2/3 Vehicle Patrol Report – Season 1 Episodes 1-8

Tee hee hee… license plates in SMKland just don’t seem to stay put! I don’t know whether the props department was doing it deliberately or whether they were overworked or having a bit too much fun…???… Or, maybe, a bit of all of the above?

Amanda’s license plate goes AWOL

So—when do we see Amanda’s license plate (Virginia JR4-502) on other vehicles?

If Thoughts Could Kill

When Amanda drives the ambulance through the intersection near the end of ITCK, we can see her license plate on one of the cars waiting at the light (the VW on the left; Amanda’s in the orange ambulance behind):

The ACM Kid

When Lee is watching the Kalnikov’s house at the start of TACMK, we see Amanda’s plate through the binocular view (should Lee have noticed and said something, or was he on a Fritos and bean dip-induced high? ):

Lee’s license plate goes AWOL

Not in these episodes, but keep watching and waiting… Heh heh heh…

Magical moving license plates—same episode

Oopsie! Which vehicles shared the same plate within the same episode?

The First Time

Washington DC 8Z3-526 – on a black Oldsmobile (?) in the parking garage and an orange VW convertible at Moby’s Dock:

The ACM Kid

Maryland NH8-862 – on a silver Mercedes and an orange Honda in the same parking lot:

Magical moving license plates—different episodes

Which vehicles shared the same plate in different episodes? No surprise, there’s a few…

Washington DC 7E4-965 – The First Time, There Goes The Neighborhood, and The ACM Kid

In TFT, we see Washington DC plate 7E4-965 on the baddies’ black sedan that chases Lee and Amanda around the parking garage; in TACMK, it’s on the baddies’ red Ford sedan.

In TGTN, the plate is on a random white car parked at the Mercury Express Freight Service (where Scarecrow gets a parking ticket!). At least, I believe it’s the same plate—the first digit is mostly obscured by Scarecrow’s Porsche mirror… shout out if you think I’m wrong! (Sorry for the poor image res on this one. )

In MB, we see Washington DC plate 8L6-203 on the Total Weaponry Unit, aka The Vigilant; in ALAGHITM, it’s on the sniper’s Mitsubishi ute. Hey—at least they have the same color scheme! (Yes, the fourth character of the ute plate is a 2… confirmed on the front vehicle view—not shown.)

Washington DC C-648F9 – Service Above And Beyond and Saved By The Bells

In SAAB, we see Washington DC plate C-648F9 on the baddies’ menacing musical murder machine; in SBTB it’s on the van the baddies must’ve stolen from the Agency (see next section). The plate even has the same grease/scuff marks on it.

Same vehicle—different episodes

Which vehicles appeared in different episodes (with the exception of Lee and Amanda’s cars)?

Truck – There Goes The Neighborhood and Magic Bus

In TGTN we see a tan and brown truck being used for deliveries outside Mercury Express Freight Service; in MB, that same truck—now with a diaper service sign—is being used by the Agency for surveillance at Amanda’s house.

Van – The ACM Kid and Saved By The Bells

In TACMK, we see a nondescript blue van being used by the Agency for surveillance; in SBTB, the van is used by the baddies, with an Antiques decal on the side…

Crashed/wrecked vehicles…

Do we see any crashed or wrecked vehicles in these episodes? Of course we do!

The First Time

In TFT, the car that the “joy-riding gigolo” (Scarecrow) forced to hit the fire hydrant is actually the limousine of “the Assistant to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff” (plate 8745-DC; government vehicle). Oops! Billy was really not impressed with Scarecrow for that…

Later in the same episode, Amanda’s car is trashed by the baddies who’re using it to chase Lee and Amanda who’re flying—or trying to fly—in the matchy-matchy helicopter…

Magic Bus

In MB, Lee uses the Total Weaponry Unit (aka The Vigilant) to blow up the baddies’ Jeep…

Always Look A Gift Horse In The Mouth

In ALAGHITM, baddie Bo Johnson’s Jeep goes over the cliff that Princess Penny was supposed to have been thrown over by the trained horse…

Service Above And Beyond

In SAAB there were no visibly crashed or wrecked vehicles, but Lee’s Porsche windscreen was shot up by the baddies in the menacing musical murder machine (and that murder machine was surely left worse for wear after squishing Singer)…

OK—that’s it for part two. I’ll return with the third/final part, which will include gems such as Agency vehicles, some amusing vehicle moments, and blooper reel, in a day or two…???…

23 responses to “2/3 Vehicle Patrol Report – Season 1 Episodes 1-8”

Hi KC – sorry I’m late to this party! Went travelling over the weekend and had to get caught up at home.

