Sunday, November 8, 2009

Cars starring in TV Series - best of the best

As announced in my blog post on cars in movies, I assembled also a list on TV Series with cars as stars. Of course almost any TV series will show cars here and then, at least if we forget western TV series like Bonanza or Science Fiction like Star Trek, but in some of these TV programs cars are more important than in others. The Ford Torino in Starsky & Hutch for example plays an important role, as does the SUV that Colt drives in The Fall Guy. Some TV series even did more for car makers in terms of publicity than a lot of their own marketing department. Most people for example know the Ferrari 308 GTS that Magnum drove in Magnum PI. The Aston Martin DBS and the Ferrari Dino 246 GT in The Persuaders are legendary. And many people know the Volvo P1800 sportscar rather from The Saint than from having it seen on the street. By the way in one episode of The Saint Roger Moores drives a TVR Vixen race car. Emma Peal in The Avengers uses a Lotus Elan (S2 and S3 models), John Steed drives a vintage Bentley. And the Harts in Hart to Hart use a range of cars including a Rolls-Royce Corniche, a Dino 246 GT, a Mercedes 450 SL and a Mercedes 280 TE model. The Professionals use and crash various Ford models and The New Avengers drive Jaguar XJS and other 70ies cars. Many people probably remember Miami Vice, showcasing a Ferrari Daytona spider, though being a fake. It was replaced later with a white Ferrari Testarossa and helped to sell the car in the US. So the list could go on, listing Pontiacs (K.I.T.T.), Thunderbirds (Vegas) and others. However two series are special in my eyes.
TopGear is more a car show than a TV Series, however it's not that clear. And finally "Michel Vaillant" was a TV series produced in France, telling the story of the Vaillant family, being both car manufacturers and racers. Interestingly many of the Vaillants looked a lot like Alpines or Matras, but is okay. The race scenes at the Targa Florio and other races are a joy to watch and nothing like this has been produced since.

3 comments:

John L said...

Have you seen Eric Bana's "Love the Beast"?

Bruno von Rotz said...

No, it never made it to our channels, I assume. What is it about?

John L said...

It's a documentary about an XB Falcon coupe that Eric had owned since he was 15 and how he and all his mates worked on it and how he crashed it in the Targa Tasmania. It's on DVD and downloadable on those share things.