AMC Javelin Squad Cars

[Lawdog Dago Dom]

The video is 10 years old, but the two-tone one is up for auction at Barrett-Jackson in Scottsdale. Not sure if it's the same car.

 

 

[Cheatin Charlie]

I had seen this on You Tube before

 

 

[Dirty Dan Dawkins]

Those 401's were stout.

[Old Man Graybeard]

Georgia used to run a bunch of Trans-Ams

[Sedalia Dave]

My Aunt had a Javelin. She loved to “blow the carbon out of it. “

[Cowtown Scout, SASS #53540 L]

When I was in high school our family had a Javelin and I got to drive it on occasion, but not very often. 

[sassnetguy50]

Alabama couldn't afford to continue buying full size Fords after the incentives stopped and the price went up according to this.  AMC offered a cheaper car.

https://www.hemmings.com/stories/article/alabama-hammah-amc-javelin

 

I find this a believable story because government decisions are often about the dollar rather than what best fits the job.

[sassnetguy50]

The Barrett Jackson link with pictures:

https://www.barrett-jackson.com/Events/Event/Details/1972-AMERICAN-MOTORS-JAVELIN-SST-POLICE-CAR-273881

 

[Sgt. C.J. Sabre, SASS #46770]

1 hour ago, sassnetguy50 said:

I find this a believable story because government decisions are often about the dollar rather than what best fits the job.

OFTEN?!? Always. Military Grade "fill in the blank" just means meets "minimum requirements". One of Murphy's Laws of Combat states "Remember that your equipment was made by the lowest bidder". 

[Henry T Harrison]

I had a 1969 with a 290 it wasn’t the fastest thing out there but on a road course it would run circles around the muscle cars. It was like that car was on rails. Today’s police cars pretty much have to be full sized SUV’s to fit all the equipment in them 

[Eyesa Horg]

2 hours ago, sassnetguy50 said:

The Barrett Jackson link with pictures:

https://www.barrett-jackson.com/Events/Event/Details/1972-AMERICAN-MOTORS-JAVELIN-SST-POLICE-CAR-273881

 

That's a stylin cop car!

[Sgt. C.J. Sabre, SASS #46770]

31 minutes ago, Henry T Harrison said:

I had a 1969 with a 290 it wasn’t the fastest thing out there but on a road course it would run circles around the muscle cars. It was like that car was on rails. Today’s police cars pretty much have to be full sized SUV’s to fit all the equipment in them 

Most times they're not allowed to chase anybody anyway.

[Chickasaw Bill SASS #70001]

I have wanted an AMX for a long time . never had the $$$$ when one came around 

 

  gotta have a 401 

 

  CB 

[Cypress Sun]

2 hours ago, Henry T Harrison said:

I had a 1969 with a 290 it wasn’t the fastest thing out there but on a road course it would run circles around the muscle cars. It was like that car was on rails. Today’s police cars pretty much have to be full sized SUV’s to fit all the equipment in them 

 

If they needed the room back then that they need now, they would have had to use the...wait for it...AMC Pacer.

[watab kid]

really ? who woulda thought ? next thing ya know there will be a pacer squad car up for auction [if it does ill watch] 

[Hardpan Curmudgeon SASS #8967]

And then, from Louisville a bunch of decades ago....   

 

[watab kid]

well , im thinking they were not looking at that as a undercover vehicle with them great big blue lights on top were they ? 

[Pat Riot]

I think the coolest police cars that I have seen were the Porsche’s the police in Germany had when I was in Erlangen for work. I was told they were Autobahn patrol cars. 
The police in town drove BMW sedans. 
Funny thing, they weren’t all snotty uptight jerks like BMW drivers can be here in the US. 

[Sgt. C.J. Sabre, SASS #46770]

1 hour ago, Pat Riot said:

The police in town drove BMW sedans. 
Funny thing, they weren’t all snotty uptight jerks like BMW drivers can be here in the US. 

I'm guessing that it's because driving a BMW in Germany is like driving a Ford here. Just a guess, mind you. 

[Pat Riot]

2 hours ago, Sgt. C.J. Sabre, SASS #46770 said:

I'm guessing that it's because driving a BMW in Germany is like driving a Ford here. Just a guess, mind you. 

Exactly, and the officers I talked to said they couldn’t believe BMWs were a “status symbol” in America. One of them said he wasn’t impressed with BMWs at all. He said they were unreliable as police cars. I am not sure what he meant by that. His English was spotty. 

[Cypress Sun]

 

[Linn Keller, SASS 27332, BOLD 103]

4 hours ago, Sgt. C.J. Sabre, SASS #46770 said:

I'm guessing that it's because driving a BMW in Germany is like driving a Ford here. Just a guess, mind you. 

A good friend of mine from Malaysia (rest his soul!) said the rest of the world buys quality.

He said taxis in Malaysia were generally Mercedes, and he was quite amused at how Mercedes was almost deified here in the States!

[Larsen E. Pettifogger, SASS #32933]

In the mid-1970s Scottsdale, Arizona, had Bricklins.  I remember when these were behind you at a stop light all you could see was the gumball machine in your rear view mirror.

 

[sassnetguy50]

37 minutes ago, Larsen E. Pettifogger, SASS #32933 said:

In the mid-1970s Scottsdale, Arizona, had Bricklins.  I remember when these were behind you at a stop light all you could see was the gumball machine in your rear view mirror.

 

Was curious about the price since a Bricklin was easily twice the price of a typical car then.  Assumed there would be an incentive program or backrub with the corporate office being in Scottsdale.  Looks like Sottsdale Police ordered 5 cars at $1each per year leased.  They only received 3 cars.  Being 1974 they should be the AMC 360 V8.

[DeaconKC]

This is a real picture! The Sheriff's crew set him up and he drove it around for several days until he saw it!

[Pat Riot]

I was looking for some pictures of California Highway Patrol Mustangs and I found this website. Mustangs have been used in more places than California for patrol cars. 
https://mustangmuseumofamerica.com/highway-patrol-mustangs/

[Forty Rod SASS 3935]

In 1968 I got pulled over by a Nevada State Trooper driving a Dodge Daytona Charger, the one with the funny plastic nose and the wing on the back.  Nevada didn't have any posted speed limits on major highways then, but they needed something to catch people doing things that were a danger to someone else.

 

I was pulled over because, as the Trooper said, "the cigarette lighter in this 'go fast' doesn't work and I need a light."

 

 We gave him a few match books and he thanked us and left.  That was the only Dodge version of that I ever saw but when I came back to the states a year later there were Plymouth Super Bees all over.

[Sedalia Dave]

Years ago I was driving I70 across Kansas and stopped at a rest area to stretch my legs. As I was walking to the restroom a KHP officer was getting out of an unmarked Chevy Lumina minivan. Wouldn’t have thought much about it except that I could see the lights through the rear glass. 
I jokingly said that wasn’t playing fair and he replied that it might not be fair but it was very effective. 
 He said the look on some people’s faces was priceless when they sped past him and he turned on the lights and sirens. 

[sassnetguy50]

It auctioned for $52,800.  Wonder what the buyer is going to do with it.