Our Favorite Movie and TV Cars

Starsky & Hutch Torino

Starsky and Hutch began a series of beloved cop shows and movies with dynamic duos taking on crime. This tradition still stand true today. When scripting the show, the creator, William Blinn, originally planned to put Starsky in a Camaro convertible, but because of the loan program with Ford Motor Company, they ended up with a pair of ’75 2-door Gran Torinos with the 351 Windsor under hood. The cars used for closeups all had chrome mirrors, but for many long-distance shots, they used another car equipped with red mirrors, as pictured below. The Torino had highway-friendly 2.75 gears when they got it, but that was no good for burnouts and action. After some filming, they were forced to swap out the rear gears for an extremely low setup to get they 0-60 acceleration up. Nobody knows how low these gears were, but apparently the second-season cars has a warning label on the dashboard reading, “DO NOT EXCEED 50 MPH.” Apparently these new gears were so low that anything over 50 could damage the motor because of the high RPM’s. While the Gran Torino is not a looker, it is certainly iconic and deserves a spot on our favorites list.