Several states "back in the day" had a few AMX pursuit cars. Hot Rod mag even had a pic and a short article. They would run- one guy "testing" his new 'Vette blew by an Alabama Statie at about 120, and knew he'd been had. He held it steady at 120, and the AMX was on his butt in no time. Supposedly, he asked the Officer how fast it would run, and was told the speedometer (140 mph) didn't read that high. True? I don't know, but it's sure a good story!
In 58 when Freemont dragstrip opened the first car officially through the lights was a Dodge CHP. turned about 86 MPH. In 55 or 56, My oldest brother lived in Gustine Calif., a little west of Modesto. They had 1 (one) Police car, a brand new Ford Police Special, for 1 (one) Week. Somebody stole it!
Someone gave the FHP a Lambo some years ago. On a car show they were talking about the Al. HP AMXs, seems the front spoiler was inadequate & the front ends were "light" at max speed. One AMX was chasing a car & both had the same top speed, the AMX couldn't close & the prey couldn't get away from him. Met a guy @ a show in Ms. who had an ex Chief's early 60s Ford police car, 406 & less than 20K on it @ the time.
Earliest production one I remember was the 1956 Ford "Interceptor". Cops could get one with the 270HP twin-four barrel 312 and they'd easily reach 120. Urban Legend has it that the LA Times published an article touting this new vehicle. That challenged area lakes racers. They checked-out LA Freeways for awhile to determine LEO cruising patterns. The engine from Tom Beatty's lakester (a blown, fuel Hemi) was placed in a certain 40 coupe. Down the on-ramp she flew at about 100, right in front of a new Ford Interceptor. Interceptor catches up whereupon the 40 coupe driver lays about a 150 shot on the cop. Bye, bye! Five off-ramps later, the 40 Coupe exits - never to be seen again (trailer and tow vehicle obviously waiting there). So much for the bad-ass Interceptor! That too was reported in the LA Times.
Being marketed as the fastest police car that criminals couldnt out run doesnt that have something to do with the olds rocket slogan of the 40's?
Brodrick Crawfords Buick was the fastest police car ever built!!! I don't know what the top end was, but it could squall the tires on even a dirt road!
About 20 years ago I had a 64 Biscayne 4 dr with a 340hp 409 and transistor ign you could still read Hwy patrol on the deck lid. It also had a special speedo in it.
---------------------- A factory 'high(er)-compression' Model A "cop car head"?? Whoooo!! I'll bet that really had the 'scofflaws' and "speed demons" scared when that came out! Mart3406 ===========================
not a first but back in 76 I got a ply fury2 ex CHP ride painted green would hardly spin the tires but on the road from san migel to paso i was uncatchable the speedy said 160 I think it would have done it if I had the balls
Well It was not the 1st but, I know just how fast the Monaco 440 supertracker was, way faster than My Dads 63 Falcon 6 cyl, I know this because I tryed to out run one and could not, I did throw the Cops off track for a moment when I turned suddenly up a one way street going the wrong way, but even that was only a slight set back for the Cops and They caught Me.
I have a 56 Ford Courier that was a police ambulance. I remarked to my Dad that it was funny they ordered it with only a 272 when 312`s were available. He pointed to the 2 way radio head and said " you could outrun the car, but not the radio" It`s funny that they knew that back then but still wanted faster cruisers. My first cruiser was a 440 and never had one faster during my 20 years of driving them. Got left in the dust alot, even early 70`s with the 440, but the "radio" always caught up to them !
that was called the Buick Century. it was sold to the public. it's also the record holder for 0-60 times for American built cars in 1955
How about a slow cop car story? Many years ago I used to listen to my police scanner while tinkering around out in the garage at night. Late one night a call came over the scanner of a pursuit on the expressway. The frustrated officer evidently intent on letting his superiors know about how slow his cruiser was made this call... "I'm in pursuit of a red Ford eastbound on 264 just past the airport. I'm flat out at 110 in this Fairmont and the Ford is pulling away from me."
