As a 16-year-old kid growing up in the UK, I just loved the red & white Torino with the jacked-up rear end which Paul Michael Glaser drove in the hit 70’s TV show Starsky & Hutch, but apparently he didn’t view the vehicle with quite the same admiration. In fact, the show’s creator originally chose one of his personal favourites, the Chevy Camaro Convertible, but was overruled by production due to the tie-in they enjoyed at the time with the Ford Motor Company.
Glaser took an immediate and long-lasting dislike to the vehicle (He found the idea of two 'undercover' cops driving around in such an outlandish car ludicrous), and yet the car affectionately known as the “Striped Tomato”, went on to become one of the most iconic television cars of all time. In fact, it’s probably the most copied TV car out there today. Go to any classic car show where Ford Torinos hang out and you’re bound to run into one or two re-creations.
For the pilot episode, two 1975 Ford Gran Torinos were used, both 2-doors powered by a 351 Windsor V8. Glaser did his best to wreck as many as he could during the course of the series, often slamming them up against sidewalks at high speed. Fortunately, the Torino remained unchanged from 1974 ‘till 1976, allowing production to replace these quite readily.
It’s hard to say whether the Striped Tomato’s jacked-up rear end and wider rear rubber started the whole craze rolling, but one of my first vehicles ended up looking quite similar. Of course, my Ford Escort Mk1 ex-builder’s delivery van didn’t boost my image as much as the Gran Torino did for the famous crime-fighting duo!
The Stripped Tomato made a brief return in the 2004 feature film starring Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson, with Snoop Dogg playing the much-loved Huggy Bear. Although hilariously funny in parts, the famous red & white Torino played a much lesser role. For me, that was the great downside of the movie. After all, for someone who learned most of his driving skills from watching Starsky at the wheel, the red & white bad-guy catcher was always the true star of the show!
Glaser took an immediate and long-lasting dislike to the vehicle (He found the idea of two 'undercover' cops driving around in such an outlandish car ludicrous), and yet the car affectionately known as the “Striped Tomato”, went on to become one of the most iconic television cars of all time. In fact, it’s probably the most copied TV car out there today. Go to any classic car show where Ford Torinos hang out and you’re bound to run into one or two re-creations.
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| Photo: Ted Bongiovanni |
For the pilot episode, two 1975 Ford Gran Torinos were used, both 2-doors powered by a 351 Windsor V8. Glaser did his best to wreck as many as he could during the course of the series, often slamming them up against sidewalks at high speed. Fortunately, the Torino remained unchanged from 1974 ‘till 1976, allowing production to replace these quite readily.
It’s hard to say whether the Striped Tomato’s jacked-up rear end and wider rear rubber started the whole craze rolling, but one of my first vehicles ended up looking quite similar. Of course, my Ford Escort Mk1 ex-builder’s delivery van didn’t boost my image as much as the Gran Torino did for the famous crime-fighting duo!
The Stripped Tomato made a brief return in the 2004 feature film starring Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson, with Snoop Dogg playing the much-loved Huggy Bear. Although hilariously funny in parts, the famous red & white Torino played a much lesser role. For me, that was the great downside of the movie. After all, for someone who learned most of his driving skills from watching Starsky at the wheel, the red & white bad-guy catcher was always the true star of the show!