The books
Five volumes covering the American police vehicle from 1899 to the present. Each one stands on its own, and they can be read in any order.
These are ebooks — EPUB and print-quality PDF, delivered by email. They exist because the films can only hold eighteen minutes, and because almost nobody wrote this history down at the time. Police cars were tools. A department bought one, worked it until it failed, and sold what was left to a taxi company or a wrecking yard. The specifications, the option codes, the purchasing decisions and the experience of the men who drove them were rarely recorded at all.
Every claim in every volume is checked against two independent sources, hedged in the text, or cut. Where the record disagrees with itself, the books say so rather than picking the tidiest version. Corrections — including to our own earlier work — are published rather than quietly made, and every buyer receives every later edition of their volume free.
Available now
The Golden Age
The American Police Car · 1946–1978
Available nowThe thirty-two years in which the police car became a purpose-built machine, and then stopped being one. The invention of the factory police package in 1950, the Chrysler dynasty, the arrival of traffic radar, what eight hours inside one was actually like, where the black-and-white came from, and the emissions collapse that ended it.
In preparation
In preparation
Horses to Horsepower
1899–1945
In preparationThe forty years in which the police could not catch anyone. From the first motor patrols and the bicycle squads, through Prohibition and the bootleggers who out-ran the law, to the wartime fleet that was worked past the point of repair because no replacements were being built.
In preparation
Downsized
1979–2000
In preparationRock bottom and the slow recovery. The Mustang pursuit cars, the Diplomat and the Gran Fury, the arrival of the Chevrolet Caprice 9C1, and the beginning of the Crown Victoria’s long reign over American policing.
In preparation
The Last American Sedan
2001–present
In preparationThe Charger, the Caprice PPV, the SUV takeover, and the end of the patrol sedan as the default American police vehicle.
In preparation
The Field Guide
All eras
In preparationThe reference volume: engine codes, option packages, a glossary, and a marque-by-marque guide to identifying and authenticating American police vehicles from any era in the series.
Buying one does not commit you to anything. Each volume is a separate purchase and each stands on its own. There is no subscription and no bundle you have to sign up for.