When I saw this shot posted at the Cohort by William Rubano, I instantly thought “Dragnet”. That iconic tv show, based on real cases from the Los Angeles Police Department, ran on tv from 1951-1959, and then again from 1967-1970. It was the latter series that I used to love watching, and Sergeant Joe Friday and Officer Gannon drove a Fairlane sedan just like this one. And occasionally, they drove it fast enough so that it too took on this characteristic lean in a corner.
Actually, it wasn’t just like this one, as the featured Fairlane is a 1966, and their ride was a ’67. Close enough.
Here they are underway, being followed by a ’66 Toronado. Don’t stop too quickly, or you’ll get rear ended! I seem to only remember them driving the ’67 Fairlane for all four seasons of the second run, but I could be wrong.
I don’t know any details about this image, which came up in a Google Image search for Dragnet. Quite a variety of police cars; presumably former LAPD vehicles.
If you’re not familiar with Dragnet, here’s one of the many episodes, which shows them heading out in their Fairlane just a few minutes in from the opening.
Even if it’s not Joe Friday, someone’s enjoying a spirited drive in their Fairlane.
Most of those old shows are so hokey by today’s standards, but I still watch to ogle the cars and the scenery. LA looked a lot nicer in the 60s.
That’s the reason I like CHIPS , so I can check out cars from the 60s and 70s. LA may have looked nicer in some ways, but it was smoggier .
Dragnet 1967-70 and the original Adam-12 always had some interesting shots of cars in the wild in So. Cal. because of their location shooting. It’s amazing to see how many first generation Mustangs there were roaming the streets before the imports took over the Cali market. Of course, it helped that there was an entire plant in San Jose producing Mustangs at the time …
IIRC, the Dean Martin show was right after Dragnet on NBC Thursday nights.
So much TV, so little homework done!!!
My guess is that they stuck with the Fairlane for cost reasons. There’s a lot of obviously stock footage of ‘a’ Fairlane being driven around LA (not necessarily by Bill Gannon).
As an aside, isn’t it interesting how neither Gannon nor Friday were ever shown physically engaging criminals? Really not a lot of violence on the show.
And every time a gun is fired, the officer is holding it at waist level like the gunslingers of the old west. Modern police shows have officers holding guns with both hands, arms straight out, which probably makes for much better marksmanship.
Arms out does make for better aim but training includes shooting from the hip which is faster, and if you’re good, still accurate at close quarters. You depend on split-seconds when a bad guy draws on you, quickly and close-in. Those who say, “why can’t you aim for his legs and just wound him” can go sit in a corner in the back of the room. You go for a shot to the center of the body.
Paul, the spelling for the guy with the stripes is “Sergeant,” with two Es and one A…though most often I would say, “Yes, Sir.” Until I got my stripes; then it was, “Yes, Sir” to the guy with the gold bars.
Cannon, is what gets me, no matter how far the shot, conrad never misses with his smith and wesson 38 with it 1 1/2″ barrel.
Looking at this car again reminds me that a neighbor owned a 67 Fairlane 500 convertible in this very same (non) color. I had a serious crush on her car, which was one more reason I liked Dragnet. She had bought her Fairlane new and she and her husband kept it looking very nice into the late 70s when they moved out of town.
I used to LOVE Dragnet. I watched in first run as a young kid, and later in reruns. It was car-spotting nirvana, with so many scenes taking place cruising the streets. And it was very realistic – when a crook was getting away in a blue 64 Mercury or a green 59 Buick, they called it as such.
You are correct about using the same Fairlane for all 4 years. I presume that the badge on the front fender called out a 390? It was probably quite an upgrade for Joe Friday, whose off duty car I remember as a baby blue 64 Fairlane. Can’t remember what Officer Gannon drove.
Yes, it had the 390. Time is of the essence.
Dragnet was such a great show. Very political, but with such a seriousness that the campiness was in the way the way the two sides viewed each other. The clipped almost radio style of the dialogue was also behind the times but still well done. The Fairlane will never live down Dragnet.
It is so interesting that the 1950s version (that ran way longer) is almost invisible on TV, and always has been, at least in my lifetime. I have a DVD set of maybe 3 or 4 episodes. One of the episodes (where someone stole part of the nativity scene from a church) was lifted almost whole for re-filming in the later show. There was probably a lot of that.
