If I ask you to picture an American police car of the twentieth century, you’ll probably imagine a big Ford Crown Victoria. Maybe you’ll envision one of those Dodge Monacos with a 440 as you’d see in an episode of CHiPs or T.J. Hooker, or possibly a Caprice from any movie filmed in late eighties LA. A scant few of you might picture an AMC Matador from Adam-12 if you’re a real anorak.
My guess is that not many Autopians would visualize a Pontiac police car. I always assumed that they didn’t really exist outside of Smokey and the Bandit movies, where they simply stuck lights and stickers on Pontiac LeMans sedans that came along with the Trans Ams as part of the movie deal. In fact, for a time, the Excitement Division made a concerted effort to fill police motor pools and keep a lid on your driving excitement. Some of them were formidable enough that you’d best pull over before trying any funny stuff, so grab a Dr. Pepper and a Diablo Sandwich and read on.
You Can Barely Fit A Dozen Donuts In That Thing
Let’s face it: silly as some of the fuzz’s selections might seem, essentially any car can be a police vehicle if the jurisdiction chooses it. One odd case ski towns of Aspen and Vail, locales so costly that the doctors and lawyers needed by the community often live in subsidized housing. For decades, the choice of police cars in these snowy locales were expensive European Saabs, selected for their ability to make it through the powder.
Or, how about a Renault 5/ Le Car serving as the tiny wheels beneath the long arm of the law? I really don’t care how you slice it, but using a Le Car as a law enforcement vehicle seems like a terrible idea in so many ways. Regardless, the city of LaConner, Washington was apparently so strapped for cash in the malaise doldrums that they chose these underpowered, tiny cars as their “cruisers.”
Pontiacs of almost any kind seem better suited to cop duty than the examples above, but they’ve always been a rare sight. Surprisingly, the idea of Pontiac police machines goes back at least to when the Kansas Highway purchased a fleet in 1939. It wasn’t until the 1950s, however, that the brand began officially offering specialized heavy-duty packages for use by police departments. With beefier springs, larger-diameter brake drums, and higher-output alternators for lights and sirens, these provided an alternative to the typical Chevy/Ford/Dodge choices of the day.
You know that line from The Untouchables about them bringing a knife and you bringing a gun, or something like that? This would be the case for Pontiac as the century wore on.
It’s Got Cop Shocks, Cop Brakes …
Things started to get serious in the early sixties when Pontiac began to make its shift into the performance arena, and when you make fast cars for the public, you’d better offer something for the lawmen to keep them in line, don’t you think? Pontiac released the “Enforcer” package to agencies in a push to get serious about patrolling the streets that the brand had inadvertently turned into a playground for its civilian muscle machines. The first 1961 full-sized Enforcer models featured 389 V8s in various states of tune, delivering up to 303 horsepower. I love the Mad Men era art below, with perp nicely dressed up in raincoat and hat; I wonder what these dudes would say about people getting on airplanes today in zebra-stripe sweats, Crocs, and oversized neck pillows.
The marketing material is priceless, with simulated testimony of scofflaws unsuccessfully tried to take on the vaunted “Enforcer”:
As Pontiac and other American car makers pumped up the output of their street cars, the “Enforcer” package began to include some heavier artillery. For 1963, you could get a 421 cubic inch V8 with Pontiac’s “Tri Power” system of three two-barrel carbs producing 375 horsepower.
Pontiac offered smaller police vehicles as well, including this likely-more-maneuverable 1965 Tempest. Note that the top motor for the mid-sized cop car was still a 326 cubic inch V8, despite the fact that Mr. John Delorean had successfully stuffed a 389 into a Tempest coupe the year before.
The “Tri Power” setup was soon replaced with a much simpler four-barrel carburetor that was probably the size of a Panera bread bowl. Bored out to 428 cubic inches, the big Pontiac 8 still produced the same fabled 375 horses as before in this 1967 example below:
Forget “Wide Track”: look at how skinny those tires are! I bet they aren’t even radials. No wonder the cops inside are wearing helmets.
