Jump to content

USED POLICE CARS


Bubo

Recommended Posts

Looking at used vehicles and ran across used Police Vehicles

 

Pros

Lower cost than similar civilian

Performance tuning and suspension, better brakes

Regular oil changes and brakes

Everyone slams on the brakes when you are passing by

 

Cons

Engine idle hours are very high

Have seen idle hours equated to 10x up to 60x

The Fleet argument being that the cooling sitting still is ineffective

Water accumulation in the engine etc

Police are believed to drive the vehicles hard for various reasons

Rubberized floors are slippery

- good for vomit, blood, urine etc ...

 

In the cars

Charger Hemi full time rear drive, 4 wheel when needed

Taurus 3.7 smoking performance, 3x parts costs due to patents

Full time front drive, 4 wheel when needed

4-6 mpg better than charger

Taurus is half the price of the Hemis, due to demand ?

 

In the SUVs

It's explorer vs Durango vs Tahoe and a few suburbans

 

Any thoughts or comments ?

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have a relative that has owned many police interceptors over the years. Had a Honda once. Otherwise Crown Vics and most recently a Taurus (which did get raced by this dealer against a Charger). All have been quite good although the last 2 were quite new. Gotta find the detectives car. Probably been driven less hard. Personally I’d take the Taurus or the Explorer Interceptor. 

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, CWOReilly said:

Personally I’d take the Taurus or the Explorer Interceptor. 

 

Both have smoking performance, Hemi may be a little faster

But yes the $10K premium for the Hemi does cover a lot of tires, brakes and oil changes in the Taurus.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, grasshopper said:

I don't know if/when/how the military disposes of their cars now.... but they used to auction them off. I seriously doubt they get the use police vehicle get. And they got their oil changed every 6mo whether they were driven of not....

Have to take a look

I wonder what I can score a used Bradley for .....

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, jason str said:

Unless they are giving them away I tend to avoid beat to hell high mileage vehicles of any type. 

 

This is the question, how beat are they if at all

Some appear to be in quite good condition, the idle hours being the wild card.

Every 3K on the oil changes from what I have seen reading the records on the auction sites.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, wuzzzer said:

I would just get a regular SHO.  They're cheap enough.

Looks like they are 2x to 3x the price of the Interceptors

that's a lot of oil changes

Also looks like they have the dreaded Turbo

a $5,000 repair that takes out the exhaust and throttle body and sensors when it fails.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, Bubo said:

 

This is the question, how beat are they if at all

Some appear to be in quite good condition, the idle hours being the wild card.

Every 3K on the oil changes from what I have seen reading the records on the auction sites.

Fleet vehicles are normally properly maintained but everything wears and a good manager knows when to get rid of something. You may get lucky but odds are not in your favor.

Right about the turbo too, they don't last forever.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1994 Caprice 9C1 big block, B-Body LT1 16 valve reverse-flow cooling. In layman's terms: turning on the ac in 100 degree heat actually cooled the engine.

Best 350 ever at the time. 260hp w330ft-lbs. 28-30mpg downhill NC to FL, 23-26 uphill on the same highways. Oh at 80+ mph both ways. 20-26 city depended on the red lights.

 

Mated with an aircraft grade aluminum driveshaft it purred like my`73 Charger at about 90. Better suspension than the Impala SS that was derived from it. Yea it was a big cockaraocha mobile, but rode well. Replaced the interior. With a 2800rpm torque converter it launched well. Two ton beast wouldn't do a road course but did a low 14 sec quarter mile at the strip across from the Cabbage Patch south of Daytona. Put a Corvette starter on it, a MSD Blaster coil, Magnecor wires, replaced all four 02 sensors, put an X-pipe where the exhaust was the hottest after the motor and Flowmaster truck-50s that flowed as well as their 40s without being obnoxious.

The hoses were Lifetime hoses. They never failed, but were seafoam green.

Crown-vic from then. HA!

