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Researched documentaries on American police vehicles, 1899 to 1978. Every video has a full research page with its sources listed.

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The American Police Car: A Complete History

The whole story in one place, from the battery-powered wagon Akron bought in 1899 to the year the sedan lost to the sport utility, with links through to every video below.

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  • 1968

    16:55

    Eight Hours Inside An American Police Car

    Everything in the police package was there to protect the machine. Almost nothing in it was there for the man sitting in the seat for eight hours.

    , ,

  • 1972

    17:27

    The AMC Matador: The Underdog Cop Car That Beat Ford and Dodge

    The smallest, poorest automaker in America built a police car good enough to beat the giants, and then watched it become a television icon.

  • 1982

    17:27

    The Cop Car That Chased Porsches For A Living

    For thirty years an American police car meant a big four-door sedan. Then California bought 406 two-door coupes with almost no boot space.

  • 1947

    17:12

    The Day Cops Stopped Having To Chase You

    For fifty years, proving a driver was speeding meant an officer had to go that fast himself. The evidence and the danger were the same act.

  • 1969

    17:10

    The Fastest Police Car Ever Built: The 1969 Dodge Polara

    A plain four-door sedan set a police top-speed record in 1969 that survived two fuel crises, the malaise years and the entire 1990s before anything beat it.

  • 1955

    17:22

    Highway Patrol’s Fake Cop Cars: When the CHP Walked Away

    One of television’s most authentic-looking police shows lost access to real police cars halfway through its run. The substitutes are visible in every rerun.

  • 1978

    17:28

    The Plymouth Fury: The Fastest Police Sedan America Ever Built

    Plymouth dominated American police fleets and built the fastest patrol sedan ever tested. Then Ford got the credit for the formula Chrysler invented.

  • 1919

    21:45

    The Stolen Car That Built The FBI

    For fifteen years the Bureau of Investigation could barely cross a state line. What changed that was not a crime wave but a narrow law about stolen cars.

    ,

  • 1908

    20:41

    The Police Motorcycle: Killed by a Radio, Not a Faster Car

    The motorcycle arrived before the police car was practical and dominated pursuit work for decades. Then a box of vacuum tubes needed somewhere to sit.

  • 1932

    21:36

    The NYPD Fleet: The Biggest Police Fleet Never Built for the Chase

    A car capable of 130 mph was useless in Manhattan, because there was nowhere to reach it. So the largest fleet in America specified something else entirely.

    ,

  • 1951

    26:37

    The Hudson Hornet: NASCAR Champion and Forgotten Police Car

    Hudson listed its racing parts in the catalogue as police and taxi equipment. That loophole won three championships, and put a race car on a few sheriffs’ doors.

  • 1934

    19:44

    The Stolen Car Bonnie and Clyde Died In

    For two and a half years a cheap Ford V8 outran every police force in America. What finally stopped it was not a faster car, and the car was never theirs.

    ,

  • 1919

    21:45

    The Stolen Car That Built The FBI

    For fifteen years the Bureau of Investigation could barely cross a state line. What changed that was not a crime wave but a narrow law about stolen cars.

    ,

  • 1908

    20:41

    The Police Motorcycle: Killed by a Radio, Not a Faster Car

    The motorcycle arrived before the police car was practical and dominated pursuit work for decades. Then a box of vacuum tubes needed somewhere to sit.

  • 1908

    21:02

    7 Forgotten Police Cars That Built Modern American Policing

    Seven vehicles across forty-seven years turned American policing from a profession that walked into a motorised, radio-equipped institution. None are remembered.

  • The First Police Car in America

    1899

    12:57

    The First Police Cars in America: 1899-1932

    America’s first police car ran on batteries, cost more than a house, and was thrown into a canal by a mob. What followed was thirty years of losing.

  • 1932

    21:36

    The NYPD Fleet: The Biggest Police Fleet Never Built for the Chase

    A car capable of 130 mph was useless in Manhattan, because there was nowhere to reach it. So the largest fleet in America specified something else entirely.

    ,

  • 1934

    19:44

    The Stolen Car Bonnie and Clyde Died In

    For two and a half years a cheap Ford V8 outran every police force in America. What finally stopped it was not a faster car, and the car was never theirs.

