For you old law dogs on the forum….
I served from 1977 to 2019.
Two careers, City Police first 20+ years, then Highway Patrol just over 21 years.
My first experience included some left over 1976 440 Dodge Coronets and a favorite 1977 Dodge Monaco. Plenty of power and acceleration for the job. Emergency lighting was a chain-driven Federal Twin-Sonic light bar with red and white sealed beam bulbs. The fleet was solid white then changed to black and white in 1979.
Big vinyl bench seats (it was NOT smart to detail your unit and use the new Armor-All vinyl treatment, unless you made sure to wear your seatbelt. Combining wool uniform pants and shirts with a hard left turn would send you over to the passenger door. Once.
), an ancient Winchester 1897 Riot gun with #4 buckshot in a dash mounted locking rack, a S&W Model 15 4” Blue .38 Special and a city-issue two D-cell Ray-O-Vac flashlight. Kel-lights and Streamlights were in the future. Second Chance Model Y Kevlar cost $70.00.
A Motorola radio mounted on the transmission tunnel and no portable radios except for the Sergeants. We shared a mutual aid radio frequency with the Sheriff’s Department. Pursuits were occasional in the college town I served.
The absolute WORST marked city police cars in my experience were the fleet of 1978 AMC Ambassadors.
The pursuits changed when the AMC Ambassador arrived. Its failings were immediately apparent. Mine would top out around 85 mph. The sergeants car was worse, around 82 mph tops. We were constantly in vehicle pursuits and were constantly outrun by high school and college kids. But hey, the fleet had cruise control that year.
I tried finding an image of the 1978 AMC Ambassador Police but I couldn’t find the exact year model. The included photo is close, found on the ‘net.
The WORST Detective car I ever had to pilot was the 1992/3 Dodge Dynasty series. I was used to full-size Coronets/Monacos, LTD II and LTD S Fords, Chevrolet Caprices (square body and Shamu killer whale) and Ford Crown Vic’s. I had some big men working criminal investigations for me and trying to stuff a big Irish Cop in a pop can didn't work well. Used to full size steel doors, the plastic interior door panels of the Dynasty couldn’t withstand the force applied when my guys closed the driver and passenger doors. And, because investigators traveled to wherever leads took them, the short wheelbase was VERY uncomfortable on long trips in or out of state. I was glad to see the return to the Crown Vic after the failed experiment with the pop-can cars.
I ran Crown Vic’s most of the first 15 years on the Patrol then switched to Dodge Chargers. Both of which provided good comfort for long hours in a car. Wide stance, long wheel base is a plus.
The later Chargers were crazy quick and the top end was too far away for me to find by the time I had about thirty-five years in. Our tires had blowouts like everyone else’s. Some young partners claimed 160 was the top for the Chargers. I had no need to roll that fast by that time. Arrive alive was my mantra. Luckily, most of the pursuits didn’t exceed 110-120 mph, but might last in excess of sixty miles.
If you have a comment to add your experience, please, share your experiences with me here.
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