The Charger gets into its fair share scrapes, ripping off the door of a cop car as it pulls out of a flea market. Later it tears out a gas pump hose when cops spot the car during a fill-up. Police cars wipe out in crazy ways including going backwards into a river and jumping through a seatbelt warning billboard. The Charger hits a pickup at high speeds and crunches the front end. There are some good long stretches of high speed running on country roads in both the Impala and Charger.
The police chase is coordinated by Vic Morrow who is a savvy non conformist cop. One of the young troopers is hilarious. Fonda ditches him immediately and writes off his Polara squad car. The trooper comes back with a souped up Polara and screams at Fonda as he stays glued to his tail, "My top end is unlimited!" The patrol car gets crushed under a telephone pole. All the patrol cars are 1972 or 1973 Dodge Polaras that seem to be real CHP cars. The black dashboards have discordant white steering wheels which were one of the stipulations of the real CHP when ordering their police cars. The white wheels reflect the heat of California sun.
The director who built his reputation on THE AVENGERS TV show stuck to his guns about the ending of the film despite protests from the studio. He brought in one of his native British actresses, Susan George to pump some life and emotion into the Mary character. Her sassy interactions with Fonda degenerate into teary rejection when he dismisses her. Her need to attach herself to the robbers adds character energy to the film which may contribute to its continued cult status.