Le Juge et le pilote

I liked this show too when I was younger. I would go over to my grandma's and watch it all the time when it was on TV on the nights it was on. I liked the judge, the one abiding by the law even after he retired, Mc Cormick breaking the law to get the job done. I think the episode I liked the best was the first 2 when his friend built the Coyote, which I found out later was a Porsche 917, which on the racing circuit is an awesome car, and his friend's daughter wanted it back, so he went to the warehouse and stole it back. Then after he stole it, he ran from the cops and jumped the fence, which was some major air. They had it on Family Channel back in 1996, but didn't run for long, but I got excited and watched it anyway when it was on. That show was bad. Out of the Dukes and Knight Rider and this show, they all had their unique characteristics, like this show had the action of the cops chasing after Mc Cormick if he broke his probation like the time he got sent to Nevada, and had to be back in L.A. to meet his P.O. I give this show a 10, and wish it was on again. I loved it!

The 'Coyote' was a kit-car for the pilot and first two seasons. It was in actuality a 'Manta Montage', a fairly popular kit car available at the time. There were a couple of minor body modifications to disguise it, but it is plain to see what it really is.

It was powered by the new-at-the-time Chevy 2.8L V-6, which was a fairly sophisticated engine for it's time. This is the same engine that came in the Chevy Citation X-11.

Brian Kieth, being as overweight as he was, clearly found it next to impossible to climb in and out of the Coyote easily and the scenes were filmed in such a way that this was not emphasized.

The last season of the show, a 'DeLorean' DMC-12, the infamous stainless-steel, gull-winged sports car from John DeLorean was heavily modified to resemble the original coyote as close as possible. The heavy gull-wing doors were removed completely, and lots of fiberglass bodywork was created to disguise the fact that this was a completely different, much larger car. Mr. Kieth could more easily get in and out of it, so that was one big reason they switched.

Side by Side, the differences between the original 'Coyote' and the DeLorean-based model were clearly obvious, and when the show used existing footage of the original Coyote interspersed with newer footage of the DeLorean-based model, the continuity of the episode was shot all to hell!

The poster above mentioned that he thought the car was really a Porsche 917 race car. Not quite, but on the right track: The original car used for the Coyote, a 'Manta Montage' was a replica of sorts of the Porsche 917, although nowhere even close to the Porsche in terms of performance.

Hardcastle And Mcormick is of the forgotten shows of the 80's, and while The A Team, Knight Rider and Airwolf are more remembered Hardcastle and Mcormick had it all great story lines, two great leading characters, a awesome car and a catchy theme tune. I'ts the story of a retired judge who teams up with ex con to go after the criminals who got away when he was a judge, its a typical 80's style action series that I enjoyed and grew up with. Along with the actors though the car was definitely the star of the show, OK maybe it didn't talk like kitt but the red coyote was one hot car. I would really like to see one of the TV channels repeat this great show as most other 80's shows have been constantly repeated.

A gold standard for 80's tv. What works here is the mix of action comedy. A character driven show of a con and Judge who solve mysteries and fight crime. There is great stunts, cons, action sequences, and comic character clashes. The by the book Judge vs the slick con with a good heart are great characters. My all time favorite episodes of Hardcastle and McCormick had great humorous moments like: The time Mark tries to be a stand up, or the house party that went out of control, and the time Mark and the Judge got involved with the CIA. The acting mixed well with the comedy which pushes into a exciting adventure is the golden formula for TV bliss. For a more mature audience than Night Rider, or the Dukes, but with all the same fun. I think that car was Hardcastle and McCormick trade mark. 10/10 I wish we would have repeats on cable. Please never make a remake and ruin Hardcastle and McCormick. 10 stars

This show pretty much was an update on classic legends like the Lone Ranger and the Cisco Kid with a little bit of Dirty Harry thrown in. This also came out at a time when shows like "The Dukes of Hazzard" and "Knight Rider", which featured good looking young men with fast cars were all the rage. Brian Keith pretty much buried his old character of "Uncle Bill" with his wild characterization of Milton Hardcastle. He made this show fun to watch and it was one of those shows from the mind of Stephen J. Cannell that had lots of action but really didn't take itself too seriously. Also, Daniel Hugh Kelly provided enough beefcake to keep the ladies interested. This was definitely one of the wildest shows of the 1980's.