#HTE

And the Award for “Most Hilarious Police Vehicle” Goes To….

Previously, I thought the most hilarious police vehicles were these NYPD Smart cars:

But if we travel farther back in time than 2017, to the 1960s, we learn that Port Authority cops in New York–those responsible for policing the tunnels in and out of town, among other facilities–once had to patrol the Holland Tunnel in these things:

The January, 1954 issue of Popular Mechanics reveals that the car is electric, and bi-directional:

The nearby Lincoln Tunnel, for reasons unknown, had tunnel carts of a different design. Rather than riding on rails, they were hooked to a low railing affixed to the wall:

This Lincoln design had sheet-metal sides and did away with the fancy canopy of the Holland design, though there are two adorable little semicircular windscreens:

And as you can see, these were not designed for plus-sized cops.

Incredibly, these tunnel carts persisted into the 21st Century; the New York Times reports that the last one was decommissioned in 2011.