Home » What Happened To You, Mike? Cold Start

What Happened To You, Mike? Cold Start

Brady11x
ADVERTISEMENT

As kids, we all found people on the small screen that were our heroes. James Garner in his sportscoat casually doing J-turns in a Firebird Esprit was certainly one of them for me, though living in a trailer in Malibu with one’s dad never struck me as that great of an idea.

As an elementary schooler drawing cars and houses, I couldn’t find a better role model than Mike Brady, father of the brood of six kids in that endlessly syndicated sitcom The Brady Bunch, a show that dominated our black and white Zenith every afternoon at around four o’clock.

Vidframe Min Top
Vidframe Min Bottom

Played by the late Robert Reed, Mike Brady’s character was an architect by profession in mid-century LA. Just look at this guy. He made a kid like me think that you could get a job actually drawing pictures, making enough money to pay for your “den,” six kids, a doting spouse, and a live-in maid.

Mike Brady 8 11

This man named Brady living with three boys of his own did, however, disappoint most of us soon-to-be Autopians. He seemed to be a died-in-the-wool Mopar guy, starting with his cool Polara convertible at the beginning of the series:

ADVERTISEMENT

Brady11c.7513

Once married to Carol – a lovely lady bringing up three very lovely girls – a seemingly endless series of Honey Bronze or Spanish Gold Plymouth Satellite wagons followed. First there was a boxy 1969 model, and later the more fuselage-shaped 1971-on version which was driven to the Grand Canyon and later stolen by some prospector dude.

I255959

I255974

Snapshot200911012324144109

ADVERTISEMENT

The ultimate Chrysler product featured on the show was Mike’s cool 1971 Barracuda convertible. Sure, it wasn’t a performance-oriented ‘Cuda with a hemi, and it had those sort of dopey wheel covers with the “ventilation holes” like on the Valiant from Duel, but one would assume it at least had a 318 (thankfully only 132 Barracuda convertibles left the factory with a Leaning Tower Of Power Slant 6 under the hood). Here, I thought, was true justification for getting into the field of design.

I255978

Brady323c.4436What

Brady310b.3449

Mopar superfans will note something strange in the image below: there’s a 1972 rear clip on that convertible, even though there were no Barracuda convertibles made after 1971. The reason? Just for the show itself, a 1972 rear clip was added to the earlier season’s car to get the updated look. As for the damage on the Satellite: it was due to a parking lot incident wherein some dick was trying to extort money from the Bradys, but Mike had a trick up his sleeve and shut him down. [Ed Note: I don’t recall the episode, but I hope the trick up Mike’s sleeve was nunchucks – Pete]

ADVERTISEMENT

I260142

What happened next was as unforgivable as it was inexplicable. Mr. Brady traded the Barracuda for a series of aircraft carrier-like Chevy Caprice convertibles. I mean, today such giant B-body drop tops are pretty cool even in the rare cases when they’re stock and not loaded up with hydraulics to allow them to jump the height of a basketball hoop, but still. Even then you knew that the Barracuda was just so much cooler and it made Mike look about ten years younger.

I260150

I260164

Why the change, Mike? Did someone at the Chrysler-Plymouth dealer piss you off or make a pass at Carol?

ADVERTISEMENT

People talk endlessly about storylines in television shows that don’t add up. How did such-and-such a character disappear? Why does nothing that happened in season one seem to be remembered in season two? But no one ever talks about the unexplained loss of Mike Brady’s Mopar soul, much less mourn it. It’s truly a sad event that no young Autopian should have been forced to watch.

Share on facebook
Facebook
Share on whatsapp
WhatsApp
Share on twitter
Twitter
Share on linkedin
LinkedIn
Share on reddit
Reddit
Subscribe
Notify of
101 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Rockfish
Rockfish
4 months ago

Rockfish (as Garner’s character was known to Isaac Hayes) approves this message.

Marc Bergman
Marc Bergman
4 months ago

The TV show Mannix also had a Cuda convertible with a 72 grille and tail panel.

