TV series for people with gasoline in their blood
02/03/2011
There are many television series in which cars, and especially classic cars from today's perspective, play a role. We probably all know "A Case for Two", where detective Matula made his debut with an Alfa Romeo Giulia, Tatort with Schimanski and the Citroën CX or various Derrick episodes, where BMWs from the 3- and 5-series have repeatedly played a role.
So let's turn our attention to lesser-known series.
The Ford Torino played a central role in "Starsky & Hutch", for example. "The Fall Guy", or "A Colt for All Seasons" was about a stuntman who naturally drove all kinds of interesting US vehicles. Sports car fans will certainly enjoy "The Persuaders", as "Die Zwei" (as the TV series was called in German) drove an Aston-Martin DBS and a Dino 206 GT and had many an interesting race, for example in the opening episode in the Monte-Carlo area - absolutely worth seeing! In"Vegas", the detective had one of those great garages where you could drive the car, a Ford Thunderbird, straight into the living room. "The Saint" (Simon Templar) featured Roger Moore in a Volvo 1800 S (the remake as a feature film then used the C70). In Miami Vice , a (replica) Ferrari 365 GTB/4 Daytona convertible took center stage and "P.I. Magnum " also drove a Ferrari, specifically a 308 GTS - incidentally only because Porsche didn't want to or couldn't deliver an open 928. In "Mit Schirm, Charme und Melone" (or "the Avengers"), John Steed drove an old Bentley, while his partner Emma Peel usually drove a Lotus Elan convertible. The remake in the 1970s drew on current car material such as the Jaguar XJ-S. "Hartto Hart" shows the Hart couple in various classic cars, including the Dino 246 GT, Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow and Mercedes 450 SL, while the men from"CI5" mainly drifted around the corners in British Fords. A special treat, however, is "Michel Vaillant", shot in black and white and probably only available in French, in which the main character is a racing driver and travels from race to race in various Alpine Renault models, among other things, based on the comic series of the same name.
The list could go on and on, but even these few examples show just how many vehicles were captured on celluloid in the 60s and 70s. And the best thing is that you can order all these series on DVD and enjoy them again and again.
