The Spectrum Patrol Car (SPC) or Spectrum Saloon Car (SSC) is a fictional vehicle that appears in

Gerry Anderson Gerald Alexander Anderson (; 14 April 1929 – 26 December 2012) was an English television and film producer, director, writer and occasional voice artist. He remains famous for his futuristic television programmes, especially his 1960s produ ...

science-fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel univer ...

television series ''

Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons ''Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons'', often shortened to ''Captain Scarlet'', is a British science fiction television series created by Gerry Anderson, Gerry and Sylvia Anderson and filmed by their production company AP Films#Century 21, Cent ...

'' (1967) and in revamped form in the remake ''

Gerry Anderson's New Captain Scarlet ''Gerry Anderson's New Captain Scarlet'' (more commonly ''New Captain Scarlet'' or ''NCS'') is a British computer generated action-adventure reboot of the 1967 Supermarionation series, ''Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons''. Both series were ...

'' (2005).

Depiction

''Captain Scarlet''

Accessible only to Spectrum personnel, the SPC is long and equipped with

four-wheel drive Four-wheel drive, also called 4×4 ("four by four") or 4WD, refers to a two-axled vehicle drivetrain capable of providing torque to all of its wheels simultaneously. It may be full-time or on-demand, and is typically linked via a transfer ca ...

. It can seat up to four people, has a maximum speed of , and is powered by a gas turbine located under the rear roof. The car is specially equipped with

quartz Quartz is a hard, crystalline mineral composed of silica ( silicon dioxide). The atoms are linked in a continuous framework of SiO4 silicon-oxygen tetrahedra, with each oxygen being shared between two tetrahedra, giving an overall chemical ...

headlights that permit the driver to see long distances in the dark. The vehicle also features transverse gearing, independent

suspension Suspension or suspended may refer to: Science and engineering * Suspension (topology), in mathematics * Suspension (dynamical systems), in mathematics * Suspension of a ring, in mathematics * Suspension (chemistry), small solid particles suspen ...

and magnetic drums that provide powerful control braking by means of electromagnetically-generated opposing magnetic fields. The road-tyre friction heat at high speeds is countered by wing intakes, while a central housing and rear-mounted fin maintain the vehicle's stability at speed. The original script for the first episode provided little in terms of specification for the vehicle, merely describing it as a "modern American

saloon car A sedan or saloon (British English) is a passenger car in a three-box configuration with separate compartments for an engine, passengers, and cargo. The first recorded use of the word "sedan" in reference to an automobile body occurred in 1 ...

". It was one of several minor Spectrum vehicles whose design the series' special effects director,

Derek Meddings Derek Meddings (15 January 1931 – 10 September 1995) was a British film and television special effects designer. He was initially noted for his work on the "Supermarionation" TV puppet series produced by Gerry Anderson, and later for the 1 ...

, delegated to his assistant,

Mike Trim Mike Trim (born 26 August 1945) is an artist famous for illustrating the cover of ''Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds'', which depicts a Martian tripod striking down the heroic ''Thunder Child''. A book of his illustrations en ...

, because he assumed that they would not appear in any other episodes. In the end, however, Trim's concepts for the car and the other vehicles (the Spectrum Helicopter, Passenger Jet and Maximum Security Vehicle) were so well received that they became recurring elements of the series.

''New Captain Scarlet''

In the CGI series ''

'' (2005), the SPC's successor is known as the Spectrum Cheetah. While the updated vehicle strongly resembles the SPC, it has an added capability: it is equipped with extendable wings, a tail fin and booster rockets that, once deployed, allow the car to glide over obstructions that it encounters on the road.

Reception

In 2015, James Taylor of ''

Car A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people instead of goods. The year 1886 is regarded as t ...

'' magazine ranked the SPC one of the top 10 vehicles from the Gerry Anderson productions, likening it to "a cross between a

Plymouth Superbird The Plymouth Superbird is a highly modified, short-lived version of the Plymouth Road Runner with applied graphic images as well as a distinctive horn sound both referencing the popular ''Looney Tunes'' cartoon character the Road Runner. It was ...

and a

hearse A hearse is a large vehicle, originally a horse carriage but later with the introduction of motor vehicles, a car, used to carry the body of a deceased person in a coffin at a funeral, wake, or memorial service. They range from deliberately a ...

, topped by a D-type-shaming tail fin". However, he argued that the car's split

windscreen The windshield (North American English) or windscreen (Commonwealth English) of an aircraft, car, bus, motorbike, truck, train, boat or streetcar is the front window, which provides visibility while protecting occupants from the elements. ...

would have made for poor forward visibility.

Toys

Since the 1960s the SPC has been released in toy form by various manufacturers. Products include a plastic friction-drive toy by Century 21 Toys, a die-cast model by Dinky (which continued to be produced until 1974) and newer versions by

Vivid Imaginations Vivid Imaginations is a British toy manufacturer, distributor and wholesale company, based in Guildford, Surrey. Founded in 1992, one of the company's first toy lines it manufactured was Captain Scarlet, which has since been followed by Thunde ...

and

Corgi The Welsh Corgi ( or Corgi, plural Corgis, or occasionally the etymologically consistent Corgwn; ) is a small type of herding dog that originated in Wales. The name ''corgi'' is derived from the Welsh words and (which is mutated to ), meanin ...

References

Works cited

External links

Spectrum Headquarters: Spectrum Saloon Car
{{Captain Scarlet Captain Scarlet (franchise) Fictional cars Fictional elements introduced in 1967