Famous Vehicles From Television

Here is the Family 'Koach'






And Grandpa's coffin roadster, 'Drag-u-la'

Holy Hot Rod!! It's the Batmobile!


The Batmobile was created by George Barris from a 1955 Futura (a Ford concept car)


The Batmobile Meets The Black Beauty!

The Green Hornet and Kato fought crime in a 1966 Imperial.




The Black Beauty


The Black Beauty and Bruce Lee

This show was the cause of the death and demolition of more 1969 Dodge Chargers than any other single source. They had a fleet of them, but in our hearts there was only one General Lee, and it was invincible.






The show was also responsible for introducing the public to the 'Daisy Duke'.

Wasn't that passenger door supposed to have been welded shut?

The Monkeemobile was created from a Pontiac GTO. The designer 'stretched' the nose and 'mashed' the front end down. A 3rd row of seating was added where the trunk used to be, and an antique touring car convertable top completed the look.


Pontiac paid a promotional fee to have the GTO markings left intact.

This picture was taken from the first season of the show and it features Fonzie on the original motorcycle he rode on the show. It was a much cooler bike. A black Harley Davidson knucklehead. You will notice he also didn't have his trademark leather jacket, instead he wore a lightweight windbreaker.

After striking it rich, Jed loaded up this truck and moved to Beverly, hills that is. The truck was built from an old Buick body and frame. Max Baer (Jethro) said it drove like a tank and was hard to steer.


He hung a replica of the truck from the ceiling of his Beverly Hillbillies Casino in Reno.


This is a promotional photo for the show. Notice the prominent placment of the sponsor's Kellog's Corn Flakes.


In another promotional short, the Clampetts wave to a truckload of Winston cigarettes.

Jim Bronson travelled the country on a 1969 900cc Harley Davidson Sportster.








"Taking a trip?"

KITT was a 1982 Firebird.




KITT takes Michael for an unwanted ride.


KITT's dashboard


The Hoff

These two undercover cops patrolled the city in a red 1974 Gran Torino with a big white stripe. Very inconspicuous.




Here are the boys in their prime.




And here are the boys a few years after the show left the air. I am assuming this is a replica of the original car.

This squad of mercenaries tooled around in this customized van with Mr. T behind the wheel while alluding the US Government Agents.


A very good replica, but I don't think they have the color right. Especially the wheels.


This playset features the van, but the action figures are characters from the movie version.

Secret agent 86, Maxwell Smart drove a 1964 Sunbeam for the first two seasons. They later changed it to a Volkswagen Karmen Ghia. Budget cut within the agency?


Here is the original car on display at a show featuring the pop-up machine gun in the hood and a life-size cut-out of Don Adams.


In addition to the Sunbeam, Smart also drove this Opel GT at one point, not really sure when the Karmen Ghia came into the scene.

Remember this show with the annoying nerd next door? Well, he got his revenge by taking over the entire show just like The Fonze did on Happy Days. And what else would a nerd like Steve Urkel drive but a BMW Isetta?


Complete with fold-away steering column and one headlight.




Less doors = More safety!

The stars of this 1960-64 drama really had it made. They got to drive all over the country in a brand new Corvette having adventures everywhere they went.


Chevrolet was the sponsor and they would furnish the latest model Corvette each season the show was on the air. My favorite was the '62 red and white one, but the show was black & white, so you really couldn't tell what color they were. Below is a shot of the boys taking the new Corvette across the river on a ferry from the very first episode.


Here is one of the '61 models they used.


This was taken from an episode. It looks like the boys had to make a fast getaway.


The show started in 1960, when the Corvette still had pretty much the 1950s style body. It was updated each year, but in 1963, the Corvette was re-designed. The last 2 seasons, the boys drove around in the new stingray body style seen below.

This Warner Bros detective series ran from the late 50s to the early 60s. It featured a parking valet and wannabe detective called Kookie. He was a jive-talking hipster, so what else could he drive but a custom made t-bucket hot rod?


