CLUNKBUCKET

Everything but the same old cars

Air Pollution Patrol

By

pollution_patrolDateline 1973. The Bay Area Air Pollution Control District announces the formation of their Vehicle Patrol section in San Francisco. Fourteen agents would patrol California roads, and issue citations to smoke-spewing scofflaws. The agents completed California Highway Patrol defensive driving courses and were trained in patrol driving techniques. Their fleet? Fourteen specially-equipped and painted 1973 Dodge Polaras! Enter John Swanson, who found a similar Polara for a nice price, and has spent the last few years recreating one of these long since decommissioned pollution pursuit specials.

John knows a few things about the Air Pollution Patrol, as he works for the BAAPCD. As John’s Dad also worked for the District, he remembers seeing the original Pollution Patrol Polaras from childhood. John put together his own recreation with as much accuracy as possible, starting with an 800-dollar Polara he picked up a few years back. John not only knows the history of the car and program, but also can tell you the difference in good visible emissions and bad. The key to it all is the Ringelmann, or smoke chart, which is still in use today. Agents are trained how to tell good smoke from bad.

“We’re still certified twice a year by the state to read smoke. They hand these out when I go to smoke school. That’s where I got this one”, said John.

Back in 1973, the chart would come out when a smoky tailpipe was spotted by an agent behind the wheel of the Polara. Scofflaws were issued citations for proof of correction. Officers were not armed, but were outfitted in stylish blue sport blazers and grey slacks. In 1978 the program was absorbed by the California Highway Patrol, who are still fully equipped to give motorists citations for vehicle code violations, but no longer from Dodge Polaras or Monacos.

Comments

  1. Mad_Science says

    This was not what I was expecting when I saw the headline in my RSS feed.

    I’m assuming the Polara in question retains all of its original emissions control equipment?

  3. DrJimmy says

    Cool! If this restoration wasn’t a Labor of Love I’d encourage him to enter this ride in a 24 Hours of LeMons race.

  4. FuzzyPlushroom says

    So it’s a pre-smog car… is this thing an example of rolling irony, by chance? By which I mean, it *does* produce more than its share of pollution, right?

  5. Davey G. says

    I like that one can fit a Pentastar in the middle of the Ringelmann. With that in hand, how could any self-respecting smoke-hunter drive anything but a Polara?

  6. eggwich del fiero says

    Great rims. I would love to challenge the calibration of the Ringelmann in court. I would play so much axegrinding metal and thunderbass hip hop in this car that it would solve all of my problems in life.

  7. dodgepolara500 says

    I saw this vehicle at the Mopar Alley show in Fremont, Ca last weekend where I believe you took this pic. It surprised me as I grew up in the bay area and never recall seeing one when I was a kid. Wonder why they bothered as they had so few cars patrolling and could have had regular police cars monitor polluton.

    Love the car and especially the Moparish shade of orange

  8. Tony says

    Memories! My father was one of the 14. I remember getting rides to school and him letting me hit the lights and siren. We would pull people over on the 101 and write them up. Later on their tasks were expanded to gas station inspections.

    My father passed away 2 years ago. Thank you for the memories.