You have quite a pair of eagle eyes! I have never noticed Amanda’s license plate on another car. And I thought I was detail oriented – but you’ve got me beat by a mile, Officer KC!

I can’t believe that the plates were in use on different vehicles within the same episode! Well, I guess not too many of us noticed. Is it just me or did anyone else not notice either? KC, did you notice these things before or did you realize some of this as you were doing your research for your post?

And no way do I think you’re wrong in that pic where Lee’s Porsche obscures that one digit – I’ll go with whatever you say.

KC, you are amazingly detail oriented! I can’t get over that you notice the license plates when I usually barely notice if I’m on fire. Love the emoticons! Was the orange and black VW bug in honor of Halloween in TFT? Maybe the prop guys were celebrating. 😉

Yeah–detail oriented is one way to put it. 😀 Yeah–that VW might’ve been in honour of Halloween. 🙂 (But it’s actually surprising how many times an orange VW bug is seen in SMK… maybe I should start counting the appearances? Nah–*that* would probably push me over the edge to OCD…???…)

whoo hooo!
These are such fun KC! Got my coffee.. and I’m ready to enjoy the fruits of your labours here!

cheeky licence plates! LOL I think they had no conception that people would be checking the number plates when the show only aired once a week and you couldn’t rewind live tv! 😉 I think it makes it even more fun now we can stop and see – all these mistakes are like little easter eggs.

I really hope you’ve enjoyed putting these posts together KC and hunting for all these goodies! love the having too much fun emoticon! 😉
Okay, I’ll choose to think the prop dept was having too much fun- I’d rather this than the ‘they didn’t care’ option 😉

Whoa.. that licence plate of Amanda’s is a real fluzzy! I guess they weren’t wanting to spend money early on to create lots of Virginia plates? so they kept swiping Amanda’s?

The ACM Kid was pretty early – maybe Lee didn’t know Amanda’s plates yet? 😉
Haaaa leave us in suspense at where you found Lee’s plate eh!! 🙂

Holey Moley! You’ve gone through every car in every episode?!!!
KC, that ghost there is a little freaky, what with these licence plates moving around! whoooooo

Great catches!!

No no KC, see the Vigilante has an extra security feature… it can morph into a mitsubshi ute at whim.. alas.. the gov requires the same number plate though – so it kind of gives away this remarkable technology no? 😉

ROFL! the evil ice cream truck and the evil blue van? whooooo!!

From freight service to diaper truck.. oh how the mighty fall 😉 haaa

Joy riding gigolo rofl!!! that is a very interesting description of the scarecrow. hmm.. gigolo..

matchy match helicopter? haaa!!! love it!! good one!
Such fun!! I never would have noticed any of this!! thanks for sharing KC!!

Yes, I’ve had a ball with Vehicle Patrol… I just hope the reports are entertaining and/or informative… or something, at least. 😀

“No no KC, see the Vigilante has an extra security feature… it can morph into a mitsubshi ute at whim.. ”
Wah hah hah! Love it! (But when it morphs, where do they stuff all the electronics? Is it like the Tardis–bigger inside than out?

Hey KC and Everyone! 🙂
Tardis? ha! well.. the agency ‘has it’s ways’ 😉
They can squeeze huge things into small spaces. they have top secret technology for that – but sorry I can’t tell you – it’s on a need to know basis.. ahem..
but we can see it being used every week – you know like how they squeeze the huge agency complex into that tiny little townhouse? 😉

I was struck by the word ‘gigolo’ – I had forgotten that description of Billy’s until you quoted it again.. and I had only just been calling Lee a playboy.. Gigolo seems to be even more of a player than a playboy to me, ….don’t mind me.. It’s just my impression of the labels- Do you think a Gigolo and a Playboy are the same thing?
Playboy to me encompasses lots of women and $$$$

A gigolo is a plain old skirt chaser – more likely to break hearts than a playboy- who always makes it clear he is a player..

Have I got my womanising definitions correct people? tee heee.. I must learn these things! 🙂 If someone can explain these things that would be fabulous 🙂

I always thought a gigolo was more of a male escort, like a beck and call boy. Playboys are players, but I think gigolos are paid for sex and companionship. I think there was a movie with Richard Gere called American Gigolo. Funny that he also did Pretty Woman. I can’t see Lee as a gigolo at all, at least not the way I seem to know the term.

