# 70's and 60's cop shows and cars **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 5, 2022, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/70s-and-60s-cop-shows-and-cars/969126 "2022-08-05T03:05:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2022, 7:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/70s-and-60s-cop-shows-and-cars/969126/41 "2022-08-06T07:27:21Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > as well as having a large functional back seat and rear doors, for transporting suspects and the like. But you know what? You _can not_ get into that back seat unless you are in trouble. I called in a dead body out in the desert, and when the coppers showed up, _would not let me in the car_ to lead them to it. I had to drive my Jeep while they followed me. That was weird. ---
**Author:** ![Wolf333](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolf333/32/3460_2.png) [@Wolf333](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wolf333)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2022, 10:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/70s-and-60s-cop-shows-and-cars/969126/42 "2022-08-06T10:11:41Z")
I had one of those! The transmission went out and I traded it for a toaster. The car, not the transmission. It was a really nice toaster. ---
**Author:** ![EDOK9Trainer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/838e76/32.png) [@EDOK9Trainer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EDOK9Trainer)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2022, 10:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/70s-and-60s-cop-shows-and-cars/969126/43 "2022-08-06T10:58:26Z")
My first assigned cruiser was a 74 something or another. I think a Plymouth Fury. Used so I did not get a new one until some time later. I felt like I was driving a ship and it drove like one. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2022, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/70s-and-60s-cop-shows-and-cars/969126/44 "2022-08-06T12:01:06Z")
Of course, if they wanted a good handling car in the 60s they coulda driven late model Corvairs! Rear engine plus independent rear suspension! Screw Nader. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2022, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/70s-and-60s-cop-shows-and-cars/969126/45 "2022-08-06T14:05:07Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > late model Corvairs! Rear engine plus independent rear suspension! Post-1965. Prior to that was swing arm, which actually contributed to the Corvair’s handling issues. (Unsafe At Any Speed came out in 1965) Beetles also had swing arm, but somehow didn’t have a rollover problem. Probably because they couldn’t go over 50. 🙂 > [@John\_DiFool](#): > > the shocks were very soft, those things sagged like my auntie’s drawers under any half-significant cornering load. The brakes would have been shot after about half a dozen hairpins (all that boiling fluid), and the tires chocolate sludge after a few too many skids While in general you are correct, note that NASCAR was doing 150-200 mph in the 70s with drum brakes and bias ply tires. On was was basically a 1966 Chevy truck suspension (albeit with extra shocks). And those cars in the old cop show chases were actually driving, actually making those maneuvers. It wasn’t cgi. Especially Bullitt. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2022, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/70s-and-60s-cop-shows-and-cars/969126/46 "2022-08-06T17:49:33Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > Post-1965. Prior to that was swing arm, which actually contributed to the Corvair’s handling issues. (Unsafe At Any Speed came out in 1965) Beetles also had swing arm, but somehow didn’t have a rollover problem. LM started in 65. And I thought we’d established here that “Unsafe” was total BS. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2022, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/70s-and-60s-cop-shows-and-cars/969126/47 "2022-08-06T20:45:52Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > And I thought we’d established here that “Unsafe” was total BS. Well, “We” didn’t, at least. The fact that Chevy wanted you to have drastically different air pressures in the tires to counter the ill handling says that the book has some truth. But Corvairs are no more likely to roll in a turn than Pintos are to explode. And besides there was more to UAAS than the Corvair, and a lot of that was correct. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2022, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/70s-and-60s-cop-shows-and-cars/969126/48 "2022-08-06T21:58:34Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > But you know what? You _can not_ get into that back seat unless you are in trouble. I called in a dead body out in the desert, and when the coppers showed up, _would not let me in the car_ to lead them to it. I had to drive my Jeep while they followed me. That was weird. Probably an individual department policy. When I was in IT many of my customers were police agencies. I’ve lost count of the number of times 4 of us went to lunch in a squad leaving from one police HQ or another. At first it felt weird to be seen riding in the back of a marked police car, with the folks outside wondering what heinous thing I’d done to earn this ride. Then I realized this never happened in the county I lived in, and this was before cams became ubiquitous in phones, so random people seeing some random schmoe in the back of a cop car wasn’t recorded for posterity. But we sometimes did get a look when we got to the eatery & the cops in front got out, opened the back doors to let us out, and we all walked into the restaurant together yakking. ---
**Author:** ![Chez\_Guevara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/aeb1de/32.png) [@Chez\_Guevara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chez_Guevara)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2022, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/70s-and-60s-cop-shows-and-cars/969126/49 "2022-08-06T22:35:32Z")
He could catch this. 1959 Ford Anglia 105E: 50HP, top speed 74mph, 0-60 26.9 seconds. As used in TV cop show ‘Heartbeat’ set in the 1960s. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2022, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/70s-and-60s-cop-shows-and-cars/969126/50 "2022-08-06T23:41:46Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > > [@kenobi\_65](#): > > > > as well as having a large functional back seat and rear doors, for transporting suspects and the like. > > But you know what? You _can not_ get into that back seat unless you are in trouble. I called in a dead body out in the desert, and when the coppers showed up, _would not let me in the car_ to lead them to it. I had to drive my Jeep while they followed me. That was weird. Would you want a possible murderer in your backseat? How do they know how that body got there? Maybe it was a local policy. I have given people rides in the back seat often. It’s not a daily event but not unusual. The back seats of modern police cars are not very roomy and not built for comfort. Even the SUVs have very little leg room if they have cages. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2022, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/70s-and-60s-cop-shows-and-cars/969126/51 "2022-08-07T01:57:02Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > Well, “We” didn’t, at least. By “We” I meant a discussion on these boards. Yeah, read UUAS, as well as considerable other literature on the subject, drove and worked on several Corvairs… But shouldn’t hijack a thread about poor handling old cop cars. ---
**Author:** ![Pavelb1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/439d5e/32.png) [@Pavelb1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pavelb1)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2022, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/70s-and-60s-cop-shows-and-cars/969126/52 "2022-08-07T02:58:29Z")
Other little tropes…not only do people not pull over for police…they seem to be actively trying to impede them. Then on top of that, the police will blast into traffic, through red lights without slowing, through stop signs…made all the worse because of their poor handling vehicles, and that no one wears a seat belt. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2022, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/70s-and-60s-cop-shows-and-cars/969126/53 "2022-08-07T03:40:06Z")
The movie “First Blood” had a (fishtail-tastic) chase scene where a police car slid into a ditch and (inadvertently!) rolled onto its roof. They thought it was cool, so they left that scene in the final film. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/3Uo1Xpb2gqc/maxresdefault.jpg "Rambo First Blood (1982) - Chasing Scene (1080p) FULL HD") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Uo1Xpb2gqc) ---
**Author:** ![BrickBat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac91a4/32.png) [@BrickBat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrickBat)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2022, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/70s-and-60s-cop-shows-and-cars/969126/54 "2022-08-07T18:16:53Z")
> [@Capn\_Carl](#): > > I’ve read and owned a lot of 60’s magazine tests and never seen a Chevelle SS396 perform so slowly. I’m not saying it couldn’t happen, as there were outliers, but they typically ran 15.0-15.5 with typical rear end ratios. The hotter L78 396 ran 14.5-15 flat. I concur. I was going to say, that earlier 16.3 ET mentioned could only be either severely traction limited, or the car being so configured in a way deleterious in performance: say, a “loaded” car, especially a convertable with an auto trans ( especially if it were a 2=speed powerglide ) and a “tall” rear axle ratio. Trap speeds would be a better indicator of how well the car pulls, all the more so when we couple that with today’s hugely superior tires. Anyway, a more apples vs apples comparison would be something like a modern Dodge Charger police car of today vs the cruisers of the 60s and 70s…powertrain and handling wise. Taking it to the next level, applying that to today’s performance cars. Not only do they obviously best the sedans and SUVs, but earlier classic muscle as well, and with a level f refinement that, depending on how one is feeling that day, is either refreshing or dull. Hell, the most bare bones base 4 cylinder ( albeit turbocharged ) Camaro you can buy today is still capable of an ET of 14 flat at 99. Get into V6 territory and you’re mid 13s. Get into LS V8 territory and you’re in the low 12s. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2022, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/70s-and-60s-cop-shows-and-cars/969126/55 "2022-08-07T19:22:24Z")
Modern cars are really just crazy. Over the past 5 years or so I drove a GTI - not crazy fast, but quick. Pretty immediately I learned I could get my lunch handed to me by freaking Malibus and pickups. And don’t even mention electrics. There is SO much power out there on the roads these days. ---
**Author:** ![Pavelb1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/439d5e/32.png) [@Pavelb1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pavelb1)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2022, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/70s-and-60s-cop-shows-and-cars/969126/56 "2022-08-07T19:37:31Z")
How did people in the 70s get any work done when every single car on the road was screeching everytime it made a 5 mph turn. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2022, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/70s-and-60s-cop-shows-and-cars/969126/57 "2022-08-07T19:39:15Z")
All the smog in the air back then deadened the sound nicely. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2022, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/70s-and-60s-cop-shows-and-cars/969126/58 "2022-08-07T21:36:53Z")
And leaded smog at that! Very good for soundproofing. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2022, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/70s-and-60s-cop-shows-and-cars/969126/59 "2022-08-08T00:53:40Z")
> [@Pavelb1](#): > > How did people in the 70s get any work done when every single car on the road was screeching everytime it made a 5 mph turn. Because unlike most cars today, the muffler is not removed or cuts out when the driver stomps on it. ---
**Author:** ![Pavelb1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/439d5e/32.png) [@Pavelb1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pavelb1)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2022, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/70s-and-60s-cop-shows-and-cars/969126/60 "2022-08-08T01:19:18Z")
I once had a car, I don’t know what was wrong…but when I left for work, it was emitting a James Bond-like white smoke cloud. I passed a cop on a side street, and: I don’t actually know if he pulled behind me to pull me over, cause thats how thick the smoke was, but I pulled into an alley, and I like to think that (like James Bond) I lost him. Its entirely possible. The same car back-fired so badly, I could hear my roommate borrowing the thing a good mile away. “Oh listen honey, I think I hear Don downtown” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/70s-and-60s-cop-shows-and-cars/969126.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/70s-and-60s-cop-shows-and-cars/969126.md?page=4)