Pontiac fought hard after the dawn of emission controls in the late sixties to maintain as much power output as possible to stop those who were breaking the law (breaking the law, breaking the law) The new-for-1971 Pontiac Catalina could be had with one of three police packages: the “Light Duty,” the “Highway Enforcer,” and the top of the heap “Freeway Enforcer” (I thought “highway” and “freeway” were the same thing?) with a 455 cubic inch V8 making a solid 325 horsepower and a stump-pulling 500 foot pounds of torque. Here’s an example that was discovered after years in hiding:
There’s a reason you likely haven’t seen one of these. Sales of the Light Duty package were only 128 cars, and the Highway Enforcer only sold 130 copies. The “Freeway Enforcer”? A mere 28 examples made their way to the freeways, making one wonder why Pontiac even bothered.
Such low sales really make you wonder why Pontiac not only persisted in producing Enforcers but made a pretty solid push to market them, including one of the most well-known media appearances of cop cars ever.
I’m Gonna Barbeque Your…
Let’s be honest: the greatest unsung hero of the iconic and now-very-politically-incorrect Smokey and the Bandit wasn’t Sally Field, the awesome Jerry Reid, or even his dog Fred: it was the plethora of 1977 Pontiac LeMans cop cars throughout the film.
Was this an early example of product placement? It might very well have been.
This thing features in essentially half of the movie, particularly the Brentwood Brown one that Jackie Gleason’s character drives, which gets turned into a convertible without a driver’s door by the end.
Based on the marketing material I found, Pontiac continued its efforts to get more of municipal budgets through the mid-seventies. One of the hidden hot rods was their police editions of the compact “X” bodies, in this case, Pontiac’s version of Chevy Nova called the Ventura:
Oddly enough, the “full sized” Catalina for 1977 had been downsized to the point where it was essentially the same size and weight as the Colonnade LeMans.
However, the bread-and-butter of the Police lineup was the Enforcer based on the mid-sized Colonnade LeMans.
It’s the LeMans that we know of because of its appearance in the silly Burt Reynolds flick. According to almost all the sources that I’ve read, these cars were indeed all actual Enforcer models with the 200-horsepower 400 V8 (yup, that’s all you got in 1977) to assist in doing stunts and keep up with the Trans Am that (surprise) had the same motor under the screaming chicken. The ones in the flick certainly take some major abuse and keep going.
At the time, we didn’t know that this would be the last appearance of an official mid-sized Pontiac cruiser ever. With the end of the Colonnade line, the LeMans police car became a thing of the past.
Little did we know that any Pontiac cop car would soon be but a memory.
Pontiac Hangs Em’ Up
As much as General Motors never seemed to mind the internal competition between their brands, by the end of the Disco Decade, they appeared to have grown tired of their nameplates fighting for sales in the law enforcement market. The 1978 model year was the last that Pontiac would offer official police vehicles.
The downsized Catalina was unchanged from the year before. With the available 400 cubic inch four-barrel V8 and a lighter weight than the old Catalina or even possibly the Colonnade, it must have been a sleeper that didn’t drive that badly at all.
The “light duty” Ventura had become the facelifted Phoenix, and with the four-barrel 350, it must have been amusing to drive for a malaise era car at least.
After this, GM decided to make Chevrolet the sole provider of cop cars to take on Mopar and Ford. This certainly seems like it was a smart business decision, but a sad one when you consider the fearsome examples that came before.
It goes without saying that the Pontiac police cars you see on the screen after 1978 are indeed fakes, including the ones in the lamentable Smokey and the Bandit II, which were 1980 LeMans sedans reportedly destined for rental car duty but accidentally ordered without air conditioning for Arizona. As essentially useless sheet metal, they proved to be excellent car crash fodder.
There is one other well-documented case of Pontiacs being used for police duty. In Catoosa County, Georgia, Sheriff J.D. Stewart purchased 12 Trans Ams between 1978 and 1981, which were white with red interiors and featured 4-speed manual transmissions and omitted the A/C. Modified with radios, sirens, and blue dash lights, a surviving example is being restored now, and you can read the story about it here.
That’s a fitting final note to the Pontiac police story. Not every make and model of car seems worthy of this duty, but with wild tri-power Pontiacs and Ram Air GTOs roaming the streets, it only seemed fair that “the law” had the scales balanced in their favor. On second thought, maybe we lead-footed drivers should be happy that there weren’t a lot more of them before Pontiac went away for good. I’ve seen examples of Holden-based Pontiac G8 police cars that never came to be: talk about dodging a bullet.
