OT and poser for old timers

Do any of you old timers remember the sports car that Boston Blackie drove in the '51-53 tv series?

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Sure do!
He was driving a Jaguar "D"-type.

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Not in '51 - '53. I don't know the show, but the "C" type would have been as close as he would have come.
Peter

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The C didn't have the offset delta-shaped tail fin, IIRC, while the car in question did.

There was a TV show?
I frequently get to listen to the radio shows. BB is one of the better ones.
Wayne D.
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Thanks for the replies.I looked at the Jag D type and it does not appear to be the car.Blackie's car was a 4 seater and had suicide doors,I purchased a DVD with one episode of BB on it.There was a quick glimpse of the car but not a full length shot.There might be an outside chance it was a Delahaye but have never had a definitive answer stating so.Being a series from 55 years ago anyone directly related to the series is dead.

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That seems just like yesterday!
In the bulk of the car chase scenes, Blackie is driving a 2-seater with a very high vertical fin that led backwards from the driver's headrest to the rear of the car - stopping just before the back bumper.
The only car I've ever seen that had that fin was the D-type Jag.
The car, of course, could have been "created" for the show in the same manner that the "Batmobile" [on TV] was adapted from a Raymond Lowey concept car.

Boston Blackie was driving a Kaiser Darrin, as I recall!

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Uhh, Pete, the Kaiser Darrin didn't have a tail fin. <grin>
http://www.sunbeltcars.com/kaiser_darrin.htm
The possibility of one having been "customized" for the show DOES, however, exist within this passage from the cite above:
"It wasn't until the project's demise with Kaiser that Darrin thought about breathing new life into the little car with its sliding doors. He altered some of the 50 in an attempt to generate interest. The most notable of these were six that were retrofitted with Cadillac Eldorado engines."
Either way, I'd love to have even a replicar of the Darrin! [HK's wife was absolutely right!]

I have been asking off and on over years to find the answer.This is the first site with any positive feedback.It might be a "custom"type but ZIV productions did not allow much money to be spent per episode.I believe they were the first producer of series earmarked to the independent tv stations across the country.Mr.Ziv sold his company for a good price,at a good time,realizing he could no longer compete against the big studios releasing their reruns.The reruns were selling for less than he could make first run new series.

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Having been a fan of the show - especially on TV - I still have vivid pictures of the car in my memories.
After all, that vertical stabilizer WAS pretty unique!
OTOH, the Nash convertible used in the Superman series ...

RAM³ wrote:
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Just a comment with regard to the D-Jag, it didn't exist before 1953 and until 1957 it was a single-seat racer, wasn't until '57 that a two-seat street version was released, and if the budget didn't allow for some customization of a Detroit model then it certainly didn't allow for a D-Jag--race cars were, relatively speaking, as expensive then as they are now, while custom bodywork was well within the abilities of many '50s high school kids.

I have 2 cousins who bought '57 D Jags in '61,one blue the other white.Beautiful cars and both were car mechanics.They loved the car but couldn't afford the frequent breakdowns far from home.The wait for parts both new or used just took too long,months at a time.They handled great,had a nice exhaust tone,plenty of speed but not dependable.I guess they tired of the Jag mystique of "I hope I make it back".As far as the post of using a Jag as a "customed" car seems to be true.ZIV would never do that,their costs per episode would not allow it.