BORN [ NOT ] TO RUN

POLICE CRUISERS AND GETAWAY CARS ARE RACING TOWARD AN UNKNOWN FUTURE.

BY ELEANOR CUMMINS

The brand-new Ford DeLuxe Fordor that Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow plucked from a Topeka, Kansas, driveway in 1934 was top-shelf: Cordoba gray paint, a big chrome grill, and a sumptuous leather interior. But what really attracted the car-savvy bank robbers lay beneath the hood—its 85-horsepower flat-head V8 engine. This new breed of machine was designed to give every American, opportunistic crooks included, a taste of speed. Every American except the cops. Depression-era police departments suffered from tight budgets and outdated tech; many officers still bumped around in old Model A’s, which had half the Fordor’s muscle. Criminals like Parker and Barrow could, of course, steal any ride they wanted, and they chose wisely. It took a Texas Ranger with his own V8, and a small-town cop who went through…

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Popular Science Australia (Digital) - 1 Issue, February 2019

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