Armored riot car

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An armored riot car on 6th Avenue North on April 14, 1963. Photographed by Ed Jones.

The armored riot car was one of two rubber-tired armored personnel carriers purchased for use by the Birmingham Police Department by direction of then Commissioner of Public Safety Bull Connor.

The riot cars were used for intimidation, with Connor himself often riding along on patrols through black neighborhoods. They were also dispatched to scenes of protest during the Civil Rights Movement. By the end of the 1960s, the vehicles were no longer used for "riot control", but remained in the Department's inventory until the mid-1970s.

The two vehicles had been dumped at the New Georgia Landfill before the city donated them to the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute. The vehicles were moved in October 2008. One of them, restored and repainted, was cut cleanly in half and installed as part of the institute's newly-renovated galleries, which opened in January 2009.

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