When Dodge revived the Charger nameplate in 2006, it was applied to a 4-door performance sedan based on Chrysler’s LX platform. Low enforcement entities quickly embraced the car as viable for police work, much like the Ford Crown Victoria that came before it. The seller has a 2008 edition that was previously employed by a sheriff in Tennessee. Needing some electronics reprogramming, this former cop car is offered for $3,200 in Eva, Alabama, and is available here on Facebook Marketplace. Thanks for the tip, Chuck Foster.
Police Chargers were like the civilian versions but on steroids. That included beefing up the suspension, brakes, tires, infrastructure, onboard technology, and the 5.7-liter Hemi V8 engine (that produced north of 340 hp). Unlike cars sold to the general public, the police units were sold in bulk fleet packages and modified to the specs of localized law enforcement groups. One of the contractors used was Setina Mfg.. which supplied some of the special materials used in the interior of the seller’s car.
The seller is light on details and photos about this Charger. We’re told he/she took it in on a trade, and it appears to wear all or most of its cop gear. Something is amiss with the car’s onboard programming, which the seller says will need to be reset to be used. As a result, the mileage on the vehicle is unknown (but probably high). What would you do with it if you were to purchase this potential high-performance auto? You can’t make people think it’s the real deal.
Wow hopefully it’s not stolen! Strip the light bar off and repaint the police lettering at a minimum…. Do we even know if it will run without the right “programming”?
A heat gun should remove the lettering. There are lots of these around. Parts SHOULD be readily available. This is a don’t give much money car. I sold a Crown Vic police car where I worked. U Der $1,000. from a city is not unusual. Buy low,clean up,sell high.
Book’em Dano.
No idea these made north of 340hp in 08.
From the Free and Independent State of Scott.
Where it is called a “toothbrush” for a really good reason.
God almighty… who would want this total POC? Maybe there’s a dead body in the trunk? None of the cop electronics are going to function. The engine is probably blown or close to, maybe a criminal will buy it and impersonate a police officer? Completely worthless.. should be donated to a charity for victims of crimes in that area. jv smashpalace
Really? So you know this car? If you don’t don’t comment.
The definition of paranoia, seeing a police car in my rear view mirror,,,I believe the 5.7 is a troublesome motor. I still fail to see the mindset of driving an old police car. While they may be mechanically superior to any street versions, I think it’s more to satisfy some lost ego easily reclaimed for a paltry $3200 bucks. I think I hear a banjo playing too,,,
But did you almost cut your hair?
Wait, that home in the background looks like a perfect place for when my wife kicks me out. It already has the Christmas tree and multiple ladders on the porch. Kind of warm and sticky in the summer though. There is always Cleator, AZ if not. It has the Cleator “yacht club” behind the bar. It’s a “dry heat” in the desert there. It’s about 20 miles west of Bumblebee, for those who would like to visit, and 20 miles east of Crown King.
I have seen lots of police vehicles with the front push bar but I have never seen the bars on the side coming out of the door like this one has? Doesn’t look like the back door would open unless the front door was already open
Look a bit closer, it’s spray paint.
No bars on the doors. It’s marker covering up Scott County.
Really? So you know this car? If you don’t don’t comment.
Really? So you know the guy who commented doesn’t know the car? If not don’t comment.
He never said he knew the car. He said there ”might” be a dead body in the trunk. He said none of the electronics are going to function. He didn’t say they do not work. He said the engine is ”probably” blown or close to it. He doesn’t say it ”is” blown. He says it is ”completely worthless” But he gives no evidence to back up his comment. I think this guy is new to the hobby. I will sound stupid here but what is a POC? The guy who commented does NOT know the car.
Lot of stuff being thrown about here. For 454rat: I believe POC is funny talk for “piece of crap”.
If you don’t like what I said, kiss my black ass.
Repeat yourself much?
LOL now that I look close I see it is blackout to redact the municipality (Pottsdam) my bad I have two 6.4 hemis and both are terrific motors never had any experience with 5.7 motor
5.7 is a good moter I’ve got 280K on my truck and still runs great
I believe it is spelled “motor”.
Two quick comments/ questions. Why in the world would someone want to own an ex police car? Probably one of the most abused cars on the planet. Also, I have lived in four different states and it was illegal to drive a patrol car with original markings in all four.
oldrodder..I’ve owned a total of 7 ex law enforcement vehicles. Only ONE gave me ANY mechanical grief whatsoever. At 88k it blew the motor. Obviously used hard but it didn’t show. I liked it and decided to keep it and put in a low mileage engine with a 1 year warranty. Still have it. 2012 Charger. I’ve owned an early 80s Crown Victoria Highway Patrol unit. A 2004 Crown Vic P71. Still in the family. Gave it to my son. 7 years later it’s still going strong. 4 Ford Explorers FIPU AWD non turbo. Stay away from the turbo ones. Sold my ex-wife my 2015 Explorer and she and I are on fine terms. There are some good City Of….Cars but often they get beat on and not always maintained well. Some are fine. I have never, repeat never had any mechanical issues other than normal wear and tear like on any car with the Arizona Highway Patrol units. They are heavy duty, reasonable to buy. If you don’t want them to have a police look that’s an easy fix. They most certainly are not all bad and beat to death. Some are. Definitely not all. If they are so bad why do they get get snapped at auction so fast?
Because they’re dirt cheap.
