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Cleveland once sported chartreuse police cars.
They sure didn't look like Sheriff Andy Taylor's old cruiser!
In the early 1970s the Cleveland Police Department phased-in a new fleet of patrol cars (known as zone cars in Cleveland terminology).
The new cars were painted chartreuse (a variable color averaging brilliant yellow green according to the Merriam Webster dictionary) because recent research had indicated that would make the cars more visible in traffic. The new color scheme created a bit of a stir at the time and was a source of minor controversy and even ridicule by some.
The Cleveland Police Department stayed with the unusual paint job for a number of years before incorporating a traditional black and white look for its patrol cars in the 1980s.
The new look for Cleveland Police Department's front-line patrol cars was unveiled in the early 1970s. This picture was taken at an informational display set up by CPD at the same Cleveland Autorama featuring a visit by Adam-12 cast members Martin Milner and Kent McCord discussed elsewhere in this site. Being that Adam-12 was a police-action television series the tie-in was obvious.
A close-up of CPD's shield on the new patrol car's door. This picture gives a good idea of car's actual color.
The black box mounted under the dash would appear to be an integrated radio, warning light and siren control head. Notice the swanky flexible electrical conduit taking all of the radio and battery wiring back to the car's trunk. The actual radio chassis was a large affair that had to be trunk-mounted in those days. The piece of equipment sitting on the driver's side floor is a 120 volt AC to 12 volt DC power converter for running the car's lights on extended display.
DFH photos.
Update: As of late April, 2009 the Cleveland Police Department announced all newly purchased cruisers will be all black in color with applied graphics in a cost cutting measure. (Black and white police units are completed on the assembly line in all black paint with the white sections added after the vehicle's manufacture.)
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