The Story of Coyote X: TV Star and Forgotten Supercar
At the Essen Motor Show in December 2021, a Coyote X was also on display. This replica of the McLaren M6 GT played a key role in the 1980s American crime series Hardcastle & McCormick.
Regular readers of our blog might recall that I presented several vehicles from this collection a few years ago during my moderation at the Classic Days at Schloss Dyck. Back then, Chrome Cars showcased the Shelby Mustang GT500, famously known as "Eleanor" from the movie Gone in 60 Seconds with Nicolas Cage. I'll write about the drama that followed when "Unique Performance," inspired by the film, attempted to build 75 replicas of the movie car, another time.
However, the movie Gone in 60 Seconds never really captivated me, despite the numerous cars in the plot. That's why I could only get moderately excited about "Eleanor" during the presentation—sorry. The Coyote X from Hardcastle & McCormick, which Chrome Cars exhibited in Essen in December 2021, interested me much more. The replica of the McLaren M6 GT was almost entirely unknown in Germany, unlike the Shelby Mustang. This unfamiliarity made the car all the more intriguing to me.
The low recognition factor was certainly due to the fact that a sports car named Coyote never actually existed. The red vehicle was "just" a creation for the TV series. Incidentally, the show first aired on SAT 1 on January 7, 1985—exactly 37 years ago today. I'll admit, though, that the series title Hardcastle & McCormick sounded quite interchangeable, similar to other series like Starsky & Hutch, Dempsey & Makepeace, or Cagney & Lacey.
Hardcastle & McCormick stood out thanks to the Coyote X!
While most TV series simply used ordinary cars as props, the sports car played a central role in Hardcastle & McCormick. Don't think of KITT from Knight Rider, which practically had a life of its own as an AI. The Coyote X was "just" a car that regularly helped capture fugitives after some pretty wild chase scenes. I liked that because I follow the motto: "Cars are meant to be driven." And what suits driving better than a race car?
Just so there's no misunderstanding—the series was certainly no cinematic masterpiece. It was standard TV fare with mostly self-contained episodes. The runtime was around 45 minutes, fitting neatly into the hourly TV schedule with commercials. The show's premise was simple: Judge Milton C. Hardcastle had to acquit 200 criminals due to legal technicalities and wanted to bring them to justice after his retirement.
Coyote X: The car that stole the show in Hardcastle & McCormick. But did you know it was based on a real kit car?
Before that, however, Hardcastle presides over a trial involving Mark McCormick, a former race car driver who stole the prototype of the Coyote X. Initially, it seems like a clear-cut case, but the judge realizes the situation is more complex. The stolen car was designed by McCormick's murdered friend and mentor. Hardcastle discovers that McCormick's theft was driven by a desire to catch his friend's killers, a motive similar to the judge's own quest for justice.
Hardcastle then takes McCormick under his wing to help catch criminals. However, the duo never solved all 200 cases, as ABC canceled the show after three seasons and 67 episodes, leaving some unfinished business behind.
Admittedly, the show's vigilante justice theme feels a bit odd in hindsight. It also seems a bit cheesy that Judge Hardcastle repeatedly claims his childhood hero, the Lone Ranger, inspired his crime-fighting quest. Let's chalk that up to comic relief from the show's creators. But I'm not here to critique the series itself—my focus is the Coyote X, a fictional name but a very real car.
The Coyote X was based on the Manta Mirage!
The Coyote was based on a kit car from Manta Cars. Starting in 1974, brothers Brad and Tim Lovette from Santa Ana, California, built race-inspired street cars under this name. Their first model, the Manta Mirage, was inspired by the open Can-Am racers of the late 1960s. The Mirage was built on a tubular steel frame, while the front suspension used parts from the VW Beetle.
Two years later, Manta introduced the closed-roof Manta Montage, inspired by the McLaren M6 GT. This model used a Beetle platform chassis, which helped keep costs down. Upon request, Manta also offered the Montage T with a tubular frame, but the standard version retained the Beetle base and often used the VW Type 4 engine, also found in the Porsche 914. This same engine powered the TV cars as well.
The cars used for the TV series were built by Mike Fennel and Unique Movie Cars. Fennel modified the original kit. For example, the front air intake was removed, as the air-cooled VW engine didn't need it. He also added a dark cover over the headlights for a look closer to the McLaren M6 GT. Other modifications included the wheel arches, doors, and windshield.
The Manta Montage became the Coyote X!
It's unclear how many Coyote X cars were made for the series. As is common in film and TV production, both "hero cars" (used by actors in close-up scenes) and specially prepared stunt cars for action scenes were built. Some stunt cars were even modified dune buggies with the Coyote/Manta body simply mounted on top. This always made me chuckle since, during driving scenes, the driver suddenly appeared to be sitting in the center of the vehicle.
One of the hero cars eventually ended up with Chrome Cars, which recently displayed it at the Essen Motor Show, where our photos were taken. Interestingly, the Coyote was only shown from the outside in the series. For interior shots, the production used a Ferrari 308 GTB owned by the show's producer, as the kit car's interior seemed too basic. This led to the Ferrari logo even appearing briefly in the show's intro—a detail that always amused me.
Jumping the shark at the start of the second season!
For driving sequences, the show's creators dubbed the Coyote's sound with the V12 engine from a Lamborghini Countach. Film and TV often rely on illusions. However, because Brian Keith, who played Judge Hardcastle, found getting in and out of the Coyote X difficult, a new sports car was built for the second season based on the DeLorean DMC-12. Compared to the original Coyote, this new version looked quite amateurish to me. Perhaps that's why the second Coyote later appeared on eBay in 2007.
Manta Cars, however, did not benefit from the series' success. The company ceased operations in 1991 after producing around 750 units of its kit cars. The rights to the Mirage and Montage were later acquired by Warp Five from Missouri, which continued building them until at least 2001. Warp Five moved away from the Beetle platform and instead used Ford Mustang components but retained VW and Porsche engines.
Picture credits: Archiv AutoNatives.de