Old cruiser stops traffic – in Holland

Johan Wiegman is a 55-year-old train conductor from the Netherlands. He lives with his wife, Karin, near the city of Rotterdam and enjoys volleyball. 

He also drives a retired Pocono Mountain Regional Police squad car. 

Wiegman has been obsessed with American police cars since he was a boy–this is actually his fourth police vehicle.

Last year, he bought the 2003 Dodge Charger on a German car buying website. The seller arranged for the car to be shipped to Germany, and ultimately to Wiegman in the Netherlands.

While the "Pocono Mountain Regional" decals were removed from the car before it was sold, Wiegman researched the VIN number and learned where his car came from. The source was confirmed by the car's Pennsylvania title. 

"I had never heard of that place," Wiegman said in an email. "But now that I own the car, I know more about the area."

Wiegman said he became enthralled with the American police cars by watching American movies and TV shows. He said European police cars are smaller and less exciting.

"Here in Holland, the police drive a Volkswagen with a simple blue light on top," he said. "They are boring."

Wiegman is far from the only European with this interest — he's in a club in the Netherlands with about a dozen other police car owners. He estimates there are between 70 and 80 American police cars around the continent, and many more European cars converted into replicas. Wiegman calls those "clown cars."

Wiegman previously owned older cars used by the Los Angeles Police Department, New York Police Department, and a newer car that came from a department in Wisconsin.

Importing American police cars to Europe is not a hobby for the cash-strapped. Wiegman paid the equivalent of about $14,500 for the car. In the past, Wiegman did most of the work on the cars himself. But with newer cars relying more on computers and electronics, it has become more difficult for him to do the work himself. 

He is still working on making the car legal to drive on the road in Europe, and hopes to have it running this spring.

As one might expect, Wiegman's other police cars have gotten a lot of attention in the Netherlands. Wiegman has gotten offers from exotic car owners to "switch" cars temporarily. He said the most common reaction is people asking to see the cars' lights and sirens in action. But Wiegman said he can't do that without risking big fines.

Not all the attention is positive. Wiegman said he gets the occasional middle finger from wannabe anarchists.

"Well I don't mind. I have fun in the car," he said. "I get more attention in this car than driving a Porsche or Ferrari."

It also gets mixed reactions from police. When the chief of a department in the Netherlands retired, Wiegman and his car were invited to participate in a motorcade. But he is also pulled over, a lot.

"I get pulled over many times. But I don’t mind. I know that this can happen," she said.

Wiegman says he hopes to learn more about the car's history here, and even get a new set of the original Pocono Mountain Regional decals so that the car can look like it was intended to.

"I want to enjoy the car for a long time," he said. "I still want to make the car original as it was when it drove in Pocono."

He would even like to visit the area someday. He said he would like to see a NASCAR race at Pocono Raceway, and maybe stop by Pocono Mountain Regional's station.

"I hope to visit Pocono someday with my wife on a vacation. We like to walk and drive in nature," he said. "And also a visit to the police station would be nice."