1979 Volkswagen Beetle Police Car on Bring a Trailer

• A Volkswagen Beetle police automobile? That is dangerous information for dangerous guys—not less than these making an attempt to flee on foot.
• The automobile was on responsibility in Germany till 1986.
• Imported by Jerry Seinfeld, it has since made a number of TV appearances.

Image it: the yr is 1985, the place is Würzburg, Bavaria, and you have simply taken supply of your brand-new E28 BMW M5. You shift the handbook gearbox into third, wind up that superb inline-six by way of the rev vary and—uh-oh. What’s this? Flashing blue lights within the rearview mirror, solely they’re quickly receding into the space. That is Germany, although, not Hazzard County, and working from the legislation is verboten. It takes fairly some time for the cops to indicate up.

In the present day’s decide from Deliver a Trailer—which, like Automobile and Driver, is a part of Hearst Autos—is a 1979 Volkswagen Beetle police automobile that’s up on the market till Thursday, December 14. Sure, you heard that proper: a 45-hp Beetle carrying a police officer’s uniform. Tremble in your boots, you denizens of the Teutonic legal underworld.

This polizei-kaefer entered service in 1978 and operated as an precise cop automobile all the way in which till 1986. By that time, it virtually absolutely was the mount you bought assigned when you screwed up an enormous investigation or maybe ran over the police commissioner’s canine.

Because it was a real police service unit, all of the anticipated equipment are current. It has a flashing blue gentle, that particular two-tone European police siren, and a PA system with which to plead, “Pull over! Please! Wait up!” There’s additionally a period-correct Telefunken police radio.

After a few years in storage, this automobile was discovered by comic Jerry Seinfeld and imported into the U.S. It appeared on an episode of his Comedians in Vehicles Getting Espresso present and was later featured on Jay Leno’s Storage and Spike Feresten’s Automobile Matchmaker.

The inside exhibits a bit put on and tear corresponding to genuine burn holes from officers smoking on responsibility, however the exterior was repainted a bit over 15 years in the past. It may’t be registered in California, however it might be a welcome addition to any VW assortment wherever else.

This no-reserve public sale ends on December 14. Head on over to Deliver a Trailer in your likelihood to have the slowest of patrols.

Contributing Editor

Brendan McAleer is a contract author and photographer based mostly in North Vancouver, B.C., Canada. He grew up splitting his knuckles on British vehicles, got here of age within the golden period of Japanese sport-compact efficiency, and started writing about automobiles and other people in 2008. His specific curiosity is the intersection between humanity and equipment, whether or not it’s the racing profession of Walter Cronkite or Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki’s half-century obsession with the Citroën 2CV. He has taught each of his younger daughters the right way to shift a handbook transmission and is grateful for the excuse they supply to be perpetually shopping for Sizzling Wheels.