I have a thing for police package cars, most car guys know about that Bluesmobile from the original Blues Brother's movie; the '74 Dodge Monaco with the "cop tires, cop shocks and cop motor, a 440 cubic inch plant, the model made before catylitic converters so it'll run on regular gas".

American police cars are for the most part, specialty cars built for law enforcement purposes. Take the Ford Crown Victoria Police Interceptor for example. While yes, it is based on your Grandma's Crown Victoria LX, the Police Interceptor has notable differences over the retail/rental LX. First, the frame features extra welding and braces and such to make it stronger (these cars were designed with extreme abuse in mind) and it does have specialized suspension components to aid in handling/ emergency avoidance/ abuse and the brakes are updated to stop on a dime. Also they do have special police "issue" tires and wheels.... usually steelies with minimal hubcap/ centercaps. The interiors are fairly spartan, usually no carpet, vinyl flooring like on an worktruck and special seats that have heavy duty covering and special bolstering and the seats have an "anti stab" panel inside so the officer can't get shanked from behind. Also a true police package car has a "Certified Calibration" speedometer that is accurate as possible and usually has a higher speed marked on it. Also in the Crown Vic's case it has more power over the "civie" Vic, the civilian Vic has a 4.6L SOHC V8 that is a single exhaust that produced 229 hp (yes, I know that's pretty pathetic) while the Interceptor has the same basic engine, but it produced 255 hp thanks to a special intake, dual exhaust with no resonators, it's own unique ECU tune, federal emission components, oil coolers, beefed up cooling system, special driveshaft and 2 axle ratio choices (those escape me at the moment) and these were fleet only, I wouldn't have been able to buy a new for myself.

My question is, are the Japanese police built/optioned the same way? Are there true Nissan Cedric/ Toyota Crown police package cars, or are they just normal cars pressed into police service? Is this also true of the "fast" Japanese police cars like the R34 GT-R's that do express way enforcement, or are those beasts as specialized as the 5.0 Mustangs that Highway Patrol agencies used back in the day?

I know this is unusual, but I've always been curious about this.

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Uh, an '88 Nissan Maxima GXE, is that a classic?
'12 Toyota 4Runner SR5

Hello and welcome to the forum!

I’m not hugely intimate with the Japanese police cars (thank the gods - although I have been pulled over once, not fun) but I am a Wikipedia fiend! The Japanese Wikipedia page on Patrol Cars gives a mind blowing amount of information about the cars.
http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%83%91% ... B.E3.83.BC

Doing my best to muddle through that, here’s a short (and most definitely incomplete) list of some of the extra equipment on Police Cars here:

Red light bar (some vehicles have an electronic scissors jack underneath to raise the height of the light bar for added visibility)
An added amplifier for the sirens
Speed gun (radar gun)
Car locator (reports the location of and condition of the car to the station)
Drive recorder (Russian dash cam essentially)
Passenger side door mirror
Passenger side navigational mirror (additional mirror for the partner to look out of)
Siren switch on passenger side floor (apparently they can switch between a foot operated mechanical siren or the electric siren… maybe, my Japanese isn’t that great)
Electronic noticeboard in back window
Car navigation
Bug guard (this is some kind of clear rectifier that is part of the front windshield and prevents cyber attacks)
Modifications that allow the vehicles to exceed 180 km/h (doesn’t list what that entails though)

They have a bunch more info on that page about the patrol cars here, but I could probably spend all day on it and not really get anywhere, a lot of that Japanese and Kanji is beyond my level.

In regards to the fast ones (the R34 GTRs and NSXs) I’m not sure, but I’d imagine most of the same stuff applies as the majority of the modifications seem pretty normal. And, just so this post isn’t text only, here are two nice patrol cars!





Hope I helped a little!

Cheers,
David

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Great thread, more pics.

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Thanks for that post! From what I gather from that link, it seems that Japanese police cars aren't as beefed up as the Crown Victoria PI, though it seems that the older Crowns and Cedrics got some things that weren't offered on the normal passenger car variants. I still think their cool though. Speaking of cool, they did use some pretty cool and interesting cars for enforcement duties.... some that will make people drool here..... me included!

Nissan Fairlady Z 432- yup, they used these for expressway duties.... with the S20 engine and all.... I've also seen pictures of a Fairlady Z with the G nose used in this capacity as well. I'm not sure if they used the early Skyline GT-R's as well.... wouldn't suprise me if they did though.

Nissan Skyline GT-R R33- here's a twist though, they used the very rare Autech 4 door GT-R in police duty. Then again I can see why they would want a fast 4 door police car, the 90's era Caprice 9C1 with the LT1 5.7 V8 was a very popular police car since it was actually faster then the Special Service 5.0 Mustang and much more practical, plus it's hard to argue with 140+ MPH performance from a fullsize car, same deal with the CHP '69 Dodge Polara, a 375 hp 440 and a verified 147 MPH top speed (keep in mind that was in 1969!) are needed when you have to chase down stuff like Plymouth Road Runners, Chevelle SS and big block Mustangs.

Speaking of Mustangs...... the Japanese police actually used a '73 Mustang sport roof for enforcement duty. I'm not sure if it was a Mach 1 or not (though if it was, you got a crappy 351 2 barrel engine) or even what motor it used (could have been a sad sack 302, a 351 2 barrel or the still very much a legitimate muscle car motor 351 4 barrel, regardless, it looked cool and I'm sure it keep many drivers from speeding!

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Uh, an '88 Nissan Maxima GXE, is that a classic?
'12 Toyota 4Runner SR5

Huh?



Seriously though, Japanese police cars do not need to be heavy duty. Suburban policing is on foot, bicycles, and the occasional car for parking patrol. Anyone trying to flee a crime in Japan, is better to do so on a bicycle. I've seen many a car chased down and booked on a bicycle. If anything, their spec is usually just the taxi-pack.









Even expressway cars rarely have the need for super high speed, simply because that type of criminal drama is very rare in Japan. Neko.

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The Black Cat - S800M Coupe.

Some pics I found:
S30 432:


G nose Fairlady Z


JDM Cressida


FD3S


yes please......

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Uh, an '88 Nissan Maxima GXE, is that a classic?
'12 Toyota 4Runner SR5

Once a year, they have a passing out parade of all their vehicles. They close off the main street outside the National Picture Museum, start about 07:30 and are finished by the time most people are at work. On a weekday.

Everything from their fast pursuit machines, to bulldozer & cranes. If it has wheels, they've got one. Great stuff.

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The Black Cat - S800M Coupe.

I too have an interest in Japanese police cars. Does anyone have a list of models used in the 70's and 80's?
I would love to build a replica

Found this list on the Wiki page, might be of interest to some.

Nice, um, wheels. (you knew somebody was gonna say it...)

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last one is great.. law enforcement. up against the wall and spread em.

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Video of 2013 MPD New Years review for those that were interested:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ywnmv5O0 ... g&index=15
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pk3T-h3C ... g&index=14