 

1-Great-White-Buffalo.png

 

2-snout.png

 

4-rear.png

 

9-corvette-dress-kit.jpg

 

Got it with 180k miles, it was t-boned by a d*ngb@t with over 200k on it, the drivetrain had another 200k on it. The wiring harness being a central FL car not as much.

 

So look into it a little more you might find something durable. That $2500 I paid to drive the above out of a junkyard was loads of fun for almost a decade!

tag's retired long ago.

  • Like 3
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 hours ago, jason str said:

Fleet vehicles are normally properly maintained but everything wears and a good manager knows when to get rid of something. You may get lucky but odds are not in your favor.

Right about the turbo too, they don't last forever.

Good intel

One of the Explorers on the auction site, I read the service records

Mostly $50 oil change and check everything, top up fluids

Then break pads and machine rotors

Next $500-700 for front end parts, rotors etc

3 in this range, and up for sale with 75kmi

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 hours ago, JohnJ said:

1994 Caprice 9C1 big block, B-Body LT1 16 valve reverse-flow cooling. In layman's terms: turning on the ac in 100 degree heat actually cooled the engine.

Best 350 ever at the time. 260hp w330ft-lbs. 28-30mpg downhill NC to FL, 23-26 uphill on the same highways. Oh at 80+ mph both ways. 20-26 city depended on the red lights.

 

Mated with an aircraft grade aluminum driveshaft it purred like my`73 Charger at about 90. Better suspension than the Impala SS that was derived from it. Yea it was a big cockaraocha mobile, but rode well. Replaced the interior. With a 2800rpm torque converter it launched well. Two ton beast wouldn't do a road course but did a low 14 sec quarter mile at the strip across from the Cabbage Patch south of Daytona. Put a Corvette starter on it, a MSD Blaster coil, Magnecor wires, replaced all four 02 sensors, put an X-pipe where the exhaust was the hottest after the motor and Flowmaster truck-50s that flowed as well as their 40s without being obnoxious.

The hoses were Lifetime hoses. They never failed, but were seafoam green.

Crown-vic from then. HA!

 

Got it with 180k miles, it was t-boned by a d*ngb@t with over 200k on it, the drivetrain had another 200k on it. The wiring harness being a central FL car not as much.

 

So look into it a little more you might find something durable. That $2500 I paid to drive the above out of a junkyard was loads of fun for almost a decade!

tag's retired long ago.

If I do go this way

For example Taurus, I was thinking "try to find a SHO Junker" and strip the interior for a few hundred.

Explorer also seems interesting. Again, strip a junker

 

Durango and Blazer-Yukon not so much

Charger Hemi is a head turner, probably the wheels too.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Had a 96 Durango that turned me against my first love - mopar.

 

Charger? what Charger. The 4-door variant is a Coronet d#mn*tt !!B)

 

At the same time we had gotten a 96 Taurus and it served us well for a decade.

The SHO's then were impressive to me!

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

@Buboyeah , iron block , aluminium heads , the last Iron LT1 made before the all Aluminium engines  ,the Vette motor was more reliable  that the non LT1 Caprice classic  350/ 5.7 liter Police  cars  that were sold by GM  before 95 ,same engines as in  the Camaro Police Pursuit cars  used on the Highways  -

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 hours ago, RandyH said:

@Buboyeah , iron block , aluminium heads , the last Iron LT1 made before the all Aluminium engines  ,the Vette motor was more reliable  that the non LT1 Caprice classic  350/ 5.7 liter Police  cars  that were sold by GM  before 95 ,same engines as in  the Camaro Police Pursuit cars  used on the Highways  -

I'm guessing the Vette mills had better metals and stronger design requirements

 

When I followed it, years ago, Merc Benz SLs would sell for next to zero when their engines failed.

There was a cottage industry that made conversion kits to drop rebuilt Vette engines

and 4-5 speed manual transmissions into them

Better, faster, lighter, way more reliable and more affordable

I believe it was a shop in NC that Engineered and  manufactured the kits for the conversion

 

I think it was the awesome Pontiac G8 from Australia

that had a heavy duty truck engine short block

with vette heads, cams etc

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...