Deathspeed
Deathspeed
4 months ago

My best friend’s sister’s boyfriend’s brother’s girlfriend heard from this guy who knows this kid who’s going with the girl who saw Chuck from Happy Days steal the Barracuda from Greg at 31 Flavors. I guess it’s pretty serious.

Rob Schneider
Rob Schneider
4 months ago
Reply to  Deathspeed

It must have been. Chuck was never heard from ever again.

Bob Boxbody
Bob Boxbody
4 months ago

I look forward to the upcoming Tales From the Slack, where David expresses concern that The Brady Bunch is too obscure a reference to use for an entire article.

Carbon Fiber Sasquatch
Carbon Fiber Sasquatch
4 months ago
Reply to  Bob Boxbody

I mean, it was just a mediocre movie from 1995. That’s pretty obscure.

(this is a joke)

SBMtbiker
SBMtbiker
4 months ago

Did the Chrysler Corporation make any convertibles after 1971? I think Mike changed out of necessity!

Michael Beranek
Michael Beranek
4 months ago
Reply to  SBMtbiker

Actually 1970 appears to be the last year for Chrysler convertibles.

Adrian Clarke
Adrian Clarke
4 months ago

Isn’t Nash Bridges’ ‘Cuda a ‘71?

Michael Beranek
Michael Beranek
4 months ago
Reply to  Adrian Clarke

You’re right, but I was researching the full-sizers. Newport’s last year for droptop was ’70; New Yorker was several years earlier.

Michael Beranek
Michael Beranek
4 months ago

Cars on TV shows aren’t there by accident. Whoever pays the most gets to be the hero car.

Jack Trade
Jack Trade
4 months ago

I always enjoy when pilots have whatever cars the producer or director could lay their hands on at the time (even their own personal rides), but once the show gets picked up like a year later and sponsored, they often change dramatically and with no explanation.

Michael Beranek
Michael Beranek
4 months ago
Reply to  Jack Trade

Uh, yeah, in the pilot before the show was picked up, the Duke Boys drove a plain blue sedan!

Knowonelse
Knowonelse
4 months ago

I loved the “hero” car in the first episode of “In Plain Sight”, a purple 1995 Ford Probe SE, trashed a bit and smoking badly. I think Ford pulled some strings and that car didn’t last long in the show as it made Ford look bad. I thought it was a great car for the hero.

ShinyMetalAsp
ShinyMetalAsp
4 months ago

The shadows, man. When they were outdoors-outdoors there was only one shadow, just like in real life. When they were fake-outdoors, like in the driveway, they had multiple shadows. I know why, I understand it. But as a kid it drove me crazy to see. Was their driveway under three suns? Don’t get me started on the nighttime scenes where they apparently put cheap sunglasses over the camera to make it look like night but shot in bright light. We were kids, not stupid!

…Pap-pap needs to sit down in his recliner now.

Michael Beranek
Michael Beranek
4 months ago
Reply to  ShinyMetalAsp

Is that the same phenomenon as how every alien planet on Star Trek looks like Southern California?

Óscar Morales Vivó
Óscar Morales Vivó
4 months ago

And every alien planet on Stargate looks like British Columbia outdoors…

Michael Beranek
Michael Beranek
4 months ago

Yeah so does every planet on Battlestar Galactica. Very strange!

Bre Rud
Bre Rud
4 months ago
Reply to  ShinyMetalAsp

Didn’t notice the shadows. The AstroTurf yard on the other hand…

Jack Trade
Jack Trade
4 months ago
Reply to  ShinyMetalAsp

The nighttime gimmick would even show up in properties with a lot more money. Bond movies through the ’70s used it even.

Jb996
Jb996
4 months ago
Reply to  Jack Trade

It was a technical camera/film sensitivity limitation that money doesn’t fix.
Even now, lighting for nighttime shots is difficult.
The human eye is far more sensitive than even current camera technology.

Sid Bridge
Sid Bridge
4 months ago

Here’s the story… of a many named Brady…
who was living with some MOPARs of his own…
All of them had tons of problems…
because Chrysler…
And he was all alone.

