You knew that this day would come. You just knew it. Whether you dread it or not, the day that a 1982 Chevrolet Citation X-11 is considered a collector car is here. This beautiful example can be found on Craigslist, or here on the CL archive, somewhere north of Chicago, Illinois. This seemingly nice example has an asking price of $2,900! I love it and I predict that cars like this will be maybe the next big thing in the collector market. Is this the nicest Citation X-11 left?
It looks like the pic above may have been flipped? As far as “the next big thing” in the collector market, let me clarify that a bit. We all know that a 1982 X-body GM, no matter what fancy trim level or options that it has, will never be a Lamborghini Miura or a Bugatti Atlantic type of collector car. But, as those cars are well above a million dollars and have been for years, there is a huge segment of the market that wants to jump in with an inexpensive, unusual car, one that not everyone else has and one that they grew up seeing when they were kids. Now that those “kids” are in their 30s and 40s, and even 50s.. cough.. 1980s cars are interesting to a lot of them. There’s not one thing wrong with that, that’s just the way it is. It’s like complaining about the weather. Are they interesting to everyone? No, of course not, but it’s the same way that a ’57 Chevy and a 1920 Packard aren’t interesting to most young folks.
As they always say, buy the best example that you can find and this may be the nicest Chevy Citation with the unusual X-11 package that I’ve seen in years. If you know of another one, let us know in the comments section. Is it perfect? Not even close, there is some rust visible on the door jambs which is a little troublesome. But for $2,900, when other examples have sold for two+ times that amount, this one could be worth a gamble. The Citation was one of GM’s X-body cars that are one of the current cars that people love to hate – the pile-on cars. They made them for six short model years, from 1980 to 1985. I know, there were better eras for automakers but, again, it is what it is. I remember seeing these cars in my teens and also seeing the similar Skylark, Phoenix, and Omega models and at the time I thought they were pretty nice. Of course I was 17 years old but I would love to have this car now and I’m one of those “old kids”.
The driver’s seat needs a bit of help and I’m guessing that the dash top is cracked because it’s covered but I don’t know for sure. There is some rust visible in the hinge area of the door jambs, perhaps my biggest worry with this car. The owner says “no rust” so maybe it’s just surface rust that’s showing. I’d want to check it out in person if it’s an Illinois car. A big part of this car’s appeal, at least for me, is that it has a manual transmission. It was after all Chevy’s sport version of the Citation with upgraded suspension and Chevy’s 2.8L V6 with 135 hp, 45 more horsepower than the Iron Duke 4-cylinder put out. 135 hp isn’t much “sport” but the 5.0L V8 fuel-injected Camaro Z28 had a mere 165 hp in this era. Have any of you seen the X-11 model? Is this a good deal in today’s marketplace? I sure think so.
An X-11 with the “11-X Package”? A true “one of one” find!
I’ve had 36 years to get over the effects of being seriously bored while driving a Citation. I’m not going back….
It might be the nicest one in the world, but it’s still not nice! It’s a Citations!
I was OK until I saw this – now I’m having ’80’s flashbacks.
I had a Citation with a automatic transmission, it was a a decent Winter car but not at all fun. Later I had a used X 11 which was terrific, still miss it. Check out the old Road and Track road test. They were really impressed with the car, by the way, they had made big improvements in the torque steer on mine.
Its nice as a original 82 Citation but I was Never fan of FWD cars
Not afraid to admit, that as a 15 year old kid I thought these were pretty cool looking cars. I recall the Pontiac J2000, which I believe was also available in a ‘sporty’ version.
Ditto that. I always liked the looks of these and yes we all knew that they weren’t as fast as they looked, build quality was 80’s GM (read: abysmal) and the Car and Driver rear brake debacle. But, inexplicably, I like it.
I wouldn’t say that’s a rare one, but I’ve never seen one in person.. only pictures.
The Pontiac version of this car was the “Phoenix”.
I had one with the V6 and auto transmission as a company car in the early 80’s. To it to an autocross (novice class) and got a ride with someone who was really fast in a X-11. A night and day different car!
