Search
 
  Site Index
  TV Resources
  TV Character Bios
  What's New?
  Our Theme Song
  Archives
  About Us
  Abbreviations
  Acknowledgements
  Contact Us
  On-line Store
 

 
Home > Index > Automobiles > Sitcoms > Al Bundy's Dodge
       
  Sitcom Cars     
     
 

Al Bundy and his carAl Bundy's Dodge - Rusty Dodge with optional black vinyl top owned by shoe salesman Al Bundy (Ed O'Neill) on the sitcom MARRIED...WITH CHILDREN/FOX/1987-97. One of Al's few possessions included a bronze-colored 1974 Dodge Dart automobile with close to one million miles on the odometer. He starts the car with 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 bronze and had its odometer illegally advanced to read 18,000 miles. Mechanically speaking, the Bundy Dodge couldn't reach 60 mph even if you dropped it out of a plane. The Dodge also 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." Once when someone stole the car, Al's neighbor Marcy chastised him for leaving the car out on garbage day.

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. Al once proclaimed "Dodge says something special about you." Peg (Katey Sagal) his wife countered "Damn right. 'I failed.'"

When Al could no longer maintain his car, (he needed a hard-to-find fuel pump) he buried his faithful car in the backyard. In the meantime, 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.

TRIVIA NOTE: Some inconsistencies included the facts that 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. Bundymania - Click on 'The Dodge'  

 
     

    

 

 

Back to Top

 

Home  |  Site Map  |  Search  |  Contact Us  |  Privacy Policy  |  Archive




Copyright © TV Acres. All rights reserved.
Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited.
All photos are the property of their respective companies
.