Editing Spectrum Pursuit Vehicle (section)

==Reception and influence==
James Taylor of ''[[Car (magazine)|Car]]'' magazine ranks the SPV as one of the top ten vehicles in Gerry Anderson productions. On the vehicle's design, he comments that "all-round visibility [was] clearly not a priority of Captain Scarlet's employers."<ref name="Taylor">{{Cite web|url=https://www.carmagazine.co.uk/features/top-10s/the-car-top-10-gerry-anderson-vehicles/|title=The Car Top 10: Gerry Anderson Vehicles|first1=James|last1=Taylor|date=2 October 2015|work=[[Car (magazine)|carmagazine.co.uk]]|publisher=[[Bauer Consumer Media]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171002091641/http://www.carmagazine.co.uk/features/top-10s/the-car-top-10-gerry-anderson-vehicles/|archive-date=2 October 2017|access-date=1 January 2020|url-status=live}}</ref> Andrew Blair of website [[Den of Geek]] calls the SPV "clearly the best vehicle" in ''Captain Scarlet''. Comparing it to "a tank driven at ludicrous speeds, while facing backwards and located in secret garages around the world", he argues that the vehicle represents "probably the fastest transformation from covert to ridiculously unsubtle that fiction has ever seen."<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.denofgeek.com/tv/gerry-anderson/38738/remembering-90s-thunderbirds-captain-scarlet-toys|title=Remembering '90s ''Thunderbirds'' and ''Captain Scarlet'' Toys|date=2 February 2016|first1=Andrew|last1=Blair|work=[[Den of Geek]]|access-date=11 May 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191217233707/https://www.denofgeek.com/tv/gerry-anderson/38738/remembering-90s-thunderbirds-captain-scarlet-toys|archive-date=17 December 2019|url-status=live}}</ref> [[Tat Wood]] of ''[[TV Zone]]'' magazine questions Spectrum's logic in keeping its SPVs hidden until they are needed ("inside caravans, [[gasometer]]s, tubes of [[Pringles]] or wherever") given that they are "then abandoned on the road".<ref>{{Cite magazine|title=The 5 Essential Anderson Archetypes|magazine=[[TV Zone|TV Zone Special]]|first1=Tat|last1=Wood|author1-link=Tat Wood|issue=57|date=June 2004|publisher=[[Visual Imagination]]|issn=0960-8230|page=31}}</ref>

The rear-facing system is praised by commentators Jim Sangster and Paul Condon, who credit the feature as an innovative "work of genius".<ref>{{Cite book|title=Collins Telly Guide|author1=Sangster, Jim |author2=Condon, Paul |year=2005|publisher=[[HarperCollins]]|isbn=978-0-007190-99-7|page=165}}</ref> Drawing a parallel between Anderson's comments on aircraft design and the [[Paul Klee]] monoprint ''[[Angelus Novus]]'', Mark Bould of the [[University of the West of England]] argues that the system is "full of metaphorical potential" in that it represents Anderson "[promulgating] a naive vision of progress while reinforcing the status quo. Consequently, while the SPV driver [...] might be oriented like the [[angel of history]], he is incapable of seeing what lies behind its forward thrust. Not for him the catastrophe accumulating in his wake; just the deceptively uncluttered road ahead. His [monitor] screen ''screens'': it shows and it obscures. And in such an echo chamber, as [[Theses on the Philosophy of History|Benjamin's fifth thesis]] notes, 'every image of the past that is not recognised by the present as one of its own concerns, threatens to disappear irretrievably.'"<ref>{{Cite book|title=American Science Fiction Television and Space: Productions and (Re)configurations (1987{{ndash}}2021)|editor1-first=Joel|editor1-last=Hawkes|editor2-first=Alex|editor2-last=Christie|editor3-first=Tom|editor3-last=Nienhuis|isbn=9783031105289|pages=267–269|publisher=[[Palgrave Macmillan]]|chapter=Post-Production: Screening Futures{{snd}}from Scarlet to Ebon|first=Mark|last=Bould|year=2023}}</ref>