Also, every episode was “The Big . . . . ” something.
If you have XM in the car, you can listen to the early fifties radio version on Radio Classics, much less political, more crime solving. You also can hear Jack Webb on the earlier 1949 Pat Novak for Hire where he plays a noir style private detective.
One thing all these renditions share is the almost stock company of great character actors
I love those Jack Webb Pat Novak radio shows! And don’t forget, he had a minor role in the classic film-noir movie, Sunset Boulevard.
There is a radio show on NPR called Prairie Home Companion….It is a throwback to the old style radio shows and one regular skit is “Guy Noir- Private Eye’…a comedic version of the classic Private Eye radio shows
There’s a brand new Facebook page called “The Irving Bacon Fan Page” that is all about character actors. People post little bios on those people you used to see in every movie.
Radio style is quite correct, The original radio version is virtually identical to the TV series in style, if not content! (1950s B&W or 1960s Color version.) The episode titles on the radio version were also “The Big ____________”. And the Nativity theft appeared on the radio version. (…a Hat Trick!)
I love it when they’re dealing with dirty hippies and druggies on the show using that stilted dialogue, it’s a hoot!
Ages ago I used to have a ’66 Fairlane, 289 V8 with three-on-the-tree, manual steering and brakes, AM radio. That car was reliable as an anvil but rust finally got the better of it.
I’ve got a similar setup with my 65 fairlane sedan. 289 and was converted from 3 on the tree to four on the floor at some point in its life. The column shifter is still attached but is just a floppy appendage now. There is also an overdrive pull handle that is attached to nothing now.
Some of the young actors did not turn out as you would expect. The actor that played Blue Boy, the drug user/pusher with the half painted face ended up a college professor. However the clean cut actors in the smart teen episode where kids drew posters to announce the coolness of sobriety, included a young O. J. Simpson.
Spell check: It’s spelled “Sergeant”, not “Sargent”.
Check, chief! 🙂
Anyone else ever see the Jack Webb film ” The Drill Sergeant ” ? .
A hoo-rah piece for the U.S.M.C. .
-Nate
Despite his on air persona, Jack Webb had a great sense of humor, as evidenced by a classic appearance on Johnny Carson. And he never swung his arms when he walked!
rudiger
I knew there had to be a different side of Jack Webb than we saw on Dragnet. He was married to Julie London! Lucky man, until they divorced.
The ‘Copper Clapper’ Carson bit is worth searching for on YouTube.
Likewise, his character in Sunset Boulevard is quite against type as a happy go lucky writer.
I have that clip and it is still hilarious.
Actually it was titled “The D.I.”
Great film.
Sadistically funny in many scenes. For example, (1) waking everybody up by snapping on the lights and rattling his swagger stick noisily inside an empty aluminum trash can; (2) Everybody in full combat gear going to great length and effort find a sand flea Private Owens “murdered”, then a full burial detail. (3) During a rifle stripdown inspection, Webb questions and doubts a Private about a certain detail and he Private responded, “Sir, I may not be always be right but I’m never wrong”.
That b/w still is from the 1966 pilot movie Webb made for what would become the ’60s Dragnet series. You can watch the whole thing on YouTube:
In that scene, they’d gotten assistance from a bunch of sheriff/police dep’ts around LA, and the cars were painted in the various livery.
I’m a huge fan of all the Webb shows.
” I’m a huge fan of all the Webb shows. ” .
Whew ~ I thought I’d be the only one .
-Nate
I am also a huge Webb fan…I have 2 books about him!
In my younger days watching the 1967-70 Dragnet series I couldn’t identify the particular Ford sedan he used. For some reason it didn’t look right and looked rather small compared to a full-size Ford sedan of that era; I thought it was something like a Ford Falcon or Mercury Comet. But the dual headlights ruled out that possibility. Later found out it was a base trim ’67 Ford Fairlane, which I never really paid attention to.
BTW, note the stock hubcaps. Nothing fancy about it. Same type used on the F-100 base trim pickups, if not mistaken.
The props coordinator may well have taken the hubcaps off the craft services truck for that effect; the Fairlane’s otherwise a pretty well optioned-out 500. Too well-optioned for a public fleet car, especially in a major city like LA – Mayberry’s Galaxies could be explained by a local dealer writing their bid around a car they already had on the lot, but LA probably never bought just one of anything.
