Ranking the Adam 12 Openning Sequence by Season
During the seven seasons of Adam 12 there were five different openning sequences. I've always considered the squad car the third lead character in the series and couldn't wait until the next season to see what car they'd be using and how cool the sequence would look.
In my humble opinion these are the rankings of those 5 openers from the coolest to the lamest:
1. Season 3: first shot of the new 1969 Plymouth Belvedere (as a car nut we knew it was really a Roadrunner in police disguise) door slams, Malloy and Reed peel away from the curb in hot pursuit of the 211 in progress. Even though the car changes to a 1968 Belvedere by the time it reaches the scene of the crime, the car screeching to a halt like it's crashing into your living room at the end of the theme song is just the coolest.
2. Season 4: first shot Malloy and Reed run out of the police station like Batman and Robin and jump into a new 1971 Plymouth Satelite, slamming into reverse almost taking out the row of cars behind them and blasting out into the streets of L.A., nice sky shots, car looks aggressive. (How come cops don't really do this in real life?) lol.
3. Season 5 and 6: night shot from the backseat; we see the illuminated hot sheet as Reed answers the call and Malloy hangs a u-turn in pursuit as they are now driving a 1972 AMC Matador (I almost threw up when I saw the Matador, how could they abandon the cool Mopars for the stretched Gremlin?) But they did feature the car at night so it was pretty cool they showed them working the night shift quite a bit throughout the series.
4. Season 1 and 2: Reeds a rookie and he looks like he's 12 years old, looking around in the car as Malloy pilots the '68 Belvedere through the neighborhood searching for the gangs fighting with chains and knives. Not too exciting but it established the characters as rookie and seasoned veteran. By season 3 opening they're locked and loaded true partners, dependable, professionals.
5. Season 7: The 1973 AMC Matador in broad daylight ahhh! Not another one!? Even though these were really highly regarded as good police vehicles by real cops in L.A. They looked so underpowered and dinky next to the Mopars. Plus they made Malloy's character actually buy one as his personal vehicle (no way Pete is buying that pile of junk! I shouted at the screen). The last shot of the car driving up from under the viaduct looks like meter maids racing to write parking tickets. The car looks lopsided and cheap and sadly it's the last season for the series.