Little boys’ fascination with police cars does make genuine sense, but not necessarily because they believe in upholding the law or anything noble like that. I think it has to do with all of the gadgets they get, and their cool look all painted up with their specific liveries, as well as the fact that they can be driven quickly legally.
One particularly breed of highway cruisers were the ones used in the US in the late 1960s and 1970s. These vehicles, as well as the new style of squad cars, which gradually replace the ageing Ford Crown Victorias, have just been showcased in Jay Leno’s Garage, with the help of a very knowledgeable former police commissioner, just so that all of the facts are straight.
These patrol cars were very big, very powerful but not that fast. Some had more powerful motors than their regular road-going counterparts, but brakes weren’t always fettled with, so stopping was sometimes a problem. Perhaps that’s why in so many action movies from the period show lots of these wide cars flopping about, overshooting corners and taking lamp posts and telephone booths with them, as well as bending in the middle after some more severe jumps in San Francisco.
Still, as a piece of American history, they are fun to behold, just so that we can see how far we’ve come since. Now scroll down and click play.
By Andrei Nedelea
VIDEO