We’ve featured a number of really cool and interesting police cars, but this is the first time we’ve come across a Camaro pursuit car. Now this isn’t just a plain Camaro, it’s equipped with the BC4 package! What does that mean? I’m glad you asked! So the BC4 package took the Z/28 drivetrain and suspension, stuffed it in the less flashy RS body with big 1LE brakes thrown in the mix to round things out. It also added all the standard law enforcement bits, like sirens, radios and shotguns! Less than 600 of these cars were built and it’s hard to say how many survived life in the line of duty. This one made its way into civilian hands and is now up for grabs here on eBay in Lebanon, Ohio and has a current bid of $2,700.
Visually, this Camaro looks just like any other RS, well except for the black and white paint job. The Police stickers have been removed, but you can still see where they once resided. Obviously, the sirens and shotgun are missing, but that’s to be expected.
The odometer shows that this car has only covered 69k miles, which wouldn’t surprise me. I doubt this thing saw a ton of use as a police car, unless it lived somewhere with an unusually high number of high speed chases. Even if the mileage is 169k, the 350 V8 is bullet proof and should run for years to come. While it’s nice to have the bigger and more powerful V8, it’s a bummer that it was saddled to an automatic. I’m sure it’s still quick and capable of some great burn out!
I’d love to see this thing done up with police stickers and a fake light bar on the roof! Just imagine the look on people’s faces when you pulled up to them at a light and then proceed to do a burn out. If it had a manual, you could take it autocrossing or to the race track to see what kind of reaction you get. I think this thing could be tons of fun, but it’s going to need some work to the interior and the roof. At the current bid, it would actually be a great deal just as a fun daily driver! So do any of you remember seeing these Camaro pursuit cars on the road when they were new?
Awesome cars. Living in Minnesota we didn’t have these as cop cars. They are good drivers.
But we did get these :-)
http://www.sspcentral.com/library/minnesota.shtml
Got pulled over by one years back driving a 79 Omni(!). Didn’t get a ticket, must have looked at my car and felt sorry for me. Of course, when pulled over by law enforcement, I am pretty humble. I can humble myself real well to save money. A cop friend once told me that if you are respectful, it almost never ends in a ticket. Pull your keys out of the ignition, place them visibly on the dash board. place both hands on the steering wheel. Have your lic/reg out and ready to hand over, oh yeah, and call them “officer”. I had a buddy who had a temper problem when we were kids, always ticketed when pulled over. Always pick your battles. Besides, those police people have a rough job, esp these days, best to make them comfortably relaxed.
I’m pretty sure all 350-equipped Camaros of that era were automatic, and you could only get a stick shift with the 305.
J,
That means all the parts you need to do a transmission swap already exist. That would make it easier task and you’d have one fun ride once you were done. I think it would be worth it. Alas, I don’t have the space, money, or health condition to do it. Would be fun though.
True statement
That’s an old myth – a friend had a former pursuit vehicle – a former Texas DPS Highway Patrol (State Trooper) car with the TPI 350 and a T-5. He had to replace the transmission every 4th oil change!
New York State Police used these as IHP vehicles for quite a while back in the 90s, replacing the problematic and cramped 5-speed 5.0 Mustangs. From the cops I talked to that drove these, they said they were actually faster and handled better than the Fords. But like all IHP cars, they were exposed to rough service just like their Caprice cousins. Lots of idling time, lots of driving thru grass medians, etc. The only difference was they were stored during the winter months.
I live a couple miles from the NY State Trooper Barracks F in Monroe, and they had one in their fleet for years, fully marked. It looked scary fast.
RPO BC4 Camero’s were automatic. Imagine being an officer in a pursuit vehicle with all the extra equipment added to the interior and having to shift it? Might as well put them in a NASCAR harness. Swap parts as well as endless aftermarket parts are plentiful. I can picture myself chasing down a suspect and having to “try” and jump out of that low floor pan to pursue them on foot. There’s 2 minutes lost right there ! These were chase cars with the operator calling for back-up. Where there was a chase car, there was soon to be a regular PI car to follow.
