Yeah, and I always get a kick out of the cop who mistakes it for a heap some guy was attempting to deliver to a closed junk yard in "Negative Reaction", but my question is who, and on what grounds decided it was time to paint dark grey splotches on the side of his car?
I mean, the dedicated viewer already knew Columbo was as haphazard as his mode of transportation, and that's why trashing-out a symbol to the legend of the character to the point of overkill never made much sense to me (although, it doesn't really matter).
In fact, it's that rather unflattering heap that can be seen in the opening sequence to the "Mrs.Columbo" episodes too -- the early ones, that is.