The 10 Greatest Cars on Television — Ever!

You knew it was coming. It's impossible to compile a list of great TV cars without including the Knight Industries Two Thousand (KITT). The talking, smarter-than-the-Hoff Firebird Trans Am was the embodiment of all we thought possible in the '80s — at least as far as sentient transportation was concerned. With an arsenal of crime-fighting technology on board and a super-cool "Turbo Boost" option, the car could vault over obstacles, drive through a hail of bullets and generally thwart the bad guys at every turn. While it doesn't stack up well against the competition on our list, the fact that the car's scanning, red LED light still makes it into the aftermarket is proof positive that KITT left an indelible mark on car fans everywhere.

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The show that pioneered the "bright blazer, T-shirt and loafers sans socks" look of '80s cool (thank goodness that has become passé) also brought the brashest of Italian exotics of the time into the homes of millions. When "Miami Vice" debuted, lead character Sonny Crockett (Don Johnson) cruised around in a much cooler '72 Ferrari Daytona Spyder. Unfortunately for Crockett, that car was blown to smithereens by a rocket launcher. Fortunately, the rig was actually a kit car based on a Corvette chassis, so no one on the set shed too many tears, especially when Ferrari offered to supply the show with not one, but two 1986 Ferrari Testarossas. The white one became the symbol of the "Why, yes, I do have more money than you" generation.

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The only truck on our list comes courtesy of the show "Sanford and Son." Nearly as iconic as the show's catchy theme song and the quick and biting wit of Fred G. Sanford (Redd Foxx), the show's 1951 Ford F1 pickup had seen more than a few miles by the time it starred in the sitcom's intro in 1972. While not as centrally important to the plot of the show as some of the other vehicles on our list, the truck on "Sanford and Son" was nearly a permanent part of the set. Thanks to the show, junk dealers everywhere are now required by law to own a rusting heap for a delivery vehicle — at least in the lower 48. (Just kidding.)

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Law enforcement and cool cars go together like coffee and doughnuts, so our catalog of awesome sheet metal wouldn't be complete without the Ford Gran Torino from "Starsky and Hutch." Powered by a stout 351 ci V8 with a healthy 250 horsepower, you can't think of actors David Soul (Ken Hutchinson) and Paul Michael Glaser (Dave Starsky) without their FoMoCo demon coming to mind. With plenty of tire smoke, J-turns and car chases in every episode, "Starsky and Hutch" was a kick in the pants for Torino sales. Ford even produced 1,000 special-edition models of the car with the iconic red-and-white paint scheme to commemorate the show. How's that for life imitating art?

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What's cooler than a group of rogue ex-special forces operatives on the run from the military? Ex-special forces who act as mercenaries for good and roll in a black van with a red spoiler, that's what. While the cast of "The A-Team" offered up acting that was almost as painful as wearing 150 pounds of gold chains around your neck, scenes of the crew's wicked 1983 GMC G15 van ramming through cardboard boxes and sliding around dirt roads mid-chase are what adolescent dreams are made of. While still not quite cool enough to overcome the creepiness of four grown men rolling around in a windowless van, we pity the fool who thinks this van is anything less than awesome.

While Thomas Magnum (Tom Selleck) might have been the key character in "Magnum P.I.," this Ferrari Red prancing horse, which he used to tear around Hawaii, stole the show. Ferrari rolled out more than 12,000 copies of the 308 GTS, making it one of the most popular (or common, as it were) models the Italian automaker has ever produced. We have little doubt that had as much to do with the 308's delicious styling as the thousands of men wishing they were Magnum himself. (Sales of flowered shirts went up, too.) Whatever the case, this Ferrari remains one of the coolest rides on TV.

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Though the General Lee, Bo and Luke Duke's pet name for their Hemi Orange Dodge Charger, regularly thwarted the authorities, it couldn't escape the laws of physics. It's hard to find an exact figure for the number of cars the show's stunt crew wrecked while the series was on the air, but estimates range from 301 to 329. Built as a race car in the show, the General Lee boasted a full roll cage, massive "01" livery on both sides of the car and the signature Confederate battle flag on the roof. The car was as central to "The Dukes of Hazzard" as any main character, and the production crew broke a number of jump records during filming.

Eric Forman (played by Topher Grace) didn't know how lucky he was to be cruising around in the family's 1969 Oldsmobile Vista Cruiser. If that massive station wagon's single-piece skylight isn't enough to convince you this is one of the coolest rides on the airwaves, the stout 350 ci V8 engine under the hood should be. Of course, it doesn't hurt that the Vista Cruiser served as a backdrop for one of the most rocking intros of any TV show ever, as well as a main ingredient in more story lines than we can count. With the entire cast of "That 70's Show" sliding across the vinyl bench seats of the mighty Olds at one time or another, this wagon is what car guys think of when they think retro sitcoms.

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While you won't see too many reproductions of Jim Rockford's 1975 Pontiac Firebird Esprit at your local car show, it's still one of the most memorable rides to come over the airwaves. Clips of the Coppermine Gold Poncho chasing down or running away from hoodlums and the occasional hero are some the best ever captured on video — even if the show's editors often used the same ones over and over again to spice up the show. This bird's popularity with the folks here at MSN Autos was further enhanced by the fact that James Garner played one of the coolest ex-cons-turned-private-eyes around — and they were old enough to catch the show in first runs, not reruns like many of us. Still, if you were 13 in 1979, you too would have been hard-pressed to decide which was cooler: Rockford's Firebird Esprit, the General Lee or David Starsky's mean 1975 Gran Torino.

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Topping our list is the vehicle that the king of crime-fighting kitsch and his youthful sidekick used to fight crime in Gotham City. This iconic machine began life as the 1955 Lincoln Futura Concept, which was handcrafted in Italy and cost a blistering $250,000 to create. (Imagine what that would cost today.) Like most concepts, the Futura was never really meant for production. The car sat in the dark corners of a warehouse for five years until Ford, Lincoln's parent company, sold it to George Barris — legendary builder of cars for the big and little screen — for a dollar. In 1965 the producers of "Batman" asked Barris to create the very first Batmobile, and he instinctively looked to the Futura. More than 40 years later, the Caped Crusader's cruiser is the most well-known mechanical crime fighter, having taken down every bad guy from the Joker to the Riddler and more.

James Tate cut his teeth in the business as a race team crew member before moving to the editorial side as Senior Editor of Sport Compact Car, and his work has appeared in Popular Mechanics, Automobile, Motor Trend and European Car. When not writing, Tate is usually fantasizing about a vintage Porsche 911.

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