posted at the Cohort by rwcar4
There’s something about this boxy C-Body in black and white and with dual exhausts and those little dog dish hubcaps…if I could to transport myself back in time and be a CHP officer, I can’t imagine which one of their many illustrious interceptors over the decades I’d want to be assigned more than this one. Presence, authority, a nice dashboard to look at, great visibility, and of course the thrust (and sound) of that new 440 inch V8. This is it for me.
What about you? What police car would you most like to be assigned to drive?
With today’s choices I’d choose the Caprice even if the Ford Intercptor is faster and has better traction with AWD. I will choose V8 RWD everytime. But my pick for all time would probably be a 1969 Polara 440. I like that body just a little more than the boxy 66.
When I was 18 a friend of mine came into possession of a retired 1967 4 door Chevy Biscayne with a 427 and a……..3 speed on the column from the Wisconsin state patrol, what a handful that was. Talk about interceptor !
I’m partial to the late 60s Coronet. Looks scowling all the time!
That’s the 1970 front end, but yeah, that twin loop front end style may be polarizing on every other iteration of 70 Coronet, but it fit the cop car style perfectly.
Yep, this exact one!
Easy question. A 1971-1973 AMC Matador with the 401
I have a tough time imagining either myself or Paul as an officer. I’d be more of a forensics engineer type, then maybe I could drive an unmarked version (still with the 401)
OK Doug, if we are going to go with our sentimental favorites . . .
Yeah, that was a close second. My home city of Hamilton actually keeps a restored Stude police car for special events.
Thats my old car!!!! It’s a 64 Studebaker Marshal. It was finished in Sept. of 1963 in the Studebaker Engineering department on Sample Street in South Bend. Field tested by the State of Kentucky and serviced by Sellersburg Motors. I Miss that car, have not seen it since the auction in 2010. In this photo, taken in 1963 its the black unit behind the white Stude.
That’s my old car! Its actually one of 30 factory experimental models built in the Studebaker engineering department. Sold it is 2008
Although I’m a Ford guy, I have a lot of respect for the Matador a very reliable and good handling car for Edmonton City Police in 1971.
A few were purchased in 1972. Almost all had the smaller 304 V8. Some unmarked Matadors had the 360 V8 and were very fast with that engine.
Can´t decide between the ´69 Polara 440 and the ´77 onwards Chevy Caprice/Impala which were so famous through all these TV shows here.
I would go a little older, myself with the 62 Chrysler Enforcer. Pushbuttons and a better dashboard. 🙂
I remember driving a 9C1 LT1 Caprice when I worked at the GM dealership. Awesome machines, I’d definitely take one of them. They were a force to be reckoned with in their day and had great all round performance. Otherwise, I also really like the 77-90 9C1’s, preferably a 77-79 with a LM1 or a ’89-90 with the L03. The bookend years were the best performers of the bunch.
From the 70’s, I’d love to find a ’72 Torino police package 2-door with a 429-PI engine. Good suspension package, light body and lots of power. A ’73-74 460 PI Torino was a very strong performer too, one of the best power to weight ratio of the era. A very close second (maybe tie) would be a ’74 Dodge Monaco 440. Love the looks of the “Blues mobile” and last year the 440 had decent power.
From the 60’s, a ’69 Dodge Polara C-body with a 440 would be a great car. Long rumoured as one of the fastest police cars (rumours I believe are exaggerated). Nevertheless, it was a formidable machine and would be a great highway patrol car.
I’d agree 100%! The Canadian spec cars had no catlytic converter or EGR, and had factory duals. Very nice cars indeed.
They also didn’t cost the farm to run.
I guess I didn’t narrow to one car but yes I’d go for a boxy Chevy B-body if I had to pick one. For the same reasons you mentioned.
Good question. CHP has had a who’s who of interesting police cruisers over its history. CHP’s paint and decal scheme is one of my favorites, and I especially appreciate that they have kept it consistent for many decades and their cars have an iconic, instantly identifiable identity.