The 440 Dodge, the 429/460 Fords, and the 455 Olds were the fastest police cars of their time.. but technology has sure come a long way as the New Chargers, chevys and fords are just as fast as those old big blocks.. if not faster now! 0-60 times of these big old heavy boats were in the mid 6 second range, with top speeds in the 140 mph mark. 2010 police cars with there 350+ horsepower light weight cars are running low 6's to 60 and 140+ mph top speeds.
Ford built a police interceptor in '57 that I have personal knowledge of. I'm sure there were police interceptors prior to that. The ness cars were not off the shelf police cars they were beefed by a local garage.
When I was driving State Patrol cars the 66 ford 428? could take all of us up to 90 but couldn't keep cams in them. My 68 chev 427 with the air cleaner lid turned upside down then took top honors. Fast and easily buried the needle past 140. Fourdy
Georgia State Patrol in the late '50s had both Fords and Stude Golden Hawks with the Paxton superchargers that would fly.
The Roadmaster engine/Special body combination (Century) was introduced in '36 and continued through '41. It reappeared starting in '54 and ran through '57. The unique thing about the CHP cars was that they were Century 2-door sedans -- I don't think they were ever offered to the public in the '50s.
When I think fast police I generally go with Highway Patrol and their testing for pursuit vehicles. The CHP has had just about every make and they started getting truly fast in the mid fifties. The 56 Dodge with the Super Red Ram 315 ci Hemi was good for over 133 mph and equipped with the 12" x 2.5" Lockheed Center plane breaks with 8 wheel cylinders (two on each wheel) held the stopping record at I believe 28 Ft/sec squared, which stood for a long time until Mercedes came out with an AMG sedan in the mid 80's that broke it.
A bunch of us were hanging out at the local drive inn back in about 1955 trading barbs with the local Cop driving a six cylinder Ford telling him it wouldn't catch a trash truck and he held up his radio michrophone and said none of us could outrun a Motorola.
Back in the mid 80's I worked at the LAPD central garage and the fastest cars we had were old 401 Matadors. The Matadors were mostly out of service but kept at the Terminal Island training center & used for training new cops. A few commanders had wagons that were still in actual service. No power brakes or steering and they were very fast.
I believe the fastest cop car of all time (prior to the Supercars) was a 1967 Mercury Capri with a factory Dual Quad 425hp 427 and a 4spd. 3000lbs of PURE Muscle. It was a pleasure to own... There were 6 of them built and only the one was used for Police duty.
My dad's story, but in San Diego,1959 he and friends were hanging out at the gas station at Waring Road and Twain Ave. A 59 Ford 300 Custom cop car came flying down the road, hit the corner hard and punched it. He laid a good 50 feet of rubber... unreal back then. Sometime later they were out at an abandoned air base (Hourglass Field) racing. The same cop stopped by to make sure nobody was doing anything illegal and got talking to the kids. Said he had a 352 Police Intercepter. There was a guy there who had just dropped a built 352 in his '56 F100 and after egging the cop on for some time he lined up with the truck. They ran side by side, but the truck finally pulled him. The cop turned off at the end and headed off the field.
This maybe a little strange to you guys in the U.S. but in the early 60s in Ontrio, Canada cops were using Pontiac Lauretians with 409s and in the mid 60s in Oshawa Ontario they had Pontiac Beaumont 4 door Super Duties with 396s and 427s. In Toronto in the early 70s the Toronto police had a Shelby Mustang 500KR that they used to bust street racers and it ended up crashing down a huge ravine unfortunately killing the officer. Oh and the Buick Century 2 door sedan deal was a Canadian car available to the public. The Buick plant in Oshawa apparently had one chasis line only so the special/century with 322 was developed as a way to meet requirements of the auto pact agreement. The auto pact is why Canada had it's own distinct makes and models like Fargo, Merc pick ups, Pontiacs with chevy engines, Fords with Merc dashes and funky trim known as Mteors etc.
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