Media | Articles
8 of Our Favorite TV Cars
Seeing The Rockford Files Firebird on Jay Leno’s YouTube channel got us talking. Even though Garner’s golden ‘bird isn’t as decked-out as Reynolds’ pin-striped Trans Am, it’s still got one heck of a following. The Hagerty Media team chatted about what other TV cars have made an impression on us, and the discussion went in all sorts of directions.
While we managed to cover a wide swath of time, any list covering this topic could be dominated by vehicles from the ’70s and ’80s—it’s arguably the strongest vehicle-as-supporting-character era in the history of entertainment. The A-Team van, the Duke’s General Lee, Magnum’s Ferrari 308, and Kitt (not to mention the GMC pickup from The Fall Guy, Daisy’s Jeep, and countless others) are excellent and worthy choices. Many of us went a little more obscure, however.
Here are some of our favorite TV vehicles—let us know yours in the comments.
Marketplace
Buy and sell classics with confidence
Reliant Robin
Picking a favorite car from a TV show entirely about cars might seem like a foolish exercise, but I’ll worry about that next year.
Nothing embodied what made the BBC version of Top Gear so special quite like the Reliant Robin. That segment, with Clarkson rolling the three-wheeled car over and over and over again makes me chuckle every time I see it. I know what’s coming, the premise isn’t all that witty, and the jokes are as corny as they come, but as sure as the day is long, I get a kick out of how zany that whole thing was.
Those guys had their hits and their misses, but it’s a disservice to say that Top Gear didn’t play a formative role in the lives of thousands of today’s car nuts. — Nathan Petroelje
Sajeev’s Pick: A St. Regis
As much as it pains this ’70s cop whow/Ford enthusiast not to pick the Starsky & Hutch Ford Gran Torino, there’s only one winner in my heart: The 1980s Dodge St. Regis police car from the TV show Sledge Hammer!
If I recall correctly, the clapped-out, avocado-green St. Regis perfectly embodies the amalgamation of traits that made Inspector Sledge Hammer even more nihilistically perfect than Dirty Harry. I believe there was even an “I 
Violence” sticker on the trunk.
Wait…I have this show on DVD so let me check …
Yep, take it from me, you “no-good yogurt-eating creep,” Sledge Hammer! ensured that bad guys can be a force for good, and bad cars can be the perfect vehicle for this level of justice. Add the fact that this show literally drips in satire (every episode left me in stitches), and that delightfully horrible Dodge St. Regis was the pick of the litter. This Dodge was made for this show, and it deserves to be your favorite TV car too!
Oh, and the episode where Joe Isuzu played a dirty cop that Sledge had to take down was the best moment in comedy that whole year. —Sajeev Mehta
America’s Sports Car on America’s Road
There’s likely a pretty good reason why I have been a lifelong Chevrolet Corvette admirer, something that was kindled by reruns of the CBS TV series Route 66. It starred George Maharis as Buz, and Martin Milner (later of Adam-12) who, incidentally, beat out Robert Redford for the role of Tod, whose father dies suddenly and leaves Tod his new 1960 Corvette. Tod and his friend Buz decide to take off in the Corvette, working odd jobs as they crisscrossed the country. The series premiered in October of 1960 and lasted until March of 1964. Each year, Chevrolet insisted on upgrading the show to the latest model convertible Corvette with no real explanation in the script. The restless-young-people-searching-for-meaning was an obvious ripoff of Jack Kerouac’s 1957 book On the Road, so much so that Kerouac threatened to sue. That wandering-ethos spoke to me, sure, but not as loudly as those Corvettes. — Steven Cole Smith
CHiPs choices
As a massive CHiPs nerd, I had twin loves. One was Jon Baker’s ’77 GMC K15 stepside with the graphics package, rollbar with KC lights, and the push-bar damage multiplier up front. The other was Ponch’s ’71 Pontiac Firebird in Anaconda Gold, which he got for $83 from some dude who set it on fire to prevent it being towed, as one does. Honorable mention goes to Rick Simon’s crusty ’79 Dodge Power Wagon from the show Simon & Simon, with its faded paint and mud tires and enormous front bumper. —Stefan Lombard
Dorifto AE86
The Toyota Sprinter Trueno AE86 from the Japanese anime series Initial D. It’s an odd choice considering I’ve never actually gotten around to watching the show, but the car has permeated into conversation with many younger enthusiasts who ask if my Corvair is inspired by the white and black star car driven by the fictional Takumi Fujiwara as he learns driving skills in the curvy mountain roads of the Kantō region of Japan. He evolves from delivery driver to street racer behind the wheel of the white Toyota. It’s become clear that the series created a new avenue for people to be introduced to car culture. Sounds like I should give it a watch. —Kyle Smith
Supernatural Impala
I’ll chime in for the young’uns here, and volunteer the 1967 Impala from Supernatural, an addictive and long-running show starring two brothers who “save people and hunt [all variety of paranormal] things.” There are ghosts, spirits, beasts, angels, demons, and even God at one point, but the black Impala is a constant, er, presence. Dean adores the car, calls it “Baby,” and rebuilds it countless times. He keeps the trunk full of an array of weaponry, and he drives the car everywhere. Realism is not much of a priority in this show, but if it were, that Impala would have more miles on it than any P1800 could ever boast.
