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Opinions on used police cars

Vegasmarck

Active Member (5.56mm)
Trading Post Subscriber
I'm thinking of buying a used police interceptor as a secondary vehicle. Curious if anyone here has experience with them, good or bad.
 
I just think about the daily usage of a police vehicle, and I'm sure it's high mileage and maintenance.
 
I use to be a mechanic for a cab company and our whole fleet was Crown Vic Interceptors purchased from auction I personally wouldn’t touch them. They all have been rode hard.

To add: They became novelty items with the younger crowds thinking it was cool to have a former LE vehicle which made them get beat on even more.
 
I once owned a 1978 Dodge Polera ex-CHP car. I was a freaking blast to drive. Last year of the 440 hipo big block with a Carter Thermoquad four barrel carb.
It had a 140 MPH certified speedometer. Limited slip rear diff, giant swaybars front and rear, huge brakes, 3-row HD radiator, quick-ratio steering box. Giant HD alternator, "blue" neoprene radiator and heater hoses, dual exhaust and no cats!
It was built that way from the factory. Heavy duty police grade everything. It was built like a tank and drove like a sports car.
 
“It's got a cop motor, a 440-cubic-inch plant. It's got cop tires, cop suspension, cop shocks. It's a model made before catalytic converters so it'll run good on regular gas.”

If it’s good enough for Jake and Elwood….atleast for one movie….
 
If you can lay hands on a supervisor's vehicle, it might be an acceptable bet. NEVER buy a patrol vehicle. They spend many hours idling - the worst thing one can do to an engine - and are driven by cops whose philosophy is "drive it until it breaks, then call the motor pool for a replacement". I've seen them driven at speed over curbs, off-road and even down a flight of stairs. I've driven them in places where a car has no business... but it was what I had to do. Nope, wouldn't do it!

I forgot to add that it's scumbag chic to drive a former cop car... they love the novelty of sitting in the front seat, I guess.
 
Brian2A said:
And you can get a grandma owned Grand Marquis for the same price, with the same miles if you're not in a rush to buy.
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That can be just as bad if all granny did was go to the corner market 2 blocks over for the past 10 years.
 
We bought dozens of them years ago for teaching evasive/defensive driving techniques. I agree with trying to get a supervisors vehicle. It didn’t matter to us as the vehicles were getting banged up and then shot at and towed away. Patrol cars are beat to (s**t) by LEO and some of them can’t drive worth (s**t).
 
I would, for the nostalgia. Just know what is is and expect it won’t be perfect.

I have a retired ambulance now. 96,000 miles, 4000 hrs on engine, 2200 hrs idling. It runs strong and everything on it is super heavy duty.

But I have also drove the (s**t) out of both ambulances and police cars over the years.

Save up your money and get a nice clean Mercury Marauder.
 
Harley said:
That can be just as bad if all granny did was go to the corner market 2 blocks over for the past 10 years.
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You forgot church, a-hole!
 
During a 31 year LEO career, by the time a vehicle had reached its service life it was usually a steaming pile of fecal matter. We had assigned vehicles, so even the Agents that took great care of their vehicles, they were still driven over 100,000 miles before they were eligible to be replaced.

Because of my main assignments I had mostly 4X4 trucks and SUVs. They were driven into many back country locations, and that too takes a toll on them. So unless you want to have a project car and spend many hours repairing/rebuilding a former LEO vehicle, then I would advise you avoid them like the plague.
 
Re: Idling

Our (USAF) motor pool was giving us grief about our patrol trucks requiring so much maintenance for the miles on them. We tried explaining about the amount of time spent sitting in them, going nowehere, but with the enfine ruinning. I finally convinced him to put an hour meter on one of them, like they used on generators.

Suddenly, he understood why we needed more maintenance than the mileage would indicate, since the test vehicle had more hours than miles per month.
 
I remember vividly one night in the parking lot of Main Street Station, walking in for the Monday Night Football party. The security guard was driving by and you could hear this god-awful clacking coming from the engine. I was with a guy who knew engines, and he explained how this guy does nothing all day/night except drive around the parking lot at idle speed, probably never actually touching the gas pedal. This caused the exhaust valves to cake up, or something like that, and that's what we were hearing. Engines need to run hard every once in a while to clean themselves out.

I've done my best since then to do 90 mph as often as possible!
 
Our maintenance guys say they are to be serviced to be in "as new" condition every time they leave the shop. Of course, I believe that's mechanically sound, not cosmetically.

We have 4 Crown Vics with still within the police department. 1 is still in service as a patrol vehicle. The other 3 are used by the police volunteer program. I wouldn't hesitate to use any on a long road trip- meaning I'm confident they wouldn't leave me stranded.

I think part of the equation should be what department the vehicle is coming from, and their maintenance policies.
 
titanNV said:
Our maintenance guys say they are to be serviced to be in "as new" condition every time they leave the shop. Of course, I believe that's mechanically sound, not cosmetically.

We have 4 Crown Vics with still within the police department. 1 is still in service as a patrol vehicle. The other 3 are used by the police volunteer program. I wouldn't hesitate to use any on a long road trip- meaning I'm confident they wouldn't leave me stranded.

I think part of the equation should be what department the vehicle is coming from, and their maintenance policies.
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To add, its also the mechanics. sometimes they do half-ass jobs. Other times they are under a lot of pressure from the higher-ups to get these fleet vehicles back on the road and end up having to cut corners. Dig deep enough, especially in those Crown Vics and you will find evidence of that all throughout the vehicle.
 
MAC702 said:
I've done my best since then to do 90 mph as often as possible!
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90 is a good speed when coming out to Pahrump because I know for a fact 92 will get you a ticket. If you are polite you may only get written for 10 over. ;)

bob
 
MAC702 said:
This caused the exhaust valves to cake up, or something like that,
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Had a friend who had a ' mechanic ' tell him that he " doesn't drive his vette fast enough to have the valves open all the way " . 😀😃😁

I told him to never go back to that mechanic. He must go by the water hose theory of cam/valve operations. 🤣😄😁

Same guy once told him his alternator wasn't charging the battery due to a kink in the batteries ground cable. 🙄😯
 
Bob R said:
90 is a good speed when coming out to Pahrump because I know for a fact 92 will get you a ticket. If you are polite you may only get written for 10 over. ;)

bob
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When watching the Nye County Sheriffs on On Patrol Live, some of them are still driving Crown Vics
 
MAC702 said:
I've done my best since then to do 90 mph as often as possible!
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How much of a bribe do you have to give the tow truck driver to haul that Mercedes that fast??
 
MAC702 said:
If I'm leaving Pahrump, I can push it that fast.
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With all the irate husbands, boyfriends, fathers and jilted women chasing you out of town, I'd be really surprised if you couldn't get it to 100 up the hill to the pass!
 
NYECOGunsmith said:
With all the irate husbands, boyfriends, fathers and jilted women chasing you out of town, I'd be really surprised if you couldn't get it to 100 up the hill to the pass!
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Only two of those are chasing me out. Two of them are trying to bring me back; that's when the turbo kicks in.
 
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