But the show started in the 60s, and it’s the same car. You could argue his trenchcoat and hat (de rigeur when the show started) were more affectation in later years, or accept that at some point those simply occupy the role of signifiers that “yes this is Columbo.”
Yeah, I can see that too (but the car did strike me as a deliberate non-typical choice from the beginning, like part of a character, like the trench coat, even when just under a decade old - but that does indeed not make it a classic car).
I definitely think it was a deliberate choice, but more in the vein of “look at this bumbling moron driving this piece of shit French car” as a way of further masking his actual abilities.
But the show started in the 60s, and it’s the same car. You could argue his trenchcoat and hat (de rigeur when the show started) were more affectation in later years, or accept that at some point those simply occupy the role of signifiers that “yes this is Columbo.”
Yeah, I can see that too (but the car did strike me as a deliberate non-typical choice from the beginning, like part of a character, like the trench coat, even when just under a decade old - but that does indeed not make it a classic car).
I definitely think it was a deliberate choice, but more in the vein of “look at this bumbling moron driving this piece of shit French car” as a way of further masking his actual abilities.