The Cars The Star: Famous Film And TV Motors. Part 1
Sureterm Direct is the UKs largest classic car insurer and we know instantly when a car has appeared in a popular TV or film as enquiries for classic car insurance for that particular model shoot through the roof.
So heres the first installment of our guide to the most famous TV and film cars on the planet. Weve even included a van see if you can guess which programme thats from!
TV Programme: Ashes to Ashes
Car: Audi UR quattro:
While the star of the show is Gene Hunt a fictional police detective in a TV series set in 1980s Britain his bright red Audi UR quattro plays more than just a supporting role.
The car sprang into real life in 1980 and with 4WD and a whole raft of amazing other German carmaking wizardry packed into it the car became an instant cult classic.
Brilliant on the road brilliant on the rally scene. And now in much demand thanks to Gene Hunt. If you can lay your hands on one do it. Easy and costeffective to insure.
Our star rating: 4 stars
TV Programme: Kingdom
Car: Alvis TE21
Fruity old thespian Stephen Fry plays an East of England lawyer in this gentle comedy drama and he scoots around Norfolk in a fabulous Alvis TE21 drophead sparking an interest in classic cars from a whole new generation.
Alvis is a weird marque. In the best part of 50 years from 1920 onwards the Coventrybased firm produced cars that were noted for top quality great handling and a nifty sporty character. The TE21 model arrived at the end of 1963 and with a stiff suspension it could shift a bit.
The TE21 was pretty heavy yet managed a very respectable top speed of over 120mph and was available with automatic transmission or a fivespeed manual gearbox. Its a very very stylish classic and a restored version could easily set you back ?100000.
Our star rating: 2 stars
TV Programme: The Sweeney
Car: Mk1 Ford Consul GT
When ITV in the UK screened The Sweeney for the first time the programme marked a whole new concept in cop shows. Previously fed a diet of boring old bobbies like Zcars and Dixon of Dock Green The Sweeney had fast cars swearing sex scenes drinking and extreme violence.
And it made household names of main characters Reagan and Carter. In series 1 and 2 the mainstay of the CID crew was a copper brown Mk1 Ford Consul GT reg NHK 295M although in later series Ford Granadas were the norm.
The Consul had front bucket seats as standard a central floormounted remote control gear shift and the speedometer fuel and temperature gauges all had black non reflecting dials.
The Consul L pack offered special seats loop pile carpet colour keyed to the interior vanity mirror heated rear screen clock and trip mileage recorder not that the Sweeney ever bothered with anything within the law!. No surprises then that they went for the GT pack option which included the larger 3.0 V6 engine capable of 060mph in 9 seconds.
Our star rating: 2 stars
TV Programme: Inspector Morse
Car: 1960 Mk II Jaguar
In Colin Dexter’s novels grouchy copper Inspector Morse’s car was a classic Lancia but ITV used a Jaguar MK II 2.4 from the start of the television series. In fact the Carmen red Jag became so iconic that new editions of the earlier novels have been changed so that Morse’s car is a Jaguar!
The Jaguar Mark II a compact fourdoor saloon was introduced in October 1959 at a price of just ?1534.00 and was made until 1967. Morse’s Jaguar is a 2.4 litre model with a twin overheadcam 6cylinder 2483cc engine giving 120 bhp.
Its a bit slow for TV coppers only capable of accelerating from 060 mph in 17.3 seconds with a maximum speed of 96.3 mph but Morse didnt exactly need to burn around the university city of Oxford. Jaguar made almost 84000 Mk11s 25070 of Morses 2.4 variation.
Our star rating: 3 stars
TV programme: James Bond films
Car: Aston Martin DB5
Spy 007s love of fast cars is evident all the way through the original Ian Fleming novels and when they eventually made the silver screen car lovers everywhere drooled over his gorgeous DB5.
The 1963 DB5 is famous for being the first and most recognised Bond car featuring notably in: Goldfinger Thunderball GoldenEye Tomorrow Never Dies and Casino Royale while it also made background appearances in The World Is Not Enough and Diamonds Are Forever.
The DB5′s engine had been enlarged from the previous DB4s 3.7L to 4.0L while the addition of a fivespeed transmission and three SU carburetors enabled the car to pull 282hp and propel it to 141 mph 238 km/h.
Standard equipment on the DB5 included reclining seats pile carpets electric windows and a fire extinguisher. All models had 4 seats and 2 doors. The UK recommended list price of the sports saloon coupe in December 1963 was ?4248 including Purchase Tax the convertible was ?4562.
Our star rating: 5 stars
TV Programme: Dukes of Hazzard
Car: 1969 Dodge Charger
Testosteronefilled teenage boys remember a couple things about the Dukes of Hazzard Catherine Bachs neverending legs and pert bum in sprayon denim shorts and the General Lee car.
The General Lee was a 1969 Dodge Charger with a 426 Hemi in every season of the hit programme except season two where it had a 440 Magnum engine. It was also said to be the Road/Track model.
