Customer Reviews

Police Cars: A Graphic History

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For students of police cars, this book leaves a little to be desired. For the person who likes colorful and sharp photos of squad cars, many in action, just a taste of history thrown in, and a look at the innovation of police agencies from around the world, Bruce Cameron captures these in "Police Cars A Graphic History." For the serious student of police-carology the material lacks in details about engines, models, factory options, and developement over the years, giving instead a lot of generalities. The photos, mostly color, are very well done, and one of the most interesting chapters is how the modern graphics of many squad cars both in the U.S. and other countries are developed. For those who have a quest for a deeper knowledge of these specialized vehicles there are other volumes on police cars out there. However, for the person who likes the idea of flashing red and blue lights plus a wailing siren, or for an off-duty officer who would like a book that pays homage to their profession this is a good book. 10-4!

Most of the police car books on market are full of black and white pictures. As cop cars today are more colorful than only black and white it is great to have a book full of clear color pictures. Most of these not-your-traditional looking cruisers come from USA but there are also some pages dedicated to vehicles worldwide. Most of the pictures show "normal" everyday cars but lots of DARE and special vehicle pics are also presented here. Captions are mostly rather uninformative telling usually only where the car is from. Nice addition to text would have been for example year when that paint scheme was in use or when photo was taken. Also you won't find any technical data from this book but there are several other great publications about different manufacturer's police vehicles filled with technical details.

This "history" is a welcome addition to growing number of police car books. Cop cars are not only B/W anymore!

For the police vehicle enthusiast, this book will be a real boon. The photos of police vehicles, literally hundreds of them, most in full colour, are magnificent. Most of the police cars shown are American, but there is a fair smattering from other countries as well. The photography is generally of a high standard, and the reproduction is exquisite. The text, however (what there is of it), is pretty generalistic. Then again, this is a PHOTO book. I did notice some of the captions, particularly in the model police car chapter, were totally inaccurate, as though written by someone who didn't know much about the models concerned. This compares with the chapter on old police cars, where the captions are highly detailed. Of particular interest is the range of unusual and spectacular police vehicles, such as the DARe cars (Corvettes, Camaros ... the works!). A great book photographically, that is pulled down from being a ten by some of the insipid captions.