. This certified that the car was not airworthy and would fall in a straight line, rather than drifting, when dropped from a great height.

» One of the most visceral ever chase scenes is in The French Connection (1971). Filming from inside the detective-hero’s car is said to have been so dangerous that those cameramen with wives and children ducked out… meaning director William Friedkin had to get strapped into the back seat with a hand-held camera and shoot the action for himself.

» To Live and Die in L.A. (1985) features William Petersen’s secret-service agent behind the wheel of a Chevy Impala F41 in a car-chase sequence that took six weeks to film. This scene was judged so risky it was the last to be shot; that way the bulk of the movie was already in the can if anything happened to the principal actors.

» In the climax to Duel (1971), a demonically driven truck careers off a cliff. For director Steven Spielberg to get this shot, the vehicle needed to keep going in a straight line even without a driver. When the gadget enabling this failed, the stunt driver on board – who was working on another movie the next day and didn’t want to risk a delay caused by reshooting the scene – stayed in his seat, only leaping clear at the last possible moment.

What’s your all-time favourite car stunt in a movie? Let us know below…