I would have a tough time choosing. The 55 Buick Century would be the oldest finalist. I agree the 65 or 66 Dodge Polara’s are super nice. I also like the 62 Chrysler, and the 69 Polara which is often cited as the ultimate cop car of all time. Really any of the early 70’s Dodges would do me fine, even if the power levels were down a bit.
Among the more recent choices, I’d take any 87-93 Mustang LX. The 89 Caprice is a personal favorite. But I think if I could only choose one it would be a 94 or 95 Caprice. I’ve owned two of those 9C1’s, though not CHP, and they were great.
I clearly remember the Neunelfers driven by our highway-patrol. Once a very common sight, especially in the seventies and eighties; 1996 was the end for them. I would like to try one of those classics.
The upcoming “Fast Intervention Vehicle” is the Audi A6 Avant 3.0 TDI Quattro S-tronic. And I would like to try that one too…
For me…who, on duty, drove late 70s Plymouth Furys and Dodge Monacos, with both the 360 and 440, and Plymouth Volares with the 360…and Ford LTDs and Torinos and Pontiac Le Mans…it would be the 1976 Dodge Monaco/Plymouth Fury. The 1969 Dodge Polara with the 440 would be a sentimental favorite, but the newer, B-Body car had much better brakes, which are very important in high speed driving, and…with the help of our department’s mechanics…was plenty quick. The 1977 and 1978 seemed to lose a little edge on performance.
Prisoners being transported would differ. The 1969-1973 fuselage cars had HUGE rear seats; the 1970s B-Bodies were smaller back there than the Volare.
Long hood/short deck disease, it was rampant in the generation of cars designed in the late ’60s running up to the gas crisis. You’d think the B body sedans “designed from the ground up to be a four-door” wouldn’t be like that…but I guess not.
It might not be the fastest or best handling, but do you really want to see this furiously angry face in your rear view mirror?
Makes me think of Brodrick Crawford
The car pictured below is more of a sentimental choice, having been pulled over by them a few times in my younger, wilder days. The Dodge Diplomat was ALL OVER Baltimore County when I was in my 20’s.
Today, I’d go for the Australian… The Chevy Caprice re-badge, or a nice Charger. Even the Taurus based Police Interceptor from Ford would be a good choice.
Being a homer, I’d go for the Chevy or Ford above in Maryland State Police livery. The Ford also looks good in the modern version of the Baltimore County livery you see below, but the Charger looks best in Maryland Transportation Authority Police livery (formerly the Maryland Toll Facilities Police). With the latter, they integrate the stripe into the body sculpting on the car and it really looks nice. Of course a plain navy blue Charger like the one used on NBC’s GRIMM would be nice too.
The classic Diplomat mentioned above….
The Maryland Transportation Authority Police Charger I mentioned above….
My friends dad bought an ex detectives diplomat of that vintage. It had the 440 and heavy duty suspension and brakes. It was fast for the late 1980’s and in the hands of a freshly minted teenage driver scary to be a passenger in. I am not sure what became of it.
Wow, I didn’t think the 440 was around by 1988. I think Baltimore County’s Diplomats were likely only the 340 or maybe the 360 tops. Most likely, since they were mostly just county patrol cars, the 318 may have been as far as it went. But this is a wild a$$ guess on my part. I have no first hand knowledge.
They were all 318 powered either 2bbl or 4bbl. Most were 4bbl. Mopar did experiment with a 360 powered car in the late 80s but it never happened.
*ALL* 318s after 1983, that was the last year the slant-six was offered on them, at retail anyway which meant that if there were any Slants after that they’d be going into taxicabs for NYC and other cities who required new cabs,
Yes, the 225 six was available with the A38 package, but I doubt many were actually produced. They couldn’t even reach 100 mph with a clean roof. By then, it seemed that even cost conscious municipal depts. seemed to switch to V8 engines. I know in that era, our local police ran Plymouth Carvelles with 318’s but converted them to run on propane to save on fuel. They were bright yellow, in colour, which I am sure many of us from north of the border remember.
I always wondered if any of those yellow Toronto cruisers were ever hailed by drunken tourists.
“hey bud, dya know where the hookers are in this town?”
“As a matter fact, we do!”
In nearby Howard County MD (where I was born and still live) the county police were big on Chevy products until the RWD Chevy cars were dropped by GM and then they went to the Crown Vic which they still use along with Dodge chargers
Yeah Leon, I work in Howard County and see these all the time. Sadly the Crown Vic is becoming more rare with the passage of time. I like the newer black & blue livery Howard County is using a lot more than the old white livery, especially on that Charger. Very sharp, however I wished they would’ve gone with this livery as it appears on this new Taurus. Having not seen one in the metal, I’m not sure if this was dropped, or maybe its TOO new to have yet hit the scene….
I know they aren’t the fastest out there, but were for their time. I’m always partial to the 75-78 B-Body Mopar squad cars, especiallly the ones with the stacked quad headlamps. Growing up in the early 80s, these were the cop cars i saw all the time on TV and in movies.
+1
Ontario Provincial Police used the Gran Fury, and a similar paint scheme as the CHP.
I second this motion. These are just all around business like and the 440 backed up the appearance.
Just watched the S1,E1 episode of “Highway Patrol” from 1955, this very morning! Several ’55 Buicks and Fords in it. It was awesome.
440 C body has to be my pick as well, but it has got to be a fuselage.
’72 Polara please
Is that some parallel universe jukes of hazare?
Dirty Mary Crazy Larry
I like the ’76-’79 9C1 Nova police cars, with 350 4 bbl.
We had one in our early days of Taxi Hell.
It lasted two days before it was crashed into a pole.
Lesson learned.
I’ve written before of my experience with ex-RCMP cruisers in the rent a wreck fleet. Along with a couple of 360 powered police Aspens we had 9c1 Malibus and Impalas and a single Nova. I’m pretty sure the Nova was the first causualty, somehow having been spun in the China Bar tunnel. Next was one of the Aspens. We had a few other problems and actually sold the Impalas to a taxi company. The other survivors were quickly sold.
All were fast, but the Impalas were the only ones you could keep on the road. And that would be my choice today.
A friend of mine actually had one of those. It was scary fast (especially compared to the anemic 70’s Honda I was driving at the time) and it actually turned and stopped pretty well, too. It was going on 10 years old when he had it, so it was pretty rusty. It didn’t LOOK like a police car though, which was good.
I’d also like to nominate a Pontiac Lemans Enforcer, also because it doesn’t look like a cop car, and a different friend had one of those, too.
My choices would be the ’67 Ford Fairlane driven by Officers Friday & Gannon on Dragnet ’67-’70 or the ’72 Plymouth that Officer Frank Drebin used to hit garbage cans with on Police Squad!
P6 Rover 3500 V8
I forgot to mention what would be my pick for 60’s/70’s vintage: 67 Olds Delmont 88. One year only for CHP. As an Olds fan, I find it sweet and unusual!
According to a Hemmings story on these Oldses, the front styling cues in fenders/bumpers that stuck out, kept getting dinged, and CHP stopped fixing them.
How is it that I’m the first person to mention what is surely the single greatest police vehicle of all time, Mad Max’s “Pursuit Special,” the last of the V8 interceptors!
(I realize that this completely violates the spirit of Paul’s question….
Nothing else to say
I can’t believe it too this many responses to get to the true winner
Chrysler police cars of that vintage immeidately bring to mind the Blues Brothers
The ’62 Polara would be the best in the automatic deterrent department. No! No! I’ll confess to anything! Just don’t force me to open my eyes and look at the car! AAARRGGHH!
The one and only…
Bingo.
