The Chevrolet Caprice was popular for use as a fleet vehicle sold to taxicab companies and municipalities in the 1980s and 1990s. That appears to be the case with this 1989 Caprice which the seller presents as a 9C1 police patrol vehicle. It was once owned by the City of Martinsville, Virginia and now has more than 150,000 miles, but there’s no indication of spotlights or roof lights so it may have been used in an administrative capacity (just a guess). Located for the last five years in Salem, Virginia, this well-preserved public servant is available here on eBay where the current bid is $9,299, getting close to the seller’s stated reserve of $10,000.
Designation for the 9C1 package can usually be found in the glovebox or on a sticker on the trunk lid, but the latter photo gets too fuzzy to see if that applies to this auto. The VIN won’t give it away as the 9C1 was a Special Equipment Package (SEO) option, not an RPO (Regular Production Order). As a 9C1 car, a Caprice would be treated to several upgrades, including beefier suspension components, a full-size spare tire (which this car has), an H-O alternator, and a more aggressive final drive ratio in the back (remember, these cars were rear-wheel-drive).
As the story goes, the seller bought this Chevy from the guy who got it from Martinsville officials. It still wears a tag that assigns a property number to that city. In the past five years, the seller has added about 20,000 miles to the clock and has replaced the factory A/C compressor, and the car is said to be in top mechanical condition. The white paint, which could be original, looks great as does the interior (though the dash pad is cracked), which you wouldn’t necessarily expect for a daily cop car that has a steady parade of backseat riders. There is no cage to block the front seat from the back, leading to my assumption regarding admin use.
Under the hood is a 5.7-liter V8 engine (or 350 cubic inches) paired with what should be a 4-speed automatic transmission. The seller is confident that you could drive this car home with hardly a concern for its reliability. If you can validate this as a 9C1 Caprice, you’d have an interesting story to tell when you took the ordinary-looking family sedan to Cars & Coffee!
A nice rarity these days. After coming back from Desert Storm. The Saudis were buying up all the Impala/Caprice they could get their hands on for export.. I just love everything about these. Plenty of room, power, rides nicely. Nice to see a police package with heavy duty everything that hasn’t been turned into a taxi cab.
Actually I can tell you the Chevy dealership I worked for in the early 70’s sold cars directly to a group from Saudi Arabia. GM wouldn’t allow that later on. The strange thing is these were fully optioned caprices. Never saw them again once they were picked up. Money was no object.
I’m curious, why did they want so many of this specific model Chevy bad enough to ship back to SA?
Appears to be the real deal; additional dome light and certified speedometer (could have been added…) are there, but a picture of the SPID would clear things up.
Hard pressed to find another this nice, but at almost 10k and reserve not met makes this a touch pricey.
I had one years back, but it was a retired Maryland State unit but it had become a taxi in-between the fuzz and me. Northeast = rust, and crust but that unit ran great. I hated the fuel pump, it seemed to always go to crap whenever it sat for more than a month. Stabil and non ethanol didn’t change it. It eventually met it end when I relocated but I still have an 87 version in 305 Brougham for that was bought in the late 90s with 86,000 miles on it and currently has 260,000 and stills works like new The police version left its driveline behind and that is still in my inventory. Nice copy here most have taken the plunge or have 24s with purple seats.
Why would a police car have carpeting & a velour back seat? Maybe a detective’s car? Crook(s) will be very comfy on their way to the slammer. lol
I’m surprised those glass?/sealed beam? headlamp assemblies are still available from Rockauto, but are 10xs the cost of earlier smaller separate(4 total) rectangular headlites. I guess Chevy found another way to make a lot more money.
From the description given, i wonder what the present owner will buy to replace this car!
My NC DMV 9C1 had carpet, power windows/locks and power drivers seat. The NC Highway Patrol cars did to. Just depends on how you ordered them.
Bought an 1989 9C1 when I got back from Saudi Arabia, NC DMV Car, 71K miles for $6,000 (big money in 1991) Put a Tach (gotta have a Tach) on the Column, slightly bigger tires. 9C1’s have the metal side view mirrors, 115 mph “Certified” Speedo, Engine Oil/Transmission coolers, and wheel pattern from the Caprice Station Wagon. And of course “9C1” option on the deck lid sticker
You could get it and channel you inner William Petersen:
https://youtu.be/VOK9QW21VPo?si=kesWLZVqZ-3hgdO3
The one in the movie was like an 84-85 Impala 9C1 but close enough.
