Indulge me.
I've long had a fascination with police cruisers. Always wanted to own a decommissioned cop car. I don't really know why—blame the Blues Brothers, I suppose. I almost bought an old 1980 LTD II police car when I was in college. Should've done it. It was green... had a spotlight, a 140 mph speedo (back in the days of mandatory 85 mph speedos), switches for the lights and stuff (which were all obviously removed)... [sigh]
Over the years, I've kind of kept an eye on the stylings of the police car market. Passing judgement on different cities and departments for the cars they choose, graphics, light set-ups, etc. Here in Michigan, they astoundingly still opt for the single "bubble gum" light on the roof. Ugh. I've always been a fan of the "flying wedge" used by the NYPD and others. Always go red and blue too.
I'm a fucking nerd, alright?
Anyway, Chevy long ago transitioned from the bloated Caprice to the new front-wheel drive pansy Impala, so Ford has been the only "real" option for a traditional rear-wheel drive V8 cop car (only 250 HP, Ford? My wife's minivan has that!).
Since Dodge came out with the Charger, I began thinking, "How badass would a Charger cop car be? It's cool looking, and ballsy..."
This morning I saw one. A totally blacked out Charger with twin spotlights on the A-pillars and black steel five spoke rims. It was tuff. I actually went a couple blocks out of the way just to jockey with it in traffic for a good look.
After C.H.I.P.s, the Dukes of Hazzard and the Blues Brothers movie hunted the entire country's fleet of Dodge/Chrysler police cars into extinction by 1984, the Charger is back. Here's a peek (the all-black Vadermobile I saw this morning was even more badass...):
Coming soon to a speed trap near you. Starting in NYC.
Oh, and here are detailed instructions for re-creating your own version of the Bluesmobile. Seriously.
1 comment:
When I was a kid, a friend's dad bought a refurbed '58 Ford Fairlane police cruiser. It had a large displacement V8 (can't recall the cubic inches or hp, but they were impressive), extra-size radiator, oil cooler gadget, heavy duty automatic transmission and suspension to match. And dual exhausts, of course.
That thing was hot. Going 60, stamp down on it and you were flying past 90 in the space of a couple of deep breaths. I think they said they had it up to 115 once.
The bad news, aside from sharing the same rust-prone bodywork as all major U.S. makes of that vintage, was that it was a gas guzzler. If I recall correctly, they were getting only about nine or 10 mpg in mixed driving. In winter, with snow tires on, it was even worse.
Oh, but what fun they had out on relatively remote stretches of the interstate every now and then.
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