‘FREEBIE AND THE BEAN’ RED SHIRT CARS

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‘Star Trek’ fans know what a ‘red shirt’ is, but for those who don’t know, here’s an explanation.

‘Red shirts’ are security guys who end up being alien cannon fodder within seconds whenever Star Trek crews visit a new planet.

There are ‘red shirts’ in car chases too—the classic 1974 cop buddy movie ‘Freebie and the Bean’ was full of them.

Jerry Sutherland

The first clue in the automotive ‘red shirt’ game is an older car.

‘Freebie and the Bean’ had a 1968 Ford Custom police car in one of the major chases. This Ford was a 6-year-old car at the time and one of the taillights was burnt out, so you knew this was a gently used cream-puff that used to be a family sedan. Or it was a thrashed ex-police car…either way it ended up on its lid after mangling a ’60 Corvair Monza.

One more thing—I’m sure it’s the same car that had a door ripped off in an earlier scene.

There was a mint 1959 Plymouth Suburban in ‘Freebie and the Bean’—I hoped it wasn’t a ‘red shirt’ car.       

You could buy a car like that for about 400 bucks back in ’74, so I knew it had a bleak future. The big Plymouth wagon first showed up in a tunnel during a particularly fierce car chase. I was amazed it didn’t get crunched in a big pileup–but five minutes later, the mint Suburban went to Great-Plymouth-In-The-Sky-World after another bigger pileup. 

A ’55 Olds Sedan makes a brief 5-second appearance in that same crash.

This looked like a clean example of a 19-year-old Oldsmobile, and it was probably a 200-dollar car at the time, but the end came fast in one movie stunt. That’s the inevitable fate of a ‘red shirt’ car.  

A 1962 Ford Fairlane 500 four-door sedan was T-boned shortly before the ’55 Olds crash.

That car was another ‘red shirt’ star car because it made a brief appearance, then the plot moved on. They probably picked it up at a local used car lot for about 600 bucks, but it was worth its weight in gold for that short—but spectacular ‘red shirt’ role.

There was another larger ‘red shirt’ vehicle in the ‘Freebie and the Bean’.

It was a hijacked 1959 IHC B delivery truck and it made a short appearance in a chase scene. That’s where we all learned how far you could push a top-heavy big truck in a high-speed turn. The stunt had expected results when the workhorse ended up on its side while it plowed through a construction site. This truck wasn’t as disposable as the cannon fodder ‘red shirt’ cars because functioning commercial vehicles have more value than an old sedan—then and now.

There were other ‘red shirt’ cars in ‘Freebie and the Bean’. Who can forget the demolition of the three ‘72 Ford police cars and the ’71 Fury four-door sedan? They were relatively new cars, but they served the role of a ‘red shirt’ car because they were integral to the plot.

Are all these vehicles worthy of ‘Star Trek’ security ‘red shirt’ status? Yes—because they went out in a blaze of glory.             

Jerry Sutherland

By: Jerry Sutherland

Jerry Sutherland is a veteran automotive writer with a primary focus on the collector car hobby. His work has been published in many outlets and publications, including the National Post, Calgary Herald, Edmonton Journal, Ottawa Citizen, Montreal Gazette, Saskatoon StarPhoenix, Regina Leader-Post,  Vancouver Sun and The Truth About Cars. He is also a regular contributor to Auto Roundup Publications.

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