I’ve been a LEO since 1997 and I teach pursuit driving to the new recruits so Ive driven pretty much every pursuit package car available going back to the boxy B-Body 9C1 Caprices. Currently I drive a PPV Tahoe, which I like and my agency is in a transition period to Explorers and Charger sedans. The Tahoe is fast and roomy but its no performance sedan and since I’m a big fella of 6’2″/280 lbs, I’m not looking forward to going into either the Explorer or Charger.
For the cars on the market now, from a performance driving perspective, theres no match for the LX Chargers. They are the best balanced pursuit car out there today; the Taurus feels faster but they are front heavy, space is tight, and the visibility is dangerously bad; the Caprice is fast in a straight line and that’s about it; they brake and handle terribly but at least you can see out of them. In the SUVs, I like the Tahoe best for room and visibility but the Explorer is the better driver given that its built on the Taurus platform; I haven’t driven the Durango so I cant comment on it.
Going back to the 90s, the old LT1 Caprices were fun but like the new ones, they pretty much only went fast in a straight line well; the Crown Vic was a much better handling and braking platform and they were plain just not built well; they rattled from day one, interiors fell apart, etc where the CVs held together pretty well. The CV also had a better air conditioner, which is a major concern here in SE coastal VA; the Caprice would overheat with the AC on at idle for any extended time and police cars idle a lot. The Chevys also grenaded the 4L60 transmissions at around 80K miles. Crown Vics were overall good workhorses and Ive seen some police departments get more than 200K miles on the drivetrains without needing much work but the SOHC 4.6 just had no power, which is not a big deal since the vast majority of police cars spend their time idling or driving under normal conditions around town, but you do want the power there when you need it to catch up to a bad guy. My 2007 Charger was probably my favorite cruiser
For the classics, obviously I never drove the old big block cars on duty but I did restore a ’72 Fury Virginia State Police car with a 440 and the car was a lot of fun, its easy to see why the cops from those days loved them; they were monsters. The torque from the 440 would probably pull the Fury away from any of the modern police cars up to about 100 mph but from there, its lack of additional gears and the fact that its a huge brick limits its performance capabilities, not to mention its handling is terrifying compared to modern cars. But boy was it fun to drive. I sold it to a police car collector last year and now I’m playing with a 9C1 ’83 Malibu with a mild 383 that is ridiculously fun to drive but in a much different way that the Fury; where the Fury just went fast in a straight line, the Malibu does a little bit of everything well.
Nice perspective from personal experience! Do you have any opinions on how the boxy caprices compared to the whales or current cars?
Thank you for your service, by the way. I appreciate street cops more than ever nowadays since the job seems to be getting harder by the day.
Thanks, I’m very much looking forward to retiring in 4 years. I came on in 1997, so the only box 9C1s we had left were a couple of high mileage ’90 Caprices with TBI 350s that we kept as spare cars for when our regular issue cars went in for service so I had a pretty limited experience with them, but I personally liked them better than the car I was issued at the time, which was a ’95 Caprice with an LT1. I personally liked the older ones better, the main reason being it didn’t have the big plastic dash and upswept rear window that the whales had so it was easier to see out of. Maybe because it was TBI but the 350 just felt more responsive and sounded throatier in the ’90 than in the ’95.
Compared to the current cars, performance-wise, the old 9C1s would get smoked by a new Charger or Taurus but there are very real advantages to the old cars, besides the better visibility Ive already mentioned, the trunks were enormous, especially in the Chevys, and we carry a lot of gear on duty; the trunks in the new cars are nowhere near as big as the old ones and if there is a spare tire, theres very little room for LE gear.
Dan you mentioned the Caprices not handling or braking as well as the Crown Vic’s but I know of the top of my head the Caprice beat the CVPI in every category in the 1996 MSP tests. Just wondering if the CVPIs you drove were the 1998 and newer models? I know real world is different from testing
The 1998 CVPIs went to a different rear suspension with the watts linkage that improve the rear axle behaviour. And of course in 2003 the whole chassis and suspension was revised.
