Today we are going to look at some 1970s TV cop cars. We are cheating a little with the first one. Think of it more as the lawman beating up the wrong guy.
It is the Ford Cortina from Life on Mars which was in many ways a 1970s cop show, just from the late 2000s. The brown Ford was a nod to the past.
Life on Mars was inspired by The Sweeney, which was a genuine 1970s cop show starring John Thaw (best known to American audiences as Inspector Morse) and Dennis Waterman. It was shot in a almost a cinéma vérité style on the streets of London. The action packed opening title sequence is actually a car chase.
Moving to a totally different island location there is this 1968 Mercury Park Lane Brougham used by Steve McGarrett in Hawaii Five-O. This car was used for a few seasons when it was replaced by another less iconic Mercury. However it did make some appearances when they used old stock footage in later seasons.
The cars on Hawaii Five-O were typically furnished by Ford, but by coincidence the real Honolulu Police cars in the early seasons were Fords like this 1968 Ford Custom 500.
And now to the American mainland where we hope to stick to just the facts. The late 1960s revival of Dragnet featured a 1967 Ford Fairlane 500 driven by Sergeant Joe Friday and Officer Bill Gannon throughout the run of the series which made it easier for using stock footage.
The show also used 1967 Ford Customs as marked LAPD cars. The use of Fords was a bit odd given Jack Webb’s devotion to accuracy, since the police department did not use either model. Of course when Webb went on to produce Adam-12, the police vehicles mirrored that year’s LAPD fleet purchase with the exception of 1970 when they chose not to use the ill fated Mercury Montego and stayed with the Plymouth Belvedere for an extra year.
The F.B.I. (1965) should also be an abbreviation for Ford’s Business Interests
During the credits Ephraim Zimbalist Jr would drive by all of the DC landmarks in the latest Ford that they wanted to showcase…Mustangs, Thunderbirds, LTDs
Pretty much ANY Quinn Martin Production of the day.
They ALL used Fords from what I recall.
The Streets of San Francisco, another QM production full of Fords.
Coincidentally, I’ve been watching some old Hawaii Five-O repeats. I’ve actually been thinking of doing a “Cars of…” CC Cinema piece at some point.
One random observation. In one episode, they show McGarrett existing his black Mercury, and you can clearly see the outside rearview mirror wobble when he slams the door. The mirror on my Mark III did the exact same thing. I always thought it was coming loose, but apparently they all did that.
Oh, and you forgot to include a link to the Hawaii Five-O theme, which is perhaps the most iconic theme song of all time (and included the black Mercury up to the final season)
The newer series (Hawaii Five-0) opening theme paid a pretty good homage to the original Hawaii Five-O), although it was shortened to 30 seconds as opposed to a full minute for the original.
They zoom in on Alex O’Loughlin pretty much the same way they did Jack Lord. It may even be the same building. It’s hard to tell because it moves so fast.
This opening theme was changed over the years each season as characters left the task force and new ones were introduced, but the visuals always paid homage to the original opening theme. I even think one of the seasons may’ve even had the same girl pictured above in the original theme’s video.
The building shown in the zoom shot is the same in both title sequences – The Ilikai Hotel on Waikiki beach.
I actually stayed in the Ilikai on my last trip to Honolulu. I wanted to recreate the opening shot, but alas my room didn’t have a balcony.
How funny! We chased down a lot of the locations used in Ronin about fifteen years ago starting in that little Parisian bar at the beginning to the mountainous region they drove through in the Golf and then Arles and the bullring etc.along with some other places. Almost all had tons of completely different charms making them well worth visiting anyway.
Adam-12 did show the Mercury Montego in at least a few episodes but the main characters weren’t driving them. They appeared as other officers’cars or in the background, and only seldom.
I loved the original Hawaii 5-0. That intro with the long sweep up to the balcony just as Jack Lord looks into the camera with that “Yeah, I really am this cool” look was great. I can’t watch the new one. The less said about that one would probably be best.
I just saw the nuevo Hawaii 5-0 for the first time. The story line was an exact rip off an original episode (women robbing passengers on tour buses, but this time in bikinis).
Jack Lord is turning over in his grave!!
I always thought an all-black full size sedan with black vinyl seats was a seriously odd choice for someone who lived on a tropical island.
Handy though if you wanted to cook some eggs and bacon.
The other day I watched a Netflix series on the Yorkshire Ripper, with lots of 70s era footage. The police cars mostly in evidence were Mk 2 Ford escorts, and any other police cars seemed to be smaller (Fiesta, and I think there was a mini in there as well). A Cortina would have been a decent step up for most of the force!
Nice post. Some other interesting tidbits on Jack Lord – while his show used mostly Fords, Jack was a Cadillac guy – in his younger days he was a Cadillac salesman in NY. His personal car from 1970 until his passing was a 69 or 70 white Sedan Deville, with the personalized plate “Five-0”. He didn’t use it much as he had a motorhome that he drove to the set and used as his trailer. .
In the pilot, McGarrett drove a black 2 door Park Lane hardtop. There was also a brief cameo by a 1939 or 40 Plymouth beach bus in that episode. Either way the car was perfectly tuned to the character. Elevated, but not flashy. It was never clear but he definitely had an Ivy League air about him, and his past in either the OSS or CIA was hinted at frequently. And alone among his team, he wore three-button suits, which was very old school in those days.
What a cool story. I remember he used to host the Honolulu Thanksgiving Day Parade on CBS, back when both it and the Hudson’s Parade in Detroit were broadcast along with Macy’s.
In the pilot, McGarrett drove a black 2 door Park Lane hardtop. There was also a brief cameo by a 1939 or 40 Plymouth beach bus in that episode. Either way the car was perfectly tuned to the character. Elevated, but not flashy. It was never clear but he definitely had an Ivy League air about him, and his past in either the OSS or CIA was hinted at frequently. And alone among his team, he wore three-button suits, which was very old school in those days.
Life on Mars was a good show, it would probably be one of the only TV shows that ever used a song by the band Hawkwind.