My mom had one just like this in the 80’s. Her Previous car was a Lancia beta Zagato. The Citation made the Lancia seem like the epitome of reliability. I think the Citation was the most recalled car of all time. Her next car was a Nissan Maxima which was actually worse than the Citation, but that is another story.
Wow, flashback time. My first and only new car was a 1982 Citation X-11, and it was identical in every way to this car. In my defense, it got pretty good press at the time…
It handled ok and was fairly quick for its day. Overall quality was lousy, though the interior was unexpectedly durable. And I still think it’s a good-looking car. But do I want another one 36 years later? Nah. Let someone else have the fun.
Scotty, I think the rust you mentioned should be raising alarm bells of the three-alarm kind, along with the back-to-front X-11 (11-X?) sticker. The pic’s not been flipped as the car is still LHD.
Something tells me that there’s a lot more rot under the paint…
One of my cousins and her husband bought a Citation when they were first released; I think they’re still getting over the nightmare, as it spent more time in the shop than on the road.
As I’ve posted elsewhere, this is the time to start picking up vehicles from this era, but perhaps not this example.
I’m glad they were released, how many years did they serve?
Like sense of humour, Glen. LOL!
I think my cousins are serving a life sentence; their Chevy, well, that’s a story best forgotten in the mists of time…
As the recent purchaser of an ’83 El Camino, I’m hoping this is the beginning of a trend in increased interest in 80’s vehicles. All it takes is a few ridiculously high sales at Barrett Jackson….
In highschool for his 16th birthday a friend got a silver X11 automatic. My 81 Aries two door 2.2 four with manual transmission was his worst nightmare. That little Plymouth embarrassed him many times. I think the tranny’s made the difference
Lol!
…the irony…
Hey now! An my mistake it was a Reliant .
Great story
I loved the Citations. Borrowed a new one for my senior prom. Owned a couple after that.
My 1981 Dodge Aires K 2.2 4 speed (later replaced with a 5 speed) was a GREAT little beater! Paid $450 for it 10/1988 drove it until 5/1996
In 1st and 2nd gear would kick a V6 Berreta GTs butt. Shifting into 3rd the Chevy would pass. At 113 mph the Chevy would max out but the Aires wouldn’t. However they’re a little sketchy at that speed!!!
My buddy said “I make a $300 a month car payment and I can’t out run a *#!*ing $450 K car!”
The HP change was a mild camshaft spec change. These cars suffered from drive axle wrap up. During full throttle, the longer RH shaft would “wind up” causing heavy torque steer as the car pulled hard to the right. Later years, they added a jack shaft which allowed for equal length drive axles reducing the tendency. The manual trannys ate up shift forks and final drive bearings.
Remember these were the pioneer days of FWD – and competition had a myriad of issues as well. It was a dark time for the car industry – but these cars eventually led the way out of the dark ages…
A machinist at a shop I worked at back in the day had a Citation X-11, I remember him talking about horrendous torque steer. He was always racing the other machinist, who had a VW GTI. The VW always won…
As mechanic back in those days I hated the sight of these $h!t boxes.not only was there a torgue steer problem but the final drive bearing and seal would go out on the right side. there was a bandaid repair that could be done that which involved a two piece shaft and a hanger bearing. But that is just the start of the problems, power steering rack would loose there assist capability when the Teflon seal ate groves in the aluminum housing and if you’ve ever replaced a steering rack on one of these you will curse the engineer and five generations of his children. you will be scraped up all the way to your elbows and all your coworker will be amazed at how much swearing one person can do in a 10 hour period. The verijet carb were notorious for flooding, the interiors would fall apart all in all one of the worst 80’s car ever produced. The Phoenix, skylark, and omega were no better. Now I’m not saying that all 80’s gm cars were this bad well maybe the vega I liked pretty much all the others car they were producing back then and some still remain favourites for me to this day. But now that I’ve seen this and old memories of these have flooded back I may have to seek trauma counceling. There is how ever a use for this car it could be in the line of cars used at the tank jumping contest. JMHO.