. . . complete a Mustang style sport steering wheel.
Our local cops drove those Fairlanes when we were terrorizing our neighborhood on our Honda 90s and Yamaha 60s. At night we instantly recognized the over/under headlight arrangement coming towards us and adjusted our riding accordingly.
Also loved Adam-12. If I recall, the guys originally drove a Mopar intermediate before acquiring an AMC Matador. So many great old 60s and 70s cars can be seen in nearly every episode.
Here’s a piece I wrote a while back including all the Adam-12 cars.
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/blog/curbside-cinema-adam-12/
Plymouth intermediates were the real LAPD squads during the years of Dragnet. Ford must have had some kind of deal to display Ford products on that show, not unusual at the time.
I remember LASD having the Fury and CHP mixed it up a bit with Olds, Dodge and Mercury, all long wheelbase cars.
That’s true, I don’t believe L.A.P.D. ever had any Fairlanes. All Belvederes until Satellites in ’71, followed by Matadors. There could have been one factor explaining Friday’s use of a Fairlane however: In the original series, Friday’s partner was one officer Frank Smith, played by Ben Alexander. Alexander was a good friend of Webb’s, and in addition to being a successful actor also happened to own a Ford dealership in Huntington Park. Alexander’s son Nick (and his daughter) currently own a B.M.W. dealership in L.A..
LAPD had a a brief fling with the Merc Montego in ’70. Strangely, it was the only car not to be used on Adam-12. They kept the ’69 Belvedere an extra year.
1970 was a split buy. There were Belvedere and Montego squads that year. Mercury did get the CHP contract that one year with the Monterrey.
Bob B., Thanks for the Alexander dealership history. The current radio ads have a tagline “Nick can’t say no”.
Penny pinching LAPD didnt spec PAS on the Montego . Steering was
HEAVY drivers hated it so it was caned after a year. See Jay Lenos
Garage on LAPD Historical collection vid.
I also remember seeing a fair share of AMC Matador police cars on the streets of LA as well through most of the ’70s.
Dad’s first car was a Fairlane 4-dr, in white with red vinyl interior and 3-on-the-tree. This was about 1972 when I was 8 yrs old. It was an ok car, but the ’69 Galaxie he bought to replace it about 3 yrs later was a much better car.
I loved CHiPs! Great show about a faraway place (L.A.) and big city I knew I’d never visit.
They definitely kept the Fairlane around for continuity purposes. If you watch, Sergeant Friday and Officer Gannon wore the same suit coats and pants for the same reason.
This prevented one of the things that used to drive me nuts on Hawaii 5-0–McGarrett would leave the office in his 68 Park Lane and show up in his 74 Marquis.
I believe episode 1 of the later 1960’s series centered around a well to do woman being kidnapped ,then hid in the trunk of her 65-66? Imperial. It was fun to hear Sgt Friday give the APB actually saying Chrysler Imperial vs just Chrysler.
I was really taken aback when I saw Friday and Gannon’s Fairlane! St Ann Missouri
where I grew up always had Dodge cop cars they came from St Ann Dodge!
I Think the city of St Louis had mostly Chevies
So when I was a boy,it was Mopar cop car or no car!
This is the city, Los Angeles California. My names Friday, Joe Friday. My partner Bill Gannon and I were working the missing persons division… I wasn’t born until 1979 but I used to love watching that show on Nick at Night growing up. Anyone else remember at the end of the credits, there would be like a drum roll sound then the hand would come out with that metal stamp and then another hand would whack it with a hammer? I don’t remember for sure but I think it said Viacom or something like that.
The end credits was a hand stamping “Mark VII Productions” or “Mark VII Limited” which was Webb’s production company.
I don’t remember ever seeing Fairlane patrol cars in that era, except on the show. Usually Mopar or no car, at least in Northern California. I actually preferred CHIPs and Adam12, though.
Quinn Martin productions’ “The Streets of San Francisco” featured an unmarked Fairlane. Credit: “Cars Furnished by FORD MARKETING CORPORATION”
Interesting that Dragnet’s car or cars were Fords, but Jack Webb’s later shows showcased Mopars, such as Adam-12 and Emergency!.
