Cars
Police Cars Extravaganza - Part 4: The French Gendarmerie
From the 1960s to today, the French Gendarmerie has used some of the most remarkable police cars, from the Matra Djet to the Alpine A110 and even the Subaru WRX.
Roarington’s journey in discovering the most extravagant and unusual police vehicles stops this week in France. The first three-lane highways were created in France in the mid-1960s, and the rapid intervention vehicles (VRI - Véhicule Rapide d’Intervention) of the Gendarmerie appeared shortly after. In 1965, the Matra Djet debuted, initially used for training the BRI (Brigade d'Intervention Rapide) drivers before entering service with three additional units in 1967. From that moment, the color blue was adopted, and all VRIs introduced afterward sported this symbolic livery, as blue was the color of French Formula 1 cars.
However, it seems that the power-to-weight ratio and stability of the Djet at high speeds were not entirely satisfactory. Starting in 1967, the Alpine A110 berlinettes were enlisted to complete highway patrol duties. Training for the officers who would drive these vehicles took place on racetracks with top-tier instructors like racing driver Henri Pescarolo. The role of these rapid intervention vehicles was not limited to high-speed chases. They were also used to reach accident scenes quickly for signaling or to intercept wrong-way drivers.
