Original Magnum PI 308 displayed at Universal Studios, Florida?

You forgot the episode, J "Digger" Doyle when Erin Gray used another 308 to con her way into the estate.

 

Someone changed it because I can assure you there was never a black interior on screen.

By the way I LOVE your book. Have one sitting right here next to me this very second

 

That poor car is such a hybrid. Look at the engine cover.

Is that Columbo's next to it?

 

Looks like.

 

The Pilot used a different car also. The military base stickers on the rear bumper disappeared on session one, first show.

 

Watched the 162 episodes during the summer 2010, and then bought a 328 GTS as a companion to my 328 GTB.
Promised myself I would watch the whole serie again this year, but my wife said: "and then after, you will probably buy a 308 GTS this time", so I guess that my review of the whole serie will have to wait a little...
Pity, I still like it very much!

Best

 

The Season 6 episode in which the car gets whacked and shatters is "Photo Play" (end of the season). I just had it on via Netflix a couple of days ago. It's clearly not a steel car, as it should be (yes, I'm very glad that they didn't wreck one). This car at Universal is just a very cool "dummy" car that they worked up, with the bare minimum. The keyhole bezels on the door protrude, the airfoil is way too thin, no windows, no quarter glass, the rear window doesn't seem to wrap, etc. and there are no Cavallino badges on the front or rear...so no branding problems there. With those minimalist seats they could easily shoot it at a distance parked at the house and no one would know the difference. With the space frame construction, that bar highlighted by matumorales is probably needed to keep the windshield from folding in. These cars would be great for crashes, fires, bad weather scenes, etc. The wheels look like the only genuine thing on it. I'll be surprised if that side badge actually includes "Disegno di Pininfarina".

I wonder how many of those cars they built? I love the old-school studio wizardry and art of illusion, before the days of just dropping a car in digitally.

 

The car used on the pilot episode actually drove right past my house (actually about 3/4 of a mile but I can see the interstate from my driveway) on Sat Dec 29th, 1979 on it's way to California to begin the shoot.

Believe it or not that is 100% the truth, too. No BS

 

Dr Tommy,

There is no reason not to believe you, as it is a fact that the car used for the show was driven from the east coast to the west coast at this date, and if I remember it correctly this drive was also the subject of a magazine article.

Best

 

Bingo

The article opened with the football traffic jam he was stuck in. A qiuck google pulled the date of that game

cool stuff

 

And to think that the original car of choice for the serie was the Porsche 928's...
Perhaps if Porsche has agreed to the conditions (if my memory, etc, it has to do with an opening top on which Porsche did not agree?) we would all be driving 928's today...(a fine car, by the way).

Best

 

The green 308...
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

Not me. The tv show was entirely incidental to my purchase. I didn't even realise it had been a key feature of the show until well after. I don't think I've watched more than a couple of those shows. I'm not a fan of the genre today, though as a kid I certainly watched Colombo, Starsky, Dukes of Hazzard etc with my dad. Maybe Magnum & then Miami Vice came too late for me & instead of watching tv I was out having fun or in studying hard.

Btw, what made you get a 328 rather than the more obvious 308 GTS if you were Magnum-prompted?

 

I always love watching the pilot and seeing Magnum slide the targa roof backwards...where did it go?

 

http://magnum-mania.com/

 

A stage hand caught it as it slid off the back of the car.

Anybody care to guess the license plate on that car?

 

56E-478 That roof catch was great, as it doesn't seem to hit the car at all. Tom was slick in pretending to fiddle with the latch before tossing it. I've always liked the fact that they apparently shot it on a non-closed road (a car passes just as he's going for it). He turns to check for traffic as he hits the pavement. To me, one of the coolest car maneuvers by an actor, he was clearly really familiar with the car by then. Second only to James Garner in just about every episode Magnum P.I. just = Great television. I miss the quality.

 

my German plate on my Scirocco
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

Go back and watch that episode again. They used two green ones. The other had a deep front spoiler

 

Erin Gray. One of the hottest women of all time.

 

No ****

I have a picture of her and I around here somewhere. I'll dig it up and post it

 

Yep

 

+1...absolutely. And I love that Scirocco, Dr. Tommy. One of my all-time favorite cars.