Until the one day when Mike Brady met a Chevy…
And he knew this was much more than a hunch…
It’s true, he somehow formed a family…
But with the gas mileage he damn well couldn’t buy lunch.

Sid Bridge
Sid Bridge
4 months ago

My father’s first car was a Plymouth Valiant. His second car was another Plymouth Valiant. He always told me about how after he married my mother, he went and bought a brand new 1968 Dodge Charger. The Charger caused so many problems and needed so much attention just to keep it running (when it was NEW), he stopped buying Chrysler products.

And I mean he stopped. MOPAR did not find its way into our driveway for YEARS. He finally relented when he decided he wanted a Jeep, finally getting a TJ in the late 1990s.

He went to Buick after MOPAR failed him, and stuck with that until our early 80’s wagon ate its transmission, at which point he decided GM wasn’t capable of making transmissions anymore, and from there it was off to Honda, then Subaru. He broadened his horizons a bunch after that, except for the MOPAR thing.

I never gave it much thought because I knew he tended to react to one bad experience for a long time, then my first Chrysler – a 2005 Town & Country – was plagued with electrical problems that mostly turned me of to MOPAR for a long time, too.

GhosnInABox
GhosnInABox
4 months ago

Like most sitcom characters, Mike and the Brady family are actual people trapped in a WandaVision style existence. This time controlled by corporate sponsors in Detroit.

For that house I would take that deal.

Side note: that episode has some really cringe Charlie Chan impressions.

Last edited 4 months ago by GhosnInABox
GhosnInABox
GhosnInABox
4 months ago
Reply to  The Bishop

Yeah I’d rather have the real guy as a dad. Curious as to what kind of car he actually drove.

Last edited 4 months ago by GhosnInABox
Rob Schneider
Rob Schneider
4 months ago

The greatest shame in automotive transition in all of television was when they demolished the old Ferrari when they rebooted Magnum PI. The original 308/328 cars just had way more TV personality than the new one they brought on to fill the “role”.

I’m sure it was just a replica prop that got destroyed, but I cried just a little regardless.

Jack Trade
Jack Trade
4 months ago
Reply to  Rob Schneider

Yeah, I couldn’t figure out the point of featuring the original hero car only to destroy it. Why not just keep it in the back of the garage so we get just a peak occasionally? That’s what the show was always trying to (less than successfully) do, remind us of the original.

And agree, the 488 had zero soul.

Israel Moore
Israel Moore
4 months ago
Reply to  Rob Schneider

I always thought it was either a prop or some glorified CGI effects, because there is no way Ferrari would allow an original vehicle to be destroyed on the screen.

Maymar
Maymar
4 months ago
Reply to  Rob Schneider

Slightly fun fact – PJ O’Rourke delivered the original Magnum 308 from New Jersey to California and wrote about it for Car & Driver (he mentions the episode name of the pilot in the article, but had no idea what Magnum PI was going to be).

Joke #119!
Joke #119!
4 months ago

All you’re talking about are the cars?

Really, Jan.

Car Guy - RHM
Car Guy - RHM
4 months ago

The barracuda update is interesting as the convertibles were only built in 70 & 71. Working in the Architectural/Engineering (A/E) industry, it is always the joke that architects want to be like Mike Brady. TV always show these types designing fancy houses or big buildings, the truth is much grimmer, there are very few “Star-chitects”.

Jack Trade
Jack Trade
4 months ago
Reply to  Car Guy - RHM

Wait, so there aren’t a bunch of Bibi Galinis coming to you all the time with off the wall architectural requests?

Edward Hoster
Edward Hoster
4 months ago
Reply to  Jack Trade

The BradyFu is strong in this one… Beebe Galini!

Cheap Bastard
Cheap Bastard
4 months ago
Reply to  The Bishop

I’d think an EV with a 100+kWh battery could power a few touchscreens for six months easy.

Hugh Crawford
Hugh Crawford
4 months ago
Reply to  Car Guy - RHM

I used to drive a 1969 Chevy Malibu convertible with a 1968 front clip. Apparently, there was something of a story about how it got that way, but that was the way it was when I bought it.

