Who remembers the 1960’s cop TV show, Adam-12? It was a fictional account of two beat officers in Los Angeles, California. Over the course of the series, they drove several Chrysler and AMC products. But in the pilot episode, it was a 1967 Plymouth Belvedere, and the seller’s car is a detailed replica of that machine. Located in Arthur, Illinois, this rotisserie-restored Mopar is available here on eBay, where the opening bid of $10,000 has yet to be cast, plus there’s a reserve on top of that. A thumbs up to “Curvette” for the tip!
Adam-12 was on NBC from 1968 to 1975. It followed the daily exploits of officers Pete Malloy (senior officer) and Jim Reed (rookie). 1-Adam-12 was the call sign you heard over the radio delivered by a real-life LAPD dispatcher, though Adam-12 was fictitious. In the pilot episode, they drove a ’67 Belvedere, but after that, the first season car was a ’68 Belvedere. When the seller was just fifteen, he bought this car from its second owner in 2000 in its 33-year-old condition with 42,000 miles.
A complete restoration was begun in 2001 to create the police car replica you see here. The original color was light blue, and the Plymouth is still powered by its factory 318 cubic inch V8 with a Torqueflite automatic transmission. Both have been rebuilt, and it’s likely the Malloy/Reed car had something more powerful under the hood. The interior is perhaps a bit nicer than what the Adam-12 guys had because it’s the upgraded Belvedere II.
No expense may have been spared, especially when it came to the bits and pieces that would have paralleled the real thing back in the day. That includes the lights on top and the radio inside. When not in shows (the car has only been driven an additional 4,000 miles), we’re told it lives in a climate-controlled garage. The Plymouth has factory air conditioning, a luxury that Pete and Jim may not have had. This car is up for sale as the seller has amassed too many toys as he’s gotten older and no longer has space for all of them. Though not decaled as such, Adam-12 here will have to find a new beat.
I still watch and record that show every night it’s on FETV. Along with Emergency. I love the 68 Belvederes on the later episodes. The seats were just bench seats and I’ve been trying to tell what’s going on in the backseat but cameras never show it. It looks like the backseat was a plastic thing you could hose off, think bad guys on dope having accidents on the way to jail. This is an incredible restoration and I’d love to cruise around in that car!