1958 Porsche 356A – Police Car
I’m not a huge fan of police cars when they’re behind you with their lights flashing away, right before you hear that quick burst of siren if you haven’t bothered checking your rear vision mirror for a few minutes. An event like that tends to ruin your day.
By Anthony Crawford
But that doesn’t mean I don’t mind those special high performance cars the police occasionally get their hands on, both in Australia and overseas.
Take last Sunday, as I was returning from a run to the tip when a fast moving black SS Commodore caught my eye, as he blasted along Mona Vale road on Sydney’s Northern Beaches.
At first, I thought it was a well-behaved Aussie car enthusiast out for an early Sunday morning run to stretch the legs of the SS.
But on closer inspection as I pulled up behind him, I saw the inert flashing lights and miniature video camera, behind the heavily tinted glass.
He had locked on to an equally quick moving RAV 4, who was possibly doing 10kms over the 90km speed limit. I didn’t see the outcome, although I suspect the driver of the Toyota was not going to start the day well.
The fact is, Police forces all over the world have always had the odd exotic ride on their fleet, and no more so than in Austria, when back in 1958, they had an uber rare Porsche 356A supercar to chase down offenders on their autobahns.
Actually, the car pictured above is just one of only three identical cars made for the Austrian Police, which is on show at this year’s Classic Motor Show at Birmingham’s NEC in the UK.
It even comes with the uniform worn by the driver, as well as his warrant card and a hand-held stop sign!