77 Sunset Strip / Hawaiian Eye, etc. (4 Viewers)

[criblecoblis]

So it's a rainy day here in Indiana (although a balmy 60 degrees) and I just didn't feel like going into work. Instead, I thought I'd do a little trivia research on some of the 77 SS cars. I told my wife I was being productive with my spare time...


1960 FordThunderbird. Not much different than the 1958-59 version except for some minor grille changes. Cost a whopping $3,755. The Falcon was Ford's best selling car that year, but Stu or Jeff wouldn't be caught dead in one and Kookie would make you park it yourself.

1960 Edsel Ranger convertible. Never saw the boys drive one of these babies. Kookie would've had AFib trying to back this monster into a tight spot. I've seen football fields that are shorter...

The easiest way to distinguish the '60 T-Bird from the '59 is that the former has three taillights per side, and the latter has two (like Stu's).

The rule with the cars is that Stu got a new T-Bird every other year, and Jeff got a new Fairlane/Galaxie (depending upon the year) Starliner convertible every year. That held even through the sixth season for Stu.

I've only noticed a few Edsels in the show. The one that comes to mind is the one driven by the bad guys (Rex Reason, et al.) in S01E23 "Blackout".

 

[Rustifer]

I'm a bourbon-and-branch-water man myself. Like Stu.

Be it gin, vodka, bourbon, rum—-whatever gets us down the road.
Remember—alcohol doesn’t make you fat, it makes you lean...against tables, chairs, walls...

 

[Richard V]

Where the heck did you get the whole series. I've never come across it!

.

There are ways

 

[Rustifer]

The easiest way to distinguish the '60 T-Bird from the '59 is that the former has three taillights per side, and the latter has two (like Stu's).

The rule with the cars is that Stu got a new T-Bird every other year, and Jeff got a new Fairlane/Galaxie (depending upon the year) Starliner convertible every year. That held even through the sixth season for Stu.

I've only noticed a few Edsels in the show. The one that comes to mind is the one driven by the bad guys (Rex Reason, et al.) in S01E23 "Blackout".

I always thought it was funny/odd that as the sponsor of the program, Ford wouldn't even let the bad guys drive another make of car...like a Chevy or Buick. No, it STILL had to be a Ford--maybe just a lesser model like a Falcon or Edsel. Oh, the hubris of it...

 

[criblecoblis]

I always thought it was funny/odd that as the sponsor of the program, Ford wouldn't even let the bad guys drive another make of car...like a Chevy or Buick. No, it STILL had to be a Ford--maybe just a lesser model like a Falcon or Edsel. Oh, the hubris of it...

That's not strictly true. There is a black Cadillac Sedan de Ville of a roughly '49-'53 vintage (as closely as I can determine), that is virtually always driven by Bad Guys, most often seen in out-of-U.S. episodes. It's the car where Kookie hides the smuggled documents at the end of Upbeat.

 

[criblecoblis]

There is one car in the show that continues to baffle me. It is the car driven by Jeff in Jeff's version of the story in "Once Upon A Caper" when Kookie comes upon him stranded with a flat tire.

Can anyone here identify that car? I'm as certain as I can be that it is not a FoMoCo product, unless it is some sort of concept car.

 

[criblecoblis]

Where the heck did you get the whole series. I've never come across it!

Here's an intriguing link that I have just now found:
http://www.oldtimetv.net/old-time-t...a/old-time-tv-crime-action-drama-usa-can-aus/

 

[Rustifer]

There is one car in the show that continues to baffle me. It is the car driven by Jeff in Jeff's version of the story in "Once Upon A Caper" when Kookie comes upon him stranded with a flat tire.

Can anyone here identify that car? I'm as certain as I can be that it is not a FoMoCo product, unless it is some sort of concept car.

It is my hope to catch up on "Once Upon A Caper" tonight. I will studiously examine the car in question to see if I can recognize it.
In my distant and very foggy memory, I want to say it's a Lincoln.

 

[Rustifer]

That's not strictly true. There is a black Cadillac Sedan de Ville of a roughly '49-'53 vintage (as closely as I can determine), that is virtually always driven by Bad Guys, most often seen in out-of-U.S. episodes. It's the car where Kookie hides the smuggled documents at the end of Upbeat.

True. All bets are off when it comes to makes of cars on the international episodes. Sometimes they are just film cuts from old Warner Bros. movies.

 

[Rustifer]

Some PDA with Roger's first wife, Victoria Shaw.

 

[phenri]

I find this thread very interesting, but it makes me want these detective shows on DVD all the more. I wish WB could clear them somehow.

 

[Rustifer]

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0063515/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_1

I'd like to call attention again to this neat little movie starring Roger Smith available on Amazon Prime. It's definitely worth $2.99 for a rental. I've always imagined this movie as a continuation of .77SS with Roger playing a down-on-his-heel Jeff Spencer after the firm's break-up. It's no classic but Roger is great in it and has a wonderful cast of old-timers including Edgar Bergen and Dennis Morgan.

Found this publicity still from "Rogues Gallery"

 

[criblecoblis]

True. All bets are off when it comes to makes of cars on the international episodes. Sometimes they are just film cuts from old Warner Bros. movies.

Yes, but just to be clear, this specific car I'm talking about I've also seen in Bourbon Street Beat. It was part of studio inventory. Here it is in "Downbeat":

 

[Rustifer]

Yes, but just to be clear, this specific car I'm talking about I've also seen in Bourbon Street Beat. It was part of studio inventory. Here it is in "Downbeat":

View attachment 44276

It's a damn impressive non-Ford! Not to change the subject, but ever notice how many roads portrayed on 77 SS are non-paved? I would think by the 60's asphalt would have covered everything in LA.

 

[Richard V]

Found this publicity still from "Rogues Gallery"

Looked up this movie. Plot sounds interesting. Many old school Hollywood 2nd tier stars in it. Might have to check it out on Amazon Prime.

 

[Rustifer]

I'm dying to know what the word was...



Efrem and Angie Dickenson (pictured here) starred in the WB movie "A Fever in the Blood" in 1961. It was written and produced by Roy Huggins.

 

[Rustifer]

Yes, but just to be clear, this specific car I'm talking about I've also seen in Bourbon Street Beat. It was part of studio inventory. Here it is in "Downbeat":

View attachment 44276

Mr. Zimbalist drove a pretty nice car himself:

 

[Rustifer]

On the February 4, 1984 episode of "The Love Boat", Efrem starred in a segement with Donna Reed--one of her very last roles.



I would say both of them had aged quite handsomely by this time. Efrem would have been 65, Donna 63.

 

[Lutz Koch]

Not to change the subject, but ever notice how many roads portrayed on 77 SS are non-paved? I would think by the 60's asphalt would have covered everything in LA.

That sequence is not supposed to be in LA, but in some forest near the US-Mexican border which the bad guys (and Stu) have just crossed. Of course, as we all know, it's the WB back lot...

 

[Richard V]

On the February 4, 1984 episode of "The Love Boat", Efrem starred in a segement with Donna Reed--one of her very last roles.



I would say both of them had aged quite handsomely by this time. Efrem would have been 65, Donna 63.

Ms. Reed, was lovely her entire life.