Excuse me sir, I think I recognize your, uh, Probe…

Have you ever watched a movie or a TV show and wondered about a car that you saw—what make was it, what model, what year, stuff like that?

At IMCDB, the Internet Movie Car Database, you can find all of the answers you’ve been looking for and far more. You can search by movie or television show title and you are even able to search for all of the films and broadcasts in which that special Ford Probe you covet so much appeared.

When you search for the car that the I Love Lucy gang drove to California you even come up with fun facts like these:

I Love Lucy, ’58 Pontiac Star Chief Convertible, IMCDB

Lot: 405 – 1955 PONTIAC STAR CHIEF CONVERTIBLE
Auction: SCOTTSDALE 2004
Sale Price: $50,600.00
Year: 1955
Make: PONTIAC
Model: STAR CHIEF
Style: CONVERTIBLE
Exterior Color: SILVER
Interior Color: BLACK
Summary: This was the TV Land “I Love Lucy” give-away car used in the show moving from NYC to CA.

Detail: This automobile was given away by TV LAND in Hollywood! It is fully restored as the car that appeared in the 4th season of I LOVE LUCY! Episode 109 titled – Lucy Learns to Drive. Preparing for their trip west, the Ricardo’s buy a new car, and Lucy wants to drive it around the block. After giving her one driving lesson Ricky is a beaten man, but Lucy is so confident that she offers to teach Ethel Mertz how to drive. The result is a complete fiasco. (The 1955 Pontiac convertible seen in this and the following episodes was a part of a product placement deal with General Motors,) First aired January 3, 1955. The same car was used in the next 4 episodes as follows. Episode 110 titled – California Here We Come. First aired January 10th 1955, Episode 111 titled – First Stop. First aired January 10th 1955, Episode 112 titled – Tennessee Bound. First aired January 24th 1955, episode 113 titled- Ethel’s Hometown, first aired January 31st 1955, and Episode 114 titled – LA at Last, First aired February 7th, 1955.

Here are a couple of the other wonder-cars that I looked up.

Breakfast at Tiffany’s, ’60 Plymouth Savoy, IMCDB

One of the best features of the Movie Car Database is that your search will not just bring up the star-cars or the cars that carried the stars. In most searches you’ll also find many of the background cars and the prop cars. (Cool fact: During production, most times, the background cars are paid far more than their human background counterparts—when I was working on Matlock my 1959 MGA earned 4-times my actor day rate.)

The Way We Were, ’41 Lincoln Zephyr 4 dr sedan 73, IMCDB

Head to the IMCDB and enjoy your discoveries. However, I must offer up this warning: If you love movies, TV, or cars —I’ve had a lifelong affair with all three—you’ll look up at some point, see a clock, and you’ll wonder where your day went.

Then you’ll probably smile and wonder where you could have had so much fun, unlocked so many memories, discovered such strange minutiae… all without spending a dime (or doing anything illegal).

And yes Sir, I did recognize your Probe. Right there under those the big lips.

1989 Ford Probe in Moonlighting, TV Series, 1985-1989 IMDB Ep. 5.09