He will be missed. A good actor. car guy and all around great guy. Never heard a bad thing about him. Got to throw his connection with AMC in here. He was a team owner in the late 60's of a Baja race team using AMC Hurst Scramblers.
Requiem in Pace! He was a great actor. I loved "Rockford Files" and just recently revisited "The Great Escape" where he played the "Scrounger."
RIP. James Garner. Garner received a Purple Heart in 1983. He was wounded in April 1951 while with U.S. forces in Korea, but his medal was never presented to him And “Grand Prix” showed that Garner actually was good behind the wheel. Garner drove the Indianapolis 500 pace car on three separate occasions. Lothar at Daytona 24 Hours race in James Garner's Lola This team was called AIR. A movie was made of the racing team. It is called "The Racing Scene"
I was never big on TV or movie stars. But James Garner was among those I really loved to watch. R.I.P.
I always thought it was cool that Rockford had the same Firebird for a # of years, much like Steve McGarrett on Hawaii 5 0 and his '68 Mercury.
It was strange in the Rockford films made in the 90's that the Firebird was mostly on cement blocks. I guess Garner liked driving the Chevy truck around and found a reason to do so! In regards to McGarrett, I'm sure Jack Lord would have had no problem driving that 68 Parklane until the end of the series. Although I'm sure Ford had a problem by Season Six. TV is a great marketing tool for new products. When a 68 Merc looks better and handles better than a car seven years newer, then there is a problem. I remember an episode where McGarrett pulls up behind a '73 Ford full size. That Ford, even though it was new, looked like the rear suspension was blown and was going to bottom out any second. It was funny in 'V' for Vashon when the Parklane gets blown up and McGarrett receives another '68 Parklane that just happened to be in the police yard. Same plates and all. How convenient! Wayne
Correct, however despite this photo, the 1960 pace car wasn't one of them (Sam Hanks was the driver of that one). Garner drove the 1975 Buick Century, the 1977 Olds Delta 88, and the 1985 Olds Calais pace cars.
'Rockford' actually had a number of different Firebirds throughout the series. It's just that everybody remembers it as one vehicle because they were all the same color.
The cars were always current-year Firebirds. The 74: The 75: The 76: The 77: The 78: In addition, some of the stunt cars were prior-year cars. Note the grille and front bumper on this unfortunate car: