4dr police car

[Dave Mellor NJ]

Most were roadsters

[Bick in New Zealand]

Not just a Fordor, but a town sedan.

[nkaminar]

The cop is wearing a police head.

[Chuck Dempsey]

Good one, nkaminar.....

[BVZ24]

What could be found as evidence that a car was once a police car? My grandpa always said his/my 30 fordor was once a police car.
The only evidence that I have is it came with a police head, and a number of holes in my firewall that if a police car, could have been a horn. It also has two aftermarket amber fog lights mounted.
And at least one bullet hole.

[ol shakey]

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I would say if it has a police interceptor head on it that would be a good clue, those high compression heads have a large B embossed in them there getting hard to find. That will increase power and top end for catching the bad guys.

[WTSHNN]

Originally Posted by BVZ24

What could be found as evidence that a car was once a police car? My grandpa always said his/my 30 fordor was once a police car.
The only evidence that I have is it came with a police head, and a number of holes in my firewall that if a police car, could have been a horn. It also has two aftermarket amber fog lights mounted.
And at least one bullet hole.

Look for a lot of wear on the car. Police cars were driven 24/7 in all types of weather and were usually beat to the ground. Compare that to fire trucks where there are a lot still around in unrestored condition with 10 or 20 thousand original miles on them.

A police head could be a sign but that is something that could have wound up on the car at any point in the past 90 years. The low speed generator was offered starting in May of 1931 but those were intended for cars equipped with radio equipment.

Most Model A's used as police cars when new were not outfitted all that well. The pictured Fordor is a sort of exception as most of them did not get special paint jobs outside of a car number or the department's name lettered onto the door. Few of them had sirens but a lot had a sportlite mounted on the A pillar.

As for the bullet hole, more likely to be left in a farmers field or uncle Johnny got drunk on New Year's and popped off a few rounds.

-Tim

[nkaminar]

My 31 AA truck had bullet holes behind the seat that came from inside the car. The farmer I bought it from did some off roading with a loaded and cocked riffle behind the seat. And a whiskey bottle on the passenger seat. The farmer, Lukey, died from liver failure.

[rotorwrench]

Motorcycles reigned supreme back in that era. Patrol cars were fewer and farther between. Radio cars started showing up in the late 30s.

[Benson]

15 or 20 years ago there was a 34 Ford (Fordor as I remember) on eBay for sale.

Owner claimed that it was THE original car that Bonnie and Cylde died in. Price was way out of line.

It was all shot up by several hunderd rounds from just about every possible angle.

The first thing that was fakey to me was the fact that many of the bullet holes were 30 caliber (7.62MM) like a series of bursts from a BAR.

BUT some of the holes were 22 Caliber(5.56MM) like a series of bursts from an AR-15!

AR-15 in 1934?? .................. Wrong Batman!

There was more.

The nickle plating was all worn through (with brass and copper exposed on the driver's door handle!

How did the handle get that worn on a less than one year old car!

The guys at the VFW got a good laugh out of that one!

[rich b]

He looks like motor officer with the boots and gauntlet gloves.

[ModelA29]

Originally Posted by rotorwrench

Motorcycles reigned supreme back in that era.

Hence his Jodhpur riding breeches......
The CHP wore leather ones until the mid 1980s. They were leather as opposed to the city cops who wore cloth. I'd certainly prefer leather if I was laying a 900 pound Harley down at freeway speeds.

The only "proof" that a car was a police car would be a copy of a bill of sale to a police department with the serial number on it or a work order with serial number stating customer was a PD. Anything else is just a story.

Were the B heads a dealer installed item?

Somewhere I saw a photo of a guy and about 30 Model As he sold to the state of Iowa (?). It could be assumed some of those were pressed into service as police cars.