My Uncle was a police officer for over 30 years in a busy municipal service. He retired over 15 years ago but he lamented the loss of the Caprice. He said it was the it was the last cruiser that had enough power to break the tires loose on dry pavement when doing a 180. He retired as police brass and had a unmarked CVPI assigned to him as company car. He liked it but said it was slow.
Youre right Vince, I probably should have cleared that up; the only time I drove a pre-’98 Vic was in my basic academy and I don’t remember much about it other than it was slow, but I did get the top driver award in my class. I think the pre-98 CVs were coil sprung live axles? After my Caprice, I went into a ’99 CV and then an ’05 CV, so those are the cars I have as a comparison to the Caprice.
The Impala SS had a better, lower profile tire on a lighter weight aluminum 17″ wheel so that probably helped them handle a little better than the 9C1.
Yes, the pre 1998 Crown Vics were coil spring live axle with a triangulated 4-link setup that dated back to 1979. It was pretty much the same as the Caprice setup. I have driven quite a few of the 2003+ Crown Vic and I like the chassis setup. I recently got to flog an old low mile CVPI (2009) and it was a fun car to drive. Not very fast, but fun nonetheless. It feels much more like an traditional American car.
No Crown Vic hate here, haha. They are good, reliable safe cars. My daughter is 14 and wants one for her first car so I’m trying to get her the ’05 that I used to have on duty. I feel a lot safer with her in one of those tanks than a Civic
Any Mopar. Anytging from a modern Charger/Durango, to an Intrepid. Diplomat, to a St. Regis, Fury, Polara, Dart, Newport, Monaco, Satellite, what have you. Realistically, agencies tend not to hang on to old relics so it would have to be a Charger or Durango. You might think I’d want a Hemi but the 3.6 Pentastar is a great and capable engine, and it would save the taxpayers a few bucks.
I’d cry if I had an Explorer as a cruiser. I can’t wrap my head around how popular these are compared to a Charger/Durango. Even though I am not a Ford guy, I could understand the merits of the venerable Panther/CVPI. I don’t think the Explorer has anywhere near the durability of the CVPI. Most agencies switch things out so quick these days that it doesn’t have its chance to “shine” (such as needing new engines, transmissions, electrical/computer problems, etc.). Crown Vics easily lived another 10+ years after being retired from service. Not too sure about the PI Explorer.
Now that the Prius has become the taxi of choice, there isn’t really a ready market for the bulk of used cop cars that there was when they were both into Vics.
If it has to be a Dodge, make mine a 64. Any Mopar? Would rather have the 66 Plymouth instead of the Dodge.
A newer car? My daily driver: an 09 Crown Victoria P71.
The prototypical CHP car in my mind is the 1969 Dodge Polara. That car has that intangible called presence especially when the front is seen on your tail in the rear view mirror.
Although the 1969 Polara’s cop-car prowess has been exaggerated (there was some sort of cop-car test where the performance of the Polara was quite good to the point of being questionable), it still has the ‘look’ (early fuselage styling, forward-cant grille, non-5 mph bumpers, etc.). So, all things considered, I’d give it up for the ’69 Dodge, too (although The Blues Brothers makes the ’74 Monaco a very nice choice, too).
In the good old days, any pre 1974 Dodge/Plymouth 440 would be a great choice. Great straight line power, though these behemoths had dicey handling and braking quickly from speed was a harrowing experience. Chevy 427’s sound hot, but were actually quite rare. Chevy wasn’t a big player in the cop car field in the ’60’s. Maryland State Police had them in 1966 and ’67, with the 396. While not the fastest or sexiest, the CVPI was a favorite of fleet buyers/managers, with its low per mile cost and easy to repair platform.
But, the truth be told, a modern Taurus, Caprice, Charger and even Explorer, will run rings around these old time favorites.
