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Al Bundy Dodge -
Rusty Dodge with a black vinyl roof owned by shoe
salesman Al Bundy (Ed O'Neill) on the
situation comedy MARRIED...WITH
CHILDREN/FOX/1987-97. One of Al's few possessions included a
1974 Dodge Dart automobile with close to one million miles on
the odometer. To start the car, Al uses a screwdriver as the
key.
Al once got rid of this car in an
attempt to get a better one. At the time it had 99,000 miles
on the odometer. Al then bought a maroon-colored AMC Pacer and
later a lime-green AMC Hornet. Unfortunately, both these cars
were lemons.
Frustrated, Al returned to the used car
lot and purchased a Dodge Dart with only 18,000 miles.
Unfortunately, this car was Al's original blue Dodge Dart that
had been painted burnt sienna and had its odometer illegally
advanced to read 18,000 miles.
Al's Dodge sported all its original
equipment including the seats, the oil and an 8-track player
that cranked out such classics albums as "Born to Be Wild,"
"Meet the Four Seasons," "Meet the Supremes," and "The Four
Seasons Meet the Supremes." Mechanically speaking, the Bundy
Dodge couldn't reach 60 mph even if you dropped it out of a
plane.
Once when someone stole the car, Al's
neighbor Marcy chastised him for leaving the car out on
garbage day. Al once proclaimed "Dodge says something special
about you." Peg (Katey Sagal) his wife countered "Damn right.
'I failed.'"
On the series' 200th episode "Get the
Dodge outta Hell," the Dodge went into a car wash and came out
with a brilliantly polished red finish (supposedly, the
original color). It was so clean that Al thought the car had
disappeared. Fortunately, the car was found and so were the
precious mementos that he kept locked in the trunk, namely his
copies of Big-Uns, a nudie magazine and a framed portrait of
his family.
When Al could no longer maintain his
car, (he needed a hard-to-find fuel pump) he buried his
faithful car in the backyard. As a replacement, Al
bought a red 1997 Testica 2000 convertible from Cal Stevens
Motors. The Testica turned out to be a lemon.
Working behind the scenes during his
Testica troubles, Al's wife spent her spare time digging up
the Dodge (she was offered $10,000 for the engine) while Al's
next-door neighbor Jefferson Darcy (Ted McGinley), a former
spy/commando used his connections with Cuban dictator Fidel
Castro to scrounge up a fuel pump so that Al could resurrect
his Dodge automobile.
The Illinois license plates seen on the
Bundy's car were 61CMS2; 2 RPH 72 and F3B359. Al's driver's
license number reads 2C1835.
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"Hello, Police? I'd like to
describe a... Missing person. How tall? About four feet
tall, five feet wide. Smoke belching out the rear,
weighs two tons. No, it's not Oprah. No, it's not Delta
Burke, who'd call to report her missing? No, it's my
Dodge. Hello?" |
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-- Al Bundy (Episode #7.24) |
TRIVIA NOTE: Al mentioned he had his car in high
school in 1966 even though on two different occasions he says
the car is a 1971 and a 1974 model.
Also the car is obviously a 1970s model
Plymouth Duster although referred to as a Dodge ("I don't want
a Plymouth, Peg, I want my Dodge, dagnabbit!") Both Plymouth
and Dodge were manufactured by Chrysler. Todd on BEAVIS AND
BUTT-HEAD drives a 1973 Plymouth Duster.
On the fantasy drama THE
X-FILES/FOX/1993-2002 FBI agent Fox Mulder (David Duchovny)
trailed a mutant killer named Leonard Betz who fed off the
cells of those with cancer. Speaking on the man's special
nature, Mulder commented "How evolved can a man be when he
drives a Dodge Dart."
In the 1960s, the Dodge Girls, a bevy
of beautiful spokes-models in white cowboy hats, appeared in
the car company's ad campaign. They included Conny Van Dyke,
Jeanne Wilson, Pamela Austin (1966-68); Joan Anita Parker
(1968-70); and Cheryl Lynn Miller (1970-71) as well as other
regional models like Daphne Harrington and Patricia A. Savage-Aranda
who posed as Dodge girls in regional spots.
Daphne Harrington, for example, served
as the Regional Dodge Girl for a national advertising agency
in the six-state region surrounding Oklahoma. The girls often
touted the catchphrase "The Dodge Rebellion Wants You!"
In later spots, a little fat sheriff
named JW (played by Joe Higgins) shouted "You're in a heap of
trouble boy!" in a series of successful ad spots for Dodge.
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