I was just thinking about how The Six Million Dollar Man didn’t have a car, which seems like a miss. Now, some of you, like The Bishop, may say Steve Austin drove a Mercedes 280 SL, which he in fact did. If I ever knew this, I forgot it. But the car wasn’t really a signature vehicle, not in the mode of something like Starsky’s boldly striped Gran Torino or the Ford Mustang II Cobra II that Jill Munroe (Farrah Fawcett, Mrs. Six Million Dollar Man) drove on Charlie’s Angels. Or, consider Jim Rockford’s Firebird Esprit, Magnum P.I.’s Ferrari 308 GTS, or Columbo’s 1959 Peugeot 403 – which I like to imagine was loaded with gadgets à la James Bond’s Aston Martin DB5. “Oh, just one more thing…” (activates ejector seat).
Anyway, back to Steve Austin (the cyborg, not the wrestler). I think it would have been fun if Oscar just issued a Schwinn Continental to Steve as his official OSI transportation. With his bionic legs good for 60 mph running, I gotta believe Steve could effortlessly maintain highway speeds on a bicycle.
BUT, he wouldn’t be able to easily carry a passenger or spare D batteries or Bigfoot repellent or whatever, so I guess a car would be best. Shades of Farrah’s ride, I think a Mustang, a full-size Mustang, would suit him well – see topshot. Steve was stylish enough to pull off a salmon leisure suit, so I think the flashy Mach 1 would suit him well
What about the Golden Girls, whom you may recall from The Golden Girls? Once again, The Bishop tried to bring me down.
Thank you, Stephen Walter Gossin, for the clap.
You take it from here, The Ask has been made!
What TV And Movie Characters Deserved Signature Cars But Didn’t Get Them, And What Should They Have Been?
Top graphic images: Ford; Universal Television
Bill Bixby, famously, had nuthin but shoe leather and a maudlin piano theme…
the Six Million Dollar Man didn’t need a car… he could run faster than most cars. (parse : faster than cars that weren’t race cars)
So there’s no miss.
He must have gone through an awful lot of shoes.
Did anyone else, as a kid, wonder how showing him running in slow motion meant he was running really, really fast?
TIL Sheriff Taylor never owned a personal vehicle on The Andy Griffith Show, yet Deputy Fife owned a 1954 Ford Customline that he spent his life savings ($300) on but was a lemon that had sawdust packed in the transmission by criminal scammers. Of course Andy solves the crime and gets Barney’s money back. Fife also apparently owned a ’58 Edsel Pacer after getting promoted to detective in Raleigh.
I wonder what kind of car a eligible single father in a podunk town like Mayberry would drive, and what would Aunt Bee think?
I also learned that Sheriff Roscoe P. Coltrane owned a 1977 Pontiac LeMans sedan.
Sorry – all I can think of are westerns, But in that vein….
Victoria (a woman of backbone and bite) – Rolls Royce or Bentley
Jared (the eldest) – A 7-series Bimmer or maybe an S-class Mercedes.
Nick (the strongest) – A Trans-am
Heath (the outsider who fought for recognition) – Boxster, 356, or maybe a Bricklin SV-1
Audra (a girl too impetuous to play it safe) – Mustang convertible
Shirley Feeney hated public transit and desired a 1952 Hudson Wasp Convertible. However, she was a broke-ass and had to go halfsies with Laverne and buy one for $200 from one of Carmine Ragusa’s dance students. Of course it was never again featured on the show.
Interestingly, Gemini thinks the price would have been realistic for 1960 and would represent 2-3 months rent – a significant sum for a blue collar worker. Make you wonder how much thought the writers actually put into such a silly sitcom plot.
Pee Wee had a sweet bike and little mini car, but those were just for getting around town. For road trips he should have had a sweet convertible: Fat Porsche, Erwin Wurm
Lynda Carter’s Wonder Woman only had that lame invisible jet https://warnerbros.fandom.com/wiki/Invisible_plane?file=Wonder_Woman%27s_Invisible_Jet.jpg Why not an invisible motorcycle? 🙂
I ‘bought’ a digital set of all the SuperFriends cartoon, and in the OG 1073 or whatever, it’s referred to as her ‘Transparent Plane’ constantly. I haven’t gotten out of the first season to see when they transitioned to ‘Invisible Jet’.
The Six Million Dollar Man would drive a new Bronco Sasquatch. If you know, you know
I vaguely remember that whole sasquatch story arc on TSM$M!
He got bored with his H2, and refused the freebie Doge Cybertruck
I’m not sure what characters should get what, but I wonder if any of you are familiar with the very subtle signature ride of Stargate SG-1’s Major Samantha Carter, USAF. (I know she’s a colonel since the movies, don’t @ me).
In one episode where she’s amped up on an alien super-speed device, she spends some time wrenching on her motorcycle. I don’t remember what kind of bike exactly, but it appeared to be an old school cruiser. Sam turning her own on an older air-cooled bike is a bit counter to her at-work persona, but you can kinda feel it in her characterization that when she isn’t on duty, she’d be comfortable we something a little less buttoned-up.
Speaking of not-buttoned-up, her other ride is a Volvo PS1800. We actually see it a couple of times. It’s noteworthy because we almost never see anyone in the show driving a personal vehicle – I think we see Jack driving a pickup once and eh, Jack, pickup. Big surprise. But the Volvo really makes an impression and you just know it’s running well because Sam is up to her elbows in it.
She also bought a newer Volvo S60 in later episodes.
It’s the final season of Charles In Charge. As a thank you and college graduation gift, the Powells buy Charles a teal Beretta. Then the oldest daughter accuses Charles of sexual assault.