My brother handed an ’81 X-11 down to me in about ’87. It’s a little frustrating to read comments from people who never even owned a Citation much less an ’81-’85 X-11. Mine was a great car. I used the huge hatch like a pick-up truck sometimes. It could turn the big 60-series tires in first and chirp them in 2nd and 3rd nowhere near redline. How many other cars of that era would go 193,000 miles like mine did with no engine or tranny work expect a clutch once in a while? Paint and interior plastic were terrible but no worse than any other GM car or most other cars of the era. What did mine in was turning into the steep driveway of my apartment. Eventually torquing a car with such a huge hatch opening compromised the body integrity.
This brings back so many memories. I had an ’80 X-11 hatch in college. Non-HO V6, 4-speed, and just about every option offered, including A/C, power windows, power locks, AM/FM/CB with power antenna, sunroof, and neat mechanical remote-control rear windows that popped out via levers in the headliner above the b-pillars. The only options it didn’t have were an automatic transmission and cruise control (not available with the 4-speed).
These cars were revolutionary in their day. 175 inches long, yet plenty of room for four people and their luggage. Handling was well above average for the era, as were fuel economy and acceleration with the V6. If GM had left them in development long enough to work out the bugs, the story could have ended differently.
Mine was plagued with electrical problems. It once turned into something of an electrical black hole when the alternator failed. Every time I disengaged the clutch, it stalled. When it eventually quit completely, my father (who had been following me to the mechanic) approached the driver’s door to find me frantically pressing the power lock button. “I can’t get out!” I said. He shook his head and said “Slide the lever.”
LMAO CCFisher. Truly laughing out loud
We had an 81 X-11. Engine died. Still have the fiberglass hood, alloy wheels, spoiler, cowl induction air cleaner. Plan was to find a good Citation and clone an X-11. Notice I said…..was.
I think these had the Radio that is mounted in a straight line , nit like regular mounted radios.
Yes. I remember buying an aftermarket radio/cassette player that came with two dial screens so you could mount it either vertically or horizontally.
I hated that vertical radio in my X-11. They must of had a bunch left over from the early 60’s Corvette.
The big problem w these besides torque steer was the back brakes would lock up under hard stops causing a spin…they were quick for the time w the HO V6…
The kids of today should thank all of us that had to endure cars like this thereby forcing redesigns of cars to make them much better.
These can be fun cars. After being the owner of 3 Citations years ago, I’d love to have another.
Too bad all my garage space is occupied at this time!
Nice elco fred w…got an 83 myself
That I’m working on.there one of kind!
Keeping it till the day I die!
I was doing a lot of acid in the early 80s==thanks a lot for the major flashback ! Now find me a gremlin…..
My wife’s first bought on her own was one of these. It was 3 years old with 22,000 on odometer and she drove it care free another 100,000.
Tell you how bad the low life was in Seattle Olympia Tacoma area, one of them stole it right out of our drive way.
Got it back by crying Tac Hilltop gang area.
Seem it sitting in front of Bunch of Latinos house with them sitting there.
I got out gun in hand and said taking wife’s car back home.
They said not a wrear tire flat.ord.
They had popped ignition and used screwdriver to start, it was still in igition.
Wife drove it that way for couple years.
Think hers was an exception as every other one I knew of was junkets from day one.
We did upgrade suspension and tires.
Cornered like a 1 ton flat bed with rear tire flat.
It was not slow, it was damn slow.
Great story, Dirty Harry. It’s got everything! Guns, Latino gangbangers, and an All-American hero.
Had an 82 4 door Phoenix, all black. Kind of stylish in that trim. Very reliable and did me good service for my time. Traded in on a 90 Lumina Eurosport later.
You sound proud of that.
Some time before the Citation actually hit the show room floor there was a commercial running on TV with a chorus singing “The first Chevy of the 80’s” It had one of these with skis instead of rear wheels and a snow plow up front, somwehow I always wanted to try that out.
I can’t believe only one comment about the backwards decal on driver’s door.
It is not a “Collector” car and it never will be a “Collector” car. GM made millions of them. 1990-1995 Corvette ZR-1’s are not considered “Collector” cars because GM made about 6500 of them. This future refrigerator does not qualify.
Pa Tina, it’s all about how a person defines “collector”. There really is no definition of “collector car” other than a car that a person collects.
