If a vintage squad car wasn't enough to draw a crowd of cops, coffee and donuts were also on hand Wednesday as the Grand Forks Police Department donated a 1965 Ford Galaxie, complete with a cherry-red flashing light, to the local historical society.
The Grand Forks Police Reserves bought the sedan in the 80s and restored it to look like the kind of car the city's officers drove in the mid-60s.
The car will be displayed off and on at the museum and will continue to make appearances in parades, said Leah Byzewski, director of the Grand Forks County Historical Society.
With a recent shortage on indoor-storage space, the police department approached the historical society a few months ago about taking the car, and Byzewski was quick to accept.
"We don't want a Grand Forks police vehicle on display in Bismarck or Fargo. It should be in Grand Forks," she said.
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Lt. Roger Pohlman said the car, which was built at the Twin Cities Ford plant, has an 8-cylinder engine, and when taking corners, rocks "like a boat going over waves." The radio equipment on the dashboard and the department's emblem on the front doors are both specific to the mid-60s era.
Wednesday, Byzewski noted that the Galaxie's creamy shade is known as "Wimbledon White." A fact she's learned during her time as the owner of a '63 Ford Falcon convertible and a '64 Ford Falcon with a hard top. The two cars were parked in the historical society lot Wednesday.
Byzewski said she was excited when Pohlman told her another Ford was coming into her life. "He told me it's a Galaxie, and I said, 'Great, I'm a Ford girl myself.'"
Reach Ingersoll at (701) 780-1269; (800) 477-6572, ext. 269; or send e-mail to aingersoll@gfherald.com .
