Model Forum / General / Models / July 2009

First, it's more like a 49 1/2.  The side chrome strip is from a '50
Merc.  The grille is a '49.
Second, I doubt that police cars back then had quite that elaborate a
light bar.  A solitary Gumball Machine was the usual equipment.
The body has rear fender skirts moulded on the body. And the lakes pipes
 mark it as street rod.
One can order a '50 merc grille and dash from Modelhaus in Illinois to
help you reach a more stock appearance.
I have with mine but I'm still puzzling over what to do with the rear
skirts.  Since I'm shooting for a semi-Street Stock coupe the skirts
aren't a big issue.  For an honest cop car you almost have to remove them.
The interior is a bit cheap and the wheel/tire combo are almost toyish.
Getting an 'AMT' '49 Merc kit for parts is a good idea.
HTH.

Bill Banaszak, MFE Sr.

Like Bill said, that's more of a custom lead sled than a true depiction of a
cop car. For starters, cop cars are going to be 4 door sedans. Wanna take a
guess at the least kitted and hardest to find body style by all makes and
manufacturers? Yep - 4 door sedans.

If they simply had offered up some 4 door sedans instead of the preferred 2
door coupe sport model kits, it would be a fairly simple process to model
vintage cop cars from an ordinary street car kit. You'd start with a 4 door
door sedan model and strip it down to a base model sporting little or no
chrome, plain rims and a plain bench seat interior. Toss on the right paint
job and add a little police brick a brack (gumball light, windshield post
spotlight, whip antenna, etc) and you'd have a model police car that would
look right as rain with little extra effort.

It's an old saw of mine on how the manufacturers obssess on kitting 2 door
sport models to the exclusion of just about all else. I would have loved to
have built a collection of vintage police cars - especially a fleet of
Mayberry Fords.

As for dedicated cop car kits, I imagine there's a few out there. I couldn't
really say, I stopped looking for them a long time ago.

WmB