Everybody poo-poo’s the Citation, but in 1980, these times they were a’ becoming very different. Front drive was obviously the wave of the future, and this car was well anticipated. The 1st front wheel drive Chevy, and they had over 800,000 orders. Took a while to get the bugs out, for many it was their 1st experience with FWD and the next year, orders dropped by half. I read, Chevy relocated the steering box, and that helped the steering some, but many were turned off, and RWD would soldier on for at least another decade. Don’t care for FWD cars myself, but this was a very important car. Someone thought enough to save it. You can count the new RWD cars on one hand now.
WEIRD! A couple of months ago, I saw a Citation X-11 identical to this one, but in much poorer condition. I wondered then: 1. if the driver was aware of its rarity, and 2. how good were the mechanicals. Unfortunately, he was going in the opposite direction, and I didn’t have the time, or a real inclination to stop him for questions! :-)
I learned to drive a MT in an 81 Phoenix. The little 4 spd. manual would get you down the road. Ours had the little Canadian built L4 – and it was bulletproof with regular maintenance. I think that car had nearly 300K miles on it when we finally got rid of it in 1990. This is a rarity – most of these ended up in the crusher years ago. Cool to see a timecapsule from my younger days.
Uggg….my college pal had one new for going to college. His parents bought it for him. Anyway, it was a dud of a car. So many weird problems as I recall,..once even going through a car wash, high as a kite, the antenna started bending back as the scrub roller came over the bonnet….we laughed like hyenas! As the roller came up over the windshield, the antenna flung forward and right out through the car wash exit door! Well, that was a laugh, we replaced it with a strung out coat hanger. Two years later it still sported that coat hanger as he was looking to ditch the thing. Still makes me chuckle…thanks barn finds!
Emm…yea…used to car pool with a guy who had one. No thank you, you can put whatever weird decal on one these that you want and it will still be a Citation and I don’t mean that in a nice way.
My Wife and I owned a dark blue ’81 Citation. It was a nice car. Comfortable. Reliable. It was great in snow and made me a believer in front wheel drive vehicles. Too bad you never see any on the road or in car shows.
I had one of the very first X-11s had a friend in Janesville and wanted it bad? Big mistake a real piece of not so good driving.
I once bought one with a trunk from a junk yard for $150. It had five spoke X-11 wheels. I went to Jegs and bought nearly all of the performance parts available. Even a timing gear! I sold it 4 years later for more than I had in it. I kinda miss that old car after seeing this one.
I had an 81or 82, 4 cyl., 4speed. Put just over 100k on it with 0 problems. Was teaching my wife to drive it, she had never learned to drive a standard, result was a toasted clutch. A buddy and I replaced the clutch and pressure plate. Sold it shortly after that. It was fun to drive, decent gas mileage, handled well, and good leg room. No doubt it was built cheap. When you hit a pothole the whole dash shook.
It’s funny everytime a Citation pops up on here there is a ton of comments, mostly negative and few good ones. It seems that with these you either got a good one or you didn’t, my mom had an 81 four door hatch and she loved that car, she sold real estate and racked up the miles with hardly any problems at all. I had to take it to work one day in a snowstorm and it went like a tank, an I’m not exaggerating either I was 17 and did stupid crap and couldn’t get it stuck. I guess the four studded winter treads she used to run helped a bit though lol, I never could figure out why she ran them on the back of the car but it went great!
I won’t do my amble down memory lane about the Citation again (bought a new one in late ’79) though I will repeat that it was a revolutionary milestone car for GM and all American manufacturers at the time and is the Grandpa of every front wheel driver built in the USA to this day. So there. :-) Terry J
I’m sure I’m a bit older than many here, but pretty sure the 66 Toronado, would be the Grandpa, and the Cord would be the Great Grandpa. But your right, this car and the Chrysler K car, told America, FWD was here to stay
I had a Pontiac phenox (sj = x11) version v6 4 speed. I liked it and I got 273,000 miles out of it. It lost 2nd gear at 189,000 miles! I got out of it when I started to sink as the floor pan was rusting. Best no worry days!!!
Wow; late to the party on this listing. I just forwarded it to my buddy in Columbia SC who has two of these. He’s 48 and had one in high school. Isn’t that what this hobby is all about? Repurchasing our youth. It doesn’t matter if it was a ’84 Renault Fuego or a ’56 Vicky. We want what we loved. Keep bringing what ever comes up to our attention guys.
