Catching Crooks In Cool Cars

"Jonee" (Jonee) 08/08/2016 at 12:50 • Filed to: T.V. Cars

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I was recently lamenting that the days of a guy in a cool car solving crimes on t.v. is over. There may be a couple holdovers, but they’re nothing like Rockford’s Firebird, or the General Lee. Those cars were as much a character as the humans on their respective shows. I also got to wondering where it all started. What was the first cool car used to solve crimes on television? Early t.v. was broadcast live from a studio, so when they finally figured out how to transmit recordings and could film outside, they wanted some flashy wheels to spice things up.

And, right from the start, they went for it. In 1952, the DuMont Network debuted The Cases of Eddie Drake . The show only lasted one season, but it introduced the kooky car trope and its kooky car may never have been topped, to be honest, since Eddie tools around in a 1948 Davis Divan 3-wheeler he named “Dave.”

You can see it in action here:

With three wheels, hideaway headlights, and 4 abreast seating, the Davis may have been the oddest car ever produced in America. So much so that they only ever built 15.

Also from 1952 and lasting one season was the syndicated The Files of Jeffrey Jones in which Jeff, played by character actor Don Haggerty (father of Grizzly Adams’ Dan [RIP]), drove this sweet little MG.

Did those two shows start the trend? Not really since those programs didn’t last. And, dicks always had cool cars in the movies and old pulp novels which these shows were based on, so audiences were used to the concept. But, t.v. is where they really became extensions of the main characters. It did take a decade for that to really take hold, though.

We have to jump forward 5 years to find something to rival Dave.

That’s the Dual Ghia Peter Lawford drove on the Thin Man t.v. show which debuted in 1957 on NBC. It’s fucking awesome.

Most cars on t.v. at the time often looked like this shot from the DuMont channel’s Hollywood Offbeat (1952-53).

A nondescript steering wheel in front of a steely face.

Or, detectives drove pretty pedestrian cars like Ralph Bellamy’s Nash(?) from Man Against Crime (1949-56 various networks).

One of the biggest influences on the cars detectives drove were, of course, the sponsorships from the car manufacturers. David Janssen, just like Ward Cleaver, got a new Plymouth Fury each season Richard Diamond, Private Detective (1957-60 CBS) was on the air.

As did Peter Gunn (1958-61 NBC/ABC).

The 60’s through the 80’s, though, were really the golden age of t.v. cars. There were literally hundreds of shows where people either solved crimes, stopped crimes, or were victims of crimes. The folks doing the solving, stopping, and suffering ranged from ordinary cops to test pilots whose bodies have been augmented with bionics. Most of them drove a neat car.

Route 66 (1960-64 CBS) wasn’t really a detective show, but crimes happened pretty often and the boys drove a Corvette, probably the first Vette regularly featured on the tube.

One of the most impressive cars of 60's t.v. was actually driven by a woman.

Anne Francis as Honey West (1965-66 ABC) had that amazing white Cobra.

Maxwell Smart’s 007 inspired Sunbeam Tiger from Get Smart (1965-70 CBS) was one of the first foreign cars on a successful American television show to be highly featured.

Another spy show, The Avengers (1961-65), began airing in America in ‘65 and had some of my favorite cars ever. Mrs. Peel’s Lotus Elan.

And Steed’s various Bentleys.

Another British series that goes some play over here was The Saint (1962-69) where Roger Moore piloted a lovely Volvo P1800. Probably the Swedish company’s best product placement ever.

1966 introduced the Batmobile from Batman (1966-68 ABC), probably the most famous t.v. car of all time.

Mannix (1967-75 CBS) saw Mike Connors driving a succession of great convertibles from a Dodge Dart GTS.

To a Barracuda.

To this wild and wacky customized Toronado.

McGarrett on Hawaii Five-0 (1968-80 CBS) was known for his ‘68 Mercury Parklane Brougham.

Peter Falk’s Columbo (1968-78 NBC), both the character and the series, was the anti-detective. He was as far from traditionally cool as possible, and the show revealed the killer in the first 20 minutes. So, of course he drove a car that was diametrically opposed to every detective’s car that came before. A 1959 Peugeot 403 Cabriolet that looked like he dragged it out of junkyard, and was as rumpled and strange as he was.

That little car exemplified how a character’s wheels could really be a manifestation of their personality, and started a new trend of weird and/or beat up cars on t.v. that, for some reason, Eddie Drake’s Davis never influenced.

McMillan and Wife (1971-77 NBC) had a yellow MG TD that was usually shown on screen like this because I don’t think star Rock Hudson could actually fit in it.