Pontiac Points: 66 / 100 (1977 LeMans Enforcer)
Verdict: Not a great police car (or car in general), but as much power as the same-year Trans Am. Put the evidence in the car, boy!
Top graphic image: General Motors
I’ve seen examples of Holden-based Pontiac G8 police cars
Down here in the Great Southern Land that sort of thing was standard fare. Local beat would get 6 cylinder Commodores or Falcons, but Highway Patrol (who could go on Freeways as well!!) would get the V8s.
The real story behind the last NSW Police Highway Patrol Holden Commodores
They would be both marked and unmarked. Since the demise of local manufacturing it’s been a hotch potch of marques filling the void, but Highway Patrol these days tends to be BMW 5 series (at least in my state).
I vaguely remember briefly entertaining buying an ex-cop Commodore early in my car career, but the interior needed a lot of repair given all the police doodads that had been removed, and there was near enough no doubt the thing had been flogged.
I’ve always wondered why Cops in our Australian Cities would get around in Commodores rather than something smaller and nimbler. But I guess the interior room is a big part of it being all the equipment. I do see a fair few Camrys which should be enough oomph for most policing.. I understand the need for a bit more more power for the open road.
The paddy wagon however seems to be a particularly Australian invention!
Now THIS is a car you need to review
The first Pontiac police car I can remember seeing was in the under rated car chase movie, “Fear is the Key.”
So quaint. How did we from this to end up with urban assault vehicles and ICE troop carriers?
Automakers mostly stopped making cars and giant trucks and SUVs sort of just look like that now
Back in the sixties Pontiac supplied chassis for “professional cars” as an alternative to Cadillac. These were mostly ambulances and there was kerfuffle a few years ago about an ambulance claimed to have carried JFK.
For odd police cars, there were a,few Audi 4000 Quattro cop cars in the mid 80s, and the,British used Triumph Spitfires for a while
The “Tri Power” setup was soon replaced with a much simpler four-barrel carburetor that was probably the size of a Panera bread bowl.
Not sure what size bead bowls y’all are getting over there, but I’m betting the carb was a good 1.7 Panera BB.
Also the LeCar got me thinking, what if that was the route police cars took?
Rather than getting faster and faster, they just got smaller and slower?
Would the results really differ? seems like they need electronic and other means to stop chases like road block and overwhelming number of cars. Seems like a massive fleet of LeCars would be safer in the aggregate.
They spend more time sitting around idling and going on doughnut runs than high speed chases. The R5 LeCar would have served just fine, except for their fragile egos. One could only imagine what the public could have saved with a more fuel efficient fleet.
I wasn’t going to get too snarky, but yeah, ego and “because we’re the law” probably factors more than need. I mean, I can see in cases of highway patrol, where you might actually have to cover a long distance in a hurry. If a cop coming to write up my robbery or an accident showed up in a Focus vs. an Explorer or a Challenger, why would I care?
We won’t even start on the motorcycle cops here with machineguns strapped to their saddle bags.
I know of a police department outside Philadelphia that bought a bunch of Smart ForTwos, not as patrol cars, but as court/errand cars. Thinking was, don’t tie up a marked Crown Vic if an officer just has to spend the day at the courthouse or running something to the crime lab, etc. Some departments just buy ordinary cheap used cars for that or use older patrol cars that get stripped down
Years ago, NYC used inline 6 equipped Chevy Biscanes and Ford Customs. The reasoning being, the streets are narrow and crowded. You don’t need a 120 mph V8 to go 45mph in a pursuit in town. Even now, they use Camrys, Prius, Fusion and other pedestrian vehicles w/ a few Taurus pursuit & Charger pursuits.
You’d think the whole Pontiac “wider is better” ethos would have been a huge hit with law enforcement. Plenty of room for equipment and donut enhanced waistlines.
Pontiacs weren’t any wider than other GM vehicles of the same year, the wide track thing was about pushing the wheels themselves a little further out to visually balance the wider car bodies that had come in during the 1950s. They had been keeping the track the same as the bodies got wider, it eventually started to look awkward
“Highway” is any road with a route number. “freeway” is a limited access highway like an interstate
Parkway are where you drive, and driveways are where you park.
