QOTD: What TV Show Car Did You Lust Over as a Kid?

One of the great things about childhood is the feeling that unlimited possibilities will arrive the moment you turn 18. Rich and famous? Adventurer? Carefree private eye who lives in a trailer by the beach? All of those future lifestyles exist in the realm of possibility when you’re a kid.

You’ll make it happen one day. First, you just need to grow up.

Adulthood, of course, has a way of stepping in and saying, “Whoa there…. whoa, whoa, whoa. Easy now. Have you thought about coding? Plastics? Think, son — what about your retirement?”

Adulthood is one giant buzzkill after another.

Even as that youthful feeling fades, memories loom large. Long before the internet and Facebook made us antisocial, we spent hours sitting alone in front of the TV, wishing — in my case — that we lived on Robin Master’s estate, with full access to the trappings the mysterious novelist apparently never needed.

As a child in the 1980s, the bulk of my television exposure came from mediocre sitcoms of the era (WKRP being a noted exception — that show was brilliantly ahead of its time), but it was the cop, spy and private eye shows of the 1960s and ’70s that tickled me the most. Not surprisingly, the cars gave me a special thrill. (Miami Vice was never my bag, so you won’t see a white Testarossa anywhere on this page. Knight Rider? Don’t get me started.)

“I’m going to pull up to my building one day just like that,” I thought, watching Maxwell Smart’s gadgeted-out ’65 Sunbeam Tiger squeal to a stop in front of CONTROL headquarters.

“Three-point turns are for losers. I’m going to change directions like that,” I pondered after seeing Jim Rockford evade baddies in his very attainable gold Pontiac Firebird Esprit for the umpteenth time.

Because massive land barges always struck a chord, Steve McGarrett’s all-black 1968 Mercury Park Lane Brougham needed no extra help to stimulate my salivary glands. The Jack Lord character’s replacement car — a ’74 Marquis Brougham — might have lacked the same panache, but I’ll still take it any day of the week. Living the landau life isn’t for everyone, but I like to stretch out.

Come at me, greenies.

I’d say that of all of those Johnson-through-Reagan-era shows, the most desirable daily driver would have to be the red, early-80s Ferrari 308GTSi driven by that titan among men, Thomas Magnum.

While Tom Selleck is worthy of some sort of award for living the best TV life (and keeping a moustache for his entire adult life), the show’s creators deserve royalty checks from Maranello. Magnum, P.I. ingrained that car in the minds of so many.

Okay, now it’s question time. Think back. Think way, way back. Growing up, what car tempted you on the small screen week after week?

[Images: IMCDB.com]