Hawaii
Five-O Cars
- Amidst the beautiful backdrops of the Hawaiian
Island special investigator Steve McGarrett
(Jack Lord) drove a black Ford Mercury on each
episode of the police drama HAWAII
FIVE-O/CBS/1968-80. Three black Mercurys were used by McGarrett during the life of the
series.
From the show's premiere on September
26, 1968 through the 1973 season (130 episodes)
Steve drove a 1968 Mercury Parklane Brougham
4-door hardtop Sedan equipped, with a 428-4V(345
hp) engine, C-6 automatic, power steering, power
front disc brakes, power windows, power seat,
A/C, AM/FM, and cruise control.
The 1968 vehicle
was damaged on the series when bad guys from the
Hawaiian Mafia (the "Kumu") put McGarrett's car
out of commission at the end of the 1973 season.
In 1974 to the end of the series McGarrett drove
a black 1974 Marquis Brougham 4-door hardtop. A
third car, a 2-door black 1967 Marquis black
with red interior, was used in filming the
series' pilot and for stock footage.
The 1968
Mercury was later purchased by a man named
Michael Timothy from Chicago who crated up the
dented remains of the original car that had been
stored in a production warehouse at Fort Rugers
and shipped it to America. He adorned the
restored car (the engine was untouched with
only 75,000 miles on the odometer) with a
license plate that read "BOOK EM." [from an
article in Quicksilver magazine "A Tale
of McGarrett's Mercury"].
In 1996, John Boley
Nordlum, Jack Lord's former stunt double and
stand-in, auctioned off the series' 1974 Mercury
(given to him by Jack Lord when the show ended)
at a "Hawaii Five-0" Reunion Convention. The
car, now with 250,000 miles on the engine, had
been used to carry Jack Lord back and forth
between his Kahala home and the Diamond Head
film studio.
On the 2010 remake of the HAWAII FIVE-O series, the original Mercury (owned by Nordlum) was seen in the series pilot as Steve McGarrett's son, Steve (Alex O'Loughlin) returns to Oahu to find his father's killer and runs across the Mercury as he rummaged through his dad's garage.
The car next appeared on episode "Powa Moka Woana" (2011) with Steve (steering) and Danno (pushing) the stalled car along the side of the Pali Highway. Steve had been working on the car for the last six months but it's engine still had problems. Danno insisted he should get rid of the car, but Steve claimed the car was a classic and was worhty of his attention. On duty, Steve and Danno drive a silver 2010 Chevy Camaro.
For the entire run of the series
from 1968-1980 McGarrett's license plate number
was F6-3958.
TRIVIA NOTE: On June 2, 2010, Ford officially announced the Mercury line was to be discontinued - phasing out all production by the end of the year. This decision follows the closure of three other auto brands: Plymouth (2002), Oldsmobile (2004) and Pontiac (2010).
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