1981 Dodge Diplomat

1981 Dodge Diplomat in Christmas Vacation, Movie, 1989

Class: Cars, Sedan — Model origin:

01:25:09 Minor action vehicle or used in only a short scene

Author	Message
G-MANN ◊ 2006-12-22 21:57	Although the Griswolds live in the Chicago area, these squad cars have "Metro Police" written on them. I read somewhere this is because the Chicago Police Department were annoyed at how they were portrayed in The Blue Brothers so they didn't allow any films to use their name at that time. -- Last edit: 2009-08-11 01:12:13
Snookie ◊ 2006-12-22 22:08	That's true. Unless thousands of dollars was put up, any police car in any Chicago based film would read "Police", "Metro Police", or they'd just repaint the car a completely different color. For example, in the 1991 film 'Only the Lonely', John Candy drives a 1981 Impala F41 near the end. It was an actual squad car, except the lower half was repainted a deep blue while the top half was white. The actual lightbar, and municipal license plates remained.
Snookie ◊ 2006-12-22 22:10	Films like 'Above the Law' and 'Rapid Fire' give good examples of the fake CPD cars.
Snookie ◊ 2006-12-23 05:49	This went on for thirteen years, until 'The Fugitive' was released.
Donovan Savage ◊ 2015-02-20 20:07	1983