What kind of car would a couple of no-nonsense plainclothes Los Angeles cops drive in 1967? Forget those big lumbering full-size sedans! Joe Friday and Bill Gannon insisted on a snappy-looking '67 Fairlane.

Here we see the Fairlane hauling the Dragnet boys from one stinkin' hippie shithole to another, as they attempt to hold back the waves of LSD washing over the City Of Angels. Now, you'd think that an LAPD detective would likely have bounced that freak's painted face off the Fairlane's hood a few times, were said freak to have torn his suit jacket the way Blue Boy did, particularly just a year after Miranda vs. Arizona and two years after the the Watts Riots. After all, it was war, with the forces of anarchy and disorder on one side and the spirit of Chief Parker and Henry Ford on the other!

Send an email to Murilee Martin, the author of this post, at murilee@jalopnik.com.