S8.E3

The Car

Episode aired Nov 12, 1981
TV-PG
30m

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Max Gail, Larry Gelman, and Hal Linden in Barney Miller (1975)

A car thief's conscience haunts him twenty-five years after the fact. An overzealous sanitation officer goes haywire. Levitt saves a child from certain danger.A car thief's conscience haunts him twenty-five years after the fact. An overzealous sanitation officer goes haywire. Levitt saves a child from certain danger.A car thief's conscience haunts him twenty-five years after the fact. An overzealous sanitation officer goes haywire. Levitt saves a child from certain danger.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

8.3/10

100

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1User review

See production info at IMDbPro

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Trivia
When Wojo gives the car keys to Miss Shawcross, he says to her "Happy Motoring." This was the slogan used by subsidiaries of Humble Oil Company for decades before the company became part of Exxon in 1973. Humble, which itself was part of Standard Oil of New Jersey, operated under its own name as well. Esso and Enco in various parts of the U.S. The "Happy Motoring" slogan played off the company's mascot Happy the Oil Drop Man, whose head was shaped like a drop of oil. The company also used the slogan "Put a tiger in your tank" beginning in 1964, which Exxon continued using for years after acquiring Humble Oil.

Goofs
The car stolen (a 1957 DeSoto) was stolen in 1957, nearly 25 years before the setting of the events. Since the owner would have to insure the vehicle, they would have been compensated her for the loss of the car when she reported it stolen. The car would have belonged to the insurance company then and not the "owner" who was called down to the station.

In New York of 1957, liability insurance only was required, which would not have protected the owner from theft. Since there was no coverage, there is no transfer of ownership and statute of limitations apply.

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Featured review

7/10

Larry Gelman and Joe Regalbuto

"The Car" features Larry Gelman (third of four) as Joseph Hilyer, who takes a swing at Wojo, before learning that the De Soto he drives doesn't belong to him; he stole it from Miss Louise Shawcross (Alice Backes) some 24 years earlier! (he claims he was depressed about Sputnik). Joe Regalbuto (second of two) plays Sanitation Officer Earl Slatic, who becomes so annoyed with one particular litterbug that he fires a warning shot over his head without just cause ("well you don't make a mess on my beat and just walk away!"). Pat McNamara plays Burt Boskin, his superior from the Department of Sanitation, who decides to leave Slatic to his deserved fate (Boskin: "the gun stays in the holster unless your life is on the line!" Slatic: "that guy was two feet from a trash can!"). Levitt is assigned to drive off some kids from climbing all over the equipment at a construction site. As it turns out, he saves a boy from falling from 10 floors up, suffering a fractured wrist and neck sprain from his heroic effort (Barney decides to put his name up for a Medal of Valor). Meanwhile, Harris makes his peace with Barney and his squad mates, admitting that he hasn't been able to write a thing since "Blood on the Badge."