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Originally Posted by Benzadmiral
Maybe some of you have grandparents who could answer this.
I'm working on a new short story, set in January of 1933, in which one of the three major characters is a young cop on the Cleveland force. I know that uniformed cops walked their beats in those days, ranging up and down the streets in their district, checking for anything suspicious, rattling doorknobs, etc., and checked in with the station via call boxes.
Would a beat cop in those days have been armed with anything more than a nightstick, and maybe even a blackjack? Would he have had a gun? If so, what caliber was standard issue in those days, .32 or .38? Or was there no standard, and a beat cop could choose his armament?
Second question: Were there any luxury cars of that time, like Packards, that had *trunks*? All the pics I see on the 'net are of touring cars, which had no trunk, and of roadsters, which have space over the rear wheels but have rumble seats in that position. Did carmakers only create trunks later, after rumble seats went out of fashion?
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Depends on the location of the police force or the whim of the higher-ups in purchasing mostly.Almost universally revolvers,particularly Colt and S&W.in .38.
Until 34-35 most 4 door sedans had separate trunks,although some custom coachbuilders integrated them this was mostly rare.2 seater convertibles were fitted with trunks as well as rumble seat coupes,the rumble seat taking up useful space.
Popular luxury makes were Lincoln model K,Pierce-Arrow 12.Packard 12's,Caddy V-12&V-16,Marmon 16,Buick series 90,Duesenberg J,Cord L29 and a few others not as popular like Springfield Roll-Royce,Isotta-Fraschini,Hispano etc.
The criminals favored Caddies and Lincolns for their smoothness and speed.