139 replies to this topic

[Agent G]

Funny story!

In the 70's we ordered cars that came in various colors, but we added the same graphics to all.

Sometime I'll tell you the story of a failed experiment, baby blue Ford Fairmonts......................................

I want to add to my previous post, that when we changed graphics, the new design was implemented on a new fleet. Old cars were never retrofitted with new graphics unless the car was completely repainted due to damage. We usually bought 50-100 cars at a time.

Now this meant we had several different sets of graphics at one time. Our cars really didn't last long enough, so the good citizens weren't totally confused.

Tradition abounds!

St Louis has used the same unique badge since 1937, the uniform dates to just after the 1904 World's fair.

G

[2000-cvpi]

I would've drove that baby blue Ford, and made it look good.

[Aaronw]

The San Francisco PD has used the same markings from the beginning, a blue and gold 7 point star with SFPD on mostly black & white cars (dark blue or black into the 1940s). Except for a period 1975 to 80 under an unpopular chief.

Under Chief Charles Gain the markings changed to a simple city seal with Police Services in block letters, and the cars went from black & white to baby blue and white. There are photos floating around of Pintos and Novas in these markings as well as more traditional cruisers.

He was the Police Chief across the bay in Oakland, CA 1967-73. He made similar changes but more restrained while in Oakland. He changed the color of the cars from black and white to a light tan and white, but left the markings alone. Oakland has many large parks, and the city used to have a seperate park police division complete with light green and white patrol cars.

[Danno]

Green and white is unique! But then, the Border Patrol would be jealous.

[martinfan5]

That was a funny story Dan, so no one wanted to drive or buy a baby blue sedan , cant say I blame them

[1972coronet]

Two words regarding California-spec police cars in the 70's :

1.) Jerry
2.) Brown

'Nuff said ...

[Agent G]

John I was stationed at MCAS Yuma in the mid-late 70's. I had picked up a cherry '76 RoadRunner in Orange just prior to the move. The car had a 360, 2000+ original miles, and should have moved out quite well. It was however a Cali CARB certified POS. I have to say it was one of the slowest cars I ever owned.

G

[bigphoto]

Interesting!!   

 

http://books.google....es 1970&f=false

[Draggon]

Holy Carp, a Cyclone Cop Car!

[Colonel32]

So, apart of the 1970 Ford, are there any old police cars available? There is a 1978 Dodge 4door thanks to Dukes of Hazzard. Would it be possible to build that car with decals and equipment from 1970 Ford Interceptor, or is that car too new for that equipment? I have also seen 1968 Plymouth Fury by Jo-Han, but I think that 75usd for a plastic car is little too much. Any idea if there is a chance of reissue? Or any other suggestions?

[2000-cvpi]

It depends on how old you are looking for. Lindberg makes a 1996/7 Crown Victoria police car, they are very outdated here in Michigan. They can be bought very cheap for a model these days.

Johan is pretty much out of business, they won't be releasing the 1968 again.

[2000-cvpi]

So, apart of the 1970 Ford, are there any old police cars available? There is a 1978 Dodge 4door thanks to Dukes of Hazzard. Would it be possible to build that car with decals and equipment from 1970 Ford Interceptor, or is that car too new for that equipment? I have also seen 1968 Plymouth Fury by Jo-Han, but I think that 75usd for a plastic car is little too much. Any idea if there is a chance of reissue? Or any other suggestions?

I would think that most, if not all of the 1970 Ford police parts would look ok in the 1978 dukes of hazard police car.

[Agent G]

Little of the radio equipment changed until the mid to late eighties with the advent of digital trunking systems. Radar units progressed a bit, but that was mostly internal. Shotguns were the same.  

 

G

Edited by Agent G, 25 December 2012 - 02:05 PM.

[Plasticfanatic]

I got a few days ago the Missing Link Co. 1978 Ford LTD four door resin transkit wich use the AMT/ reissues 1970 Ford Interceptor for chassis,engine and police equipment. Very nice kit and of a body style I always liked very much, highly recomend this resin kit and Kevin at Missing Link is a great guy to deal with.