Offscreen, the car (known as the "Kookie" car) was famous on its own. Here is a picture of the car at a show. That is the creator/designer/engineer sitting behind the wheel. He practically invented the T-Bucket craze with this car. Note the skull shift nob. That was one of his specialties, he made them himself.


This promotional photo must be staged. If Kookie really did this and he was off by an inch and his landing wasn't lined up perfectly, it could have dire (and painful) consequences.


Makin' the scene in his 'Kookie Kar'.

In this cool 80's series, undercover vice cops Crockett and Tubbs not only got to dress in designer clothes, they got to drive designer cars.


Like this Ferrari Daytona Spyder...


It was actually a replica, but still very cool.



And this Ferrari Testorosa.


This replica got the interior and roof wrong.


The 1972 Ferrari Daytona Spyder Replica and the 1986 Ferrari Testarossa.

Don Johnson's other detective series has him driving a more classic muscle car.




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The 3 stars of the show, Don, Cheech Marin, and the 1971 Plymouth Baracuda.

Not all TV detectives got to drive customized muscle cars. Take Lt. Columbo's old beat up '64 Peugot convertable, for instance.


Which has had more wear, the car or the trenchcoat?


Is he running a road course in this shot?


Still, it fit him like a glove.


A proud Lt. Columbo posing in front of his beloved Peugot.

Over the years pepole keep asking what kind of car Joe Mannix drove on this detective series.


The answer is a 1968 Toronado customized by George Barris, of course.


Here it is on the set during a scene set-up.


Before the Toronado was established as Joe's car, he drove a 1966 Mercury Comet Caliente convertable in the pilot episode. In a later episode he drove a 1967 Mercury Comet Cyclone convertible and a 1967 Ford Galaxie 500 4-door hardtop, both of these were company cars that got shot up and the Toronado took their place. Barris got involved because they wanted a convertible and Oldsmobile never made an open-top Toronado


In later seasons, Joe also drove a 1968 Dodge Dart GTS 340 convertible and a 1969 Dart that Barris customized to replicate the 1968. Here is a picture autographed by Mike Connors.


During the run of the series, he also drove model years 1970, 1971, and 1973 Plymouth Cuda 340 Coupe, a 1974 Dodge Challenger 360 Coupe, and a Chevy Camaro LT.




However, the Toronado is the car most closely associated with Joe Mannix.

Newspaper reporter, Tim O'Hara drove a 1962 Triumph TR4 for most of this series' run.


Here is Tim in the TR4 when he spots the crashed spaceship from the first episode.


He also drove this 1963 Plymouth Fury convertible.


This was his final car on the show, a 1965 Plymouth Fury III.

Jim Rockford lived in a trailer at the beach and drove this Gold Pontiac Firebird.


Here it is on display.


Series star James Garner poses with the Firebird.


'Cool' Jim Rockford is in the car and on the case.

They were a 4-man squad that ran guerilla raids and convert missions on Rommel's forces in the North African dessert during WWII. They drove a Jeep that was pretty much standard military issue. The most prominent option was the 50 caliber machine gun mounted on the back. Each episode opened with the jeep popping over a sand dune and becoming airborn similiar to the picture here.


Here is the main cast plotting an attack over the hood of the Jeep.


The leader is manning the machine gun himself in this scene.


This is a replica that has most of the details correct.

Magnum tooled around a tropical paradise wearing God-awful flower print Hawaiian shirts and driving this 'borrowed' Ferrari.


Magnum out for a cruise. Would you let a friend loose with this car if it was yours?


The standard Ferrari interior had to be altered to accomodate 6 foot 4 star, Tom Selleck.

Talk about your career mistakes! Jerry Van Dyke turned down a regular role on his brother's hit stcom.'The Dick Van Dyke Show' because he was offered a starring role in this. It has been called both 'The worst show on television' and 'The biggest flop on TV'. It almost destroyed his career. It was not until 20-some years later, when he landed the role of Luther on the successful sitcom, 'Coach' that he ever saw any success.
This show was about a man whose deceased mother returns as an antique car.


