Do you think the Coyote is a good Jumper?

[keon]

Hey,

I just wanted to get an opinion from everyone, I wanted to know if you think the Coyote was worth jumping? To me some of the jumps looked a little weak, I know it couldn't pull off any major stunts, like KITT or General LEE, but I think the car had its own personality without it being jumped. Kinda like Magnum's Ferrai.

[Schnurretiger]

I think jumping is not in the nature of cars. When was the last time you saw a car jumping? I think the Coyote should keep it's tires on the road, that's where they belong. But I have to admit: when it's airborne, the Coyote looks better than any other car!

And what I've always been wondering about: the Coyote is a race car, made for the road. How comes, that many of the car chases seem to lead Milt and Marc onto some rough, dirty, untarred road or even a golf course? Wouldn't you think, that the Coyote gets stuck as soon as it drives over a hump on the ground?

[dine73ss]

That seemed to be the trend at that time. Jump everything. Even the A Team van was jumped.
These were good old fashioned action shows. Nash Bridges tried a jump once with the Cuda. You don't see any action like they used to on CSI. It was said once that the days of jumps and stunts will never happen again on the small screen. Too expensive to do weekly.
Maybe one day it will revive and create some excitement for children and parents to watch together. Clean entertainment.
PS. The General Lee is the best jumper EVER. The Fall Guy and Knight Rider are neck and neck with Coyote following third. (My opinion) There was just no weight to fly the thing real far, especially over a river.

[Coyote Queen]

keon said:

To me some of the jumps looked a little weak, I know it couldn't pull off any major stunts, like KITT or General LEE, but I think the car had its own personality without it being jumped. Kinda like Magnum's Ferrai.

I couldn't agree with you more. I don't know boo about cars, but the Coyote just does not look right jumping. If you have the DVDs, view some of these sequences frame-by-frame.

Case in point: The Black Widow (Season 1):



In this scene you can see the whole top of the car literally shatter into bits! In a previous frame, the rear windshield is blown out...as the car is taking off the dirt ramp. (Which is another pet peeve of mine...The Coyote anywhere but on asphalt).

Parts flying everywhere, rollcage appearing and disappearing, sparks flying, and the driver is clearly seen wearing a helmet. The series is chock full of these examples.

With that being said...I still LOVE this show and this is my all-time favorite car stunt in TV history......


I don't know how they pulled it off, but it still amazes me 2 decades later!

[Schnurretiger]

Yeah, but that was the same in Knight Rider, The Dukes oder any other show, that had flying cars. Sometimes, they didn't come down as perfect as they ahould have, but doing the stunt again might have cost to much money, so they just went with the material they were able to get. And who knows, maybe the bad jumps we see are already the best out of 10 or so.
And just for your information: there are still T.V. shows made today, where they send cars flying. Here in Germany, there's a show called "Alarm for Cobra 11" and they have cars literally flying over highway bridges in every episode. Apart from that, I believe it is one of the most expensive shows they are filming these days... (And I'm not a fan of this particular show...)

[sabre]

For small jumps yep, for big jumps definitely not. The Mantas have fiber glass bodies, even the small jumps utterly destroyed the cars.

The best jumping car would be the General Lee. Reason is that it's a big metal 69 Charger. It could make huge jumps that the Coyote couldn't. Of course the Chargers were destroyed aswell but they could take much more damage. Late 60's to early 70's Chryslers had unibody constructions. (Of course todays cars have them) but back then only Chryslers had them. Unibodies are stronger and more durable, which is one of the reason the 69 Charger was chosen for the General Lee.

[dine73ss]

Cool! Nice to hear that other countries still have cool jump scenes on the small screen.

Maybe you can post a couple of still pics from the show.

[Schnurretiger]

I'm afraid I can't. I never watched a whole episode. Somehow, Action-TV-shows are just not what they used to be back in the 80ies...

[canadiandukes]

This cool car, WAS NOT A GOOD CAR TO BE JUMPING ANYTHING,

fiberglass and height do not mix well,

sorry,

Paul

[reccostone]

Hi every one. I'm glad to finally find a forum for this show. It is probably, in my opinion, was one of the best shows. I loved the original coyote X. The car does look cool jumping any thing yes I agree. In the picture above when it jump the chevelle stunt car if you watch as the coyote land you can watch the passenger side rear wheel fold under neath the car. A good stunt, but yes the car is made for more handling than anything. Would love to own one.

[coyotefan]

As a huge fan of the show, I am curious as to what the actual # of cars used during the three years this show was on the air. I know there has been much debate on this subject. Please add anything that may be helpful. I have included my observations as well.

From what I can see from season one, there is one close up car and one slider car for the chase scenes. You can tell the difference as the rims do not match between the cars. There is also the jumper, which looks to be a modified dune buggy with Manta panels draped around it as well as noticeable roll bars. I am curious if that jumper was repaired after each jump or scrapped as most people can agree the parts flew quite a bit on those jumps. It did have a nice suspension as it seemed to have a nice bounce to it in some episodes.

Season 2 and 3-One Coyote for the close up, one for the slider car and one jumper used in episode 18. The slider car is obvious as there is no molding above the windshield as the close up car has and it seems to sag more and does not appear to have any rear glass and the rear panel appear flimsy. The windshield on the slider seems to be cloudy, probably to obscure the stunt drivers face, as he looks nothing like DHK.

Any additonal thoughts that may assist with this question? Thanks.

[keon]

Hello,

As far as the types of cars go, for the Manta Coyote there were three close up cars. The first was the low riding Coyote with the Tan interior, the low riding Coyote with the black Interior, and the T-Bar Coyote with the black interior and heightened suspension. The Delorean Coyote had two close up Cars. The first was a Delorean with an Automatic Transmission used in the Second Season, and the Second Delorean Coyote with a Manual Transmission and visible interior door straps used for the third season. If Im wrong feel free to correct me