The Police Unity Tour passed through my town yesterday, and for the first time, it included a vintage police car.
… and Dodges, plus an Oldsmobile and a Mercury.
That '58 was one ugly piece of junk.
The 58 Impala had 4 wheel drum brakes wholly inadequate for the weight of the car. They were carried over from the lighter 55 to 57 Chevys while the 58 weighed a couple hundred pounds more.
Watching 1950s and early 60s police shows with car scenes, it is shocking how much body roll and brake dive the cars had.
+1
I know that GM had “export suspensions” that they made standard equipment on cars that they exported to Europe (possibly to other continents, as well) back in those days, simply because Europeans wouldn’t tolerate the marshmallow suspension that was typical of GM’s cars. It’s very likely that the other US car makers did something similar with their export models.
But, even with an “export suspension”, brake dive would probably also be severe, given the geometry of front-end suspensions back in “The Good Old Days”.
But @Old-Days-Rick will insist those old cars are better all around
Yeah, and how do they keep the cars from stalling with the extreme nose dive when turning. That has to drain the carburetor.
Maybe your cars were different than the ones that I drove back in the '60s, but it seemed that most of the ones that I drove did “stall”–at least occasionally. I haven’t had a car that stalled since the advent of fuel injection.
This happened when I drove my mom’s 1964 Cadillac, and only when turning. Odd that it most reliably happened at the end of our street, turning right. While I typically drove that car with two toes through the floorboard, that really wasn’t possible on our short residential road.
I think that it is unlikely Hollywood police specials for films. I am not sure when police specials were offered by the Big 3 with heavy duty springs and shocks.
Edit: Ford officially started making police specials in 1950 and the other Big 3 started shortly after. Police bought Ford Model Ts, As and the V8 Bs all along but it was set up as a business unit in 1950.
During the The Andy Griffith Show filming’s, the Sheriff’s Police Cruiser was not a “Police Special” as they were sold to the general public at the end of the season, but Ford and Hollywood got its money’s worth…
The Ford Motor Company provided the police cruisers for The Andy Griffith Show (often referred to as Mayberry RFD or Andy of Mayberry) as an official sponsor. A new Ford Galaxie squad car was supplied for free every season, with the old model returned to a local dealer to be sold after the new model arrived.
Those used in police procedurals or other television shows and movies had cars supplied to them by the manufacturer. They were nothing more than stock models painted to appear as police vehicles. Low-cost marketing for the Auto manufacturer and free to the television production company.
Yup
“Product placement”
One reason why Dodge and Plymouth developed an edge over GM and Ford on fleet sales to law enforcement agencies. You couldn’t beat the combo of torsion bars in front and leaf springs in the rear for control of brake dive and body roll.
It didn’t really matter, because they were both owned by Pepsico at that time. In 1997, they were spun-off (along with KFC) when Tricon Global Restaurants was formed. In 2003, that entity was renamed as “Yum!” corp, and I’ve been a shareholder of Pepsico (and subsequently the others) since 1992, so I’ve witnessed all of their product placement since then.
That was a TERRIBLE movie, imo