Torque
Torque
4 months ago
Reply to  Hugh Crawford

“Front Clip” is such a funny and understated term. It sounds like something that might hold the license plate on the front of the car.
If one didn’t know anything about cars I would expect them to be surprised the “front clip” includes everything they can see forward of the windshield; so depending on the car 1/4th to practically 1/2 the car.
Maybe more in certain long hood cases like a Panoz, Corvette, Viper, XK8, e-type, Morgan, Mopar, etc…

Last edited 4 months ago by Torque
James Thomas
James Thomas
4 months ago
Reply to  Torque

I’m older than dirt. We always called the front clip the “doghouse” .. Not sure if that was just a local term or not.

Torque
Torque
4 months ago
Reply to  James Thomas

Ha I grew up in the Midwest and among gearheads “front clip” was definitely the term used especially by classic American car enthusiasts. It stood out to me bc I just don’t recall hearing it used much in the past 25(ish) years.
I am curious what is common term for the front in other parts of the US and the world?

Mr. Canoehead
Mr. Canoehead
4 months ago
Reply to  Car Guy - RHM

The cars of Frank Lloyd Wright would make an interesting article…How about it, Torch?

Torque
Torque
4 months ago
Reply to  Mr. Canoehead

Ha Frank was well known to have something of a disdain for automobiles or at least he did when it came to home design as he thought car garages were a waste of space that most people ended up using to store boxes of stuff they didn’t need; you’ll therefore find most of his residential home designs have a carport instead.

He had the same view of basements and attics, i.e. wasted space used to store boxes of stuff people should get rid of instead…

He was a quarky dude

Mr. Canoehead
Mr. Canoehead
4 months ago
Reply to  Torque

I read a biography of him that showed him pretty unfavorably. He always wanted the largest, fanciest car – because they were a status symbol. He liked to display his wealth. I can’t find the book, but found this: https://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/09/automobiles/09wright.html#:~:text=Wright's%20Cord%20can%20be%20seen,with%20is%20the%20Lincoln%20Continental.

Torque
Torque
3 months ago
Reply to  Mr. Canoehead

Yeah he actually wore shorts which was unusual in his time among other habits. And it is reported he was pretty terrible managing his money, basically any time he had a big payday for winning some drsign contract he’d spend it all on art & stuff and be broke again.
If you’re ever in Wisconsin and have a day, his arch. school (Talisen) near Spring Green is worth a visit.
Famously ‘Talisen West’ was created in Arizona bc Talisen in WI cost too much to heat in the winter bc it wasn’t insulated well enough.

Freelivin2713
Freelivin2713
4 months ago
Reply to  Car Guy - RHM

“You know I always wanted to pretend to be an architect!”
-George Costanza

Jay Mckillop
Jay Mckillop
4 months ago

Greg’s Pre-Johnny Bravo Candy Apple Green Mosrite was still way cooler than any of the. cars! https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BYTVkNzBjZGEtZjQwYS00Njk3LWE1ZWEtNzZlMWJkNDZjNTVlXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyNDU5MzIzNDI@._V1_.jpg

Cheap Bastard
Cheap Bastard
4 months ago

He made a kid like me think that you could get a job actually drawing pictures, making enough money to pay for your “den,” six kids, a doting spouse, and a live-in maid.

Maybe your first clue of less than truth in TV of the era was an astronaut rebuilt for a mere $6M with artificial nuclear powered legs, arm and eye who could lift boulders and busses on a regular human spine. Even as a kid I would only suspend disbelief so far.

Canopysaurus
Canopysaurus
4 months ago
Reply to  Cheap Bastard

You’d think for $6 million, they could’ve implanted an acting chip, too.

Torque
Torque
4 months ago
Reply to  Cheap Bastard

That reminds me there is a wonderfully terrible Lee Majors movie that involves Phirranas called killer Fish, bad enough Mystery Science Theater added their commentary…
https://m.imdb.com/title/tt9132014/

Cheap Bastard
Cheap Bastard
4 months ago
Reply to  Torque

I think I saw that movie without the benefit of real time satire. It was pretty awful.

