The Hit Sci-Fi Show ‘Pluribus’ Has Some Great Cars

Who enjoys culture, of the popular variety? You do, I bet, right? Well, remember that long-running show that served as a means to elevate the Pontiac Aztek’s status in our national culture, Breaking Bad? Well the guy behind that show, Whatshisname McThatguy, has an all-new show on AppleTV, Plur1bus, and so far I think it’s pretty compelling. It’s a peculiar science-fiction-ish show that brings up a lot of interesting and difficult concepts, but, more importantly, there’s some really good cars in it.

I don’t want to spoil anything for you, since the show has barely started and is only up to episode, what, four? But I think I can reveal that it’s about a sort of hive mind that’s taken over nearly all the humans on Earth, connecting their minds into one vast, um, brain-internet.

Here, you can watch this trailer to get a sense of what this show is like:

Okay, let’s get back to cars. This is one of those shows that probably could have gotten made with the most generic set of cars around, and most people wouldn’t noticed a thing. Thankfully, that’s not how this happened, because there’s a genuinely surprising set of cars that have shown up in the series, cars that almost feel too good.

I’m not complaining! In fact, I’m delighted, and I can’t help but think someone working on this show appreciates interesting cars on some level, because the amount of unique and compelling cars that have shown up are far greater than random chance would allow. So let’s look at some of them!

The first car that made me realize that someone on this show gives a healthy stool about cars was this one, a 1978 Toyota Corolla two-door sedan in a nice vivid blue. The car has a prominent role and is extremely visible in a number of scenes.

In reality, Corollas of this vintage and in a condition like that one are not common; there’s no explanation given in the story for why this character ended up with such a novel and appealing little car, but, again, I’m not complaining.

I like this era of Corolla a lot; this was before the Corolla became a ubiquitous and anonymous appliance. Corollas of this era still had a quirky sort of charm, a slightly fussy design vocabulary that made these little cars very approachable, and fll of nice little details to focus on, like the little air extraction vents just below the C-pillar and the intersecting chrome frames of the grille and headlights.

There’s another very prominent car that shows up quite early in the series, before the Toyota even, and that’s this 1981 Chevy C-10 pickup truck. It has a dent in its bumper because we’re introduced to it as it smacks into a 2019 or so Volkswagen Beetle, but otherwise the truck is in immaculate condition.

Perhaps better than immaculate, because the hood features this:

Yes, a full-hood airbrushed unicorn mural! With lightning! This puts the ass in class, people.

I was pleased to see a classic air-cooled Beetle, too, and I think I get the logic of this car, as it is in Paraguay, where there were many classic Beetles, hailing from VW factories in Brazil or, a bit less likely, Mexico. But, there’s a problem here: that Beetle there is actually a US-spec Super Beetle, a 1303 model with the curved-glass windshield. It looks like a ’73.

These would have been pretty uncommon in South America, as VW’s Brazil factory never built the Super Beetle, just normal Beetles/Fuscas. I suspect whomever was doing the car casting figured a Beetle would make sense for the location – and they were right – but may not have thought the distinction between Beetle and Super Beetle would be enough to worry about. I’m sure for most viewers, they were correct.

The trailer I embedded here shows this lovely little MG Midget, which I think is a ’73 or ’74. Pre-rubber bumper, at any rate. I think these scenes are from Paraguay as well? I’m curious to see when this little mustardy fella comes into play.

There’s a few scenes in Tangier, Morocco that involve a lot of driving, and they start with this unfortunate 1988 Mitsubishi Galant, maybe a GLS? I don’t think we’ll be seeing this car again.

There’s some other interesting stuff in the Moroccan scenes, like this ’78 Citroën Acadiane:

These were similar to the 2CV Fourgonette little vans, but had bigger windows and different taillights.

There’s a passing shot of this 1976 Land Rover tow truck:

…but it’s what the Landie is towing that reall has me fascinated, because I’m not sure just what the hell it is:

There’s the front, with quad headlights and a full-width grille, and here’s the side:

It’s a big, four-door sedan, almost feels Jag-like with those door handles and some of those lines, but it goes by so quickly that I can’t quite make out what it is, and it’s driving me bonkers.

What is this thing? Is it Australian, like a Holden? Is there a big Peugeot it could be? A Vauxhall? Datsun Cedric?

It seems late ’80s, I think, and there does seem to be a prominent center badge. Is there something obvious I’m missing? Help me out here!

The show is worth watching, I think, even not just for the cars; but the cars are pretty great so far, so there’s another good reason, if you need one. The season is still new, so maybe there will be reason to do a follow-up with more good cars, soon. Mostly, though, I’m hoping someone from the show will send me better pictures of that car being towed, though. This is going to keep me up at night.