Iconic Cars That Were the Real Stars of The (TV) Show

There have been a great many really great cars that have practically become a member of the cast of TV shows over the years. Some however, really have attained icon status and can truly be considered the most famous cars in TV history. These excellent automobiles would be our choice for the best of the famous cars from TV shows. How many do you remember? What other star vehicles would you add to the list?
1982 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am from ‘Knight Rider’
Most people did not even know what kind of car KITT was, and to be honest, they really didn’t care, ‘he’ was just cool. KITT could could vault over any obstacle, speed safely through a veritable sea of bullets and capture the bad guys. But his best quality perhaps was his ability to deflate Michael Knight’s sometimes over blown ego with just a single sarcastic remark.

1986 Ferrari Testarossa from ‘Miami Vice’
‘Miami Vice’ was responsible for more than a few not so great looks – the loafer with no socks thing, designer stubble, pastel suits worn with t shirts – but the Ferrari that Sonny Crockett sped around in is a timeless classic.

The Testarossa was actually the second iconic car that Don Johnson got to pose prettily in. In the first season, Crockett drove a ’72 Ferrari Daytona Spyder, an even cooler car some might say. Unfortunately that baby got blown up by a rocket launcher and the then practically brand new car was drafted in to replace it. And the sight of Crockett cruising along in its pristine whiteness is an image burned into the memories of millions as one of the most memorable symbols of the ‘me’ decade.

1975 Ford Gran Torino from ‘Starsky and Hutch’
This car became such a large part of what is still one of the best ‘buddy cop’ shows ever made that it is actually pretty hard to picture either David Soul or Paul Michael Glaser without their speedy FoMoCo coming to mind as well.

The car actually helped boost sales of the car in general, and Ford even managed to sell out of the 1,000 special editions they produced that were clones of TV car in a matter of months.

1983 GMC G15 Van from ‘The A-Team’
Who would ever have imagined that a GMC cargo van would become one of the best known vehicles in TV history, let alone one of the coolest? Would four real life mercenaries/crime fighters actually drive around in a windowless black van with a very noticeable red spoiler? Probably not, but realism was never exactly a part of the ‘A Team’ was it? We still know a few people who have their own version of an A team van on the road (and we pass no judgments).

1983 Ferrari 308 GTS from ‘Magnum P.I.’
OK, so yes, Tom Selleck was cool, witty and handsome in a rather hairy 80s way, but Magnum wasn’t the star of the show, his bosses car was.

Thanks in large part to the red beauty’s appearance in the show, Ferrari sold more than 12,000 copies of the 308 GTS, making it one of the most popular models the Italian carmaker has ever produced. Fortunately the 308 still look classy and stylish today, which is more than can be said for the floral Hawaiian camp shirts that also enjoyed a huge in spike in sales at the height of Magnum’s popularity.

1969 Dodge Charger from ‘The Dukes of Hazzard’
It would be impossible to make a list like this one and not put the General Lee right at the very top. According to John Schneider (Bo) though, there were a lot of versions of the bright orange hoopty, as, by his conservative estimate, more than three hundred such cars were wrecked by the stunt crew over the course of the show’s original six year run.