The SPV's curved front bumper inspired the rounded edges of [[LaCie]]'s "Rugged" [[external hard drive]], designed by [[Neil Poulton]].<ref>{{Cite press release|url=https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20150812005076/en/LaCie-Celebrates-a-Decade-of-Rugged-Drives|title=LaCie Celebrates a Decade of Rugged Drives|agency=[[Business Wire]]|date=12 August 2015|access-date=16 May 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210509153418/https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20150812005076/en/LaCie-Celebrates-a-Decade-of-Rugged-Drives|archive-date=9 May 2021|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite magazine|magazine=[[PC Magazine]]|page=119|date=22 August 2006|volume=25|number=14|issn=0888-8507|publisher=[[Ziff Davis Media]]|title=LaCie Rugged Hard Drive}}</ref>

In 2022, YouTuber [[Tom Scott (YouTuber)|Tom Scott]] published a video in which he and a tech company build a go-kart with backwards-facing driver and passenger seats, similar to the SPV.<ref>{{Cite AV media|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hSmtKMx1CB4|title=Can You Really Drive While Facing Backwards?|people=[[Tom Scott (YouTuber)|Scott, Tom]]|date=20 June 2022|access-date=26 November 2024|via=[[YouTube]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://boingboing.net/2022/09/27/can-you-drive-a-car-while-facing-backwards.html|first=Gareth|last=Branwyn|date=27 September 2022|title=Can You Drive a Car While Facing Backwards?|website=[[Boing Boing]]|access-date=10 February 2025}}</ref> [[Motorsport Network]] reported that the experiment had been a success: "It's a little tricky for the mind, especially at higher speeds, but everything works as it should. Does it make any sense? No, not all. But is it fun? A hundred percent."<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.motor1.com/news/594757/driving-car-facing-backwards/|title=Driving A Car Facing Backwards Is Possible But Pointless|website=[[motor1.com]]|first=Angel|last=Sergeev|date=28 June 2022|access-date=10 February 2025}}</ref>

In a preview of the [[Polestar 4]], Andrew English of ''[[The Daily Telegraph]]'' compared the car's lack of a rear window in favour of an external camera system to an SPV driver's reliance on a video monitor while seated backwards.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/cars/hybrid-electric-cars/polestar-unveils-electric-car-with-no-rear-window/|title=Polestar Unveils Electric Car with No Rear Window|first=Andrew|last=English|date=19 April 2023|website=[[telegraph.co.uk]]|access-date=10 February 2025}}</ref>

===Toys and model kits===
Several toys and miniature models of the SPV have been released.<ref name="Webb">{{Cite web|url=https://televisionheaven.co.uk/tvh-plus/fab-to-sig|title=F.A.B. To S.I.G. (The Anderson Die Cast Toys)|first=Paul|last=Webb|access-date=13 February 2025|date=29 December 2021|website=televisionheaven.co.uk}}</ref> These include a 1960s [[Friction drive|friction-drive]] toy by [[Century 21 Toys]] and [[die-cast]] models by [[Dinky Toys|Dinky]],<ref>{{Cite book|title=Gerry Anderson Collectables|first1=Rob|last1=Burman|year=2015|publisher=[[Amberley Publishing]]|isbn=978-1-44564-872-9}}</ref> as well as newer versions by [[Corgi Toys|Corgi]], [[Vivid Imaginations]] and Product Enterprise.<ref name="Archer and Hearn"/><ref>Bentley 2017, pp.&nbsp;163&ndash;164; 196&ndash;197.</ref><ref name="Telegraph">{{Cite web|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/caraccessories/2745724/The-gear-box-The-Grand-Prix-Saboteurs-sat-nav-and-Captain-Scarlet-twin-packs.html|title=The Gear Box: The Grand Prix Saboteurs, Sat-Nav And ''Captain Scarlet'' Twin Packs|first1=Simon|last1=Arron|date=17 February 2007|website=[[telegraph.co.uk]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110516215413/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/caraccessories/2745724/The-gear-box-The-Grand-Prix-Saboteurs-sat-nav-and-Captain-Scarlet-twin-packs.html|archive-date=16 May 2011|url-status=live|access-date=31 August 2020}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.salute.co.uk/slw-games/scarlet-thunder/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190801055530/http://www.salute.co.uk/slw-games/scarlet-thunder/|archive-date=1 August 2019|url-status=live|year=2012|title=Scarlet Thunder|first1=John|last1=Treadaway|work=salute.co.uk|publisher=South London Warlords|access-date=11 May 2020}}</ref> Japanese company Imai released a [[model kit]] version in 1993.<ref>{{Cite magazine|magazine=Best of British: Past and Present|title=Captain Scarlet's SPV|page=73|first=Dave|last=Eyles|date=March 2017|issn=1355-6681|issue=248|publisher=[[Mortons Media Group]]}}</ref>

