The Torino
| Character | |
|---|---|
| Name: | The Torino, a 1975 two-door Ford Gran Torino |
| Occupation: | car |
| Relationships: | Starsky and the Torino are real tight. Hutch and the Torino? Not so much |
| Fandom: | Starsky and Hutch |
| Other: | |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
The Torino is a 1975 two-door Ford Gran Torino with a custom paint job. It is almost its own character in Starsky & Hutch.
The car belongs to David Starsky. In canon, Starsky only refers to his car as “The Torino” a handful of times, but it is the name fans almost universally use. Hutch refers to it, among other things, as a “two-ton piece of junk” and “striped tomato.” This latter nickname is a reference to its paint job: bright red with a big white racing stripe. This flashy car, of course, is the perfect car for undercover operations!
For a similar topic, see Dean Winchester/Impala. See examples of beloved vehicles.
Fandom
One of this fandom's awards is the Torino Awards, named after the car.
Fans' Interest in the Car Itself
- seeing red and white Torinos in the wild and reporting about them to other fans [1]
- discussing the specs and details of Torinos themselves
- collecting and/or pilgrimages to see some of the actual Torinos used in the filming of the show [2]
- restoring and displaying red and white Torinos at conventions
- Torino games at conventions, see various con reports for SHareCon
- collecting and displaying models/toys, such as Mego and Corgi Ford Gran Torino die cast cars
The Torino as a Symbol of Starsky’s Ability to Return to the Streets
In the last episode of the show, "Sweet Revenge," Starsky is shot a number of times as he and Hutch are getting into the Torino. Both Starsky and the car sustain massive damage.
One popular subject in fanworks that imagine what happens later are stories about the Torino’s repair. These fanworks become a metaphor for Starsky's later recovery, and of Hutch's devotion to his partner. One example is "Merry, Merry”, a story by Verlaine. In it Starsky is reunited with his car. It is a by-stander fic told through their mechanic's eyes.
The Torino Origin Story
Another popular subject fans explore is when, where and how Starsky first bought the Torino.
- Rebel Rose by Karen, Hutch meets the Torino for the first time.
Vids
- The Magnificent Seven, a 1980s vid by by Kendra Hunter, Terry and Diana Barbour which portrays the Torino
Some Torino-centric Fiction and Poetry
- The Second Time Around by Melanie R (a tongue-in-cheek look at Starsky's search for a new car after the Torino is blown up in the episode "The Set Up.") (in The Pits #1) (1979)
- Mating Season by Laurie Haldeman (Just where does Starsky get all those Torinos?) (in The Pits #1) (1979)
- El Monte Blues by Marian Kelly (originally in Zebra Three #4, now online) (1979)
- Body 'n' Fender Blues by Linda Walter (from Casa Cabrillo) (1980)
- Fly United, a 1982 slash zine
- Don't DO That!, poem by Leslie Fish ("fun and games in the Torino") (in Pushin' the Odds) (1983)
- The Fiery Red Torino by Elke Mueller (in Bonaventure (1990)
- Long Night on a Short Dirt Road by Kate McChesney (sex in the The Torino during the episode, "Long Walk Down a Short Dirt Road") (in The Fix #13/14) (1995)
- What's a Zebra Three? by (told from the Torino's point of view) (1996)
- Canario by Kath Moonshine, (Starsky is on the hunt for a replacement car.) (originally in Cross the Line) (1997)
- Cars Need Love, Too by Rebelcat (an anthropomorfic story, crossover with Maximum Overdrive) (2000s)
- Drive a Mile in My Torino by K. Hanna Korossy ("Hutch is away, and when a beautiful young woman comes looking for help, Starsky finds himself pretending to be his partner. All is going well, until Hutch comes home early.") (originally in Small Circle of Friends #5) (2000)
- Driving Me Wild by James Walkswithwind ("Short-short futuristic story finds Hutch struggling with Starsky's perpetual lateness as they struggle to get to work on time.") (originally in Timeless #1) (2003)
- Life is a Highway by Cyanne ("S&H, long time lovers, separate for the weekend as Starsky takes the old Torino to a classic car show while Hutch has to stay behind because of police work. When the Torino is reported as a victim of a terrible car accident, Hutch has to race to the scene before he can find out what's happened to Starsky.") (originally in In Your Eyes (2003)
- Partners in Adversity…What Fresh Hell… by CrowRow and Flamingo (in SHareCon zine) (2004)
- Five Times Starsky and Hutch Kissed in the Torino (Well, Technically Four) by molo (esteefee) (2008)
- Red by pawpad (a few moments with an old friend) (2014)
- for more Torino-centric fiction, scroll down to Torino stories at Tagging Bay City (It's a great historical list, but you'll have to work really hard to find these stories on the Wayback Machine.)
