Historic 1957 Ford LAPD police cruiser

The 1957 LAPD police car arrives in LA from Montana via Robert Stentz (a former Burbank City Police Officer) to new owner Robert "Corpsy" Rhine. Stentz tells the history of this amazing vintage police car which he lovingly and accurately restored to its original condition.

When police cars like this one were in service, the City of Los Angeles, had approximately 2 million residents, less than half the people it contains today. Many freeways were yet to be built.
The city had 6 digit phone numbers. There were no ZIP codes or area codes as we know them now. Traffic signals were often "semaphore types", and the average cost of auto fuel was .25 cents a gallon. The city was growing at a dizzying rate, and things were changing fast. LAPD was no exception. The City's 57 Ford patrol car is historic, in that it was the last model powered with an inline 6 cylinder engine, mated to a 3 speed, manual (column shift) transmission. The 223 cubic inch Ford six was a strong runner, performing remarkably close to V-8's of the day. This is the only correct example of a LAPD 57 Ford known to exist.

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