Freeways also do not require a toll (hence “free”), and are generally taxpayer-funded.
All freeways are highways, but not all highways are freeways.
Like how all blueberries are blue but not all blue berries are blueberries
seems like I saw a few Highway patrol cars in the 90’s and early aughts rolling in Trans Ams, or the Formula Firebirds in cop livery.
Believe it or not, the City of Pittsburgh PD used Pontiac Bonnevilles as their standard cruisers when I came here for college in 1990. This would be the 8th generation model, the H-body shared with the LeSabre and 88. They continued to buy them through the mid-’90s with the 9th generation. Most likely they were all running versions of the good old 3800.
Some time in the early Aughts they started using more typical sedans—Tauri I think?–and of course now it’s all Explorers with bull bars. But I truly appreciated that they chose vehicles much more appropriate for city streets than the big cruisers I was used to in my HS days in north Jersey.
Interestingly, in Striking Distance, the not-great Bruce Willis cop movie made here in 1991, the cop cars have the correct livery (and they used real example of locals garbage trucks & buses), but they’re all Caprices.
Don’t you dare speak poorly about “Striking Distance”!
I had never been to Pittsburgh in my youth, but I remember them fondly from watching period episodes of Cops.
You want early add placement. Adam 12 made a deal with AMC. One episode had one of the primary guys going on about his new Javelin for about 5 minutes…
Don’t you dare speak poorly about my Javelin!
My AMX eats your Javelin for breakfast. You MOPAR trader! 🙂
Once upon a time, North Conway, NH had Volvo police cars. Something to do with the Volvo sponsored tennis tournaments that were played there from 75 through 84.
Volvo also provides (or did?) police vehicles for Berkeley County, South Carolina, where their factory is.
“so grab a Dr. Pepper and a Diablo Sandwich and read on.”
“Hushpuppies, daddy!”
We got no time for that crap!
(I use this phrase almost daily, including the arm wave.)
That 1967 ad “That’s all he needs…except maybe a tankful of gas once in a while…”
Understatement of the year, that. With 428 cubic inches and a 4-barrel carb pushing a pre-downsizing full size car, the gas gauge probably dropped as fast as the certified speedo climbed.
A better topline for the ad would’ve been:
“If he had to buy his own gas, this would be a Volkswagen.”
My dad’s first ticket came from one of those Catoosa County T/A’s. Real full circle moment when my son got to sit in the restored one at a local show not too long ago.
I dug deeper and the late sheriff has a Trans Am on his gravestone! Pretty cool story.
I know what he’s driving in that Great Burnout Box in the Sky!
Putting Dirty Harry Callahan in a Pontiac for the movie The Enforcer (1976) was a real missed opportunity.
A friend had an ex-CHP AMC Matador with the 401. It had a device under the hood that made it slower, may have been trying to save gas. A genuine dog, but roomy.
There was a Firebird police car in the opening scene of The Cannonball Run also.
Except no one noticed, because of the Countach.
it was a square headlight version as well. 1979 -1980
Growing up in Maine in the 70’s/80’s i recall a few police departments selected a few quirky patrol cars. Waterville and Augusta used Volvos and at least one other city used Subarus (the 80’s GLs). State Troopers ran unmarked Z-28’s in the 90’s.
The City of Falls Church, VA, in the Washington DC area had Volvo 240’s in the PD in the 80’s. Probably influenced by the successful long-standing local Volvo dealer. For awhile the City had the highest per capita PhD’s of any US municipality, so it tracks that Volvos were popular, especially in the 80’s.
And in front of the Volvo dealer was statue depicting a farmer feeding pigs. True story.
The showroom moved a block or two but last I remember, and per StreetView, it’s still there.
I do not want to get stuffed into the back seat of a police Z-28. That alone would be enough deterrence to avoid speeding in that area.
The Pennsylvania State Police bought a bunch of diesel Volkswagen Rabbits in the 1980s. They probably weren’t any slower than the R-body Dodge St. Regis, in all reality
Where I grew up, it was the Plymouth Fury that was everywhere as a cop car. We got so we knew all the various head light/parking light combinations so we could tell if it was a cop car following us at night.
Boy are some of those some of those some oooogly looking cars
Perhaps this is why Roy Scheider’s NYPD detective drives a Ventura Sprint in anger during the criminally underrated 70s sideways sequel to the French Connection, The Seven Ups.
