Watching 2nd season episode 1, Molloy and Reed do a show & tell at a local school, Reed explains to the kids that the siren on their '69 Belvedere can be operated by a driver's foot switch, an option I never knew LAPD used.
Adam-12/LAPD tidbit
- Thread starter CHIEFOPS
- Start date
Hoff
Member
I know, I hadn't either, that's why I thought it was worth mentioning here, as noted it was a Jack Webb production so I'm sure it's a 100% accurate fact.
NPS Ranger
Member
Broderick Crawford who played CHP Chief Dan Mathews on the series Highway Patrol, had gotten so many DUI's that his license was suspended, they had to film some of the scenes with him driving on private roads since he couldn't legally drive on the street anymore.
CHIEFOPS said:
I saw that episode as well on AntennaTV. Also I noticed that the can lights have lower mounting bracket on them, real close to the roof. When they air the later epsiodes with the Matadors the can lights are a bit higher of the roof.
Anyone know if LAPD could operate the rear ambers only on those Trio's? Never recall a episode where they did.
And on AntennaTV they also air "Emergency" a week or so ago they were assigned to a large forest fire and a night scene they turned on the clear aircraft light atop of the TwinSonic. Believe that was the only episode I saw them actually using it.
Then they show chrome and black framed TwinSonics also.
Like the LASO cars in "Emergency" also.
As I understand it, down was ambers only, up was reds and ambers, but they never seemed to show amber only mode.
chief1562
Member
Mndlm said:
That aircraft light you are talking about I believe was actually a call light. It came on when they were out of the car to let them know they had a call.
IIRC, that light on top of the lightbar was so LACOFD helicopters could identify a paramedic rescue squad from other units that used the same type of vehicle such as non-paramedic rescue squads, brush patrol units, apparatus repair vehicles, etc.
50theman said:
I used to watch Adam-12 when I was a kid (in the early 1970s). Back then I thought the 'siren' was the chrome speaker-like contraption on the the roof and it was activated by the toggle switches as shown in the photo in this thread.
Years later I found out that the 'siren' was the light grey metal box with the blue control panel, and it could be activated with the toggle switches, a horn ring switch, a footswitch, or just by turning it on with the gain control knob.
Also, for many years I thought that the siren sound in the TV show was just a 'made up' sound that the sound technicians created in the studio. But that Adam 12 siren sound is actually a recording of a real siren. It's a recording of a mid-1960s Federal PA20 siren running in 'manual' mode. The PA20 has wail, yelp, and alert tones and was manufactured from around 1962 to 1966. I have one, and it sounds like the siren in the TV show.
The 1968 Plymouth Belvedere and subsequent Adam-12 patrol cars had a PA20A siren. The PA20A has wail, yelp, and hi-lo tones. Late 1960s PA20As have low-pitched wail and yelp tones and 1970s PA20As have high-pitched wail and yelp tones. Neither version of the PA20A sounds anything like the PA20.
Last edited by a moderator:
Sarge619
Member
Mndlm said:
There were no black-framed TwinSonics. It was the exact same bar with black gaffers tape applied to the chrome/stainless areas to reduce glare and reflection from the filming lights.
chief1562
Member
Wigwam700
Member
Abacus
Member
Adam 12 and the new Adam 12 being rerun on Aussie tv at the moment. The only difference between the former and the latter are the light bars.
Those switch panels were installed to make the cars LAPD-correct. Except for the switch that powered the T2 lights, nothing else was ever used. When watching the original episodes of Adam-12, I never realized then that the siren sounds were "canned". But when I began watching "Emergency!" on a regular, that became obvious....especially when you'd see Squad 51 running with a Q sound, or the second Engine 51 which had a Q, running with the sound of the Interceptor. Another interesting mixup from the studios was the occasonal insertion of a hi-lo sound which came from an actual hi-lo horn recording, not from an electronic siren. In those days the hi-lo sound was not legal in California....only wail (or manual) and yelp.
Sarge619
Member
Skip Goulet said:
Skip, please correct me if I'm wrong (which wouldn't be a stretch), but I remember hearing from somewhere (someone in firefighting but I can't for the life of me remember who) that the "high-low" horn sounds were not supposed to represent any electronically-produced sound, but were actual two-tone air horns supposedly being tested for effectiveness in traffic clearing by LACoFD. It was probably misinformation, but that had been passed onto me many moons ago when I brought up the same points you did. Maybe someone with a good grasp of LACoFD info could clarify this.
Sarge619 said:
You are correct about the sounds being actual hi-lo airhorns being superimposed on those particular episodes. But as to LACoFD testing for effectiveness, that doesn't sound right, because California didn't permit hi-lo sounds back then. I've heard Kevin O'Connell, owner of B&M Siren Mfg., and retired Batt. Chief Joe Ortiz, who leases vintage emergency vehicles and equipment to the movie studios, both comment on this on another site on a number of occasions. From what they've both said, the superimposed hi-lo sounds was just a gimmick one of the sound engineers came up with that he thought would be nice to hear on the program. And remember, the later Interceptor sirens had the hi-lo sound if the actual sirens had been used on the show. Like I said, it used to gripe me to no end whenever the sound engineers got the sounds interchanged between the Squad and the Engine.
chief1562
Member
I took this off the tv while watching Adam-12.
Thought you might like it if somebody is doing a restore job.
If the picture isn't clear enough can try and get a better on.
Thought you might like it if somebody is doing a restore job.
If the picture isn't clear enough can try and get a better on.
patrol530
Member
I'm sure the reference was for the first episodes older Mopar, which had a mechanical siren, thus a foot switch for the relay would of been standard.
chief1562
Member
patrol530 said:
That foot switch was mentioned in an epasoide when they went to the school has "Officer Bob" and it was mentioned to the kids that they could use their foot to activate it.
patrol530 said:
Per Kevin O'Connell at B&M, the "mechancial sirens" shown on the older Adam-12 episodes were mock-ups. They used actual siren housing and front ends and rotors, but there was no motor. Kevin says they did a lot of that, not only for TV but for the movies. Like the episodes where the cars had the Interceptors, any siren sounds were dubbed in.
chief1565 said:
Federal actually included the rubber footswitches with their Interceptors and Directors. If those Interceptors were actually hooked up to work, like if the studios were giving kids "tours" of those cars, then the footswtich would be there and would've been operable.
chief1565 said:
Note that the speaker is mounted behind the control head.
Skip Goulet said:
The car that was used in the pilot episode had a PA20, so the sound that was dubbed in would have been correct.
In the pilot episode Pete Malloy describes the patrol car as having "an electronic siren with wail, yelp, and alert tones." He's describing the PA20.
The 1968 and later models had the PA20A. If you look closely at the siren in all episodes except the pilot, the siren has 'hi-lo' on the control panel. The PA20A has the hi-lo tone.
Maxim2Eng
Supporting Donor
Sarge619 said:
I think he was referring to the aluminum sub frame--on the first generation of TwinSonics, they were painted black. Later, they were un-painted, bare aluminum. My first mod12, while working for the local FS distributor/installer, had the black frame.
Sarge619
Member