That Impala makes me feel nostalgic, not for the ’60s, but for high school, when I binged the show on my tiny iPhone between swim practice and homework assignments. Supernatural made an old car badass, without any connection to The Golden Age of Muscle, even if it probably gave viewers ridiculous expectations of how easy it is to repair frame damage. —Grace Houghton
Fallout Kaiser Darrin
Mine has to be the yellow Kaiser Darrin that appears in the recent Fallout TV series, adapted from the original post-apocalyptic video game. The car belongs to protagonist Cooper Howard, an archetypical 1950s cowboy movie star. The Darrin is so funky and over-the-top that it melds perfectly into the hyper-campy setting in an alternate 1950s Hollywood. It’s all that domestic post-war exuberance and optimism combined with a European sense of elegance and stature. I especially like the doors that recede into the fiberglass body, as well as the Art Deco-style front grille that almost resembles a seashell. The Darrin is so wacky it makes the C1 Corvette look a little boring. —Eric Weiner
Find more values
Search for prices of other cars, trucks, vans and motorcycles
Of all the TV cars that have come and gone this is the list that … Never mind. At least you got the Route 66 Corvettes in the list.
Wow, it only took one comment for a “You chose something other than what I like and that makes you wrong” type thought to get posted. You at least did eventually get to the part of “then don’t say anything at all” of that famous saying. I’m betting a lot of people after you won’t, which is a little sad. These are interesting choices and not the same drivel list that gets trotted out by others to appease the loudest in the room.
Everybody is entitled to an opinion, which I think is the whole point of the article.
Using such a tight standard, it would be very hard to suggest another car, like, for example, the Batmobile, to be on this list without it sounding like, “You chose something other than what I like and that makes you wrong.”
Another interpretation might be, “You chose something other than what I like, but you expressed your opinion and this is mine.”
For many of us, if we bring up an alternative, it is to remind everyone of what was. Some of these would not be my choice, but I am glad for the reminder. Keeps some of the cobwebs out of the brainium in the cranium.
Family Matters, Steve Urkel’s BMW Isetta.
My first car was a 59 silver Corvette just like the one in the Route 66 picture. Loved that car – only fond memories now.
Wanted to get an early Vette, being in the business for years. Finally started looking, figured to spend 50-100k depending on EVERYTHING. Looked at a rough 58?, I think, that just needed everything.
Then reality hit. I got in and realize the car was just too small. At 6 ft and about 200, I never saw that coming.
Had dozens Gm pickups, big LeSabre wagons, 6 Suburbans and the like, but don’t fit in the early Vettes. BUMMER.
Shelby Cobra’s and replica’s suffer the same problem. Too small for a lot of people.
I had the same experience. I thought I had a little more room in a ’62 but the steering wheel was in my chest and my legs were bowlegged to fit.
Back in 1972, my buddy in high school had a ’59 hardtop convertible he desperately needed $900 for. I was slinging hash part time after school at $1.60 hr, so no way. Got a used ’64 Impala SS with used car lot financing. instead. Probably would have killed myself in that Vette at 17 yrs old…
Agreed! I was 15 and really into sports cars, Never missed an episode.
You’re right…other than the Corvette don’t know what you were thinking….dumb
What is your pick?
The series had nothing to do with Rt 66, if I remember correctly only 2 shows were actually filmed on the route, but it had a catchy name and cool car. This clip is testament to this, Grants Pass Oregon to Santa Monica (closest point to RT 66) is approx. 750 miles. Still loved that show, the series is available on DVD.
There was even an episode filmed at Catalina Harbor, Catalina Island.
I had just bought a brand new fuel injection ’60 Corvette just before Route 66 came on tv. Oh boy, I couldn’t wait to see this show! There it was a ’60 Corvette romanticed on the show. Couldn’t wait until the next week’s show. What a disappointment, they were now driving a ’61! No explanation why they now had a ’61. Tod had said in the first show he would never sell his ’60 because his dad had bought it for him just before he died! That statement didn’t last long! I will probably upset some old Corvette owners. But I never liked the ’61 and ’62’s. I didn’t like the chopped off rearend, didn’t like the aluminum insert grille. Oh, I probably never missed a Route 66 show. But I kept hoping for a good story line on there. I never saw one though. I thought their stories were lousy! Every year they changed to a new Corvettes with no explanation. Of course Chevy was their sponsor.