PresterJohn
PresterJohn
4 months ago

If this were rebooted today, I think we all know that Mike would drive an Acura Integra like all good architects

Cheap Bastard
Cheap Bastard
4 months ago
Reply to  PresterJohn

And live in a cardboard box with six kids and no wife.

Luxx
Luxx
4 months ago
Reply to  PresterJohn

If this was the 80s, and we’re going by Top Gear standards, Mike Brady would probably be driving a Saab 900.

Torque
Torque
4 months ago
Reply to  Luxx

Or some sort of Volvo

Jonah
Jonah
4 months ago
Reply to  PresterJohn

Of the two architects that I know best and used to share an office with, one drove a lifted 2004 Tacoma with a shell and a surfboard rack and the other drives a late model four-wheel drive Sprinter camper with which he regularly takes his family to the mountains as well as being his daily driver.

PresterJohn
PresterJohn
4 months ago
Reply to  Jonah

Damn I thought there would be more /r/cars denizens here. This is reference to a meme from there where someone claimed that the new Integra “looked like a car an architect would drive”

Canopysaurus
Canopysaurus
4 months ago

My family had a ‘73 Satellite wagon just like the one pictured. I learned how to do bootlegger turns in that thing. And launch hubcaps. We called that color “brown,” but Honey Bronze sounds delicious. Good name for a decorative assistant to a TV P.I. from that era.

Richard O
Richard O
4 months ago

As soulless as those Chevy’s might have been, they’re still convertibles.

Canopysaurus
Canopysaurus
4 months ago
Reply to  The Bishop

The only thing convertible at a Chevy dealer today is your credit being converted to a debit.

Last edited 4 months ago by Canopysaurus
Richard O
Richard O
4 months ago
Reply to  The Bishop

I hope not. We have an Equinox EV on order in Radiant Red with the Adrenaline Red (black and red) interior. At least this one will have colors.

Urban Runabout
Urban Runabout
4 months ago
Reply to  Richard O

IIRC, Mrs Brady kept the Plymouth wagon after Mike moved to Chevrolet.
The big issue was that Chrysler was no longer selling convertibles after 1971 – but GM was.

Last edited 4 months ago by Urban Runabout
Urban Runabout
Urban Runabout
4 months ago

Hey – Greg got to move to the attic!

The extra bedroom belonged to Alice – after all, you can’t expect your six children to help with the cooking and cleaning…

And there were 3 bathrooms in that house – the one behind the screen in Mom and Dad’s room, the Jack and Jill bathroom between the kids rooms, and Alice’s bathroom. That’s pretty good for the 1970’s.

Last edited 4 months ago by Urban Runabout
Col Lingus
Col Lingus
4 months ago
Reply to  Urban Runabout

We had “only” five kids till my folks divorced. Then we had eight when the old man remarried, but that number varied after his three more marriages. Up and down.

But we always had three bathrooms…because shit happens.

Urban Runabout
Urban Runabout
4 months ago

That blue Chevrolet is clearly not a Caprice – See the Impala badge just aft of the DLO?

Bre Rud
Bre Rud
4 months ago
Reply to  The Bishop

And it didn’t even have a toilet

Wally_World_JB
Wally_World_JB
4 months ago

Let’s not forget that Jim Rockford also had a sneaky business card printing machine in the glove box – the man was a PRO

Jack Trade
Jack Trade
4 months ago
Reply to  Wally_World_JB

Not to mention very well-rehearsed insurance agent, county assessor, and funeral home director patter.

Rockfish
Rockfish
4 months ago
Reply to  Jack Trade

Don’t forget Jimmy Joe Meeker, Oklahoma oil tycoon.

Jack Trade
Jack Trade
4 months ago
Reply to  Rockfish

Oh good one – he reoccurred a few times I think, right?

Jack Trade
Jack Trade
4 months ago

The kids did have some good stuff though – Greg memorably buys his buddy’s Bel Air convertible (and almost manages to fix it by himself with only a Haynes manual), and I recall Marcia dating a guy with a Triumph at one point.

