The first police car I drove was a '73 Matador. I even remember the Shop #. It was 731. 731 was the fastest unit our department had at the time. I think it met an untimely demise when two other officers were responding to a burglary in progress. 731 and the other unit met at an intersection at the same time, one traveling north and the other west, I think. Anyway, it was "0-dark thiry" and they were both responding blacked out. Both units were totaled but thankfully both officers received only minor injuries. So ends todays history lesson. Department name withheld intentionally.

My former Chief was a retired L.A.P.D. detective Sgt. He told me that those old "Growler" sirens would "Growl" when the cars were on the freeway at freeway speeds. To combat this annoyance, at the beginning of the shift the officer's would take the prior days "Hot sheet", fold it up and jam it into the grate over the stator. This would stop the sound from bugging the officers. You had to remember what you did before you turned on the siren, otherwise the siren became a large confetti machine and the brass took a dim view of police cars spreading confetti. Just trivia, Gents!

I'm not sure if this year model had those awful automatic seatbelts, but I hated those things. If you weren't careful, and you closed the drivers door and had your head in any other position other than level on your shoulders, the automatic seat-belt would try to remove it for you. Just some amuzing memories.

Weren't they using blue and red lightbar ? in the seventies ?
Davide Italy
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This picture is from 1972. CHP didn't add the blue lights until late 1973.

Greg
copcar dot com

this car is old and nice
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Actually, the car was brand new when the photo was taken. It's the PICTURE that's old.

Greg
copcar dot com

Nice car they should still use police cars like this

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Have you actually ever DRIVEN an old beater motor pool car that's still in service? With most big city police departments, you put your life in your hands in a squad car that's more than about 4 years old. By then they're so worn out they're unsafe to drive around the block- let alone around town for 8 hours on a tour of duty.

Greg
Chicago PD and
copcar dot com

In checking my reference books, I think that this car is a 1942 or 1946 Chevrolet Fleetmaster Aerosedan. 42's and 46's were essentially the same car, as production was interuppted by WWII.

Not that it really matters, but this Toyota was American made in Fremont, CA. Toyota donated several trucks to agencies in that time period.

I thought that your site had said earlier on that it was CA state law for all police vehicles to have white doors? I can see all the other cars do but this one doesn't. Still, it looks much better this way.

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I think you are mistaken.

Dave

i'm disappointed the lapd doesn't(or didn't) use american pick-up trucks. they'd probably take more than this toyota.
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How do you know what this truck can or can not take? Maybe it was part of a grant, donated by a dealer or a confiscated vehicle? A city would be foolish to say no to a free vehicle.

Greg
copcar dot com

How do those guys stay awake?

Red Bluff had one like this in a burgendy scheme

The license plate on this car was first used in 1988, which would mean when this photo was taken this car was over ten years old.

Emergency vehicles in California are required one non-flashing red light to the front and a flashing amber light to the rear. This vehicle probably followed CHP pattern and the red spot was just that...a steady red front.

Pretty damn good...
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Actually, as far as being an accurate restoration, this car doesn't come close. This is an upscale trim level Fairlane or Galaxie. Neither were offered in a police car. To be closer to correct, this should be a base model Custom 300, which had an entirely different roofline over the rear window.

Greg
copcar dot com

Obviously this one was still around in the 80's.

Super car ! This is a likeness of the car Malloy and Reed used in the final three years of the Adam-12 series and is my top favorite of all !

Did that red spotlight flash?

Greg,

That's Belmont Police, CA, and yes it's an ex-Hertz car. That's all they bought at the time. Any white four door sedan qualified. I worked there at the time. We had two Montegos like this, two LTD II's and one of them had a sunroof, the other had a vinyl roof (white), 2 Fairmonts, 2 Zephyrs, one Monarch and one Granada. AND, they weren't slow, the city yard chopped the catalytic converters off, ran straight pipes, and they were quicker than the Aspens and St. Regises. Like they were hard to beat anyway.

I think it is 74-75. I seem to recall that the early Matador's like the one on Adam-12 had "Matador" in a cursive type of name plate. The name plate on the station is more of a print. Plus, the front bumper is further away from the body of the car. The Adam-12 Matador bumper seemed to blend in better with the body.