My Mother the Car (1965)

Trivia: Widely panned by critics as the worst-ever idea for a TV series, "My Mother the Car" followed the antics of Jerry Van Dyke as he purchases and restores a magical motorcar and must protect it from the greedy clutches of a conniving car collector. The show was cancelled in 1966 after one season, and the good-natured Jerry Van Dyke always readily admitted that the series was the very definition of bad television. Ironically, two years later, in 1968, Jerry's older brother (Dick Van Dyke) starred in a film about a fellow who purchases and restores a magical motorcar and must protect it from the greedy clutches of a conniving foreign tyrant. "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" became a children's classic.

Charles Austin Miller