stanhas87
87thScale addict
1978 Dodge Monaco CHP
Posts: 4,906
|
Post by stanhas87 on Jan 19, 2004 8:28:27 GMT 1
Dear Sirs:
This can be a vast thread as well,because there is a good variety of police cars around the globe.
In the US,up to the 1950's,police vehicles were similar to the average car until the 'police package' was created and that was better brakes,acceleration and cooling.It is also a fact that Ford dominated the market from the 1930's to the 1970's and then from 1997 on.Despite all that,it was Chrysler which defined what a police car should be and they had the fastest police car (as a 4-door sedan) ever:the 148mph 1969 Dodge Polara.Chevrolet had the best police car ever with the Caprice and up to today no one understands why GM dropped it;the same goes with the Dodge Diplomat.CHP and NYPD really liked the latter. In Germany,BMW and Mercedes-Benz are the average police car;Peugeots are used close to the French border;the brazilians had the Suburban-like Chevrolet Veraneio (Tahoes are being used now) and the Australian Holden has a Caprice model (mid-sized rear-drive car) that is marketed-and liked as a cop car-as Chevrolet on Middle Eastern countries.The Australian Ford Falcon is used as well.And in the other countries we will see Renaults,Volvos,Seats,Volkswagens and so on. Finally.Mexico has Vics,Intrepids and Dodge Dinasties as cop cars,and the Russians discovered the Vic. In 1/87,Busch and Herpa are the main producers of cop cars;Wiking have their selection as well.I believe that there is more.
|
|
skunk
87thScale addict
5th B-day
Posts: 2,762
|
Post by skunk on Jan 19, 2004 20:10:23 GMT 1
In Vail, Colorado, they used to use Saab 99 and 900's. Nowadays they drive around in Land Rover Discoveries.
Most Russian cops have VAZ-2104 and thus catch only the poor, who cannot outrun them ;D
|
|
stanhas87
87thScale addict
1978 Dodge Monaco CHP
Posts: 4,906
|
Post by stanhas87 on Jan 20, 2004 5:09:46 GMT 1
Dear Sirs:
The cops from Colorado had Saabs since the late 1970's,because the Plymouths could not handle the snowy conditions.Moscow is the town that has the Crown Vics,and these ARE NOT the majority.
|
|
|
Post by Christian on Jan 22, 2004 15:41:34 GMT 1
In Germany,BMW and Mercedes-Benz are the average police car; I beg to differ! I have seldomly seen any BMW police cars (outside of Bavaria anyway) and Mercedes sedans are mostly used by the Autobahn police. They would simply be too expensive for widespread use. Volkswagens (Passat Variant) and Opels (Omega) are more common.
|
|
stanhas87
87thScale addict
1978 Dodge Monaco CHP
Posts: 4,906
|
Post by stanhas87 on Jan 22, 2004 16:18:52 GMT 1
Dear Christian: Thank you for the correction.It is interesting to note that the Omega is similar to the Caprice and I think the Holden Caprice is based on this car too;hence I bet that this is a very good cop car. I know this site about police cars and I will be checking it more often. Now:can you tell me about the Peugeot police cars?
|
|
|
Post by Christian on Jan 22, 2004 16:35:34 GMT 1
Peugeot police cars are basically only used in Saarland, close to the French border. Since that part of Germany was administered by the French after WW2 official vehicles like police cars were mostly of French manufacture there. This has become a tradition, I believe they are mainly using the Peugeot 406 now. Renaults and Citroens are somewhat rare, though.
|
|
stanhas87
87thScale addict
1978 Dodge Monaco CHP
Posts: 4,906
|
Post by stanhas87 on Jan 22, 2004 16:40:16 GMT 1
Dear Christian: Thank you one more time.Again,thanks to this site,I am learning (and passing some of my knowledge) something every day.
|
|
stanhas87
87thScale addict
1978 Dodge Monaco CHP
Posts: 4,906
|
Post by stanhas87 on Jan 22, 2004 22:49:01 GMT 1
Dear Sirs: I heard-and saw in its Catalog-that Busch did a LAPD Dodge Monaco.This falls on the prototype discussion:LAPD never used Dodges in the period,they choose the Plymouth (Fury). Now the question:does someone knows if that was done?I never saw it and think that is a 'phantom' model.