A buddy of mine and I drove my Corvette to Montana in ’62. I left Michigan with 22,000 miles on the car. It was in beautiul shape. When we got home two weeks later three of my four fenders were busted. From two different accidents of people hitting the car. A busted injector pump cable, brakes rebuilt about three times, push rods replaced. Someone cut the sidewall on one of my tires. It was a miserable trip! Oh, and I think someone tried to steal my Michigan license plate, it was hanging by one screw and just swinging on the car one day. When I got home I told my parents I am never leaving home again! The next year I got my draft notice, then I decided to enlist in the army. Then it was Ft. Knox. Ft. Gordon, Ft, Lewis, Desert Strike and Vietnam! Nine months after I got discharged the Corvette caught fire on I-75 in Kentucky and burned up! The next week my best buddy my dog died!!
No explanation should be “needed” as to why they drove a new model year Corvette every season.
Same as the Andy Griffith show had a new squad car every season even as a little country town.
Ford was the sponsor, just as Chevy was the sponsor on Route 66
Chrysler sponsored The Beverly Hillbillies and Mr. Drysdale had a new model Imperial every season.
I watch reruns of Adam 12 and Emergency sometimes, and fairly often on both those shows I’ll spot a light blue Corvette parked along the road, as the hero’s zoom by on the way to a call. I assume it’s one of the ones from Route 66 that the studio held onto for their fleet of cars to use in filming various shows. Does anyone know the whereabouts of the Corvettes used in Route 66 and know if the one so often seen in those later series were in fact was one of them?
Apparently that Corvette you were seeing belonged to Kent McCord at the time.
The Fall Guy truck should find a place. As well Rocky’s truck from Rockford Files. I did like Jons truck too on Chips.
Now the Ponch car was a twisted beat up car before Chis as it and its sister cars were used in Corvette summer. Makes a Good trivia question.
The Route 66 Vette here always left me with questions. On Adam 12 Jim Reed drove a Corvette just like the one here. I always wondered if it Martin Milner owned it or one like it and it was used on the show.
Jack Webb also was a Jazz loving Corvette owner too. But I never knew the year.
As for Robin on Top Gear nothing tops the Shuttle Robin the launch on a rocket. That was the largest rocket ever launched in England. Or so they say.
If Jack Webb had a Corvette, it was red and black. My friend was a Hollywood set painter and Jack Webb visited the sets…. red shirt, black pants… red socks, black shoes… He was wired pretty tightly…
That is because this was Los Angles he worked there and he carried a badge. His name was Friday.
Sounds right,,,,,just the facts
Amen!
Mr Bean had a better take on the Reliant
Good Omens also had that show’s Robin Reliant, “Dirk Turpin”.
I’ll put a bid in for Maxwell Smart’s red Sunbeam Tiger (of course, I own one…).
Do you have a shoe phone?
Lol
Indeed! And 3rd Rock’s Rambler American.
I’m with you on the Tiger; although IIRC it was a regular Sunbeam with Tiger trim. I had a fraternity brother who owned a Tiger in the late 70’s. We surprised a lot if muscle cars on Friday and Saturday night with a”little British 4 cylinder sports car…”
The one he drove was a real Tiger that he kept when the show ended. The tricked out one was an Alpine because they couldn’t fit a machine gun under the hood of a V8 Tiger.
What about the Packard Darrin convertible in Banacek?
Oh also special mention to the Ateam on Corvette and GMC Van. John Schinella at GM oversaw the styling on the van.
There’s a show on PBS ( 7:45 e.s.t.) called ‘ Miss Fishers Murder Mysteries ‘ Set in Australia in the late 1920’s, she’s a detective and a ‘modern woman’ of means. Quite fetching I must add. Her car is a 23 Hispano Suiza H-6. My current choice and one I’m sure will not make the list.
Or Miss Fisher’s Austin Healey 3000 in her “Modern Murder Mysteries”.
Oh yes! In fact, I discovered the “Modern Mysteries” before I discovered the original series. Both are great, and the interesting mix of familiar and obscure (at least to non-Aussies) cars is always a treat.
This looks like the right place to insert a comment about the Lotus Elan that was featured in ‘The Avengers.’ Beautiful car. I almost bought one for $2500 back in 1975, but I had just bought a new Corvette and couldn’t really justify two sports cars. Maybe I shoulda sold the Vette!