The RCMP had a few of those. I came across one near Portage la Prairie, west of Winnipeg. Looked pretty cool in the RCMP colours with a subtle light bar on top. They used to have Mustangs but went to the Camaros after a few breaking in half incidents with the Mustangs.
When you say “came across” , well, umm, how did it go for you?
Now you need to find us a retired Connecticut State Police 1987 Buick Grand National.
I once had a 1987 T Type that was used by the FBI.I should have kept that car.
I drove one of these at 156mph and still had pedal left, tons of fun.
Florida Highway Patrol used them a few years.
Composite fenders and fiberglass doors and hatch.
Pretty sure all of the F body cars had the composite parts mentioned. Except the base v6 which had a steel hood.
Yes, and the FHP cars pictured above all had steel hoods. I dont have a clue why,
Alabama Highway Patrol used some 401 powered AMC Javelin’s in 1971 and 1972.
That must of been a sight to see in the rear view mirror!
Yes, they were.
You would have thought they would have tried to find a bigger light to stick on the top wouldn’t you ?? It reminds me of the gangster movies of the 50’s with the absolutely huge red lights on top of Police cars back then.
I do remember some states had these, not near as popular as the SSP Mustang, but I believe these cars did a lot of charity events, to promote “see? cops can be cool too”. I did a lot of trucking in the mid-west, and don’t recall seeing these. Probably Ohio, perhaps Iowa, and most definitely California. Be a pretty tough car, the best of the best for pursuit vehicles. Just be careful how you “dress” it up. Some states ( and Canada, eh) you might get hassled for driving cars that look like police cars. I don’t think it’s illegal though. Don’t see many of these. Cool find.
the chevy dealership here have one out of the caralinas, lite bar and all. they use it in there promotion adds. have had it for decades not for sale
Where are you talking about. What Chevy dealership. I have one I’m restoring and would like to go see that one and take some pictures
In California, all CHP vehicles are (or used to be) sold by there own lots in either Fullerton or Sacramento. Most are a fixed price until they have been e lot for a while then they are offered at auction. They sell everything from aircraft to motorcycles and boats .There can be some great buys but many are priced at retail…….lots of fun stuff though.
They used these in Maine for several years. Some police officer I knew said they were fast as he**. I don’t believe the MSP ever had Mustangs. I recall a sheriff in central or northern Maine who had a WRX (maybe an STi, I’m getting old) as his own cruiser.
I like the RPO code B4C “Built 4 Cops” still want one of these but would prefer newer LS engine models. Drove and sold a few of them and still keep my eye open for a good deal.
Meh !! Revenue enhancer..
I remember lots of cameros painted up as DARE cars, cops would drive them to events for show and tell.
North Dakota Highway Patrol had one ’92 Camaro – fully marked. Only saw it one time on I29 – he was southbound and I was northbound……
We had some of them in Colorado State Patrol, Mustangs also. The officers generally preferred the Mustangs for traction and high speed, as the Camaros had the unsettling habit of having the Windows “pop” out of their frames at about 120. Add to that, the fact that you couldn’t lock weapons and such in the trunk, they definitely lost out. Both held up just fine in service, no real problems with either platform.
I have an ex CSP B4C Camaro I’m gathering parts to restore. It’s a ’91 and still has the spotlights and roll bar. I’d love to get a hold of some pics of the interior of one when they were in service so I can get an idea of the exact equipment I need to start looking for but have yet to find any.
I remember seeing some unmarked Camaro police cars in Illinois.
A friend had a retired former Texas DPS (State Trooper, a/k/a Highway Patrol) one of these with a 5.7 (TPI 350) and T-5 5-speed. Yes, they WERE made that way in limited numbers!
The problem was the 5.7 ate that sad little transmission constantly, they were replaced every 10-15K as regular maintenance!