The Snoop Sisters (1973-74 NBC) alternated nights with Columbo on the NBC Wednesday Mystery Movie . It was about a pair of elderly sisters who solved crimes. So, of course they drove this old Lincoln.

In Baretta (1975-78 ABC) Robert Blake drove a rusty 1966 Chevy Impala nicknamed “The Blue Ghost.”

On the opposite end of the spectrum, Banacek (1972-74 NBC) was chauffeured around in a Cadillac limo.

I always thought the brown ‘73 Buick Century driven by Kojak (1973-78 CBS) suited him for whatever reason.

The king of 70's detective cars is, of course, Jim’s gold Pontiac Firebird Esprit from The Rockford Files (1974-80 NBC).

Rockford actually had two, a ‘74 and a ‘78.

The next year brought us another icon, the 1975 Ford Gran Torino from Starsky & Hutch (1975-79 ABC).

That car, with the most striking paint job of all time, ushered in an era where cops and private eyes truly didn’t give two fucks about going incognito.

Charlie’s Angels (1976-81 ABC) featured 3 Fords ranging from a modest Pinto to Farrah Fawcett’s outrageous Mustang II Cobra.

The Hardy Boys (1977-79 ABC) had a groovy custom van.

Robert Urich’s Dan Tanna had this ‘57 Thunderbird on Vega$ (1978-81 ABC).

When Jon and Ponch weren’t busting speeders on their motorcycles on CHiPs (1977-83 NBC) they drove a Mini then souped up truck, and ‘71 Trans Am respectively. Although, I think Ponch’s Pontiac with the atrocious copper paint job gets stolen and destroyed.

In a mash-up of popular films Smokey and the Bandit and Any Which Way You Can , B.J. McKay drove a brightly painted 18-wheeler that he shared with a chimpanzee on B.J. and the Bear (1979-81 NBC).

Hart to Hart (1979-84 ABC) was about millionaire detectives, so of course they had nice cars. Like a 1972 Dino.

A 1980 450 SL.

And a Rolls-Royce Corniche Convertible.

As the 80's rolled around, things got crazy. The cars got wilder and even began to come to life.

The Dukes of Hazzard (1979-85 CBS) weren’t traditional crime fighters having been in trouble with the law since the day they were born. But, they did foil their share of nefarious plots to deceive the residents of Hazzard County. And they did it in an all-time classic, the General Lee, a redneck custom 1968 Dodge Charger that was nigh indestructible. It was a huge influence on the decade to come.

Magnum P.I. (1980-88 CBS) really started things off with a bang with the Ferrari 308 GTS.

The Simons of Simon and Simon (1981-89 CBS) each had a car reflecting their personalities. City Simon drove this Camaro.

And Country Simon charged around in this Dodge Power Wagon.

Like Gerald McRaney’s Country Simon, Lee Majors’s The Fall Guy (1981-86 ABC) was a good ol’ American male, so he got a lifted GMC pickup that could really fly.

With all these cars now becoming centerpieces of their shows, it was only a matter of time before a t.v. car became sentient as was the case with K.I.T.T., the 1982 Pontiac Firebird from Knight Rider (1982-86 NBC).

Automan (1983-84) took it one step further and had a guy become a car.

Terrible show, but they picked a good car.

McCormick of Hardcastle and McCormick (1983-86 ABC) drove this memorable, but not exactly screaming, Coyote X, a kit car on a Beetle chassis inspired by a McLaren. Not only was it not fast, but it couldn’t even talk.

Starting in season 2, Pierce Brosnan’s Remington Steele (1982-87 NBC) zipped around in this Auburn Speedster replica.

Another wealthy p.i. from the Reagan era was oil tycoon Matt Houston (1982-85 ABC) who had this Sparks Roadster, one of a rash of “neo-classics” from the Brougham Age.

Miami Vice (1984-89 NBC) featured exotics like a Ferrari Daytona

and an 80's-tastic cocaine white Testarossa.

Robert Urich returned as Spenser in Spenser: For Hire (1985-88 ABC). His tough guy Boston detective went old school with a ‘66 Mustang Fastback.

The Equalizer (1985-89 CBS) was British, so he drove a Jag.

And, maybe coolest of all was B.A.’s custom GMC van from The A-Team (1983-87 NBC).

I always wanted this toy, but since I already had a Charlie’s Angels van (which wasn’t even on the damn show), my parents wouldn’t buy it for me.