|
|
|
Post by jeanmarc on Jan 22, 2004 23:19:20 GMT 1
Though I'm not so keen on Police in general ;D(and furthermore with our actual french "interior" minister at the moment....! )...I found nice trying to collect police cars of many countries, as exotic coloured item like Taxis are... About real cars used by Police in France, until the last 90's....only french cars were officially recognized by the French state (Peugeot, Renault, Citroen) ....since 2000 (around), with European laws, this state market had to been openned on european vehicle market ....for the benefit of FORD (...a US company! haha ;D) which is nowadays recognized as official supplier of french state for police cars.... At the moment most FORD are FOCUS or MONDEO with unmarked metallic grey colour (VIP)... "GENDARMERIE NATIONALE" which is an "army corps" has it's own vehicles (sort of dark blue) with only french (except maybe some Land Rover?) cars at the moment...
|
|
stanhas87
87thScale addict
1978 Dodge Monaco CHP
Posts: 4,906
|
Post by stanhas87 on Jan 23, 2004 2:57:51 GMT 1
Dear JeanMarc:
Very interesting input..................according to a movie that I saw,Renault Dauphines were used as police cars,but I do not know if that is accurate.
So Ford is supplying the police cars there,right?
|
|
|
Post by Sylvain on Jan 23, 2004 10:20:10 GMT 1
Renault Dauphines were used as police cars, There have been some Dauphines, at least for the Parisian police. Have a look at this… dauphinomaniac.dauphstock.org/Speciales/Police/Police.htmI think this police car is available now in HO scale by Norev. As for police cars in France, I didn’t know we were now using Ford cars. Seems to me that most of the cars in use are still Renault, Peugeot and Citroën. But I’m not really looking. ;D
|
|
stanhas87
87thScale addict
1978 Dodge Monaco CHP
Posts: 4,906
|
Post by stanhas87 on Jan 23, 2004 16:46:53 GMT 1
Dear Sylvain: Thank you,that is a very nice picture of it.About the Ford cars,please read JeanMarc's input above. The thing about Police cars-at least in the US-is that these are sports sedans and therefore,the are quite 'souped up' as compared with the average sedan.Someone I knew told me that this cop car was so modified that would be never been able to pass emission controls from California!
|
|
skunk
87thScale addict
5th B-day
Posts: 2,762
|
Post by skunk on Jan 23, 2004 21:52:05 GMT 1
Regarding souped up cop cars: The Volvos and Saabs in Sweden always came w/o Turbo telltale marks, wings and such, but often had turbos. These were usually turned up to 11... In Greece it is prohibited to tune up motorcycles. This of course leads to a huge problem of tuned bikes, racing illegally around Athens and elsewhere. The cops did the only thing possible to catch streetracers: They now have several wicked, turbocharged ZX-1's, Hayabusas and the like... And down under, to catch bank robbers the police had to follow the robbers' lead and resort to Subaru Imprezas - sort of like the Citroën Traction Avants of the 2000's.
|
|
stanhas87
87thScale addict
1978 Dodge Monaco CHP
Posts: 4,906
|
Post by stanhas87 on Jan 23, 2004 23:24:00 GMT 1
Dear Sirs:
According to a movie that I saw the cops had a very sporty Ford Falcon as a pursuit car.If I remember well (I do not) it even had a wing in the back......................
|
|
skunk
87thScale addict
5th B-day
Posts: 2,762
|
Post by skunk on Jan 24, 2004 6:54:44 GMT 1
The coolest copcars used in Sweden were the Plymouth Valiants of the sixties and seventies. Sadly only slant sixes were used, and they were equipped with Saab front seats in order to keep the spines of Swedish police officers straight . By the way, are there any good manufacturers of these models, suitable for conversions? If Brekina presents the Saab 99 in Nürnberg, I won't even have to worry about finding the proper seats ;D Sweden also has always had a burgeoning US-car scene. Naturally, Valiants with Saab seats were only ranked just above European cars in such circles.
|
|