A memorable memorial at the Police Museum A

n amazing model of a 1946 Ford V8 coupé tells one of the saddest stories in the New Zealand Police Museum at Porirua.

Traffic Safety service inspector Jack ( John) Kehoe of the Transport Department had driven the actual car on the night of January 3, 1949, before he was gunned down in the line of duty. Kehoe had chased a speeding motorcyclist, Richard Mcgill, from Whakatane in the coupé, until he stopped him at Poroporo. The apprehended Mcgill then fired at him several times from a .38 revolver. Death came seconds later to the 24-year-old husband and father, while he lay gasping on the ground.

ER King of Otaki made the model in the Police Museum as a memorial to Kehoe in 1949. Although King’s name appears on the metal plaque at the front of the base, the model has also been attributed to Frank Kehoe.

Jack Kehoe had driven one of the 25 Canadian-built Ford patrol cars delivered to the Transport Department from late August 1946. The model is of one of those coupés, identifiable as a 1946 Ford by the red accents in the grille and the two small lights above, which were not seen on the 1947 Fords. Surprisingly, this accurate 1/12-scale model is made from wood. Its dimensions are 585mm wide, 250mm deep, and 340mm high. The doors open to reveal a detailed interior.

Inside the cockpit are a bench-type seat, a steering wheel on the right-hand side of the dashboard, a speedometer, window winders, and door handles. They are easily seen through the model’s Perspex windows when the doors are closed. A ‘TRAFFIC’ sign is fitted inside the left window of the two-part windscreen, which has wipers on either side of the division. Traffic Department logos are on both doors, and the model has ‘Govt 4.320’ number plates. An aerial to enable two-way radio communication is mounted below the window behind the door on the right-hand side. On this side of the base is a metal plaque with the words “3-1- 49 Jack Kehoe”.

The model was badly damaged when it was salvaged by Stephen Donnell, who passed it on to a police officer in prosecutions at Porirua for restoration. It had been at the Traffic Training College at Trentham since being gifted by Maureen Kehoe, Jack’s widow. When the model came into the Police Museum collection in 2012, restoration was complete. Jan Macdonald, Jack’s daughter, said in September 2016 that her mother, Maureen, let her play with the car as a child. She thought the steering wheel had come off during one of her games, and that it must have been re-affixed at a later date. She did not know who Frank Kehoe was.