 Black
Beauty - The sleek, gadget-filled automobile used by
the crime fighter
Green Hornet, a.k.a.
the crusading newspaper editor, Britt Reid (Van Williams) on
the crime drama THE GREEN HORNET/ABC/1966-67. Hidden behind an
advertising billboard of an abandoned warehouse, the Black
Beauty possessed an arsenal of gadgets which included a TV
camera which when launched from a secret compartment, circled
the city transmitting pictures back to the car's TV monitors;
small brooms which dropped from the rear bumper to whisk away
any tire tracks; and even a mock self destruct mechanism which
made the bad guys think the car had crashed and was burning.
The car also featured bulletproof windshield and side windows,
armored rear window frame panel, front laser gun, front and
rear mounted rockets, knock-out gas, a homing device and a
smoke screen, ice or oil sprayed from the rear. Kato (Bruce
Lee), Reid's Asian manservant doubled as the driver of the
Black Beauty.
The Black Beauty was stored upside-down on a suspension grip hanging
beneath Britt Reid's regular car. When the Black Beauty was
needed, a button was pushed. This revolved the floor, and made
the Black Beauty upright and ready to ride. Before taking off,
the Green Hornet said "Hornet gun. Check. Hornet sting. Check.
Let's roll, Kato!"
The Black Beauty (a modified 1966 Chrysler
Imperial Crown 4-door sedan) was designed by Hollywood customizer Dean Jeffries at a cost of $50,000 plus dollars.
Its license plate read: V-194.
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