When TV Was King Of Kustoms
Television was largely a scripted thing before a million channels and equal number of chopper building shows plunged TV into its current fetid stew of reality programming. The cop drama was king. Network produced cop shows ruled the airwaves for years at a time. Stretching the cop drama slightly thin was Banacek, played by a turtleneck wearing George Peppard. Banacek was an insurance investigator of Polish-American heritage who always managed to solve the crime or mystery at hand. More unusual than any of this was that though Banacek himself lived in Boston, action on the show always managed to take place in Los Angeles or Las Vegas. From this regal age of the television network rule also came kustom kars built by the likes of George Barris.
This kustom 1969 AMC AMX was featured in the second regular season episode of Bancek as a stolen "experimental racecar". In the episode entitled Project Phoenix, the car was worth five million dollars. Banacek was called in to find it, and the trailer it was stolen in. Stylish turtlenecks, cigar smoking, Polish proverbs, and chatting up the ladies ensued. The AMC was spied at the Walter P. Chrysler Museum this last summer after having spent 33 years on the show car circuit following its TV debut in 1972.
[A-Team Photo Gallery]; [Walter P. Chrysler Museum] [External]
Related: [The Best Van Ever: The A-Team's GMC]; [Mini Slot Car A-Team Elvis Mayhem] [Internal]