Eli
Hey, I worked on that big black Y-shaped intake air duct to help it get into production on these cars back when they were introduced – was made of a Dupont mineral-reinforced nylon for heat and chemical resistance under the hood & did a good job. Nice to see there are still a few around –
Hi Ken, that’s what’s great about this site, is people, like you, that have a special tie with a car, whatever the tie is, chime in. Puts a different perspective on things. Thanks for that.
In the late 70’s, a neighboring county (Catoosa County, GA) Sheriff got himself and his deputies white 1977 Trans-Ams for patrol cars. The first time I got pulled over, as a 16 year old, was by a deputy in one of them. They were around for several years, but then disappeared when a new sheriff was elected.
That massive expenditure is probably why he wasn’t re-elected. The county bean counters must have been up in arms.
I remember Missouri had a couple of these, but like most Highway Patrol car when it reached 50K they were taken off the road, and sold to local police or County sheriff depts.
I had a 2000 B4C that I bought from GM as a 3000 mile factory car….super fast n fun…drag-raced it a number of times and won every outing. Owned it for about 3 years and sold it to a peace officer in New Mexico w/20,000 miles on it.
We’e got a guy here in the Seattle area that drives an ex-cop Caprice with this black & white paint scheme. Vanity plates read…NOTACOP.
Thanks Howard – my job was teaching the auto guys how to use engineering plastics under the hood without getting into trouble when they were trying to take weight out for fuel economy gains. Half the time they’d have a brainstorm on how to do something, but often didn’t really understand the property differences between their metals & our plastics. That led to their introducing a fair number of bad applications that failed in the field due to inadequate knowledge and bad advice from certain suppliers. Ford had a big problem with a certain competitor’s plastic used in water pump applications, which we stayed away from. The “other stuff” dissolved! We introduced glass reinforced nylon radiator tanks around ’84, when I worked on the Ford Escort tank design – the first nylon tank in the US. Europe had already been using the stuff for several yrs so we had a pretty good experience base to bring to the party. But even nylon would dissolve if the car was run low on water and started steaming. Real steam can do in a lot of synthetic materials, and of course when an engine gets that hot you can often lose the head gasket, if it wasn’t the culprit in the first place.
Big reason for using plastic was to get rid of lead solder (EPA and lead poisoning) and the multiple problems with fabricated brass/metal tanks. And with ordinary care re water level and functioning thermostats, the plastic tanks can last the life of the car.
GM chose plastic for this snorkel as it didn’t require painting, never rusted and didn’t dent like thin sheetmetal.
Texas has used some interesting cars for Texas DPS over the years, including the downsized Mustangs and a number of Camaros. Those Camaros would fly…and I doubt that anyone ever outran them.
Back in the ’90s I worked for the taxi co. in Odessa, initially on the nightshift my first year there. Late one Sunday night I had dropped off a passenger downtown; and being quiet for the moment, I went the few blocks over to the cabstand to grab a soda and visit with the night dispatcher. I got a call and left the stand. Just as I stopped at the light at 8th St. I heard the sound of a car engine winding up and glanced to the right, just in time to see a Texas DPS Camaro literally “flying low” East on 8th St., fully Code 3! I would learn later that an Odessa cop had been assaulted by several male teenagers and had just barely manage to holler for help on his handheld radio. I just happened to have to go east on 8th when it all went down and never saw such a police presence that was still enroute to the scene code 3. I guess it was a good thing that nothing else any more serious happened at the time because they would’ve never gotten a cop there soon enough. The cop who was assaulted sustained relatively minor injuries, and several of the teens involved were taken into custody. Who said that life was dull in West Texas?
I was just graduating high school when these were showing up and I immediately fell in love with them. I finally found one about a year ago that I could afford. It needs a ton of attention to the body, but otherwise is amazing. 172,xxx on it now, and I did the manual conversion with a T5. Gobs of fun!