Question of the Night: What well-known yet neglected "hero car" needs a modern-day rebirth?

"boxrocket" (boxrocket) 09/29/2015 at 01:05 • Filed to: None

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Hero cars: the vehicles of our favorite characters that are almost a character of their own. James Bond’s iconic Aston Martin DB5. Frank Bullitt’s and Memphis Raines’ Mustangs, Herbie the “Love Bug”, Bo “Bandit” Danville’s and Michael Knight’s black Trans Ams, Thelma and Louise’s blue Thunderbird, etc. are instantly recognizable, stirring up feelings of excitement and adventure. Yet there are those that are forgotten and neglected, or, worse, reimagined in modern form with little homage to the original (see modern Knight Rider using the Ford/Shelby Mustang GT500KR instead of - and perhaps reasonably so, given Pontiac’s contemporary lineup at the time - the black Pontiac-based K.I.T.T.).

I think the modern Knight Rider folks had the right gist of the idea in 2008 using a Mustang, but they should have stuck with what looked like a V6 model (or a GT), which would have been as ubiquitous as the Trans Am may have been in the late-’70s and early-’80s, not a rare, top-of-the-line GT500KR, or any GT500 for that matter. However, in the spirit of making the car blend in yet be modern - especially with cameras in nearly every pocket - it should be able to disguise the modern tech within but be popular enough to not stand out much while hunting down baddies. Initially I was thinking a Tesla Model X, but that would still be too unique. The producers of the modern TV show also had the Mustang turn into a preproduction Ford Raptor for off-road use, but a Raptor could be impractical for city chases if that was the only choice.

So with that, I’d nominate either a Dodge Challenger SE (it needs to not attract attention, and the engine would be changed anyway, or an F-150 XLT FX4, probably in white to blend in with many other commercial trucks.

So, Opponauts, what car would you re-release in modern form? Perhaps a Transit made to look like the Scooby-Doo Mystery Machine?

Jordan and the Slowrunner, Boomer Intensifies > boxrocket 09/29/2015 at 01:13

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Gone in 60 Seconds: GT350R. Imagine the chase scenes with that sound.

PetarVN, GLI Guy, now with stupid power > boxrocket 09/29/2015 at 01:14

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Vanishing point. I’d love to see a white challenger (but one actually modded, not just a hellcat) trying to run form an evil black charger in the dessert

TheHondaBro > boxrocket 09/29/2015 at 01:14

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The quarter-mile drag race in the original F&F, done with a Hellcat and the Toyota FT1.

beardsbynelly - Rikerbeard > boxrocket 09/29/2015 at 01:14

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Sunbeam Tiger from Get Smart because tiny V8 convertible.

Atomic Buffalo > Jordan and the Slowrunner, Boomer Intensifies 09/29/2015 at 02:07

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I’d rather see it tearing through San Francisco with a Charger Hellcat...

deprecated account > boxrocket 09/29/2015 at 02:21

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Bullitt, with a Guard Green Mustang GT350R and a black Charger Hellcat.

Atomic Buffalo > boxrocket 09/29/2015 at 02:24

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Today’s KITT would be a black Corvette Stingray. Nothing else domestic looks futuristic enough.

I’d also like to see a new Jim Rockford rocking a Dodge Challenger with a shaker hood.

Wheelerguy > boxrocket 09/29/2015 at 02:56

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Problem is that Ferrari doesn’t have an LMP1 car; it would be nice to see a re-imagining of the Le Mans movie using the current season.

I was also thinking of a modern rendition of Grand Prix. But which season? 2002, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2010, or 2012?

boxrocket > Atomic Buffalo 09/29/2015 at 07:55

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If the Ford GT (2016) weren’t going to be so expensive and unlimited, I’d say it trounces the corvette for raw futuristic looks. Heck, take out or cover the wheels Back to the Future II style and it’d look ready to fly.

Of course, the corvette is also arguably too rare to be inconspicuous during snooping activities.

Jordan and the Slowrunner, Boomer Intensifies > Atomic Buffalo 09/29/2015 at 10:51

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Nah, I prefer the original Gone in 60 Seconds chase over bullet. There is just so much hoonage and destruction.

Atomic Buffalo > boxrocket 09/29/2015 at 13:35

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Arguably shmarguably, they're moving over 30,000 Corvettes a year again, and C7 is in its third year of production. And they aren't rare in California, where Knight Rider would be shot :)

boxrocket > Atomic Buffalo 09/29/2015 at 14:09

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True, but if word got out “hey, some vigilante is tooling around in a black corvette with red blinking lights on the front” versus “hey, we see a black Camry snooping around a lot””uh, which one?”, for instance, Michael Knight might not last long.

Atomic Buffalo > boxrocket 09/29/2015 at 16:07

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If word got out?? Word never gets out, except when the plot dictates it should. In the original series, he hid all the time, withdrew to the support rig, and was regularly ignored right out in the open. There was no Jane’s Vigilantes on the villains’ shelves. And how many times was Knight Rider mistaken for an ordinary Trans Am? The plot either dictated that the bad guys saw the car or didn’t see the car. Bad guys generally weren’t car guys. Hell, it was well into the series before anyone acknowledged that it was a Trans Am or that Trans Ams were a thing.

Michael Knight would last as long as the ratings held up. :) But a Camry wouldn’t even reach pilot, except on youtube.com/Toyota , no matter how grounded to the ground, no matter how vain it might be.

Atomic Buffalo > boxrocket 09/29/2015 at 16:20

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What would you put Starsky and Hutch in? A red Raptor is the first thing that comes to my mind, and it’s brand-appropriate. Big stripes still work on trucks, don’t they?

Damn, it's a shame that proper hero cars have mostly faded from modern entertainment. Sure, a show actually featuring cars as main characters is too much to ask these days, but it's like cars hardly exist anymore except as transportation, and that's just wrong.