Also, Bishop’s use of “anorak” is fascinating, as that’s a very uncommon phrase here in the states. 🙂
Just did a search. Wikipedia says is a British slang term which refers to a person who has a very strong interest, perhaps obsessive, in niche subjects.
AI says is a durable, waterproof, or wind-resistant hooded pullover jacket designed for outdoor activities.
AI fails yet again.
Much as I hate to give AI credit, it’s also not wrong.
Brits started calling railfans “anoraks” because they wore those exact big rain jackets to stand outside in horrible weather and look at trains.
Both are true
Both definitions are correct, it depends on the context.
Yes, it’s a British term and it’s hard to find an American one that really fits that description so well.
I doubt anyone would have been offended by “nerd”
Just watched that again a few evenings ago. Great film.
To me, the chase is just as good as the better-known ones, and likewise is technically pretty impressive – how many movie chases have ever gone through lower Manhattan?
anorak threw me for a loop, I thought I was well versed in UK slang, but I had to google that one.
“look at how skinny those tires are! I bet they aren’t even radials.”
Considering the first American car to offer radial tires as an option was the 1970 Lincoln Continental Mark III – I’m certain that 1967 Pontiac was not on radials.
Highway. Freeway. Expressway. …discuss!
There are no “Freeways” in Japan.
Because they all charge tolls.
Which is why they are called “Expressways”.
Even when traffic is at a standstill.
To me highways I would says are normally like something like Route 66, Route 30 out by me normally 55-60 mph. Freeway is the interstates like i80, i55, i65 ect ect and expressway is just a freeway with tolls.
“…expressway is just a freeway with tolls.”
Unless it’s in Pennsylvania.
Then it’s a “Turnpike”
Haha yeah I forgot the “turnpike” usage by some of states Chicagoland uses the expressway term
Hey, we have one of those in MA as well.
Not for long, though. The tolls are going away once the state recoups the construction cost. 😉
Oh yeah that Mass Pike will be paid for any day now.. I mean it’s only been 68 years.
Notable exception to your use of expressway: in “Filthadelphia” (Phildelphia) the “Surekill Distressway” (Schuylkill Expressway) is not a toll road. I should be nice to Philly, though, as a cheesesteak or an Italian from Angelo’s sounds pretty good right now.
Mmmmm, cheesesteak (said in Homer Simpon’s voice).
But interstates are officially called interstate highways, i.e., IH35, IH20, etc. The Eisenhauer-era act that created the interstate system was even called the “National Interstate and Defense Highways Act“.
Sure, but at that time the modern “freeway” basically didn’t exist as a category. They were all built as an eventual result of the interstate highway act. The distinction evolved later.
After some google-fu, it appears that highway is the more general term and freeway is a subset referring specifically to controlled access (e.g., on/off ramps) high-speed roads. See my response to Harvey Firebirdman below.
Freeways were first defined in the 1930s being a limited access highway designed for rapid/predictable movement of vehicles. California had freeways in the 50’s before Eisenhower asked for interstate, limited access highways. They wound up be referred to by the city they served even though they had route numbers.
Ah okay interesting so I guess freeways and expressways are more of just mumbo jumbo made up terms hah
Out of curiosity, I asked Gemini what the differences are. The response seems reasonable:
“Why do we park in our driveway, but drive on a parkway”
– 1980’s Hack Comedian
Cargo is on a ship but a shipment can be on a truck.
Cargo space? No, car go on
roadhighway.George Carlin was no hack.
He wasn’t, but not all of his stuff was gold. Especially when he was in his cocaine era.
Why do we park on a driveway and drive on a parkway?
To me, the difference between a highway and a freeway is mostly the controlled access. A highway can be anything from a two lane road up to a divided highway with at-grade access from side roads or stoplights. A freeway has grade-separated interchanges with on and off ramps and no side roads, stoplights, etc.
Toll roads must never be referred to as freeways.
That 71 highway enforcer is so cool though with a 455 to boot that is just awesome. The 79 formula we got last year has a 455 bored over to a 468 with a 4 speed and that is a hoot to drive decent amount of power but also a good cruiser and sounds great. Love the sounds of those old Pontiac 400/455 engines.