    ,

  • 1920

    18:41

    Moonshine Runners vs Revenuers: How Bootleggers Founded NASCAR

    For thirty years the men hauling untaxed whiskey drove faster cars than the federal agents chasing them. Then they started racing each other for money.

  • 1947

    17:12

    The Day Cops Stopped Having To Chase You

    For fifty years, proving a driver was speeding meant an officer had to go that fast himself. The evidence and the danger were the same act.

  • 1968

    16:55

    Eight Hours Inside An American Police Car

    Everything in the police package was there to protect the machine. Almost nothing in it was there for the man sitting in the seat for eight hours.

    , ,

  • 1955

    17:22

    Highway Patrol’s Fake Cop Cars: When the CHP Walked Away

    One of television’s most authentic-looking police shows lost access to real police cars halfway through its run. The substitutes are visible in every rerun.

  • 1951

    26:37

    The Hudson Hornet: NASCAR Champion and Forgotten Police Car

    Hudson listed its racing parts in the catalogue as police and taxi equipment. That loophole won three championships, and put a race car on a few sheriffs’ doors.

  • 1950

    15:42

    How the LAPD Made the Black-and-White the American Cop Car

    The black-and-white patrol car is not an inevitable design. It was built, branded and sold to America by one police chief with editorial control over prime time.

    ,
  • Chrysler C-300

    1955

    17:03

    The Chrysler C-300: The Luxury Coupe That Forced Police to Get Fast

    A rich man’s luxury coupe became the first American car to make 300 horsepower, and within twelve months police had to invent a new kind of vehicle to catch it.

  • 1950

    11:45

    The 1950 Ford: America’s First Factory-Built Police Car

    For fifty years, every police car in America was a civilian sedan modified in a local garage. In 1950 one manufacturer changed that for good.

  • 1955

    20:47

    The 1955 Buick Model 68: The Police Car You Could Never Buy

    Buick assembled a car from three different models to win one state contract. Every documented example went to the California Highway Patrol, and nobody else.

  • 1932

    21:36

    The NYPD Fleet: The Biggest Police Fleet Never Built for the Chase

    A car capable of 130 mph was useless in Manhattan, because there was nowhere to reach it. So the largest fleet in America specified something else entirely.

    ,

  • 1950

    15:42

    How the LAPD Made the Black-and-White the American Cop Car

    The black-and-white patrol car is not an inevitable design. It was built, branded and sold to America by one police chief with editorial control over prime time.

    ,

  • 1968

    16:55

    Eight Hours Inside An American Police Car

    Everything in the police package was there to protect the machine. Almost nothing in it was there for the man sitting in the seat for eight hours.

    , ,

  • 1972

    17:27

    The AMC Matador: The Underdog Cop Car That Beat Ford and Dodge

    The smallest, poorest automaker in America built a police car good enough to beat the giants, and then watched it become a television icon.

  • 1978

    17:28

    The Plymouth Fury: The Fastest Police Sedan America Ever Built

    Plymouth dominated American police fleets and built the fastest patrol sedan ever tested. Then Ford got the credit for the formula Chrysler invented.

  • 1982

    17:27

    The Cop Car That Chased Porsches For A Living

    For thirty years an American police car meant a big four-door sedan. Then California bought 406 two-door coupes with almost no boot space.

  • 1980

    17:23

    The Dodge St. Regis: The Slowest Police Car Ever Built

    A police car that topped out at 85 mph on flat ground and 65 uphill. California dumped them within months, some without ever going on patrol.

  • 1994

    18:17

    The Chevrolet Caprice 9C1: The Sleeper That Ended the Dark Age

    Everyone says this ugly nineties Chevrolet beat the Polara’s speed record. It didn’t, quite. What it actually did is more interesting than the myth.

  • 1932

    21:36

    The NYPD Fleet: The Biggest Police Fleet Never Built for the Chase

    A car capable of 130 mph was useless in Manhattan, because there was nowhere to reach it. So the largest fleet in America specified something else entirely.

    ,

  • 1950

    15:42

    How the LAPD Made the Black-and-White the American Cop Car

    The black-and-white patrol car is not an inevitable design. It was built, branded and sold to America by one police chief with editorial control over prime time.

    ,

  • 1934

    19:44

    The Stolen Car Bonnie and Clyde Died In

    For two and a half years a cheap Ford V8 outran every police force in America. What finally stopped it was not a faster car, and the car was never theirs.

    ,