'61 Series 75 - The Andy Griffith Show.

[Eric DeVirgilis CLC# 8621]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fzrq4hKhYok

[Scot Minesinger]

I thought Ford had the show sewed up.  The squad cars were Fords, that 1960 sedan was a winner.  Remember the lady in the Thunderbird (bullet bird) convertible that charmed the town into getting her out of a speeding ticket? 

[Walter Youshock]

Cars were supplied by Ford but NO Ford product made the same statement as a Fleetwood 75...  only the Imperial Ghia came close.

[Eric DeVirgilis CLC# 8621]

A number of TV shows and even some movies featured "sponsored cars" from a given manufacturer but as a car watcher, I felt the result looked silly for obvious reasons. As a kid, I remember being more irritated than anything else. 

Off the top of my head, Chrysler seemed to dominate silver screen presence with Ford somewhere not too far behind but I have yet to think of a GM promoted-car TV series or movie - perhaps someone's memory is better than mine on that score. 

As to the "Governor's Car" here, perhaps either the producers felt the Cadillac more appropriate or simply that a production Series 75 was more readily available than either a [coachbuilt] Lincoln or Chrysler based limousine would have been been.  I would probably guess the latter was the reason. 

[Walter Youshock]

Perry Mason drove a '57 series 62 convertible in the '57 season.  GM supplied all the cars for the show, at least early on.

Samantha and Darrin Stevens always had Chevies.  The Brady's had a Mopar station wagon and a Chevy convertible...

"It Takes a Thief" used a '65 or '66 Ghia limousine...

And "Remington Steele" had that commodore blue '76 series 75...

[Scot Minesinger]

Green Acres spotlighted the 4 door Lincoln convertible 61-67, usually in white.

Mr. Drysdale drove an Imperial in the Beverly Hillbillies I think.

The movie "Tin Men"(maybe it was Tin Man) featured great Cadillacs of the late  50's and early 1960's. 

[Bmoreindy]

Fun fact-the showroom scene in the beginning of Tin Men was shot inside Chesapeake Cadillac at 24th and Charles St, downtown Baltimore.

[Series75]

When the Diamondbacks I put on my 61 75 series were only available with 3" white walls I checked out this great video.   Those tires don't look like 2.25 wide whites.   BTW another example  with No A/C.   Tom CLC 6866

[Eric DeVirgilis CLC# 8621]

Gomer Pyle USMC,The Beverly Hillbillies and The Brady Bunch were mostly Chrysler shows.

Chrysler products were also prominent in It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World. 

The settings for these productions were set in the current day of their filming whereas the setting for Tin Men was 25 years before it was filmed. Unlike the other examples, GM did not supply the cars.

[savemy67]

Hello all,

Don't forget Broderick Crawford and his Buick in Highway Patrol.

Christopher Winter

[Eric DeVirgilis CLC# 8621]

Bit of trivia: The chauffeur is played by Rance Howard, father of Ron Howard (Happy Days). Rance is still with us today.

[willits]

Don't forget Broderick Crawford and his Buick in Highway Patrol.

and the Plymouth Savoys in Car 54 where are you?
 

[Walter Youshock]

And the 1926 Cadillac touring car Fred Mertz bought for the California trip...

[STS05lg]

How about Live and Let Die, the freeway scene where JB is traveling in the back seat of a 1974 Chevy Bel Air taxi and all the other cars on the NY Freeway are Chevy Impalas of different colors. Except for the 73 Eldorado with the poison dart launcher in the right side review mirror.

Oh and the scene in Live and Let Die at the Faliet of Soul, where the street is lined with Eldorado pimp mobiles (politically correct term).

And 1973's McQ where John Wayne is drives a green 1973 Trans Am 455SD and all the cars in the movie are GM (police cars Bel Airs, the mobsters, Cadillacs.

[390 man]

Up until about 2 months ago, Adam-12 was on here in Detroit. Road scenes with plenty of Cadillacs. Dave.

[Walter Youshock]

"EMERGENCY!" always disappointed me (except for Julie London) because they seldom ever showed a Cadillac ambulance.  There was one episode where they drove past the Southgate plant, though.  I remember seeing the sign in the background.

[Eric DeVirgilis CLC# 8621]

I remember an Emergency episode in which Dr Brackett became a patient himself as a result of an accident - and his car was a brown 1977 Coupe deVille.

Interesting about the Southgate plant. I wasn't aware of that.

[Richard Sills - CLC #936]

In the show "Mr. Ed" (featuring the talking horse), all cars were supplied by Studebaker Corporation.  The main character drives a Lark sedan, and his boss drives an Avanti.

Highway Patrol is unusual because most brands of cars were featured at different times.  Everyone remembers the Buicks, but Broderick Crawford also drove Dodge and Mercury highway patrol cars.  The other cars prominently shown in the series are just as varied -- one episode had the "bad guys" driving a 1956 Chrysler Windsor convertible with real wire wheels (and the convertible top with the unique wrap-around rear window) and a 1957 imperial Sedan.   Other episodes had major characters driving 1956 or 1957 Mercury 4-door hardtops, and a lot of the cars are new convertibles.

In Highway Patrol, practically every character drives a current model year car, except for those portrayed as down on their luck.  In one episode, a man who was just released from prison and can't find work drives a 1948 Pontiac sedan.  The car looks to be in very nice condition, but the context makes it clear that the age of the car suggests the owner is impoverished.   In another episode, a country doctor drives a 1941 Oldsmobile 66 club coupe, and someone described him as "the Doc who drives the old broken-down coupe".   The premise was that if you drive a car more than a year old, either you are suffering from some unfortunate circumstance, or you are eccentric.

Interestingly, you almost never see a Cadillac on Highway Patrol.  The fact is, in most small towns, Cadillacs were very seldom seen, so the scarcity of Cadillacs is consistent with authenticity.   I think most folks today -- even younger CLC members -- don't realize how exclusive Cadillacs really were.

Another interesting bit of Highway Patrol trivia is that just about every adult male character wears a suit, a tie, and a hat (other than the police officers who wear uniforms).  Even the losers who go out to rob convenience stores and liquor stores at gunpoint typically wear a suit, a tie and a hat.   I guess they figure that even if they are about to go to prison for 10 years, there's no reason not to be well dressed.

[jwjohnson86]

My wife and I were up late recently watching "Sudden Impact" - one of the last and in my opinion not the greatest Dirty Harry movies.  In any event a group of thugs in a 70 DVC try to ambush Clint, and got the poor old Caddy shot up pretty good.  I imagine a lot of cars were sacrificed on the altar of cop shows and action movies.  They beat up tons of cars of all kinds during the Dukes of Hazzard's run.