Gallery of the Torino in Art
Unironically
The Torino in fanart sometimes portrayed unironically.
front cover of The Thousandth Man, artist is Suzan Lovett
cover of Starsky and Hutch Concordance
cover of Zebra Three #3
inside art from S and H
from Moonlight and Mists, artist is Dani
inside issue #2, Susan Wyllie: Starsky and his trusty steed in L.A. Vespers #2
The Symbolic Torino
inside art from Me and Thee, artist unknown. Starsky dreams...
from Casa Cabrillo
from Casa Cabrillo, artist is Linda Walter
from Bonaventure, the artist is Suzan Lovett, young Hutch has a book about knights and dragons (a nod to the trope White Knight, and young Starsky has a Torino
The Iconic Torino Stripe
Fans make visual jokes about other objects painted red and sporting a white stripe.
cover of the 1977 zine Sensor Wobbles
the cover of The Fix #6
inside art from S and H #10, Linda Walter
on the cover of the zine, The Bond, art by Suzan Lovett
a little fannish cross-pollination cartoon by Cheryl Newsome from S and H #17
inside art from Me and Thee. It portrays "The Striped Tomato (the Torino) and "The Squash" (Hutch's Ford LTD)
from Who You Know, What You Know and How You Know It, also the cover of Between Friends, by Marie A
detail of art from the zine Tales from the Tomato, art by KOZ
art from the zine Me and Thee, artist unknown, and a reference to "Proposition 13"
from S and H #16, by Greg Franklin
interior art from Tagging Along
art from The Fix #9
Fan Comments
In 2004, the SHareCon zine featured Partners in Adversity by CrowRow (Rosemary's VP name) and Flamingo that focused on the Starsky and Hutch movie with Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson released that year. In the movie, after the "new" Starsky drops his Torino in the bay, the original Hutch (David Soul) sells a Torino to him over the protest of the original Starsky (Paul Michael Glaser). On VP, we decided that replacement Torino was only one of the original Starsky's cars, since he had one for every day of the week. It became our new "fanon." The story also treated the movie S&H (sometimes referred to by their first names, or as "the short one" or "the blond one") as crude interlopers on the VP scene. Other issues in the story involved the emerging popularity of LJ and the difficulty some fans had (personified by Hutch) in making the switch to the new medium. We were still using disks back then to transfer files. Remember that?[3]
External Sources
- more canon info on the Torino is at the Starsky and Hutch Canon Compendium.
References
- ^ An example is in Tell Me Something I Don't Know #15 (1989): "I was crossing the parking lot [after going to the bank] when what to my wondering eyes did appear but — a Torino: red, white, and beautiful. While I stood gaping, it drove by the bank and turned off onto a side road. By the time I got my car out of the lot it was gone, though I prowled the surrounding neighborhood hopefully. [...] During the next few months I saw the car twice — once going in the opposite direction, once parked at a local shopping center... (I'd like to emphasize at this point that the very fact that I'd decided to try to establish contact with the car's owner is a testimony to the extremes to which fandom can bring one. This type of "aggressive" behavior is not typical for me!)
- ^ Wheels: It’s an original “Starsky and Hutch” Gran Torino, seven minute video posted to PBS in 2023
- ^ Introduction to Partners in Adversity by Flamingo and Rosemary C.; Wayback Machine link.