Pimp said:
nerdly_dood said:What's the beacon on the left in the first picture?
JohnMarcson said:Anyone have any pics of what Texas DPS cars actually looked like during this time period?
CrownVic97 said:
Tripp-Lite MV2, single rotator beacon. Tri-Lite Mars still makes them...
[Broken External Image]:http://www.triliteinc.com/products/assets/mv2-110pa-L.jpg
nerdly_dood said:\Thanks. But why is the bulb mounted from the top?
TheLightFromMars said:Mr. Marcson, I have some pics taken off the web on a disc somewhere. TX DPS Holds a very special place in my heart since childhood for personal reasons (having a color vision issue gets you DQ'd from working with them and I'll leave it at that)
I can describe to you what DPS had during the era of that movie. The color and graphics have not changed since the mid 1960's. However, DPS roof lights were red Federal Twins....never saw an exposed siren until later. Many still used mechanicals until the late 1970's. Many were slick tops and had no lights that I ever saw...since they operated in rural areas, they just usually used high-beam headlights/sirens although some had red Unity lights ala CHP.
Mars lights, except for 888's, were NOT common in Texas and were NEVER used by DPS. Big light bars on DPS units did not come along almost until the mid/late 1980s.
NHFD104 said:I remember watching it for the first time as a kid. It's hard to find movies like that these days. You know, ones that rely on things like dialog, plot, and acting versus cgi, green screens, and special effects. Back in those days if a car crashed through a wall at 130 mph it meant that a real live person drove a car through a wall at 130 mph!
nerdly_dood said:It's disappointing that I'm actually impressed that they used the same cars for the entire movie - too many films I've
seen where the car crashes, and later on it's good as new again.
TheLightFromMars said:Mr. Marcson, I have some pics taken off the web on a disc somewhere. TX DPS Holds a very special place in my heart since childhood for personal reasons (having a color vision issue gets you DQ'd from working with them and I'll leave it at that)
I can describe to you what DPS had during the era of that movie. The color and graphics have not changed since the mid 1960's. However, DPS roof lights were red Federal Twins....never saw an exposed siren until later. Many still used mechanicals until the late 1970's. Many were slick tops and had no lights that I ever saw...since they operated in rural areas, they just usually used high-beam headlights/sirens although some had red Unity lights ala CHP.
Mars lights, except for 888's, were NOT common in Texas and were NEVER used by DPS. Big light bars on DPS units did not come along almost until the mid/late 1980s.
Wailer said:So the Texas DPS tanks had the Twin Beacon Ray roof rack with two red beacons and no speaker in 1974?
I kind of thought something was fishy with the movie props when I saw tanks in the same paint scheme but with different coloured lights. The blue and white tanks with the Twin Sonics have at least three different variations: red / red, red & blue / red & blue, and red & white / red & white. It looks like the film crew just scrounged up a bunch of light bars and beacons and slapped them on the cars randomly.
TheLightFromMars said:Hopefully these will turn out as this is my first time uploading any kind of photos. They were gotten from the net many years ago (Like I said, TX DPS holds a special place in my heart)
These are pics of DPS units with lightbars on them from 1967 thorugh the late 1970's. The Unity lights on the 1960's units are red.
jtf027 said:Can anyone tell me the model numbers of the MARS 2 sided lights on the main car in this movie? I am just assuming they are MARS because the rest of the bar is......
I have 2 different one sided flashers built by MARS, and would like to look for a 20sided one.
thanks
kadetklapp said:Now we just need one for Smokey and the Bandit and Blues Brothers.