POLICE CARS ON THE SMALL SCREEN
Cop shows have been around nearly as long as the television itself, and TV squad cars have always sought to emulate the real-world cruisers that sometimes fill our mirrors. Here are 10 from some of the most popular cop shows of the last seven decades.
Highway Patrol (1955–59)
1955/58 Buick Century; 1956/57 Buick Special; 1956–59 Dodge Coronet; 1956–57 Mercury Custom; 1957 Mercury Monterey
The Andy Griffith Show (1960–68)
1960–61 Ford Fairlane; 1962–63 Ford Galaxie; 1964–66 Ford Custom
Car 54, Where Are You? (1961–63)
1961/63 Plymouth Belvedere; 1962 Plymouth Savoy
Adam-12 (1968-75)
1968–69 Plymouth Belvedere; 1971 Plymouth Satellite; 1972 AMC Matador
CHiPs (1977–83)
1973 Dodge Polara; 1975 Dodge Coronet; 1974–75/77 Dodge Monaco
Hill Street Blues (1981–87)
1976 Dodge Monaco
T.J. Hooker (1982–86)
1977 Dodge Monaco; 1979 Dodge St. Regis
In the Heat of the Night (1988–95)
1986 Ford LTD Crown Victoria; 1990s Chevy Caprice
The Shield (2002–2008)
1999 Ford Crown Victoria
Southland (2009–13)
1999 Ford Crown Victoria; 2006 Dodge Charger
All cars used for these TV cop shows and several others can be found at the terrific Internet Movie Car Database, www.imcdb.org.
