Learn why a retired police car is a best buy, even from a gsa auction.
Police cars a subject I enjoy. I love to buy and drive old police cars (like the blues brothers). Why do I like police cars?
Most law enforcement departments have very tight maintenance schedules for their fleet. So the vehicles are well maintained on top of being constructed using heavy-duty parts.
Well I have worked on many police cars in my day and currently I am working on sheriff department and county vehicles. A police car is built with heavy-duty parts and is very fast and stable. The vehicle was also built to protect the driver.
This is what I love about police car auctions. You get well-maintained vehicles at auction prices.
What parts are heavy duty. Well this varies from each manufacture. But in most cases we are talking about heavy-duty belts, hoses, beefed up suspensions with heavy-duty power train components and heavy sway bars, links, shocks and commercial grade floor mats instead of carpeting.
The vehicle is constructed for pedal to the metal performance and handling. My favorite police car of all time is the 96 Chevy caprice.
In my professional opinion this was the cream of the crop in heavy-duty police car manufacturing. The 1996 Chevy caprice police interceptor was built with the corvette LT1 engine with a 4 bolt main block and all the heavy-duty hoses and accessories that GM could find.
This police interceptor had 16-inch tires and Gm’s 3.73 or even 4.11 posi-traction rear differential. The engine included the Generals most powerful high-energy ignition system and dual exhaust to help let the LT1 350 V8 breath.
The electrical system was also upgraded with a high out put alternator, Gear reduction high torque starter and extra capacity dual batteries to help handle all the electronics you would find on a police car.
The package was very well balanced. It was fast and handled great. I have driven these cars many times and lets just say I would smile the whole time.
I worked for a Chevy dealership in 1996 and performed warranty repairs on these vehicles. I had a police officer tell me a great story.
His department had half crown vics and half caprices. When they would patrol on I 295 in New Jersey they would sometimes get into high-speed pursuit situations.
He described in great detail how he would blow by the crown vics that had wide open throttle with his caprice not even at 75% throttle.
The officers in this department would fight over the caprices and the loser's got the Fords.The caprice I speak of can still be found at some gsa auctions and other police car auctions.
The Chevy police car reached its peak in 1996. Then Chevy got out of the police car game for a couple of years because they killed the full frame Chevy caprice all together.
This left GM with no police car platform. Ford dominated the market for many years. Gm has since got back in the game with its lame 6cyl Chevy impala. Now it’s the Fords that blow by the Chevy’s
Also Doge has come back into the police car competition with its hemi powered rear wheel drive dodge charger police interceptor. And Chevrolet has added a super charger to its underpowered entry. So we will have to see who winds up on top of the competition in the near future.
To review even if the police car has high miles on it, I would still purchase this vehicle with confidence. Now this car is not the best all around family car and they are not known for fuel economy but they are very safe and reliable transportation.
Gsa handles federal acquisition and procurement for equipment and supplies to various government agencies. Meaning they buy and sell the equipment that all levels of government use in the name of public service.
GSA is an abbreviated term for general service administration or better known as U.S. government auctions.
Mark Gittelman is an ASE Certified Master Mechanic With more than 23 years experience in the automotive repair business. For more free automotive information and stories visit the
Auto-Facts web site. Or if you would like to post a car question visit his
online auto repair help page.