Canopysaurus
Canopysaurus
4 months ago
Reply to  The Bishop

Earl Sheib, $29.95 in 1972.

Idiotking
Idiotking
4 months ago

Most likely the production company ended their association with Mopar and switched to Chevrolet. Poor Mike had no choice in the matter.

Mr. Frick
Mr. Frick
4 months ago
Reply to  The Bishop

The Barracuda in the lede shot has the correct 71 rear clip. The shot next to the wreaked station wagon has a 72 clip.

LTDScott
LTDScott
4 months ago
Reply to  Idiotking

Yep. When you see a TV show or movie that predominantly uses the same brand of car in all roles, it’s not an accident. *cough* Smokey and the Bandit *cough*

Bre Rud
Bre Rud
4 months ago
Reply to  LTDScott

Or all the Chevy Impalas in Live and Let Die.
Side note. Hal Needham wanted Mustang King Cobras, but Ford decided not to provide them, so he went to Pontiac and the rest is black and gold T-Top history

LTDScott
LTDScott
4 months ago
Reply to  Bre Rud

Or all the AMCs in The Man with the Golden Gun

Canopysaurus
Canopysaurus
4 months ago
Reply to  LTDScott

“Daddy, the top came off!”

LTDScott
LTDScott
4 months ago
Reply to  The Bishop

I just read that very recently too. At first glance it seems unlikely, but then again the story about the rejected Iraqi Malibus being sold in Canada is definitely true, so who knows.

Urban Runabout
Urban Runabout
4 months ago
Reply to  Idiotking

Watch pretty much any movie or TV show produced by Universal, Paramount or Desilu in the 50’s-early 70’s – and with few exceptions, all you’ll see are Chryslers.
Police car or Taxi? You can count on it being a Chrysler product

Disney was mainly a Ford studio – for obvious reasons.

But the reason the show went to Chevrolet convertibles was that Chrysler no longer built them – but GM still did.

Last edited 4 months ago by Urban Runabout
Channel 61
Channel 61
4 months ago

Rocky did not live in the trailer with Jim. Rocky had his own house, which was the house that Jim grew up in.

Jack Trade
Jack Trade
4 months ago
Reply to  Channel 61

This. Rocky was just over at the trailer all the time trying to fix the various things that were broken, and seemingly always wanting to paint it, much to Jim’s dismay.

Last edited 4 months ago by Jack Trade
Lew Schiller
Lew Schiller
4 months ago
Reply to  The Bishop

Angel was my favorite sidekick of the era

MaximillianMeen
MaximillianMeen
4 months ago
Reply to  Lew Schiller

What?!?! Angel was as bad as Gilligan at mucking things up!

Gimme Huggy Bear anyday. That dude was an asset!

Cheap Bastard
Cheap Bastard
4 months ago
Reply to  The Bishop

Why Crockett was never slowly fed (while still alive) to his alligator by Tony Montana’s goons is beyond me. Nothing left but Crockett’s head with “The World Is Yours!” carved on it.

Data
Data
4 months ago
Reply to  Cheap Bastard

This is darker than Adrian’s nail polish. It may be the darkest thing I have ever read on The Autopian.

Jack Trade
Jack Trade
4 months ago
Reply to  The Bishop

Or how Magnum could constantly tail and/or surveil people while driving a likely 1 of 1 on the island bright right red exotic without anyone ever being suspicious when it’s parked down the street…

Israel Moore
Israel Moore
4 months ago
Reply to  The Bishop

Same for Whitey, the snitch who informed O’Brien and Giambone on “Night Heat” (the Canadian show in which the cops drive Chrysler K-Cars). How this guy can deal with hot merchandise in plain view of the police and not get arrested is amazing.

Col Lingus
Col Lingus
4 months ago
Reply to  The Bishop

That’s because he was always trying to repair the damn door every time some bad ass ripped it off the hinges looking for Jim.

101
0
Would love your thoughts, please comment.x
()
x