Grzegorz Posted October 10, 2019 Posted October 10, 2019 Present Dodge Polara, built as a California highway patrol car.
Jim N Posted October 11, 2019 Posted October 11, 2019 Another great looking build. You turn out great work!
Carmak Posted October 14, 2019 Posted October 14, 2019 That is a very nice build! One very unique detail for CHP squad cars was that California required the steering wheel to be white.This is true even for car where a white steering wheel was not an option, the CHP contract was so large that a batch of white wheels would be made just for the California squad cars.
Rodent Posted October 14, 2019 Posted October 14, 2019 1 hour ago, Carmak said: That is a very nice build! One very unique detail for CHP squad cars was that California required the steering wheel to be white.This is true even for car where a white steering wheel was not an option, the CHP contract was so large that a batch of white wheels would be made just for the California squad cars. Is that true? Chrysler used to put white steering wheels in manual steering cars, and CHP didn't order power steering until 74 or so. I didn't think that CHP wanted white wheels, it was just that they came with manual steering. Mopar nerds latched on to the fact that the LAPD cars used in Adam-12 had power steering because they didn't have the white steering wheel.
Grzegorz Posted October 15, 2019 Author Posted October 15, 2019 On 10/14/2019 at 5:49 AM, Rodent said: Is that true? Chrysler used to put white steering wheels in manual steering cars, and CHP didn't order power steering until 74 or so. I didn't think that CHP wanted white wheels, it was just that they came with manual steering. Mopar nerds latched on to the fact that the LAPD cars used in Adam-12 had power steering because they didn't have the white steering wheel. interesting, in the next chp car this will change.Thanks
Agent G Posted October 15, 2019 Posted October 15, 2019 Astounding build sir! CHP specified "ivory" colored steering wheels and spotlight handles for decades. When the now common "padded" wheel made it's debut, the highway patrol dropped the spec from it's orders. When you purchase 1500 cars twice or three times a year, every year, for decades, you get what you want. G
Mike999 Posted October 15, 2019 Posted October 15, 2019 37 minutes ago, Agent G said: When you purchase 1500 cars twice or three times a year, every year, for decades, you get what you want. Or sometimes when you purchase a lot less. Like the unhappy CHP experiment in 1955, when it bought Buicks for the first (and last) time. Buick only built either 268 or 270 of its Model 68, for the CHP only. Those cars were never sold to the public. They were basically factory-built hot rods. Buick took the back end of the Special 2-door "post" sedan and added the front end of the Century (with 4 portholes). Along with the Century's 322 ci/236 hp engine, a big boost from the Special's 264ci/188-hp. The hot-rodded Buicks would go very well, hitting a measured top speed of 108 mph. Stopping was the problem, even though they were equipped with the biggest Roadmaster drum brakes. CHP road testers reported that hauling the big Buick down from high speed was downright scary. The brakes faded quickly and in some cases outright failed. Transmissions were another headache. Half the Buicks were built with automatics and half with manual 3-speeds. The CHP discovered the manual trans was not a good idea; drivers liked to run them up to about 70 mph in second gear. That is a great build. The front view of the model reminds me of being in SoCal in the early 70's. On the freeway, seeing that big Dodge grille in the rear-view mirror always brought my foot off the gas pedal immediately. Even though the Dodge often turned out to be a driver-training car from a local high school.
Grzegorz Posted October 16, 2019 Author Posted October 16, 2019 17 hours ago, Mike999 said: Or sometimes when you purchase a lot less. Like the unhappy CHP experiment in 1955, when it bought Buicks for the first (and last) time. Buick only built either 268 or 270 of its Model 68, for the CHP only. Those cars were never sold to the public. They were basically factory-built hot rods. Buick took the back end of the Special 2-door "post" sedan and added the front end of the Century (with 4 portholes). Along with the Century's 322 ci/236 hp engine, a big boost from the Special's 264ci/188-hp. The hot-rodded Buicks would go very well, hitting a measured top speed of 108 mph. Stopping was the problem, even though they were equipped with the biggest Roadmaster drum brakes. CHP road testers reported that hauling the big Buick down from high speed was downright scary. The brakes faded quickly and in some cases outright failed. Transmissions were another headache. Half the Buicks were built with automatics and half with manual 3-speeds. The CHP discovered the manual trans was not a good idea; drivers liked to run them up to about 70 mph in second gear. That is a great build. The front view of the model reminds me of being in SoCal in the early 70's. On the freeway, seeing that big Dodge grille in the rear-view mirror always brought my foot off the gas pedal immediately. Even though the Dodge often turned out to be a driver-training car from a local high school. In the '70s, was the white steering wheel specification still in use ? Thanks
Agent G Posted October 18, 2019 Posted October 18, 2019 On 10/16/2019 at 12:17 AM, Grzegorz said: In the '70s, was the white steering wheel specification still in use ? Thanks It was still the norm until 1974 with the appearance of power steering. G
Shambles Posted October 18, 2019 Posted October 18, 2019 Cool build. I think I built one of those way back when. It probably crashed like so many of my models did.
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