As a FoMoCo guy, either the Ford or the Merc ’71 would work for me–this just before compression rations and HP started dropping:
The 428 PI was NOT a CJ, although it used the same intake (but in aluminum)
The 429 PI caption is true. IT was a CJ.
Probably the slowest post war Police Car ever, but it looks so cool
I would go back in time to a ’74 Dodge Monaco. But, although not official, this might be a lot of fun today…
I know it’s not a real cop car, but no one has mentioned The Pontiac LeMans pursuit vehicle from Smokey and the Bandit.
There actually was a LeMans police package for a time.
Lots of LeMans patrol cars of that generation in Fremont, California, in the late ‘70’s/early ‘80’s, when they were built there in what later became NUMMI, and is now the Tesla plant.
They were real, a friend of mine had one!
The town where I grew up had an unmarked Pontiac cruiser just like this – only with blue paint (circa 1977-80?). The town (Lake Forest Park, a suburb of Seattle) was a well known speed trap with two major highways running through it. I’m sure a lot of unsuspecting commuters weren’t expecting a Pontiac police car in the day of Furies and Monacos.
Picture this 1969 Fury in Michigan State Police Blue and you would see the car I owned for a few years back in my youth. One of my all time favorite Mopars but I swear you could watch the fuel gauge move towards “E” when all 4 barrels were opened up on the 440!
1968 Belvedere with ADAM-12 on the roof.
Was 5 when that show started and that was my first understanding of police and what they did.
It’s in my garage.
I’ll go for the police favourite, 79 Dodge st.regis
It seems choices are influenced by memories from youth, or cop cars from TV shows.
Remembering TV shows from my childhood makes me partial to the Diplomat and the Fury – I would have chosen Diplomat until Bernard Taylor trumped it with the Rover P6.
Having said all that, who could resist the police cruisers from my home village in the 1980s? Blue, 1256cc Vauxhall Chevette saloons.
More ‘Rosie’ than ‘The Sweeney’ then, Tonito?
I just remembered that I actually briefly drove an ex-police car, though probably administrative not patrol. My friend’s parents had bought a Satellite at auction, maybe ‘68-69, 318 and automatic, but manual steering … about 6 turns lock to lock. At the time our town used beige police cars, even though the Satellites had been replaced by beige Novas, the unmarked Plymouth’s cowl mounted spotlight fooled more than one wanna-be street racer into crawling down to 25 mph when we prowled the canyons at night.
For me, a Rover 3500 SD1, in classic British motorway jam sandwich livery.
We even used Renault 4s as Garda cars
I’ve got a thing for 1954 Fords. “I’ve got a star on my car and one on my chest…”
Back in the 1960s and 70s the Brazilian Federal Highway Patrol used 1300cc VW Beetle.
That’s embarrassing.
A bit more intimidating was the Chevy Veraneio. The car became the favorite of the elite squads of the Military Police and the Secret Police during those terrible years we lived under military dictatorship.
Either in black and white or unmarked, if you saw one of those parking in front of your house… boy, you were in trouble.
Nobody does cop cars like Dubai does cop cars.
In Argentina, the equivalent was the Ford Falcon sedan. It was the car of choice of the military junta and the paramilitary death squads back in the 1970s and 80s. If you saw one painted in dark green driving slowly in your neighborhood – watch out.
My next door neighbor in Baltimore City, a Maryland State Trooper, had a ’72 Dodge Polara from 1972-75. It rumbled so loud it woke up the surrounding neighbors on start-up every morning.
I have to go with the 1968 Plymouth Satellite from the first years of the Adam 12 TV series.
Can’t believe I scrolled through this entire post without seeing Broderick Crawford’s ’55 CHP Buick mentioned. Now it has.
My favorite and recently restored 1961 Dodge Polara CHP. One of 1230 produced and 4 known survivors. 383 High output V8 with a factory 413 camshaft. This poor car has survived police service, floods, pine trees and a killer tornado.