This was arguably the fastest car in the MoPar family at the time, powered by a 354-cu.in. Hemi V8 with dual Carter WCFB four-barrels, 11.0:1 compression and a claimed 340-hp that was probably a very conservative estimate.
Highway authorities such as the Ohio Turnpike Commission were, at the time, still trying to get a handle on safety issues along the then-new high-speed roads. The overpowered but poor-handling cars of the late 1950s were a great temptation to drivers in post-World War II America, and one obvious answer was hotter police cars.
Here in New Jersey, for example, state troopers assigned to the New Jersey Turnpike and Garden State Parkway were issued big, Hemi-powered Chryslers.
But the Ohio Turnpike Patrol’s cars were distinctive. Only 56 of the D-501s were built.
By the way, the Ohio Highway Patrol at that time had a separate district headquarters for the turnpike and a specific number of "patrolmen," not "troopers," who were assigned to that district.