[Colonel32]

Ok, thanks for the current insight, lets clear some things out:

 

- I am looking for police cars from the 70's, the golden era of car chase movies (like 1972 Polara from Dirty Mary Crazy Larry or 1970 Coronet 440 from Gone in 60 seconds, Vanishing Point) and I was quite amazed that these iconic cars are nowhere to be found even as resins, so I thought why bother with resins and stick with the original cars that are available for the beginning. So that's a no to those 1994 Crown Victorias.

 

- yes, I kind of found out that Jo-Han is out of bussines, but I assume that the molds still exist. I do not fully understand the ownership behind round2models, but couldn't they purchase the molds or rights to release few sets unter their brand?

 

- is there any way how could we (the modellers) convince the resin makers to make a certain car? I have seen many "Vanishing Point" Challengers, so is it just me who would like to build authentic police cars to acompany it? 

[niteowl7710]

- The three existing model kits from the era you want are the JoHan '68 Dodge (which would have still been used into the early 70's), the '70 Ford and '78 Dodge Monaco.  That's it. End of Story.  Modelhaus offers a resin '70 Coronet 4 door which is $60 for the partial and $92 for the complete kit.

 

- The molds for the '68 Dodge are questionable, and probably are not complete.  There were a lot of plans for these kits when Oakey bought everything, but in the end all of the "new" JoHan kits were just old stock parts with vacuformed clear windows and a newly done decal sheet.  The instruction sheet makes reference to the fact the molds were not complete when Oakey got them, so it's probably Slim to None that you'll ever see them again with Slim having left town.

 

- The short answer is No.  While you might be able to "convince" someone to cast something in resin if you can prove the item would be profitable, which might require you to buy an entire "run" of them to guarantee said profit.  But that goes into another kettle of fish.  Who's going to build the "Master" kit that the resin copies would be copied from?  People like Modelhaus, Missing Link, Motor City Resin Casters, and others have been producing resin kits that are borderline (if not in some cases better) model kit quality.  That makes that master model have to be borderline perfect to begin with so that the copies will be of high quality.

[Colonel32]

Thanks for the 1970 Coronet tip, I didn't know about that one. But it comes even more expensive the the originally mentioned Jo-Han Fury.

 

In my opinion, we are soon about to experience a new era of resin modeling - you just take pictures of the body with a 3D camera, make a computer model, cut off the unnecessary parts and voila, the body comes right out of a 3D printer. You just polish it a little (or not even that, in case the printer is really good) and you can start making resin copies right away.  

[Rob Hall]

I got a few days ago the Missing Link Co. 1978 Ford LTD four door resin transkit wich use the AMT/ reissues 1970 Ford Interceptor for chassis,engine and police equipment. Very nice kit and of a body style I always liked very much, highly recomend this resin kit and Kevin at Missing Link is a great guy to deal with.

 

It's very nice...as is the Missing Link '71 Galaxie 4dr and '75/76 Fury.    Other available resin kits that would make good '70s police builds are the Modelhaus '70 Coronet, '72 Ford Custom, and '75 Impala...all 4drs I have all of these, but plan to build them as stock sedans. 

Edited by Rob Hall, 26 December 2012 - 07:16 AM.

[charlie8575]

Motor City Resin also offers a nice '68 Fury wagon, based off the Jo-Han kit. A lot of police departments had wagons for carrying equipment, evidence, etc.

 

Charlie Larkin

[Edsel-Dan]

Many times the Sargent would drive a Wagon version of the regular Cruisers.

Look at Adam-12. Mac drove the Wagon while Pete & Jim were in a sedan.

 

Though, LAPD used the Belvedere NOT Fury, Jo-HAn included LAPD decals in there kit.

 

I too wish Jo-Han still had possession of the Fury kit tooling, but most likely,as stated in

many emails & forums I have read, it was taken by former Seville employees and sold for Scrap to

make up for lost paychecks before Okey got the company.