She is a 1928 'Porter' which is pretty much a fictional car. A real Porter did exist. The first was a steam engine car (1901-01) and the second was a powerful luxury car (1919-22). Both are now extinct. This 'Porter' was created by the 'Father of the T-bucket' and creator of the original 'Kookie' car, Norman Grabowski.


He made it from a 1924 Ford hot rod. He modified the car to give it a distinctive look. It was given an elongated engine compartment, brass radiator with the "Porter" script, running board mounted spare tire, outboard fuel tank and cane-clad trunk. This gave it the anchronistic look, resembling cars of an earlier age.


The power train was a hot rod-grade 283 cu in Chevy small block engine with a power glide automatic transmission.It was registered as a 'modified Ford' in 1964 and sports the yellow and black California license plates throughout the run of the series.


On the show, the car could drive itself and talk, only to Jerry, of course.

The Partridge's touring bus was a converted school bus with a 'Family-Friendly' Psychodelic paint job.

This show was a great showcase for Chevrolet. Their products were displayed prominently throughout the popular series' run. The Stephens family ran through a series of Chevys during the years. During the first season, the family car was a 1964 Chevelle, new for that year, of course.


Not only in their driveway, but there were strategically placed Chevrolets all along the road in the neighborhood.


And in town.


Here is their 1965 Malibu.


Only a few years later, the Stephens were driving a new 1968 SS Camaro.




They got a new one in 1970.


Being a 2 car family, they kept a Malibu in addition to their Camaro. Here is their 1969 Chevelle SS Malibu. Check out the sporty green Camaro in the next parking space.


By the last season they had settled down to this 1972 Impala as a family car.


Even the fantasy cars were Chevy powered. Here is a custom-designed car they used in "The Super Car". It was front wheel powered by a Covair engine.


Another shot of the "Super Car".




As for the Corvair, when it was getting all the bad publicity over safety concerns in the mid-60s, GM decided some good publicity would be for Darrin and Sam to drive a 1966 Covair Convertible for a while until they replaced it with their new Camaro.


And how a 1970 Pontiac Bonneville got so prominently displayed is anyone's guess. But it is a GM product,so...

Lee Majors starred as a movie stunt man and part-time bounty hunter. He drove this 1982 GMC Sierra and seemed to have to jump it in every show. Dozens of these trucks were destroyed between 1982 and 1986.


He usually made a pretty rough landing, too. Like in this scene where he has just jumped an older model. Notice how the front tire appears to be folding under the fender as if the axel had just broken.


And in the next scene, the truck is handling just like new!

Brian Keith starred as the hard-nosed, retired judge that people called "Hardcase", behind his back, of course. He did a little detective work on the side and somehow got teamed up with a young ex-con that he tolerates. McCormick drives this custom-made exotic vehicle called the Coyote X.


The Coyote is in right on the tail of a 1968 Chevelle.


The car was a 1971 Volkswagen Coyote X.

A pre-James Bond Roger Moore starred a Simon Templer on this 1962-69 series. He drove this 1962 Volvo P 1800.


This was a classic model for Volvo.

Spenser lived in the Boston area and drove this fastback 1966 Mustang GT.

Prior to being sent to The Village, Number 6 is seen driving this 1965 Lotus 7 Series S.


Here is the star in the car.


Navigating the confusing British roads.


And after arriving at his destination.


These shots are from the episode "The Girl Who Was Death".


The car used in the series was a 1965 Lotus Super 7 S2 demonstrator powered by a Coswoth 1500 engine. They were produced from 1961 to 1968.


MacGoohan in a tiny Lotus Elan that he rejected in favor of the Lotus 7.

Of course macho man Tim would build a 1933 Ford Hot Rod in his garage under the guise of a bonding activity with his sons and then get carried away and challenge Bob Villa to a drag race before he has put in the engine.

Fred and Lamont collected the 'treasures' they used to create their 'empire' in this beat-up 1951 Ford F1 4X2.


Lamont out working the streets in the old truck.


Here is the current owner of the original truck used on the show. He plans to make it safe to drive in parades, while maintaining the original 'worn-out' look. Notice how the red paint is now so faded, it appears to be pink.