Souped-up Pontiac Trans Am: KITT, in Knight Rider, was a thinking, speaking car. The Mystery Machine, Scooby-Doo, Where are You! (1969-1972) It may have been only a cartoon rendering of a 1963 Ford Econoline van, but the Mystery Machine is as vivid and memorable to a generation of TV viewers as its lurid blue, green and orange paint job. The Mystery Machine was used by Fred, Daphne, Velma, Shaggy and Scooby as they investigated all manner of haunted amusement parks and other dilapidated buildings. The Chariot, Lost in Space (1965-1968)

One of two vehicles deployed from the Jupiter 2 – the other was the super-cool Pod – the chariot was based on the Thiokol Imp snowcat and was deployed when the Robinson family had to traverse hostile terrain. What made the Chariot so brilliant is that it wasn't just a dress-up prop, but a working vehicle that was driven by the cast in some scenes of the show. Thiokol's Imp also came back as the landram in Battlestar Galactica. The TARDIS, Doctor Who (1963-1989, 2005-present)

The time-travelling capsule of Doctor Who's mysterious Doctor was created by the Time Lords of the planet Gallifrey and stolen when the Doctor renounced their society. The TARDIS is dimensionally transcendental – that is, it's bigger on the inside than the outside. Thanks to a faulty chameleon circuit, it is (mostly) stuck in the form of a blue London police box.

Famous expatriate: Princess Diana of the Amazons, later known as Wonder Woman, circa 1941. KITT, Knight Rider (1982-1986)

A souped-up Pontiac Trans Am, KITT – an acronym for Knight Industries Two Thousand – was a thinking, speaking car designed by the eccentric billionaire Wilton Knight, founder of Knight Industries, used by Michael Knight (David Hasselhoff) and voiced by William Daniels. In truth, more than 20 cars were made during the run of the original series, and many of them were destroyed or damaged by the time it finished filming. The Invisible Plane, Wonder Woman (1975-1979) Dashing and retro: The USS Enterprise takes on a foe. The preferred transport mode of Paradise Island's most famous expatriate, Princess Diana of the Amazons, later known as Wonder Woman, the Invisible Plane (later the Invisible Jet, which had a pointier nose than its predecessor), appeared in the TV adaptation of Wonder Woman, particularly in its first season, although it was later abandoned in favour of a motorbike.

Bessie, Doctor Who (1963-1989, 2005-present) Unusual form of transport: Monkey summoned a cloud when he blew on his fingers. This canary-yellow Edwardian roadster was used by the Doctor during his third incarnation. Exiled to Earth, he worked for UNIT, and the car, seemingly, was a condition of his employment. The original was a kit car built for about £500. Honourable mention must be made here of the Whomobile, another of the Third Doctor's favourites, this one a flying hovercraft. (The Whomobile remained in the possession of actor Jon Pertwee.) Monkey's cloud, Monkey (1978-1980) Rocket plane: Thunderbird 1.

Perhaps the most unusual form of personal transport, Monkey's cloud was summoned when he blew on his fingers. It gave him the power of flight in the TV series Monkey, the English-language dub of the iconic Japanese series Saiyuki, about the journey of the monkey spirit, the monk Tripitaka, Sandy and Pigsy towards enlightenment. The Batmobile, Batman There have been many Batmen and many Batmobiles, but few remain so clearly seared into popular culture as the 1966 TV series version, a tweak on a futuristic concept car designed by Ford in 1955 called the Lincoln Futura. The original was built by hand in Italy and never put into production. The TV version was built in just three weeks by Barris Kustom, a company specialising in car customisation. The General Lee, The Dukes of Hazzard One of those shows that surely couldn't have been made in any other decade but the 1970s, The Dukes of Hazzard followed cousins Bo Duke (John Schneider) and Luke Duke (Tom Wopat) and their misadventures at the wheel of their beloved General Lee. Because of the gruelling load of the show's car stunts, The Dukes of Hazzard chewed through more than 200 General Lees, all of them 1968, 1969 or 1970 Dodge Chargers with custom modifications.

The USS Enterprise, Star Trek The flagship of the United Federation of Planets' Star Fleet, NCC-1701, the USS Enterprise is as dashing and retro as it is camp and cool, with a huge primary saucer-shaped hull, a secondary hull containing the engineering decks and two stylised warp nacelles powering it to warp speed. It has been redesigned repeatedly (notably, the Captain Kirk movie-era's NCC 1701-A and the Next Generation's NCC 1701-D), but the original Constitution Class design is hard to pass up.