Police cars play many roles during their time as active emergency vehicles.
One of those roles is speed because sometimes you have to get to an ongoing crime scene fast, and sometimes you’re going to be in a high-speed chase.
Here’s a brief history of the fastest production police cars from the 1940s to the 1990s because these decades reflect the difference between how things were done over six decades.
Jerry Sutherland
The first example is the 1949 Oldsmobile Rocket used by the CHP (California Highway Patrol. They didn’t have a massive freeway system in place back in ’49, but occasionally they needed a car that could outrun anything on the road.
The ’49 Olds Rocket 88 had a 303 cubic inch OHV V-8 under the hood that made 135 horsepower and 263 lb.-ft. of torque—and did 0-60 mph in 13 seconds with a top speed of 97 mph. That doesn’t sound like much—but only if you ignore the reality that a 1949 Plymouth could only hit 83 mph. The Olds was truly a Rocket in 1949.
Ten years later there was another CHP race to top speed between the 1959 Mercury (430 cubic inch 330-horse), the 1959 Pontiac (Tempest 420-A engine 389 rated at 330 hp) and the 1959 Dodge Coronet (345hp D-500 V8).
Testing on an Air Force runway showed the Merc did 121.84, the Pontiac did 117.34 and the Dodge did 122.023 in a high-speed run. The Dodge also came in first in the ¼ mile (86.89)– while the Merc did 83.15 and the Pontiac did an 81.98 run. The Dodge was also fastest in the standing-start mile at 117.67. Those numbers—plus generous fleet prices made the ’59 Dodge a natural fit for the CHP.
The 1960s produced the fastest production police car built (to that date) with the 1969 Dodge C-body Monaco Police Pursuit.
These Monacos were monsters with the highly engineered 440 big block under the hood. CHP needed them by 1969 because the state was full of freeways and fast cars. The big Dodge was up to the task because it could hit 149.6 miles per hour. They were like big-block Chargers with two more doors.
The 70s brought a different game to the police car game because smog laws made everything slower—including police cars.
The fastest production police car in 1978 was the Dodge Monaco. This Dodge had a 440 big block too–but it was choked off so much the Monaco could only hit 126 miles per hour. That number seems weak–but most smog era cars could barely crack 110 mph.
The 1980s were a big upgrade for high-speed police cars. The 1989 Mustang SSP (Special Service Package) set the pace for new-age law enforcement vehicles.
Ford took the 5.0 Fox-body Mustang to another level with the SSP package and got it to 140 miles per hour with ease. The 80s produced some small-block rockets, but the 1989 Mustang SSP met the challenge of high-speed pursuit in an era when technology began to evolve. That pony could run with the best—its biggest limitation was its passenger space.
The same thing could be said about the 1990s era Camaro B4C SSP. This car was next level for high-speed performance.
The B4C Camaro could crack 160 miles per hour which made it qualified to chase supercars of the 1990s. That also made it the fastest police production car ever built to that point.
High speed is down on the list for most civilian drivers, but if you were chasing bad guys in the 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s—a fast car was a huge asset.
Jerry Sutherland
BY: Jim Sutherland
Jim Sutherland is a veteran automotive writer whose work has been published by many major print and online publications. The list includes Calgary Herald, The Truth About Cars, Red Deer Advocate, RPM Magazine, Edmonton Journal, Montreal Gazette, Windsor Star, Vancouver Province, and Post Media Wheels Section.
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