I made a run at the drag strip with my Dad’s ’80 Skylark V6 (115 hp) back in 1985. It ran 18.32 @ 75 mph. Seemed fast back then.
I believe black would have had gray stickers, not white.
I remember seeing a SUPER nice X-11 at local car cruises back in the 90s. It was pristine, looking like it just rolled off the assembly line. Besides being immaculate it was yellow with black interior. I don’t recall if it had a manual but it surely was the nicest one I’ve ever seen.
I recently bought 81 AMC Concord DL coupe has 50K original miles and has the GM Iron Duke 2.5 4cylinder engine as I understand most Concords were 4.2 inline 6 engines I been told by some that Iron Duke Not good or reliable engine. I appreciate any pro opinion.
Well, I’m no pro, geomechs is the pro, but the Iron Duke , not to be confused with the AMC 2.5 from ’84 on, was a good motor. It was made from 1977 to 1993 and was used in a bunch of vehicles including some Jeep mail trucks, so you know they had to be tough. People were so turned off by the aluminum 4, they named the 2.5 “Iron Duke” to promote their conventional all steel design. Here’s a great article on them. https://www.hemmings.com/magazine/hmn/2009/05/Pontiac-2-5-Litre/1814853.html
Thanks Rube
Yup. The Chevy 2 / Duke engine was the 194/230/250/292 cu in series Chevy 6 with 2 cylinders whacked off. How could it not be a great engine? It was indeed. Terry J
The Iron Duke was not the Chevy II 4 cyl, Terry J. Pontiac engineered it and built it.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_Duke_engine
http://autoweek.com/article/car-life/cut-down-engine-week-gm-iron-duke
I’ve had two, three total in the family and they’re slow and loud and keep going.
More info here.
http://ironduke7.tripod.com/IronDuke.htm
The Autoweek article incorrectly refers to the Slant 4 Pontiac.
Iron Duke used the Pontiac V8 bore and stroke, pistons and other parts for cost cutting purposes and commonality in production.
Then there was the Upmarket version – the Cimarron – yuck! What a way to besmirch the Cadillac name! The assembly plant guys loved the X cars – far more rear beam axles left the plant than cars. Seems that axle made great small trailers! At least that’s the story I got from the guys at the Flint Mi. plant.
One of our Dupont salesmen got a brand new Citation, took it to fill it up, as soon as he turned the pump on, gas poured out on the ground – the assembly guys had forgotten to connect the filler neck up to the trapdoor! I got a new rental at the Indianapolis airport to call on a GM or Delco div., and it wouldn’t get out of 2nd gear in the slushbox – no 3rd. Helluva way to visit a GM facility….Our ’80 Phoenix I got for swapping a 6 mo. old Buick co. car and giving Holley $300 cash in addition. That car became my “new” co. car as I’d convinced Dupont Mgmnt we needed experience with the prototype plastic carb that Holley had made & this car was their test car and ready to be turned in, so I grabbed it to run it til it broke to see how our plastic held up. No sweat with the plastic, but one day after I had bought the car from Dupont as it had reached its 55K mile turnin date, my ex was driving it and called to say it was running horribly, so I swapped her my new co. car and took the Phoenix to finish the day & see what was up. As I drove up I-75 in Detroit, I could hear the lifters clattering badly on the V6. I figured I was low on oil, so pulled off, checked dipstick & smelled raw gas! The pump hadn’t been designed correctly to dump a gas leak outside, but instead went into the sump! I was driving a bomb and the gas was too liquid to keep the lifters pumped up, which accounted for the lousy engine performance as the PCV system was dumping the excess fuel vapors into the carb and screwing up the mixture. I grabbed the nearest station with a lift & had them drain the pan and fit a new pump – whew! Fortunately it didn’t lunch the bearings…..