I once asked a cop friend how many miles were on his cruiser. He said 38,000 moving and 150,000 idling.
A friend that’s a deputy the welcomed these after the had to drive front wheel dive Ford Tauruses for while, but he said getting an arrestee in the back was nearly impossible, last thing, high mileage is only part of what has to be considered. Police will let motor almost constantly. The ratio of engine hours to hours to drive time would be interesting to know!
These things are “cute” and pretty fast when new, but the Vic was exponentially better built. They’re like the 5.0 LX Mustangs that were tried in the 90’s in that they are a pain to work out of day in and day out as there’s just not enough room. They just happened to be about the same size with the right number of doors. Also, the electrical systems aren’t great to begin with and if they’ve fried the fuse/relay box it will need a brand new one to work as if I understood our mechanic correctly, they code to the ECM and you can’t source a used one. Hard pass.
WOW !!! I would leave it just as is. Jump on Ebay, buy all the cop gear that I could and then head out and have fun.
A few things about police cars from a guy who has had one AND sold police cruisers/vehicles.
#1 As a general rule Highway Patrol vehicles are well maintained. And are usually changed put by miles accrued not by vehicle problems
#2 As “ownership” goes down in hierarchy the amount of maintenance care also goes down. Many of city/town/county cars are highway patrol hand me downs. (again see the start of this category)
#3 I sold 50 2500 series crewcab GMCs to the Nevada Highway Patrol to be used as DOT enforcement vehicles. The guy that was the “buyer” and I did a couple of things differently. One of those things was to add OnStar to all the trucks. Normally, you would not add this feature because the vehicle could be tracked. But his point was the he had an issue with the officers being “bothered” to fill in the mileage correctly on the vehicle logs. Which made keeping the servicing accurate. (The OnStar scans the vehicle (in the fleet option) once a .month to report mileage and service “due” condition) So the following revelation came about after the first 6 months of service.
25 of the vehicles went to Las Vegas area. Approximately 18 of vehicles went to the Reno area and the balance went to the Elko area. GM has the most sofisticated and accurate system to monitor oil conditions for changing intervals. The vehicles in the Reno area were seeing approximately 6,000 .miles between oil changes, the vehicles in Elko were seeing approximately 9,000 miles between changes and many of the Las Vegas units were only getting 1,000 miles.
The point here is that the Elko units that had a huge area to cover were mostly highway miles. The Reno units were a combination of in town and highway. Where the Las Vegas units went from accident to accident idling with all the lights and computer equipment going for hours on end. The point here is that even with all the anti-pollution equipment and “clean fuel” an engine still runs dirty at idle. So generally a highway patrol unit is a better bet than a city unit. My Dad bought a Nevada Highway Patrol Dodge Diplomat at a state auction and drove it over 20 years with no issues. It was the only year that the state decided to sell them so they did not look like patrol units and painted them all baby blue. My Dad’s was the only one that still had all the antennas. So it looked like a “plain wrapper” car. I used that car to compete in an illegal Cannon Ball style event and actually won 2 of the 3 stages. I later saw the car in Puerto Vallarta!
I agree, Wayne. I owned a former Ohio State Highway Patrol car for several years. No problems related to it service as a police car. I bought it at the state auction. You could start them and move them back-and-forth in a parking place but no test drives. They had removed the decals and apparently used it as an unmarked car for a while. I took that to mean a good maintenance history because it had slightly higher miles than the ones that came fresh off the road. 89 Crown Victoria. Certainly not fast by today’s standards, but one of my all-time favorite cars that I have owned.
I was told by a friend that is a Chrysler Dealer mechanic that when these cars start having electrical issues it’s usually the main computer that controls everything and they cost over $4,000 just for the parts and by the time the dealership gets everything reprogramed you’re looking north of a $6,000 repair cost on a car that’s only worth $5,000 in perfect condition. He also said the 5.7 Hemi will blow without warning and to avoid the 06-14 police pkg and the 300s unless you need a parts car and can get it next to nothing. I personally have never owned one but have had 2 Crown Vic police pkg’s and 1 police Tahoe and never had any issues with any of them. I hit a couple junkyards and put a Town Car interior in my 2011 Vic, painted it dark green and put a set of factory aluminum wheels on it and between me and the family (youngest son still owns it) put over 100k more miles on it looking like a nice family sedan that was fast as hell and cornered like a mountain goat lol!
Part of me wants to buy it because the color markings are similar to our county sheriff and I would park it out at the end of my driveway to slow people down. Otherwise I wouldn’t want it to drive because I had a crown Vic back when they were popular police vehicles and I would get on the highway and people would slow down got to be kinda annoying when you were trying to get somewhere, other times it was kinda funny to sneak up behind someone and turn the headlights on so they move over
Much blabbing.
5.7 cop motor, cop tires, cop brakes, cop suspension, cop shocks. Made two years before the better ones so she needs plenty of premium gas.
Well now, for some unknown reason that I won’t even attempt to understand, this something less than stellar example of a used car has really aggravated some touchy nerves. Come on folks, it ain’t that important, let’s turn down the temperature down a bit.
Don’t worry about it.
In our state, the purchasing division for Highway Patrol cars is separate from the maintenance division. As told to me by the now head of vehicle purchasing, If we had to to use overall cost of ownership in our criteria for purchase. The Chargers would never be considered. They fall apart once over about 60,000 miles.
Seems pretty irresponsible for it to be sold with all the police equipment still intact.