If Starsky and Hutch worked undercover, why did two of the ’70s hottest detectives drive a bright-red Ford Torino carrying that bold white stripe and a set of slot mags? Perhaps the world will never know.
But you can do your best to find out: This 1976 Ford Torino in full Starsky & …
In reply to David S. Wallens :
That was Starsky's car.
Hutch drove a beater Galaxy 500/LTD
Cool car but back in the day I wasn't a fan.
Now, Jim Rockford running and fighting in a wool sport coat, dress shirt, polyester pants and some proper leather dress shoes? Along with a Firebird and J turns? Now he was the man.
I remember having a die-cast of the Torino. I want to say it was it was a Corgi.
Found it!
When I was a kid, a guy the next town over, wrote to the producers of the show to get a list of everything they had done to the car. He built one that was supposed to be identical. I couldn't tell you that it was, you know how they do those tv and movie cars, but it was a cool story to go with a cool car.
Rockford kicked aas
The first thing I noticed is the white portion is wrong. No rearward point on the original.
I had a Starsky and Hutch CB radio as a kid. Worked on channel 14 IIRC. I added extra batteries and lengthened the antenna with extra wire to boost the signal and was able to talk to people in my town.
John Welsh said:The first thing I noticed is the white portion is wrong. No rearward point on the original.
That's likely a Ford built version. According to Hemmings, Ford built 1600 1976 S&H edition Torinos. I remember seeing one on the local dealer lot back then. The squared off stripe was very off-putting to 13 year old me at the time.
In reply to vwcorvette (Forum Supporter) :
Dang, I remember that. Not sure I ever saw one IRL, but it is familiar.
Not sure I ever watched the show, either, then or now. Back then, it was probably too “adult” for my brother and I.
Way back in '76 the family took a road trip to SoCal to celebrate the bicentennial. Our parents had a friend who worked at 20th Century Fox. During our unofficial tour my brother and I were fortunate to get a chance to sit behind the wheel of the real thing, and if memory serves me correctly, there were five copies of that car on the lot. Fun times for sure.
Back in the ’70s, you saw that single light on an unmarked police car all the time: Kojak, S&H, etc.
Trying to recall seeing one IRL.
In reply to RC51Moore :
Unofficial tours of any place are usually the best–for the tour guide and the tour guests. Way cool that you got to sit in one of the hero cars.
Side note: I look forward to celebrating the tricentennial when I'm 52.
David S. Wallens said:In reply to vwcorvette (Forum Supporter) :
Not sure I ever watched the show, either, then or now. Back then, it was probably too “adult” for my brother and I.
You didn't miss anything.
We love vintage TV, 70's especially. So when this show came on the local vintage station we had fond memories, and were pretty excited to see it.
It was horrible. It wasn't even so bad it's good, it was just plain awful from start to finish. I don't think we watched three episodes
When I was in high school the girls would frequently tell me I looked like Starsky.
Was the car used in the show a '76 model? I always thought it was earlier, like a '73? Likely the S & H edition would have been made after the show had some time to build a fan base. But hey, I could be wrong.
Only tangentially related, a good friend of mine had a '68 Fairlane 500 fastback with floor shifted manual and a 302 that might also have had Torino badging. It was, I believe, the first year for the Torino name. I was riding shotgun many times when he would thrash that car something fierce. I seem to recall him breaking a part in the shifter during one such romp.
Car looked a bit like this, except it was a metallic blue. He sprayed it with a 5-gallon bucket of paint that I carried out of the factory where I worked that summer. But I digress:
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