The first Black Beauty was a 1937 Lincoln Zephyr coupe that appeared in the two Green Hornet serials of 1940. Kato quipped that it could do “better than 200” with its “Chemical Energizer” and the “on demand surge” it provided . The car sounded like a hornet, but could also be switched to “silent running” mode.
1937 Lincoln Zephyr
The second Black Beauty was a 1966 Imperial Crown sedan. It was truly a rolling arsenal with rockets hidden behind her retractable headlights and knockout gas under the grill. There were also rear-facing rockets under the back bumper. She was bullet proof, and could withstand the heat generated by a laser for a short amount of time. Mounted in the trunk was a small drone (referred to as a scanner) which could be launched and used for surveillance and reconnaissance. Like its predecessor, this Black Beauty could also “run silent” and drive in complete darkness with the use of her “Infra-green” headlights. It had some built in defensive mechanisms as well, consisting of a smoke screen, an oil slick, and brushes to cover tire tracks.
1966 Chrysler 300 convertable (Britt’s personal car) & 1966 Imperial Crown
In the 2011 movie she saw a few more upgrades including dual .30 Browning 1919 machine guns under the hood and a flame thrower hidden in the grill. On the tail end, there was another machine gun and more rockets
1937 Lincoln Zephyr & 1966 Imperial Crown. Though the 2011 movie was a mess, this was a nice homage.
In the NOW comic series there were two other Black Beauties, the first was based on the Pontiac Banshee, and the second was based on the early 90s Oldsmobile 98 Touring Sedan.