
I always thought the police car was nicknamed the “panda car” due to Fiat Panda’s being used within the force but evidently I am wrong. Police cars were named Panda cars because they were commonly painted in black and white, hence the term Panda car. This term originates from 1965. Towards the 1970s the cars had a fluorescent stripe down the side and this brought around the term “jam sandwich”. The term was made mainstream through usage in popular police dramas.
Police cars used today use a variety of different models and various colour markings. Many cars have what is described as “Battenburg” markings, similar to the pattern within a Batternburg cake. The Battenburg markings are not only used by the police but other emergency services as well including Ambulance, Fire and Rescue, National Blood Service and Rail Response.
The pattern is also popular in other countries and I suppose this is very sensible as it makes emergency vehicles easy to recognise wherever you are on the planet.
A new Fiat Panda has just been released at the Frankfurt Motor show although it is not expected to arrive in Fiat Dealers in Slough until Spring 2012! After doing my research I don’t think that Fiat Panda’s have ever been used within the force. Popular police vehicles include Ford Focus, Skoda Octavia and Vauxhall Astra. The traffic police also use the Range Rover or BMW X5! I am sure they have a lot of fun driving those at high speed down the motorway on the way to an emergency.
However the world’s coolest cop car has to be the Lamborghini Gallardo.
I think it is currently only a demo car but imagine how many people would want to be traffic cops if they really did come into service. Watch this space!










