Revealing mistake: On full screen format, as police chief is discussing Starsky's request for a new partner, immediately before he says "check this out," the number "500" appears on the lower right corner superimposed over the chief's left arm for one frame only. (01:04:55)
Continuity mistake: When Starsky and Hutch first visit Reese the drink that Hutch is given changes from being in his hands to being on the table next to him several times. (00:20:40)
Factual error: When Starsky is coked up, you see him on numerous occasions snorting and rubbing his nostrils (sign of classic coke abuse - done to clear the nose and sinus). As he drunk the coke in coffee, he wouldn't be doing this. (00:45:05)
Factual error: At the end of the film, when Starsky gets the Ford Gran Torino from the original Starsky, he says something about "not jumping the clutch." The car in the film has an automatic transmission, hence no clutch. (00:54:15 - 01:33:05)
Continuity mistake: It's a great new car Starsky gets at the end, just like his old one...even down to the licence plate, which is 537 0NN, proving the same car's used both times. You see the original's plate when he crouches down while being shot at, and the replacement when it takes that jump right at the start of the credits at the end. Same both times. (00:51:20 - 01:30:05)
Continuity mistake: When Starsky and Hutch are looking at the pictures of Reese you see Hutch flipping a picture behind the envelope. When it cuts you can see the picture isn't there. (01:10:10)
Plot hole: Starsky & Hutch go to apprehend the driver of the car that was shooting at them, the Korean man. They go in and his son starts throwing knives at them. They then ask the man to tell his son to stop throwing knives. The man shouts out to his son to throw ALL the knives. The son throws all the knives, and then Starsky & Hutch dive for cover - after he starts throwing knives again. Yet, when they are interrogating the Korean man, Chow, in the lock-up in the next scene, Hutch reveals that he is able to speak quite a bit of Korean - and proceeds to converse with Chow in Korean quite a bit. Obviously he knew this Korean when they were apprehending the man and he could have told the boy to STOP - or at least understood that the father told him to keep throwing. The way this is presented, and the level of Korean he exhibits in the subsequent scene is completely illogical.
Factual error: Starsky uses a .45 with night sights on it (for the non-gun people: they glow in the dark). In the 70's they weren't invented yet.
Visible crew/equipment: At the banquet when the woman is standing in front of the car singing and the camera passes by her, you can see the shadow from the cameraman on the side of the car. (01:15:20)
Factual error: The events of this film take place in June, 1974. But at one point, the boys shoot out the rear window of a 1978-80 AMC Pacer which won't be built until the fall of 1977. While Huggy's '76 Lincoln is also not possible, it's an obvious joke suggesting he has good connections. The Pacer, however, is a clear mistake, as nobody has connections good enough to have a car over three years before it is built. (00:53:25)
Other mistake: When Starsky and Hutch arrive at the Bar Mitzvah there is a jazz band playing. Look carefully at the bass player, he's not playing the bass at all. His hands don't move every time he plays another note. (00:59:45)
Factual error: At the disco, the DJ describes a dance move which only came out in the 80's. The movie is set in the 70's.
Continuity mistake: In the pre-credit montage of all the main actors, we see "Carmen Electra as Stacey", but just afterwards in the full credits, her character is listed as "Staci". (01:35:45 - 01:36:35)
Deliberate mistake: When Reese is looking at Starsky and Hutch's police profiles, his brunette girlfriend says, "Ooh, he's cute, the blonde", referring to Hutch. From the way she says it, it sounds like she's referring to the picture, however you cannot see Hutch's hair in the picture. She had not previously met Starsky and Hutch, either, as it was Resse's blonde wife that was in the room at the time. (00:28:40)
Continuity mistake: When Reese runs away in the car Starsky and Hutch are shooting at him. A bullet hits the windshield, but the bullet doesn't make a hole in it. When it cuts there is now a hole. (01:21:45)
Continuity mistake: After the dance-off, Hutch puts Starsky in bed and places his hand on Starsky's chest. However, in the next shot, Hutch's hand is no longer on Starsky's chest. (00:40:15)
Factual error: In the bot mitzvah scene, the microphone that Vince Vaughan's character is using is a shure beta 58. The movie is set in 1974, but the mic wasn't made until 1989. (01:02:30)
Continuity mistake: The mirrors on the Torinos make it obvious that there was in reality more than one Torino used for filming. Several close-ups show the Torino equipped with the stock Ford sport mirrors. The glass in this style of mirror is adjusted, but the body of the mirror is rigidly attached to the mount and does not move with adjustments to the mirror itself. In the later scenes during the chase to the docks, Starsky is seen to hit the mirror on his door with his hand as he is rushing to get inside and close the door. When he hits the mirror, the entire 'head' of the mirror moves on a swivel, showing to be an aftermarket, generic 'sport' mirror. The producers tried to hide this by painting both the stock mirrors as well as the aftermarket mirrors to match, but the differences are obvious from one scene to the next.
Other mistake: There are two different yachts in the boat scene in the end. One is driving away when the car has sunk, next boat is when you hear the horn and the zoom in on the boat again. The have the same name (Oasis), but the opening in the stern/steering wheel are in different places and the name differs. (01:29:15 - 01:29:50)
Continuity mistake: When they are in the office talking to the captain he's playing the film from prison and Hutch closes the blind on the door. When they leave the office, the outside does not match the interior from the previous scene - too many windows, and the door with the closed blind is gone.
Answer: It's entirely possible, since they were not wearing their disguises at the prison, that they had already changed clothes, and therefore, could change vehicles.
Phoenix