Back in the day the Ford Falcon ‘Candy Cars’ ruled the roads as the Police force’s Highway Patrol weapon, but now no Australian models are produced it’s the European brigade of Mercedes, BMW and Audi upholding the honour.
However, in one last hurrah for the Australian made muscle cars FPV supplied a GT-F in the spirit of the ‘Candy Cars’ of the 1970s. Featuring a supercharged 5.0-litre V8 fettled by the team at Dick Johnson Racing, the GT-F produced 600kw and was launched ahead of the October long weekend in New South Wales to create awareness back in 2014.
It also featured a ‘supercomputer’ to enable officers to catch speeders and suspended drivers, though most of its time was spent on display at shows.
It was one of 500 GT-Fs built by Ford Performance Vehicles before the operation was closed in 2014 as a farewell for the premium brand.
Used by the New South Wales Police Force to raise awareness and connect to the community, the FPV GT-F was actually driven by Dick Johnson in a battle with some of Australia’s most exotic and powerful models at World Time Attack.
“It’s about talking to car enthusiasts on their level and having them understand the technology we have available,” said John Hartley, NSW Police assistant commissioner and commander of traffic and highway patrol at the time.
“The vast majority of motoring enthusiasts are safe drivers who do the right thing … but once more people realise how much technology we have to detect dangerous drivers, hopefully they’ll be less inclined to break the law.”
It joined an older FPV GT and a HSV GTS as part of the NSW Police Force fleet, while the squad has since added Porsches in addition to Chrysler 300Cs, which has just been replaced by the Kia Stinger as its choice for Highway Patrol duties.