OTOH, Quinn Martin’s cop shows such as “The FBI”, “The Streets of San Francisco”, and “Cannon” were well known to be Ford Motor showcases.
Enjoyable post. I could never make out the callouts on the front fender but I always hoped Ford gave them a special order car with a 427 FE side-oiler……..
For Adam 12 and Emergency, I believe Webb used cars that were actually in use by both the LA Police and Fire Dept during those show’s run – hence the switchover to AMC in the early 70s when LAPD made a large purchase.
One other piece of trivia that most folks may know – Webb didn’t memorize dialogue on the show – he used cue cards so when he’s making those monotone speeches on the evil of drugs, he’s reading off a cue card off-camera. Once you know that, the acting and the pacing of the show kind’a make sense.
It really did have a 390, according to reliable sources.
Harry Morgan in my opinion was the much more talented and versatile actor than Jack Webb. Starting in the early 40’s and 50’S he had parts in mainly Westerns and a lot of famous ones at that. Then went on to the 50″s Dragnet series while also appearing in other TV shows and movies. In 1962 he appeared as US Grant along with John Wayne who played W T Sherman. Appearing in TV and movie westerns in the meantime he reprised his role in the.Dragnet series from 1967 to 1970. He filled out the rest of his career with his 9 year run on M.A.S.H, westerns, comedy westerns, TV comedies and everything and anything in between.
I’m not sure one could really call jack Webb an “actor”. Very stiff and monochromatic. No wonder he was called to producing. 🙂
Even Jack Webb didn’t call himself an actor, he didn’t even want to be in the TV version of Dragnet
If you watch the ’50s Dragnet, esp. the early ones, Webb was more natural feeling in the role. He was even able to display an affable, good-natured side. By the 60s, the only expression his face seemed able to make was a judgmental sneer/smirk thing. It was kind of too bad.
The photo at the top of this article was taken at the intersection of Sandy Hollow Road and Irma Ave. in Port Washington, LI, NY.
Even Benji “Blue Boy” Carver got a ride in the Fairlane in what was the most over the top ’60s Dragnet episode of them all…..
Sure, it was shilling for one of the most corrupt and brutal PDs in the country, but it was still fun to watch. The original version was centered around the individual cases and the people involved, while the ’60s revival was more about Jack Webb’s pontificating. In the later version Webb had even banned (with a few rare exceptions) the word “cop”, considering it a slur against police officers.
KMA367 clear.
Brutal, absolutely. Corrupt? Not by then and, if anything, the opposite of east coast big cities and Chicago at the time.
During the second run of Dragnet I’d agree that it wasn’t as bad. When the radio show began the LAPD was still rotten to the core. Chief Parker saw it and the TV show as a means of improving the LAPD’s public image, and in that mission it worked.
Of course in the ’80s it got bad again and would get worse (Rampart, etc) but by that time Jack Webb had already been given his full police funeral and badge 714 had been officially retired by the LAPD.
I still watch Chips and Dragnet once in a while to remember what LA looked like when I was growing up in this time period. Along with the thick smog haze as well.
Some of the Marijuana and LSD episodes are a real riot to watch today. And of course all the old cars are a treat to see, I recently watch a Chips episode where they rolled a car in front of the old VW store in Hollywood, where I worked at in 1976. In fact, it was while working there I bought my old ’76 C10 from the original owner, a co-worker in the parts dept. I had that truck for 30 years. As I recall, Friday and Gannon had the ’67 Fairlane throughout the 2nd gen show. A over the air station also shows the ’50’s original series, I had never seen those until recently.
The story you have just seen is true. The details have been changed to favor the LAPD.
’70 C10, not ’76. Also fun to watch Adam-12 for 60’s/70’s cars and LA time period shots.
One of the more fascinating episodes was where Gannon and Friday were investigating some Timothy Leary type. The entire show was, literally, nothing but a back and forth between these guys, with the epilogue being the prof being arrested on some minor charge like contributing to the delinquency of minors.
With the exception of some grille and headlight surround details this is the same as the 1969-72 Australian Fairlane, which would never have been used as a police car, except perhaps for ransporting the Chief Commissioner.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen these police shows, but there was a local equivalent called “Homicide” back in the mid-60s.