Anyway, that’s a brief overview of crime-fighters’ cars from the 50's to the 80's. I know plenty of us became jalops from seeing these things on t.v. I sure did. When I was a kid, cars and car chases were all you saw on television. That seems to have changed. One reason, I think, is that back then cars became junkers so fast, there were plenty of cheap cars you could destroy. That’s not really the case any more. I mean, just imagine what the car budget for something like Dukes of Hazzard or CHiPs would be today. Also, we spend less time watching people drive in movies and shows now. It’s funny, but back then, you had to show a character driving from one place to another. And then getting in and out of their car. If you watch stuff made pre 1985, you’ll see that so much time is spent telling us how someone got somewhere. Nowadays you just cut from one location to another. The language of film has changed where we now accept that someone drove someplace without having to see them do it. And, back then, when you had to show them getting there, you may as well have had them do something like talk to a witness, or get in a car chase. So, a lot of time was spent in cars. Heck, Michael and K.I.T.T. just drove around randomly all the time waiting for bad guys. I feel sorry for our children who won’t get as much nostalgic car spotting when they watch “old” movies or shows in the future.

Let me know which ones I forgot.

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mcseanerson > Jonee 08/08/2016 at 13:00

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Have you watched The Good Guys? You should go watch The Good Guys.

X37.9XXS > Jonee 08/08/2016 at 13:01

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Lois Lane’s Nash Rambler Custom

The Man From UNCLE Piranha

And, of course,

The Professionals Ford Capri 3.0 S

John Drake’s MiniCooper S

And #6's Lotus 7

The Ford Grenada from The Sweeney

And lastly

DCI Endevour Morse’s Jaguar MK2

Jonee > mcseanerson 08/08/2016 at 13:04

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No, I never did watch that. It came and went pretty fast, didn’t it? It does look like a fun throwback.

Jonee > X37.9XXS 08/08/2016 at 13:06

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Yeah, good ones. I can’t believe I forgot the Piranha and the Mystery Machine. Classics.

mcseanerson > Jonee 08/08/2016 at 13:06

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Yeah, only one season, all on Netflix. It was the first time I realized that nobody could ever deny that Colin Hanks is Tom’s son. Also just a good fun show even if you don’t like cars.

Chariotoflove > X37.9XXS 08/08/2016 at 13:06

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Starred for the Mystery Machine!

Chariotoflove > Jonee 08/08/2016 at 13:07

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Viper! That entire show was one big Chrysler ad. But it was worth watching for the Viper.

Also, a fun trivia bit on The Rockford Files : when you heard mention of his car on police radio, they called it a Camaro.

SidewaysOnDirt still misses Bowie > mcseanerson 08/08/2016 at 13:09

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Crockett’s Fauxrarri is the bestest.

Jonee > mcseanerson 08/08/2016 at 13:11

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I like Colin Hanks. He’s kind of turned into a good character actor.

Jonee > Chariotoflove 08/08/2016 at 13:14

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Viper was a later attempt to bring back the car show which I respect even though I never watched it.

I never noticed that Camaro thing. That’s a funny joke that I wouldn’t be surprised if Garner had them put in.

Stapleface > Jonee 08/08/2016 at 13:14

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Great post. I’m certain that the shows of the 70's and 80's shaped my car loving self. I think you have a pretty comprehensive list here. Probably the last two shows I can think of that gave any thought to cars were "Burn Notice", and the short lived "The Good Guys" (Fox). Both were created by Matt Nix, so maybe he's a car guy at heart?

Jonee > Stapleface 08/08/2016 at 13:19

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If your show didn’t have a cool car back then, it wasn’t a show. Someone else mentioned The Good Guys. I never watched it or Burn Notice, so I’ll have to put them on my list.

Stapleface > mcseanerson 08/08/2016 at 13:27

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The Good Guys was such a great show. I was bummed when FOX killed it after only one season. I'm rewatching it on Netflix again because it was such a throwback to those old cop shows.

mcseanerson > Stapleface 08/08/2016 at 13:49

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I think I just convinced myself to give it another run through.

Jobjoris > Jonee 08/08/2016 at 13:56

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Would you mind a European suggestion? Aus der Reihe Derrick !

Due to the fact the series aired for decades he was able to drive (or be driven by his Kompel Harry ) all kinds of BMW. From E12s to E28s to E32s to E38s.

Jonee > Jobjoris 08/08/2016 at 14:00

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I haven’t watched that show, but that’s a good one. You’ve mentioned it before, I think. Awesome E12. If I started including European shows, I’d still be writing the post, so I stuck to things that aired in the U.S. And, it’s still missing plenty of good t.v. cars.

xyzabc > Jonee 08/08/2016 at 14:52

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“...Rockford actually had two three, a ‘74, ‘75 and a ‘78...”

Your first of the two photos has him in a ‘75 Firebird Esprit.