Bright orange with a Confederate battle flag painted on the roof and the words General Lee and number 01 on each door the cars name refers to the American Civil War Confederate General Robert E. Lee.
The show also used 1968 Chargers since the start which shared mostly the same sheet metal by changing the grill and tail lights to the 1969 model year style and smoothing over the round ’68 side marker lights which were rectangular on the ’69 model year.
Our star rating: 3 stars
TV Programme: Starsky and Hutch
Car: Ford Torino
We loved the 1970s. Big hair disco music chunky sweaters and all of this in just one TV series. Los Angeles cops Starsky and Hutch fought villains in a twodoor Ford Torino which was red with a large white vector stripe.
It was nicknamed the Striped Tomato by Hutch but the term didn’t come from the series writers it came from a reallife comment that actor Paul Michael Glaser Starsky made. The standard Torino was pretty dull so producers jazzed it up with a large white vector stripe 5slot alloys and larger rear tires. Air shocks were added to give the car an aggressive rake and it worked especially for Ford who built 1000 replicas of the “Starsky and Hutch” car in the spring of 1976.
The Starsky and Hutch replica was available with all Torino engines and the limited production package was essentially a special paint option with the deluxe bumper group and dual colourkeyed sport mirrors as mandatory options. Seat colours were restricted to white or black and were available with all cloths and seating options.
Our star rating: 2 stars
TV Programme: Knight Rider
Car: 1982 Pontiac Trans Am
Forget Baywatch bubble haired David The Hof Hasselhoff first shot to fame in Knight Rider a bonkers TV series that ran from 1982 to 1986 which featured KITT a talking car equipped with mindblowing gadgetry.
Unsurprisingly given its lowbudget cast KITT became the star of the show but then it was a gleaming black 1982 Pontiac Trans Am. The car oozed sex appeal and sparked a massive interest in American Classics which exists still to this day.
By the way KITT stands for Knight Industries Two Thousand an eponymous doff of the cap to its weird technologycumcrime fighting creators.
Our star rating: 3 stars
TV programme: The Ateam
Car: The GMC van
Dadada dada da. Da dada da da dadada da. Its hard to believe any TV programmes especially from Hollywood could make vans sexy but the Ateam did it in bucket loads.
The black and metallic grey GMC van used by the ATeam a crackpot collection of crimefighting misfits had a characteristic red stripe black and red wheels rooftop spoiler and became an instant icon.
The van is a 1983 Gseries which was heavily customised by the Universal Studios prop department. The engine is a 350 cid with minor modifications mainly the carb and exhaust system while the wheels are turbine style 15″ painted black with red accents.
Other modifications include quad headlight conversion full front brushbar fog/driving lights exterior sun visor quad square exhaust tips each side in front of rear wheels and custom made rear wing. Interior was customwhite bucket seats shag carpet and custom gun case in the back.
It also had beefy air shocks in the rear to improve handling which was poor and underpowered. In fact scenes where it burns out were done by spraying bleach in front of and onto the rear tyres which creates billowing grey smoke.
Our star rating: 2 stars.
TV Programme: Back To The Future Film
Car: De Lorean DMC12
Look make no bones about it apart from James Bonds DB5 this is THE iconic TV and film car. It grabbed attention in real life and it grabbed attention onscreen.
The De Lorean DMC12 became a time machine for Back To The Future but was designed by Giorgetto Giugiaro and manufactured for real in 1981 by the De Lorean Motor Company in Northern Ireland. The 2door coupe had a 2.8 L 2849 cc V6 engine and was available in 5speed manual or 3speed automatic transmissions.
It was the only model ever produced by the company and featured gullwing doors with a fiberglass underbody to which nonstructural brushed stainless steel panels are fixed.
The first prototype appeared in March 1976 and production officially began in 1981 with the first DMC12 rolling off the production line on January 21st at the DMC factory in Dunmurry Northern Ireland. During its production several aspects of the car were changed such as the bonnet style wheels and interior.
About nine thousand DMC12s were made before production stopped in late 1982.
Our star rating: 5 stars
TV programme: Herbie The Love Bug
Car: 1963 Volkswagen Beetle ragtop sedan.
Peace and love man. With the amount of acid dropped in the hippified atmosphere of the late 60s we werent all that surprised when a film starring a humanised VW beetle appeared.
Herbie The Love Bug was a 1963 Volkswagen Beetle deluxe ragtop sedan painted in Volkswagen L87 pearl white. The interior would normally be a matching white but Herbie’s interior was painted a special nonreflective grey so the camera and studio lights would not reflect.
In this original 1968 film Herbies stripes differ from those in later movies the stripes do not cover the valances or louvers of the car and the blue is a lighter shade. Also Herbie features colorkeyed running boards while in later films the running boards are standard black.
Our star rating: 2 stars
About the writer: John Kelly is the website editor at Sureterm Direct the UKs largest classic car insurance company.
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