Back in the late 80’s/early 90’s Car & Driver had an article about Chevy dropping in a fuel injected 454 into the 9C1 cop car and were amazed at how fast it was and how well it handled with the cop suspension and brakes. I’d love to take one of these and drop in an LS3 and 6 speed from a corvette and drive the heck out of it.
Great idea. But may need to upgrade the rear diff too 😲
They did, I think it was “Car Craft” or “Hot Rod” or “Super Chevy” that had the article, it was a Factory “Concept Car” Idea was it would give the Cops an option for a “Pursuit” car instead of just the Mustang. IIRC it was a regular 9C1 Chassis that had a 454 with 4 barrel carb, aluminum intake, headers, 12 bolt rear end, and a beefed up TH200 so you still had 4 gears. Sad it never got a chance.
Always wanted one of these. The chrome mirrors and bumpers with no rubber padding makes its stand out. The engine compartement needs some tlc but nothing to hard for someone willing to invest in 50 bucks worth of spray paint, degreaser and armor all. Was the heater core bypassed as i dont recognise the curved hose set up
It appears to be wearing common pedestrian steel wheels i have seen even on late ’60s GM cars.
https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/5YoAAOSwKOVk~-LN/s-l1600.jpg
I would have expected to instead see at least steel rally wheels (on the ’69 z28 for ex) with larger cooling slots – painted black on a police car.
In ’91 I bought County Sheriff’s Crown Victoria. out of Iowa. For sure all highway miles. Loaded with everything including certified spedo to 150 mph and oil/amp gages in the dash. A total sleeper. Drove it back from Ia. to Pa. Coming into Pa. at about 630 am on a Sunday decided to see what would do. Dropping down a hill my fuzzbuster went off. Figured he had me so why stop now. As came upon him sitting on a access ramp saw him look at radar gun, look at me, and he just waved. Both driving the same car! Never got a speeding ticket as long as had that car. In late ’93 girl hit me and totaled it. Only had 230,000 on it and still ran great.
I had a 9C1 I bought from SC State Surplus. The day I got it, I had to put it in the shop for a transmission rebuild. It had 120 k on it. I had routine work, but really no major issues. I had tor replace the fuel pump and learned after the fact that had to replaced a certain way. Go around a curve to fast and it would briefly stumble then catch back up. I have reason to believe that when it was with State Law Enforcement Division (SLED), somebody changed the computer chip. It had a fast idle, and I drove it to Indiana, in snow and ice, and it did very well. I sold it with 247k on. I got scared because of the mileage. I later drove Chevy vans with over 500k miles and they ran like a champ! That 350 is tough!
I likes the 91/92 bubble body with that cool rear wheel opening on the rear quarters, even though the 94 LT1 was the fastest of the those cars I never liked the rear wheel opening! The 93/96 looked like the rear axel was too far forward and looked like they should “Dog Track” even though they didn’t. They were built to take a beating and keep on going, as long as you kept up on the maintenance these cars would run 500k+ miles and in most cases the driveline would out live the body my many years!
The ’93-’96 looked like that because GM did not want to pay to re-tool the entire quarter panel. People complained about the “ugly” ’91-’92 rear wheel openings so, they just radiused it out. Look at one from the side and you will see what I mean. There was NO room to start the opening any further forward.
“GM did not want to pay to retool” [a lousy quarter panel !] – compare that to the body changes(many huge)(& fair prices & options/color choices& body styles) from 1955 to 1972 on the big chevies – to the degree one can identify the year of any of these from a good distance away! Today, i have no idea who makes, let alone the year of all the ugly lookalike 4 door appliances on the road – when you take off the emblems. Nor do i care that i can’t.
Dodge also obviously “did not want to pay to retool” any steel body panel on the ’08-’23 Chally! They just load them up with as many STD options to maximize profits & disregard young singles & families on a budget.
WTH happened!
Dog dishes really make this body style complete.