Vehicles

[dutchy]

Guess I'd have to say I liked the crown vics best. Big, powerful and pretty good rider

I agree , nothing like a power turn on the 4 lane in a Crown Vic . Like shooting a clean stage!!

Dutchie

[Arcey]

When I was a lad, they put me on a message to run body parts from the hospital to Hampton. We don’t have open highway but that was all interstate early in the mornin’. Wasn’t a soul on it but me. Code One was authorized.

I guess it was a ’71 or ’72 Fury. It was the CO’s car ‘til he got a new one then they marked it ‘n assigned it to a district. Pretty much new. When I got off the interchange from 264 to 64 I turned the dash lights out. Wanted ta be able ta tell IA I didn’t know how fast I was goin’.

Got the package, eyes, ta Hampton. The car didn’t make it back downtown. Smelled funny then it just quit movin’.

Had to sneak the same car ta my Dad’s house for some minor, quick body werk once, my fault. Pulled a drunk one night ‘n before I could get out the fool backed into it ‘n busted the grill out. Got in it one night ‘n it was vibratin’ bad. The guy I’d relieved had changed a tire ‘n put the lugs back on backwards. Ate the wheel center up. He retired a Deputy Chief.   

Darned thing was jinxed. I was glad ta get away from it.

[Marshal Tac]

My picks don't go back that far... but they again, neither do I ! 

Started out with the square body chevy caprice.... good car. Lots of room, ran great and never had a problem with it... The went to the sqare bodied Ford LTD Crown Vic. Also a good car... Wasn't as fast as the Chevy, but handles well and still had plenty of room.

Then some bean counter decided to thrust upon my young butt the biggest heap of horse hockey ever to wear a badge on the door since the late 70's.... The Ford Taurus SHO....  That heap was cramped, handled like it was on roller skates, couldn't get to 85 MPH without a down hill slope and a tail wind, and fighting a 6 foot drunk into that tiny back seat/cage was a never ending opportunity to get your butt kicked! (or another sensitive part of your anatomy!  )

They didn't get any better when they changed body styles to the "bathtub" version either...

Finally went back to the Ford Crown Vic and pretty much stuck with them until recently. Never had many complaints about them either until they started mounting computers and crap in them... Like putting 10 pounds of crap into a 5 pound sack....

We recently got a few of the 07 Dodge police packaged Chargers in the fleet... 

I gotta give them Dodge boys credit.. that car ROCKS! It is fast, handles great, there is a surprising amount of room, and they look COOL in black and white!  That 5.7 Hemi flat out SCOOTS....  At speed, this car feels like it is PLANTED to the asphalt!

We have noticed that they go through brakes like they were free... but they haven't let us down yet. My only minor complaint is that, for us that are 6 foot or better, you have to step down into it to get in, and the windshield is low, the door window's short (arm rest is way to high to use) and it takes alot of getting used to as far as the driver's "field of view" goes... moslty because of the low windshield.  The back doors do not open very wide and the rear door openings are just in front of the rear wheels, which makes getting a prisoner in back a pain in the ass....

When I promoted, I ended up being forced into a "Supervisor's vehicle", which is a Ford Expidition. I don't like the way it handles, or picks up speed (it's 4 wheel drive and geared like it..) and I hate climbing in and out of the damn thing... But it is well laid out inside and I do enjoy being able to look down into other peoples vehicles at stop lights...... We don't transport prisoners in them, so they still have a real, normal back seat, which is nice. Every opportunity I can find/create to "down" the Expadition and take a Charger instead is fully explored!

My favorite so far is that Charger... The one I have the most hours in and feel the most "at home" in is the Crown Vic...

[Joe LeFors]

Greetings.

I came across this and just had to add a few:

The best I've had are the Crown Victorias, I have a 2006 model now, and it's the nicest of those I've driven.

On the other hand, it replaced a Dodge pick-up that was a rental after my Explorer threw a rod in th aftermaths of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.  It was fire-engine red with "HERTZ" in yellow letters on the doors.

We also drove Isuzu Rodeos for a while.  They do not do well on their roofs, but that is another story.

The absolute DOG award goes to my first un-marked car, a 4-door Plymouth Reliant.  Now before you rub your eyes to read that again, yes, I said a Plymouth Reliant.  I got it as a hand-me-down in 1989.  It was dark blue, had a dash light but no siren, and the unit radio antenna was mounted in the center of the roof, above the interior dome light.

I had an accident with it once where the right front fender hit a retaining wall along the road.  The driver's door wouldn't open.

