https://exploreuk.uky.edu/catalog/xt702v2c8t1s_2152_1?f%5Bsource_s%5D%5B%5D=Lafayette+Studios+photographs%3A+1930s+decade&offset=3660&per_page=20
See also: https://www.hemmings.com/blog/2016/09/07/worlds-longest-serving-cop-car-could-be-cantons-bulletproof-studebaker about this 1937 Studebaker with a windshield from the same Perfection Windshield Company
Thanks Shas!
prohibition?
ReplyDeleteover in 1933. But, chasing someone in cars... so, moonshiners I guess... modern laws seem to prohibit the use of guns against someone not shooting at anyone, but I'm thinking they were far more trigger happy in 1933 backwoods Kentucky.
DeleteThat's to weed out the slacker moonshine runners, and make NASCAR more competitive.
ReplyDeleteLol... weed out the lousy ones and only the best would survive to become racers? Ha!
DeleteThere were quite a few bank robberies during the years of the Great Depression.
ReplyDeleteThat's probably it! I don't know the range of the famous bank robbers, Bonnie and Clyde, baby Face Nelson, Dillinger, but I thought they were mostly Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Wisconsin
DeleteThat's right, Law enforcement had to deal with the 'travelers' i.e, the roaming gangs that you've mentioned, along with growing organized crime. They usually had superior firepower, and the bigger gangs in Chicago, etc. even armored up their cars too.
DeleteIt was not just Lexington. Check out this Henning's article from this 2016.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.hemmings.com/blog/2016/09/07/worlds-longest-serving-cop-car-could-be-cantons-bulletproof-studebaker/
Nice! Thanks! That's the same Perfection Glass Company that installed the windshield on these cop cars, great find!
DeleteYep, if you check Allpar they have a photo of a 1933 Plymouth with a similar bullet resistant windshield with gun port, this particular armored Plymouth could be ordered from the factory and was called the "Kansas City Hot-Shot." It was offered after the Kansas City Massacre which involved the 'rescue' of a captured gangster which led to the deaths of law enforcement officers. Some think it was actually a mob hit intended to silence the man in custody because he was later found bludgeoned to death. They were pretty serious about this because the Barrow gang and others carried BAR's, as well as Thompson sub machine guns, etc. Prior to the K.C. Massacre the FBI did not carry fire arms at all.
DeleteFor chasing bootleggers?
ReplyDeleteThat's gotta be it
DeleteTaking out road hogs...The one's doing 35 mph in the left lane...And not using their turn signals...
ReplyDelete