UK police have had various types of Jaguar over the years; there was a period where the original Mark 2 Jag could outrun the police, so they had to buy some as well. The Mark 2 became ubiquitous in police procedural TV shows, usually driven by criminals, but also Inspector Morse.
In 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.
the 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
Alpine 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).
Bit 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.
That'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.
Why? Because you could afford one? Or because you everyone else could? If your love for them was based on other people not having one, and not for love of the machine, can you really call yourself a fan?
The Porsche SUVs deeply offend me aesthetically. The proportions are just wrong and the curve doesn't adapt across the body, so it looks like a monster truck. Far more so than things built to be that size (Land Rover and imitators).
The Urus? It's .. actually not too bad. It's "not a Lamborghini", in that it looks completely different from the classic low wedge shape, but once you accept that there's no way to do "low wedge, but higher" and look at it on its own it looks alright. It's quite an aggressive look, "angry car face", but that feels appropriate for Lambo.
Then again, the 911 still comes in stick shift. But not as default. They also come in electric. Every petrolhead has a different reason to hate Porsche. And Lamborghini. And Ferrari.
Porsche has one duty to its shareholders. Keep existing. They do that by selling cars.
Maybe 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.
Which 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.
There are things which pronunciation I've learned in childhood and it will never change no matter how good my foreign language skills get. "Tomb Raider" with comically butchered accent.
> 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?
Speedometer. 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.
British influence again - apparently through the train network. Despite Commodore Perry and the Portuguese, Britain had significant influence during the Meiji restoration.
People 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.
I'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.
https://www.hagerty.com/media/automotive-history/for-more-th...
Any other police departments that did this or just those two?
For the present day: https://www.selectcarleasing.co.uk/news/article/most-powerfu... (fun use of FOIA)
https://policepathfinder.com/what-car-do-british-police-use/
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-stori...
One Porsche model is listed: 911 (no pun intended).
In 4 four years, they managed to total 4 of them (from the 26 brought in 2021).
Interesting history on that one, bit of an odd choice for the Japanese police.
I'd argue it is, at least once they started making more SUV's than 911's.
Porsche has one duty to its shareholders. Keep existing. They do that by selling cars.
Just kidding, I don't have kids.
There are things which pronunciation I've learned in childhood and it will never change no matter how good my foreign language skills get. "Tomb Raider" with comically butchered accent.
https://www.instagram.com/p/DZYbpfliUfs/
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?
(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.)
I'm not sure the correlation holds up in Japan's case though
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.