Interesting list – one which I won’t try to either dis or add my own examples to – but I’m kind of a +1 on the Route 66 ‘Vette. Not that I’m a huge Corvette fan, but as a kid, I did watch the show religiously. When the opening notes of that Nelson Riddle tune with the tinkling piano and string orchestra started up, I dropped anything I was doing (sometimes the dinner dishes!) and was glued to the screen until the closing credits. Even the mention of the show makes my brain play that theme song in my head!
I am and was the same way about Route 66. I was always a car guy as a kid, but the pinnacle for me was when Route 66 filmed an episode in Galveston, Tx. The cast and crew stayed at the Sea Horse hotel on Seawall Blvd, and they did some filming around the hotel. My aunt was in college at the time and worked at the front desk over summers and holidays, so she got me and my brother in to watch the filming. I was star-struck, and awed by the two identical Saddle Tan Corvette convertibles; they were either 63 or 64 models. But I was horrified to see that they had Powerglide transmissions! Regardless, that lit the flame for me and have owned a number of C2 and C3 Corvette since I was 20 and currently have one each C2 and C3 convertibles. Every time I hear the Nelson Riddle theme song I have to stop what I am doing and turn the volume up!
Route 66 is on Prime and is an interesting watch. Sledgehammer was a damn hoot! I loved it as a kid.
Ditto
Points for remembering the TV show Sledge Hammer! That short lived show was hilarious. Trust Me, I know What I’m Doing!
Finally, another CHiPs nerd! I loved Ponch and Jon’s cars! I always dug the trucks in Emergency! too!
Two more shows. Perry Mason has many cool cars on the show. Also Broderick Crawford’s Buick Century Patrol car was cool.
Cars on TV shows today are not all that exciting anymore.
There is a 60’s Japanese TV series called “Ultraman”. It was broadcast here in the States as well, and I viewed it regularly long ago in my youth. Interestingly enough, I occasionally still do–with my grandson on YouTube.
Anyway, their supernatural fighting skills are aided by their automobile, a …. …. ….
Chevrolet Corvair, four door 1st generation. It warmed my heart back then, seeing a US market auto in a Japanese market cheesy monster TV series.
You’ll get a lot of flack for skipping the usual suspects…the list is too long to summarize…
I’ll stick with one of the 1914 Stutz Bearcat replicas built by George Barris for the 1971 CBS series “Bearcats!”.
Not only is it great looking, but it gave audiences a rare look at brass era roadsters/racers (the prototype finished 11th in the first Indy 500 mile race). If nothing else it let people know there were cars other than the Model T on the road in pre-WWI America.
Peter Falk’s Peugeot 403 convertible, a perfect match for Columbo’s rumpled appearance. I can only assume that car never saw any freeway action. LAPD detectives probably never really drove their own cars to crime scenes, but it was great for his character. Just one more thing…….
We had 2 Peugeot 403s, a 65 that my Dad bought new and a 63 that my brother bought very well used. They weren’t fast, but they were fun and durable. These weren’t the cars that got Peugeot a poor reputation in the US for reliability. We were very excited to see Columbo’s 403 convertible – you didn’t see a whole lot of 403s, and we never saw another convertible.
Herbert Hoover owned a very early, very reliable Peugeot in Australia, that he purchased to replace a stubborn camel he rode that refused to turn around in the desertone day, and go back to town, nearly stranding him in the deep outback.
Hoover solved the problem by taking off his vest and tying it over the camel’s eyes, so it couldn’t see that it was returning back to the barn.
All this was pre-1910, when Hoover was already a multimillionaire from his successful efforts as a mining engineer on every continent except Antarctica.
As a boy, I have fond memories of the 1960 Corvette in RT 66 and as an adolescent I was enamored with Emma Peel and her Lotus Elan. However, Colombo’s Peugeot really made an impression on me. I could never afford a 1960 Corvette or a Lotus Elan, but could afford a used used Peugeot 504 wagon that I drove for years and loved it!
I heard that Peugeot wanted to get Columbo something better looking at least, but they wouldn’t have it. There’s an old Letterman on YouTube where Peter Falk said the Czechoslovakians loved his show so much, but caused a commotion because they thought the govt. was keeping them from seeing all the shows. Falk was actually asked by the US State Dept. to produce a video for the Czech people stating that that’s all the shows that were made!
The ratty Chevy hardtop that Beretta drove.
Yes, 1966, Impala had one, very cool!!
Wow Route 66. As a kid, I could not wait for the next show to see the Corvette. I can still hear the theme song.
C’mon… no mention of Walter White’s 2004 Pontiac Aztek?