Police officers with red-green weakness
Of all my school friends in second grade, I was particularly fond of Sebastian. Because while I was driving around my room with little Siku cars, he had inherited a box of large Corgi Toys models from his father. There was also a white Porsche 911 Targa with red doors and hoods emblazoned with the words "Police". Those color-blind Englishmen. Everyone knows that German police cars use green as a contrasting color. I made fun of it back then. Today I know better.
Because the complementary-colored police Porsche actually had a life-size role model. After a batch of 30 examples for the Dutch Rijkspolitie, it is said to have been created in 1968 as a pure exhibition vehicle to convince the Highway Patrol there of the merits of a fast Zuffenhausen patrol car at various motor shows in the USA. Despite the German lettering, the Targa therefore also had a red rotating mirror light in the American style mounted on the roll bar instead of the blue light customary in Germany.
The intercontinental law enforcement officer made its first public appearance in February 1968 at the National Capital Area Auto Show in Washington D. C., followed by others in Chicago, New Haven and New York. However, the major official order from the United States failed to materialize. Instead, the only US-specification police Porsche ended up as an eye-catcher in the window of Porsche dealer Bill Yates and was allowed to lead the Can-Am race in Bridgehampton in September 1968.
Of course, I didn't know all that 25 years ago. Back then, the big Corgi-Porsche was simply an unrealistic fantasy for me. My police Targa from Siku was much smaller - but at least it was green.