My son remebers it as a 3 year old, and to this day refers to it as "the cramped car."

[Texas Lawdog]

When I first started in Law enforcement(1970), police cars usually had the largest engine available in them and they were gashogs.  Gas was a lot cheaper then, so gas milage was not a factor. I have driven just about all the police packages at one time or another.  The 440 Chrysler products were probably the fastest, but bad brake fade in a highspeed chase.  The Chevy Nova was the only one I never drove. The 81 Fairmonts were probably the worst.  The 82 and 83 Malibus handled the best. The Fords were the slowest, except in 1975, Ford offered the 460 in the Torino. We got two of thes cars and they were screamers. That was the only year that Ford put the 460 in the Torinos. They were a handful, all that power and no weight in the rearend.  The last year that you could get a 440 in the Chrysler product(Plymouth Fury and Dodge Monaco). In 1979, they went to a 360. I had a 79 Chrysler Newport and an 80 Grand Fury.  In 81, they went to a 318, which they used until 88. We had Chevy Caprices the late 80s and 90s.  We have had CVs since 92. I have now come full circle, the Chrysler product Dodge Chargers and now being used as police vehicles.

[Arcey]

Requalified this mornin’ then went by Central Records for a new ID. CR is in the Police Operations Center. The Detective Bureau where I worked for several years is in the same building.

It’s been a year since I’ve been there. The Intrepid I picked out as my last new car was there. City garage let me pick either one off the front row. Took the green one. The purchasin’ agent bought out all the ‘98s that didn’t sell from the local Dodge dealers at the model/year changeover. They had ‘em parked all over the place ‘n let ‘em sit until they issued the things. Could see it’s been demoted to the ‘old Fraud/Forgery car’ parked where it was. Thinkin’ I got it in April 2000. My parkin’ place was vacant. Don’t know what the squad supervisor is drivin’ these days.

There were three or four 14 or 15 year old Luminas on the lot. Didn’t see any Tauri. Most of the assigned parkin’ places were vacant. Didn’t see anything new at all with the exception of a fairly new Expedition marked ‘Forensics’.

All of the entry team’s armored cars were there. A couple I don’t remember seein’ before. Their cookie truck I stole ‘n hid once wasn’t. That thing was ancient when I swiped it ‘n that was a long time ago. Maybe they've gotten rid of it.

Saw one marked car belongin’ ta the First ‘n that was a Crown. The body shop at the garage doesn’t do the custom markin’ anymore. They’re marked with out-of-a-catalog decals. They look good but they’re the same as everyone elses.

[Elmer Watson]

My dog award goes to the 74 Fords Patrol got stuck with.  Way too many broken water pumps afterr a 125 + MPH pursuit and three burned up after the cataletic converters set the  grass on fire when parked off road.  Watch commanderr finally ordered that we did not park on grass anymore.  Pretty hard tyo do on rural beats.  My favorite was a rambler stationwagon.  Only went 105 on a code three run but it always got me there with out any problems. 

[Yul Catchum]

My worst overall was a DODGE I had as a Shift LT.
 The one I wrecked the most, it just wouldn't die, was the Ford Fairmont I drove while I K-9 for 4 years. Ford tough POS applied to that car!

We were laughing yesterday about the time another Unit ran a stop sign thereby running me off the road where I went airborne, crossed two lanes of traffic in a power slide, cleared a fire hydrant, to finally stop after hitting a parked truck, school bus and house.  Then we cussed the Captain that falsified the accident report to carry me at fault so his stop sign running favorite patrolman wouldn't get in trouble. 

Ahh the Good Old Days, when Supervisors were REALLY Bas####s and we were always right.

[Handsome Dave]

Worst I had to drive was Dodge K Car 

Best I had was a toss up between a Chevy Impala or a Crown Victoria

[aryfrosty]

My first favorite was a 1972 Ford 429. Lord only knows how fast that car would go after you wound the long stroke 429 up on the wide road. It had a 150mph speedo and it was analogue and the car would hide the needle. Then in 1974 we went to Torinos with the "fantastic 460s". 110mph off a cliff. Plenty of Ford "taxicabs" in between until 1991 when I was issued my first "Personal patrol car". The Chief gave me a choice between a 91 Ford and a 91 Caprice. I took the Chevy. Yessir. Digital speedo and enough oomph to run the calls. The first 10-80 I ever had was a bolo for a DUI vehicle leaving the city. I met him at the line and turned around on him. I passed him and got far enough ahead to safely block the road and get him stopped.  I retired in 1995 and the city retired the Caprice also. It was so ugly nobody else wanted it.