Paul Glaser hated the car from the moment when the production company for “Starsky and Hutch”  introduced him to it. The 2B Bright Red Ford Gran Torino, sitting on slot mags, with a white stripe down the side, couldn’t have been further from the car that he was expecting to see. It was huge, ugly, had chrome railroad ties, was slow, and for a pair of undercover detectives in California, was so outlandish that he refused to believe that the car would work. “Zebra 3”, “The Striped Tomato”, whatever you want to call it…the red and white Gran Torino is forever linked with the Starsky and Hutch series. It was the first car to really make the Gran Torino cool. It would take years before the Fast and Furious and Gran Torino would be able to match the impact that David Starsky’s car would have for the model.

Honestly, for us, we can look past the star power of the car and see what we really have: a period-correct “day two” build, restored, and hot-rodded Ford Gran Torino. The 351 under the hood was given a serious work-over (and a welcome power boost over the pathetic mid-1970s lumps that the television cars were forced to make do with), the black bucket/floor shift interior is intact, the U.S. slot mags are present and accounted for, and the air shocks are doing their job, hiking the tail of the big Ford up in the right stance. Sure, you’ll get movie memorabilia, signatures, model cars, and proof that this is a television car that was built up as the “hero” car for the 2004 movie, but that’s here nor there to us. We just want to cruise it the way Glaser originally decided he wanted to drive: as hard as possible.

eBay Link: 1975 Ford Gran Torino, Starsky and Hutch “Hero” car‘