Yeah–that’s my impression of gigolo, too… like the lyrics of David Lee Roth’s “Just a Gigolo”:
“Paid for every dance
selling each romance
…” 😀
(The Free Online Dictionary definitions are in agreement.)

And yeah–Scarecrow doesn’t fit the definition of a gigolo… he’s a playboy… but I’ve always thought that the chorus (?) of JaG was applicable to the inner Lee:
“‘Cause I aint got nobody
nobody nobody cares for me
I’m so sad and lonely
sad and lonely sad and lonely
Won’t some sweet mama
come and take a chance with me
cause I aint so bad”

Ah thanks Valerie and KC.. glad I checked! you know how sometimes words can change meanings over generations, or as I’ve discovered he hard way, sometimes English speaking countries use the same words – but the nuances of the meaning are slightly different.

Soooo then why does Billy call Lee a gigolo?! Was that just because he was mad maybe? or maybe this is a case where the word’s meaning has over the years narrowed to mean a male prostitute – whereas it use to mean a number of things.. a player.. a playboy.. an escort.. a guy who wasn’t looking for a serious relationship.. and maybe a prostitute? I don’t know!! anyway.. sorry KC I’ve hijacked your thread here! oopsie.. how did we get on to this tangent *eek* 😉

[So funny Jule! right before I hit reply and published this comment – I got an email with your comment on it – saying how funny it is we ended up discussing this!!! Great minds think alike 🙂 ] haaaaa

“Soooo then why does Billy call Lee a gigolo?!”
I’ve always assumed that Billy was just using the words of whoever had called and complained on behalf of the Assistant to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff… *shrug* It made sense to me, instead of Billy actually calling Lee a gigolo…

I suspect Billy called Lee that because “joy-riding gigolo” has an alliterative quality that the scriptwriter found appealing. HOWEVER, in the context of the SMK universe, where scriptwriters don’t exist, I can see how Lee might be considered “gigoloesque.” (Gigoloish?) Lee is well aware of his attractiveness to the opposite sex, and in his reckless days before Amanda, I wouldn’t put it past him to use sex in “trade” for information. It’s a common currency in the spy world, if various political scandals are to be believed. So in that sense, the women Lee sleeps with are paying him with information, if not cash.

whoooo this is a bit of a minefield this isn’t it! 🙂 I think smk hints at this whole subject – but very much on the fringe.. it’s never front and centre.. [okay maybe in a certain season 4 episode. but I’m not going to think about season 4!] Ah and it did IMHO come up in Francine’s errr ‘interrogation’ of Raollo in Brunettes are in.. eek..

Wasn’t there a script for an episode in season 1 or 2 which was never filmed? Where Lee is romancing someone for a case and Amanda is shocked that this goes on? anyone read that one? A part of me is glad this direction was cut off and never filmed..

I put Billy’s comment down to the word meaning player err rather than anything else 🙂
or.. KC’s idea that he was repeating back what the car’s owner had labelled him..
Oh and when you think about it, it’s even more icky because when he wrecks that car – it is Amanda that he had initially been ‘romancing’ to get the package back- argh!!!

Actually maybe this whole idea is kind of like the Burn Out thing. Maybe that is where Lee would have headed if it hadn’t been for the entrance of Amanda in his life? Maybe the word was there to provide that contrast? I do like KC”s idea that it was the word that Billy had just heard from the person calling him to complain, but I do agree that Lee would have used romance and sex to get what he wanted. I don’t think it would have been beneath him at that point in his characters story. Even though in doing o I think he would have been selling his soul in a sense, because I don’ think that Lee Stetson was a morally bankrupt person and at some level his behavior would have deadened who he really was. Thank goodness that Amanda came along when she did..
Now who would have thought that a post on cars would bring this up? Amazing.

I reserve the right to comment on the whole gigolo idea when we get to Season 4. I can’t say get into this without that reference. 🙂 Though, I will say that I think Billy was quoting here, as some of you have mentioned.

On the other hand, these vehicles posts are very informative and entertaining, KC. You are a detailed person, obviously. I might notice a vehicle or two that’s repeated, but I’m usually more interested in what’s going on under the surface with Lee and Amanda. Thanks for sharing your talent for detail!

I also assumed that Billy was quoting whoever he’d talked to. I don’t think that Billy would refer to Lee as a “joyriding gigolo.” That makes no sense to me. I could only see Billy saying that if he were trying to pass it off onto someone who wasn’t one of his agents. It definitely wouldn’t make Billy look good to say something like that to the higher-ups.

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