Action features on the Dinky model included a sliding driver's seat containing a [[Captain Scarlet (character)|Captain Scarlet]] figurine, as well as a spring-operated missile.<ref name="Webb"/><ref>{{Cite magazine|magazine=[[Meccano Magazine]]|date=March 1968|title=Spectrum Is Here! Chris Jelley Reports on the New ''Captain Scarlet'' S.P.V.|first=Chris|last=Jelley|pages=162–163}}</ref><ref>{{Cite magazine|magazine=Sci-Fi & Fantasy FX International|issn=1470-9821|publisher=New Millennium Publishing|page=48|first=Martin|last=Gainsford|title=Dinky Classics: The Gerry Anderson Diecasts Story|issue=50|year=2000}}</ref> The latter was fired by squeezing the front sets of wheels, avoiding the need for what Century 21 considered to be "ugly-looking buttons".<ref name="Archer and Hearn"/> It remained on sale until 1975 and became Dinky's best-selling toy of all time, as well as one of the most popular die-casts ever made in the UK.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Mini Moke: Small Car, Big Fun|first1=John|last1=Christopher|publisher=[[Amberley Publishing]]|year=2013|isbn=9781445623733}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last1=Archer|first1=Simon|title=Gerry Anderson's FAB Facts: Behind the Scenes of TV's Famous Adventures in the 21st Century|year=2004|orig-year=1993|publisher=[[HarperCollins]]|isbn=978-0-00-638247-8|page=69|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/gerryandersonsfa00arch/page/69}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.televisionheaven.co.uk/shows_ca_to_ch.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140202235715/http://www.televisionheaven.co.uk/shows_ca_to_ch.htm|archive-date=2 February 2014|url-status=dead|title=TV Shows: Ca-Ch|work=televisionheaven.co.uk}}</ref><ref>{{Cite magazine|title=''Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons'': By Numbers|last1=Pixley|first1=Andrew|last2=Rogers|first2=Julie|editor1-last=Gillatt|editor1-first=Gary|magazine=[[Starburst (magazine)|Starburst]]|issue=280|date=December 2001|publication-date=November 2001|publisher=[[Visual Imagination]]|issn=0955-114X|oclc=79615651|page=47}}</ref> According to website Television Heaven, the SPV "was the toy to have in the early 1970s", and featured "almost as many gadgets and working parts as the ever-popular original Corgi ''James Bond'' [[Aston Martin DB5]]."<ref name="Webb"/>

The 2003 version by Product Enterprise was larger than the earlier toys and given a duller spray finish. A 2023 ''[[Diecast Collector]]'' review of the product described it as "[i]n some ways [...] the best SPV model ever made, certainly in terms of detail and build quality", but criticised its "dusty, weathered" and "grubby" look.<ref>{{Cite magazine|magazine=[[Diecast Collector]]|date=3 January 2023|first=Mike|last=Pigott|title=Captain Scarlet returns: The SPV from Product Enterprise, by Mike Pigott}}</ref> Corgi released an updated version in 2024.<ref>{{Cite magazine|magazine=[[Diecast Collector]]|title=Set off in Hot Pursuit of Corgi's Latest Classic TV Model|date=1 February 2024}}</ref>