Jonee > xyzabc 08/08/2016 at 15:11

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Ah, interesting. I didn’t realize there was a ‘75 before the ‘78, but I now see the car in the top image is different.

xyzabc > Jonee 08/08/2016 at 16:52

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Changes for ‘75 had the Turn Signal Lamps moved inside the grill...and the rear Window was wrap-around. (I had one, thus my ability to offer up these “pearls of wisdom”...)

Jobjoris > Jonee 08/08/2016 at 18:19

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Of course I mentioned Derrick before, last week even when I described Heidi’s sunglasses. They were shaped like this:

I’m glad mrs. Peel got such a prominent place. And most of the subjects we covered already somehow/somewhere ;-)

And I enjoyed re-reading/seeing all of ‘m!

bmil128 > Jonee 08/08/2016 at 22:03

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Here’s a few - a couple others from Miami Vice:

Tubbs’ El Dorado

Switek’s ‘61 Thinderbird

Of course the Bug Van used for surveillance and stakeouts

There was also the show Stingray on NBC which featured a wanderer helping strangers in his blacked out Stingray

There was also the British series Inspector Morse, where the namesake detective drove a Jaguar Mk II Saloon

Jonee > bmil128 08/08/2016 at 22:15

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All good ones. I never saw Stingray, but I like the concept. I forgot about that bug van. Hilarious.

Jonee > Jobjoris 08/09/2016 at 01:08

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Was there anything else shaped like those shades? ;-) You even showed me some clips of Derrick now I remember. He’s awesome.

I’m glad you enjoyed it. It was fun to put together. A lot of shows I had totally forgotten about. It’s one of our favorite subjects obviously. I had meaning to make a post about it for a while.

Jobjoris > Jonee 08/09/2016 at 04:04

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Are you referring to some units? Did I tell you the actor, Horst Tappert, eventually was accused (and it was proven) of being a member of the SS? Therefor some tv-channels refuse to air re-runs now.

The leading pic made me clear I had to read it. As we’ve discussed the, totally unknown to me, Rockford files before. And I still haven’t seen it.

Jonee > Jobjoris 08/10/2016 at 02:36

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Some units are shaped like sunglasses. Really? That’s really crazy. I can’t imagine a bigger celebrity scandal. SS means bona fide Nazi. What happened to him?

Oh, jeez, you have to watch Rockford. Such a fun car show. And James Garner really was great. Good taste in sport coats, too.

Jobjoris > Jonee 08/10/2016 at 04:37

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Horst died in 2008. The fuzz went public in 2013. He probably never knew. Well, he knew he’d lied about being a medic in the Wehrmacht.

I know, I just don’t know how to!

Jonee > Jobjoris 08/10/2016 at 23:51

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He was an SS medic? How did he keep it secret? No one remembered and no one went looking?

It's not on Netflix over there? There might be some episodes on YouTube.

Jobjoris > Jonee 08/11/2016 at 05:37

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No, he’d told he was a medic in the Wehrmacht but he was just a Waffen-SS soldier in the Eastern front. It never came clear if he just volunteered or was forced to join though, the latter happened a lot.

Youtube! I’ll try that.

Jonee > Jobjoris 08/11/2016 at 23:17

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Ah, I see. Yeah, it's hard to tell with records, even, since I think most people were listed as “volunteer” even when they were conscripted.

Jobjoris > Jonee 08/12/2016 at 03:16

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You really think much of those records survived the end of the war? I’m sure ze Germans registered a lot but much of it was destroyed for “well, we know we did something wrong”. I can imagine.

Jonee > Jobjoris 08/14/2016 at 00:15

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Yeah, they destroyed a ton of records, but they kept such meticulous documents, a lot still survived. Like, for some reason, they kept track of everyone sent to the death camps. You’d think they’d just want those people to disappear, but they were so committed to order, they wrote everything down.

Jobjoris > Jonee 08/14/2016 at 06:02

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Neurotic to the bone, no doubt about it. Or maybe more of a collective obsessive–compulsive disorder.

Jonee > Jobjoris 08/15/2016 at 23:47

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Delusional is more like it.

looschud > Jonee 09/08/2016 at 20:14

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Fun article Jonee. Inspector Morse! Jag mark 2 saloon

Jonee > looschud 09/08/2016 at 20:25

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Thanks! Yeah, that’s a good one. Such a beautiful car and I love that it’s that color.

Flavien Vidal > Jonee 10/17/2016 at 06:37

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The Miami Vice Daytona was a Corvette underneath :)

Also, Aibou, a famous japanese police show, the lead character drives a Nissan Figaro

Jonee > Flavien Vidal 10/17/2016 at 14:55

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I like that Figaro. Black makes it look almost appropriate for a cop.