Mannix, Cannon, and Barnaby Jones

As the title may suggest, if it doesn't in fact hit you over the head like the proverbial hammer, I just finished a trifecta of old detective shows this morning. In three hours I watched one episode each of Mannix, Cannon, and Barnaby Jones. Do you know what they had in common? Other, that is, than being old TV shows about private eyes?

The cars they drove were huge. Veritable battleships.

I had forgotten how big cars from the Sixties and Seventies had been. I remember driving them well enough. Me Grandpa Joe had several which required a city block to park. One old Chrysler Imperial alone of his could have served as an aircraft carrier. I think it had 12 large white wall tires. Per side.

Frank Cannon drove a Ford LTD which could be surrounded by a moat and serve as a siege castle. It had its own drawbridge. Mannix, well, you couldn't actually see him as he worked. The car took up the whole screen. Barnaby Jones took 30 seconds getting out of his Caddy. He nicked the camera on a wide right turn.

I had truly forgotten how big those old vehicles could be. They totally distracted from the plots of the shows. I think somebody got murdered and the detectives caught them as the guilty died of boredom waiting for their cars to completely arrive.