The Classic Cab

"The Classic Cab" is an episode of the American television detective series Hawaiian Eye.

Synopsis

Hawaiian Village hotel guest Julia Abbott takes Kim's taxi to her late father's long-deserted house. After ten years away from Honolulu, she is selling the furnishings prior to the house being demolished for a new highway. While there, Kim spots a 1932 limousine that has been kept in a locked garage. Despite its mint condition, Julia Abbott lets Kim buy it cheaply, because it holds painful memories for her. Kim turns it into a deluxe taxi, but finds it draws unwanted attention from a classic car collector, Leo Basilius. When Basilius turns up dead in his hotel room, and somebody shoots at Kim's new taxi, Tracy Steele and Tom Lopaka assume there's more to the classic cab than meets the eye.

Steele learns from Cricket that Julia Abbott's dead lover was named "Harry". From an old garage receipt, Steele traces the limo's last owner to a Mr Hurley. Lt Quon identifies Harry Hurley as an ex-con who was murdered in Miami ten years earlier, shortly after leaving Honolulu. Steele shows Julia Abbott photos of Hurley's known associates; she identifies Dan Woodruff and Floyd Hollis as the last two men she saw talking to Harry Hurley. Meanwhile, Aloha Hut owner Big Sugar Akiona turns up dead after trying to look at Kim's limo. Lt Quon says that Akiona was the victim of a $300,000 holdup at one of his nightclubs ten years previously. Woodruff and Hollis kidnap Kim, but while tearing the cab apart are captured by Steele and Lopaka, who reveal the holdup money was hidden above the cab's superfluous underseal.

Episode cast

Series regulars

• Anthony Eisley ...as Tracy Steele
• Robert Conrad ...as Tom Lopaka
• Connie Stevens ...as Cricket Blake
• Poncie Ponce ...as Kim

Recurring characters

• Mel Prestidge ...as Lt Danny Quon
• Doug Mossman ...as Moke
• Andre Philippe ...as Paul

Guest stars

• Kathleen Crowley ...as Julia Abbott
• Tris Coffin ...as Dan Woodruff
• J. Edward McKinley ...as Leo Basilius
• John Day ...as Floyd Hollis
• Tom Sweet ...as Len
• Benny Baker ...as Jake Amboy
• Fuji ...as Big Sugar Akiona

Musical interlude

All the Warner Brothers detective shows of the late 1950s and early 1960s had one or more musical interludes written into the teleplay. For this episode, Connie Stevens sang "I'm Just Wild About Harry" with the Shell Bar band accompanying her.

Episode notes

Third season series regular Grant Williams did not appear in this episode.

The actor Fuji, who appeared in this episode, was born Tommi Fuji, and should not be mistaken for the professional wrestler Harry Fujiwara, who also was billed as "Fuji".

References

• The Classic Cab at the Internet Movie Database