4 ms·
The Last Surviving Japanese Porsche 912 Police Car
- tkcranny 4mo agoI'm no car guy, but that's a beautiful vehicle. How totally Japanese too; zany but rad.
- ishtanbul 4mo agoScrapping them should be a crime
- lifestyleguru 4mo agoPeople are doing really ugly, corrupted, and cruel things to own and to drive Porsche. Don't understand sentiment to this brand, especially considering a hole in their history during 1930s-1940s. It's a drving scrap, they didn't scrap it, big deal.
- bayindirh 4mo agoI'm a car enthusiast, but I like brands like Porsche because of the engineering they have on their cars. You don't have to appreciate it, but the engineering of these cars are not orthodox, yet they're daily driveable cars unlike the cars in their own class, e.g. Ferrari, Maserati, et. al. The thinking out of the box, and evolution instead of revolution makes them extraordinary. Personally, I prefer the looks of Porsches to any other car. However, would I go great lengths to own one? I'm not sure. You can admire something without going crazy about it or define yourself via it. If we're going to "shame" companies about doing things between 1930-1940, the list will be much longer and multi-national.
- jgilias 4mo agoEver buying a Fanta?
- lifestyleguru 4mo agoWrong address, I absolutely avoid this "fantastic" brand and other sugar syrups. I tend to drink plain water (like in the toilet bowl).
- NetMageSCW 4mo agoWhy doesn’t HN have an ignore option?
- fsalehpour 4mo agoSteering wheel on the wrong side!
- GJim 4mo ago1/3 of the planets population drives on the left mate. (Incidentally, if a country drives on the left then as a general rule of thumb, they also play cricket. I've no idea why this might be the case.)
- bdsa 4mo agoBritish influence? I'm not sure the correlation holds up in Japan's case though
- pjc50 4mo agoBritish influence again - apparently through the train network. Despite Commodore Perry and the Portuguese, Britain had significant influence during the Meiji restoration.
- ornornor 4mo agoI’d say it’s because cricket is British and driving on the other side is British too?
- GJim 4mo agoI really had no idea. Give that man a coconut.
- lifestyleguru 4mo agoDon't want succumb to any conspiracy theory, but they also tend to play rugby.
- aitchnyu 4mo agoI'm from India and had to Google these guys https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japan_national_cricket_team https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japan_national_cricket_team
- smackeyacky 4mo agoBit of a shame what has happened to classic Porsche prices. They used to be “car guy” cars. Now the prices went wackadoodle they’ve become cars for people who…aren’t car guys and can’t even pronounce it properly. Interesting history on that one, bit of an odd choice for the Japanese police.
- deleted 4mo ago[deleted]
- close04 4mo agoThat's what happens to things when they become status symbols. They're chased for status. Not the case for Porsche but sometimes that object ends up losing all the core value, pushing away the original fans, and rides the status wave until there's nothing left to offer.
- tonyedgecombe 4mo ago>Not the case for Porsche I'd argue it is, at least once they started making more SUV's than 911's.
- close04 4mo agoMaybe they're not what they used to be but they haven't lost all of the Porsche DNA. It's not all status. There are companies where the label is all that's left.
- fragmede 4mo agoWhich is to say, there are companies that've gone out of business. But if it was my company, I know what I would do, to put my kids through college. But I know what I would do, to look them in the eye after college. Just kidding, I don't have kids.
- smackeyacky 4mo agoIt didn’t have to be that way but badge engineering a VW wasn’t a great idea. Then again I know nothing because they sell a ton of those things.
- vanderZwan 4mo agoThe police of Amsterdam also used to have Porsche police cars https://www.hagerty.com/media/automotive-history/for-more-than-30-years-the-dutch-police-was-one-of-porsches-best-customers/ https://www.hagerty.com/media/automotive-history/for-more-th... Any other police departments that did this or just those two?
- wolfi1 4mo agothe state of Austria usually buys its police cars from Porsche (the dealer not the carmaker) guess, that doesn't count. but Austria had Porsches (some of them 911) in the 60s
- bayindirh 4mo agoGermans? I mean, the company is local to them.
- riffraff 4mo agoIn Italy the Carabinieri[0] used to have a Ferrari 250 GTE 2+2 in the '60s. The car is still around[1] and is legally allowed to go around with the original "police colors" even tho it's now owned by a private collector. There's plenty more modern sport cars these days, in various countries. [0] one of the 4-5 police forces in Italy [1] https://www.motori.it/ferrari-250-gte-22-in-vendita-la-storica-pantera-della-polizia/ https://www.motori.it/ferrari-250-gte-22-in-vendita-la-stori...
- pjc50 4mo ago
- varjag 4mo agoReally dig that side mounted siren. Peak mid century aesthetics.
- kart23 4mo agowhats the huge sports chrono looking thing on the dash? wonder if thats the origin of the modern option
- pjc50 4mo agoSpeedometer. Not sure why it's in a separate binnacle on its own. Perhaps that allows the passenger cop to also observe the speed and corroborate it in court later if necessary.
- tarzasai 4mo agonot Porsche but the italian police has 2 Lamborghini Huracan. They make some good use of them sometimes: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/dec/20/italian-police-use-lamborghini-to-deliver-kidneys-to-transplant-patients https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/dec/20/italian-police...
- n4r9 4mo ago> In the 1960s, four Porsche 912s were customized for use as police cars in Japan Fascinating. So many follow-on questions. Why four exactly? Were they all in Tokyo, or spread around? Did they get used for anything other than highway patrol? Who got to drive them?
- SiempreViernes 4mo agoFour seems like a reasonable number for a trial purchase.
- thrdbndndn 4mo agoThe article said Kanagawa so not Tokyo. Well, close enough.
- deleted 4mo ago[deleted]
- maeln 4mo agoNot as beautiful, but the French Gendarmerie National have 22 Alpine A110. Some pictures there : https://www.largus.fr/actualite-automobile/alpine-a110-gendarmerie-des-versions-gts-de-300-ch-arrivent-pour-la-bri-30044338.html https://www.largus.fr/actualite-automobile/alpine-a110-genda.... In 4 four years, they managed to total 4 of them (from the 26 brought in 2021).
- sieabahlpark 4mo ago[dead]
- bionsystem 4mo agoAlpine is (was ?) a Renault brand, which is a French company, so it is a little less exotic than a Japanese police force buying a German car (Japan being such a massive car exporter themselves).
- gkanai 4mo agoThese photos were originally by Lorenzo Kikisch for Type 7 magazine https://www.instagram.com/p/DZYbpfliUfs/ https://www.instagram.com/p/DZYbpfliUfs/
- protocolture 4mo agoI really need James May to explain its entire service history to me.