Started By
Message

Bestest most iconic automobile used in a TV series?

Posted on 9/15/19 at 8:36 pm
Posted by scrooster
Resident Ethicist
Member since Jul 2012
37581 posts
Posted on 9/15/19 at 8:36 pm
Just to cite a few of the top of my head .... no particular order.

74-75 Firebird James Garner, Rockford Files (he actually drove several Esprit models, but this was his first.)



The Batmobile



quote:

The most famous Batmobile in all the land may have started out as a 1955 Ford-Lincoln Futura concept car when “Batman” aired on television, and it still reigns as the most famous car in the world, recognizable around the globe.


Starsky & Hutch 76 Grand Torino



quote:

Starsky may have “owned” the car on the series, but Glaser has said in many interviews he hated the car in real life as it was huge, and terrible to handle at high speeds. One man’s trash is another’s treasure, and this car is living proof of its rise to fame and popularity. If the green Chevrolet Camaro the producers originally wanted had come through there may not have been such a story to tell.

Dukes of Hazzard 1969 Dodge Charger, General Lee


quote:

In 1969, Chrysler manufactured approximately 85,000 Chargers, and there were plenty to be snapped up by producers. Various reports and interviews with Schneider and Wopat have said that between 256 and 351 General Lee’s were created – all modified 1968 or 1969 SE and R/T models — although most were destroyed during the filming of the series. Jones has stated many times that a total of 309 were outfitted with either 318, 383, or 440ci throughout production.

Obligatory Daisy Duke photo ...



quote:

It makes no matter if you were of watching age when the original “Dukes of Hazzard” began airing on television in 1979, the series, characters, the Daisy Duke shorts, and especially the General Lee are famous around the world. In fact, the car received more than half of the show’s fan mail!

There are many more famous autos pictures in this list but three not mentioned that were famous to me back in the day were ...

Simon Templar's 1962 Volvo P1800 driven by a future James Bond, Roger Moore. They sold a ton of these cars thanks to the show. Originally the producers wanted to use a Jaguar but Jaguar said they were too classy to be used in a TV show so ....





Then there was the (what everyone thought was a red) 1960-64 Corvette driven in the TV show Route 66 .... (when the show was in b&w)
quote:

"George Maharis reported in a 1986 Nick at Nite interview that people often ask him about "the red Corvette." According to Maharis, the Corvette was never red. It was light blue the first season, and fawn beige for the second and third seasons. Both colors were chosen to photograph well in black and white, but the show's cinematographer complained that the powder blue car reflected too much light. The Corvette was replaced with a newer model annually by the series' sponsor, General Motors, but the show itself never mentioned or explained this technicality."





And finally, not listed in the link above ...

Sonny Crockett's 1972 Ferrari Daytona Spyder


quote:

In real life, the cars used on the show were not genuine Daytonas, due to the price (ca. 1980s they were selling for around $100,000-$200,000) and rarity of the genuine Ferraris. The cars used in the show were built around the chassis of a Chevrolet Corvette C3 by Tom McBurnie; the first car, known as Car One, was based on a 1976 Corvette, while the second, known as Car Four, was based on a 1981 model. Both cars had 350hp engines and 3 speed automatic transmissions, the latter of which can be glimpsed in the episode "Junk Love". The replica cars (affectionately known as "McBurnies" after their creator) used fiberglass body panels with a black plexiglass nose section, containing clear panels over the two sets of headlights. Originally the seams of this plexiglass nose, and the bolts holding it in place, were quite obvious, but for the start of season 2 the cars were completely overhauled to give them a much more authentic appearance. This can be most clearly identified from the smoother nose section on both vehicles and the shift from clear panels over the headlights to tinted ones, which sometimes gave the car the appearance of solid headlight covers in some shots. The Ferrari badges, originally mounted on the hood above the plexiglass nose, were moved to their rightful place between the cars' headlights. The interiors were also revamped, and Car One's chrome windshield trim was changed to black to match that of Car Four (this difference in trim is the easiest way to discern which car is on screen during season 1).

Which ones did the list (linked above) or I miss?
Posted by dek81572
Bossier City
Member since Apr 2012
869 posts
Posted on 9/15/19 at 8:48 pm to
KITT from Knight Rider
This post was edited on 9/15/19 at 8:49 pm
Posted by DarthRebel
Tier Five is Alive
Member since Feb 2013
21233 posts
Posted on 9/15/19 at 8:49 pm to
Most iconic for Boomers and Gen X








Most Iconic for Millenials

Posted by SWCBonfire
South Texas
Member since Aug 2011
1256 posts
Posted on 9/15/19 at 8:52 pm to


Ferrari 308

also for me:



84 GMC 3/4 ton
This post was edited on 9/15/19 at 8:56 pm
Posted by gthog61
Irving, TX
Member since Nov 2009
71001 posts
Posted on 9/15/19 at 8:55 pm to
Catherine Bach had a better than average pair of legs, huh?
Posted by Meatball
Member since Sep 2009
4939 posts
Posted on 9/15/19 at 8:57 pm to
Magnum PI Ferrari?
Posted by SWCBonfire
South Texas
Member since Aug 2011
1256 posts
Posted on 9/15/19 at 9:04 pm to
I'm a fool to be pitied for forgetting:

