DARE Auto is fixing up a famous Ford in their lot— and it’s for sale!
Residents of West Chester can easily identify DARE Auto from the bright blue and red letters on large signs in front of their garage. And they’re already familiar with the sight of clean cars glimmering in the sunlight, especially on a day like this, (before we potentially get snow again)! But one car in particular caught my eye today, as I’m sure it will catch the eyes of many— an original 1976 Ford Gran Torino stunt car.
Many will be able to recognize this car from its familiar red-orange coloring, white vector stripes, and retro design. This car is only one of 1,000 cars that were made for the American action television series, “Starsky & Hutch,” which first premiered in 1975. O.B. Nieves, one of DARE’s efficient employees, showed me around the car.
Inside the vehicle on the driver’s side, a metal plate reads, “20th Century Fox Studios T400.” On the passenger’s side, a shiny plaque has two autographs engraved— Paul Glaser and David Soul, as Detectives David Starsky and Kenneth “Hutch” Hutchinson” respectively.
“Starsky & Hutch” featured these two police detectives in Southern California rolling around the streets of the fictional Bay City in this staple vehicle. The “Starsky & Hutch” producers used four different cars for filming, but many more were mass-produced as stunts. Sometimes, the car featured red-wing side mirrors, and other times, the mirrors were silver.
Hutch gave the Gran Torino the nickname, “Striped Tomato” in the episode, “Snowstorm.” But fun fact— the “Striped Tomato” nickname came from Paul Michael Glaser. When he was first shown the Torino, he jokingly told David Soul, “That thing looks like a striped tomato!”
DARE Auto only recently received the 1976 Ford Grand Torino stunt car and will be fixing it up over the next few weeks in preparation to sell it.
But for now, it’s like having a little piece of Hollywood right here in West Chester!