Posted by tigerfan84
Member since Dec 2003
20222 posts
Posted on 9/15/19 at 9:07 pm to



Posted by 225bred
COYS
Member since Jun 2011
20386 posts
Posted on 9/15/19 at 9:19 pm to


1984 Ford Econoline
Posted by scrooster
Resident Ethicist
Member since Jul 2012
37581 posts
Posted on 9/15/19 at 9:35 pm to
The Delorean, while iconic, was not used in a TV series. Same goes for The Bandit car and a couple of others pictured above.

The A Team was probably better known for the pickup truck, a 1983 G Series GMC and that TV series sold a lot of trucks for GMC. Matter of fact that was around the last time GMC/Chevy outsold Ford. Ford has outsold all other in full size trucks for 33 consecutive years so .... the last year The A Team was on the air, Ford has outsold GMC/Chevy since.

The power of TV shows ... as alluded-to in the OP about Simon Templar's Volvo.

Matter of fact there was even a run on kit car Daytona Spyders, I forget the name of the company in Florida that started making them but it started with an E, Excalibur maybe but that doesn't sound right in my head .... because of those first two seasons of Miami Vice.

Ferrari kit cars are still the largest selling kit cars/replica cars on the market today.
This post was edited on 9/15/19 at 9:37 pm
Posted by Ragnar Danneskjold
North of you
Member since Dec 2015
412 posts
Posted on 9/15/19 at 10:04 pm to
Posted by Erin Go Bragh
Beyond the Pale
Member since Dec 2007
14916 posts
Posted on 9/15/19 at 10:05 pm to
I'm going with the General Lee. I like the idea of it being too fast for Mitch Landrieu to pull down.
Posted by UMRealist
Member since Feb 2013
35360 posts
Posted on 9/15/19 at 10:09 pm to
Posted by mizzoubuckeyeiowa
Member since Nov 2015
35448 posts
Posted on 9/15/19 at 10:15 pm to
I think objectively the Top 5 would be:

1. General Lee
2. Kit
3. Scooby-Doo Van
4. Batmobile
5. A-Team Van
Posted by scrooster
Resident Ethicist
Member since Jul 2012
37581 posts
Posted on 9/15/19 at 10:38 pm to
These was a time when you could tell how popular TV cars were by how many model car kits were sold to Dad's and Sons to build together.

Those were the days.

This one was one of the more famous, known as The Munster Koach....



So famous that a model car maker convinced the show to have a special car made for grandpa The Munster Mobile Dragster and they even raced this car at drag strip car shows ...



Miami Vice actually had two, most people just never think about the second one, the real one ....



The Original Green Hornet car, driven by a relative unknown named Bruce Lee, was very very famous back in the day .... and the car was actually named "Black Beauty."

Posted by S
RIP Wayde
Member since Jan 2007
155423 posts
Posted on 9/15/19 at 10:40 pm to
Dylan’s porsche
Posted by Bread Orgeron
Baw Bakery
Member since Aug 2006
11848 posts
Posted on 9/15/19 at 11:18 pm to
Walter White’s Pontiac Aztek

Posted by Fewer Kilometers
Baton Rouge
Member since Dec 2007
36012 posts
Posted on 9/15/19 at 11:47 pm to
quote:

Batmobile

And it’s not even close.
Posted by Lakebound
Member since Nov 2004
3831 posts
Posted on 9/16/19 at 12:52 am to
Neither the bestest nor most iconic, but I enjoyed what Steve McGarrett and Andy Taylor drove while they battled Wo Fat and Ernest T. Bass, respectively.

Posted by mizzoubuckeyeiowa
Member since Nov 2015
35448 posts
Posted on 9/16/19 at 12:53 am to
quote:


Batmobile

And it’s not even close
.

I don't think that's true.

Not everyone is a Comic book nerd and that show was lightly watched.

But everyone watched Scooby-Doo.

Dukes of Hazzard was the #1 show in television and everyone seems to have an opinion about that car...even if they didn't watch the show.

KIT...C'mon. They have 3 cars at Universal Studios that you can mess with...

The Delorean from Back to the Future, KIT and the A-team van.

There are people who generally don't know what the frick the Batmobile looks like but if you showed them a picture of the General Lee or Kit...they'd be hell yeah.

Batman aired for only 3 seasons and was never a hit.

Mothers, daughters, sisters know the General Lee, they have no idea about the 60's Batman car. It just looks Halloween.
This post was edited on 9/16/19 at 12:58 am
first pageprev pagePage 1 of 3Next pagelast page

Back to top
logoFollow TigerDroppings for LSU Football News
Follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram to get the latest updates on LSU Football and Recruiting.

FacebookTwitterInstagram