The Cimarron was a J Body, not an X. Cadillac never had a version of the X Body
Mark S, you’re right on about the power steering in those X cars – in Detroit we called it “morning sickness”. In cold weather, the Teflon steering seals would shrink, and lose their seal until the fluid warmed up & swelled them back to seal properly. I did some consulting work with Saginaw but only learned of this problem later. Seems the Teflon seals had some reinforcing glass fiber in them, and that’s what ate up the alum. housing they sealed against – big mistake!
And you’re absolutely right how miserable it was to repair that firewall-mounted steering rack! On my Phoenix the ball joints on the end of the rack got loose & I found out why when I cut a junkyard one apart: The ball joint had a rubber washer inside which was supposed to keep the joint tight but still move easily. However, rubber creeps and can distort and possibly shrink. Having found my Citroen DS steering joints had conical steel springs in them to keep them tight, Saginaw had used cheap rubber which lost its compression gradually and allowed the joint to get loose. I fixed it on the car by drilling a 1/8 in. hole in the side of each joint as those ends were somewhat accessible. Then using a punch, I stuffed in thru the hole small cubes of a Dupont elastomer – Hytrel – used for airbag doors it’s so incredibly tough – that I cut from a sample plate we made in our lab. With those cubes and the punch, I packed those joints tight, then put a hoseclamp over the hole. They were tight as a drum after that and it didn’t cost me a nickel – just some time but far less that trying to pull that rack out of the car or just taking the balljoints off which wasn’t that easy. Felt like a new front end after that. Some GM stuff was so cheaply made!
Parents bought me one for my 1st car when I got my license, had it a week wrapped it around a pole lol, hated that car vertical stereo, no thank you
They will NEVER be collectible !
Isn’t it great to find these diverse opinions? I have had 3 X11’s, one was new and the others abused used cars. I sold the new one due to a jerk sideswiping it. The other 2 were clunkers that I fixed up. The last one was melted in a house fire. I have put a deposit on another one.
The Buick Skylark was my favorite…..
I love how some ppl decide they are the authority on what collectible means.
I had an ’81 X-11, and contrary to what most people are saying here, it was a great car. I got it used in 1988, with 75,000 miles and peeling paint, but it ran like a champ for seven years. I put almost 100,000 miles on it, and it gave me little trouble. One time it decided to eject an alternator bracket bolt at 60 mph, but I wasn’t far from a Chevy dealership so it was okay. I certainly wouldn’t want another one, but it was a good car and I have fond memories of it.
At the risk of opening up myself to endless smack, I shall post a link of me looking at a 1980 X-11 along with a Citation XS (which I’ve never heard of before or since), a couple years ago here in NJ. I did not end up buying them, but I do like the X-11’s in a weird way…..kind of like that hot girl with the big nose in the Olympics ice skating event.
https://youtu.be/EMD8UVEYTKU
Bought an 81′ X11 in 1990 as a junior in high school for $1,000 with 80K miles on it. It had all of the options except a sunroof (power locks/windows, AT, HO V6). It was a good winter car and I drove it for almost 4 years before the engine blew up on the way back from college. One time while turning a corner the wheel fell right off the axel…the mechanic said he hadn’t ever seen that before. Still miss the old X11.
Thinking of my ’82 X-11 hatchback recalls better times as everything is fogged-in by nostalgia. Of course I was very young then but my six year-old daughter had an affinity for the car. She’d laugh as I would make a representative sound of the X-11’s ‘guggada-guggada’ exhaust sound. Fold the rear seat down and the cargo space seemed unlimited. As was my usual thing at the time, right after I’d fitted my gorgeous Redwood Metallic Citation X-11 with new Goodyear Eagles, all-new belts, hoses and a set of very dashing looking wind deflectors on each door window frame I traded it on an ’85 Fiero GT. My wife, not informed of what I was doing, looked at me as though I’d sold the family cow for a handful of magic beans. Took me a month to emerge from the doghouse after that decision of mine. Foolish, foolish me.
I’ve never seen one of these but they’re not bad looking.
Parents bought me a brand new ’80 X-11 for graduation, was one of the first ones, got it summer of ’79. Tranny blew @ 3K, the car had major rust in 2 years. The hood delaminated, dealer kept trying to glue it back together, never worked, flapped down the highway, torque steer, uhm wow, first time I floored it It jumped left practically into the next lane. Power steering wouldn’t work until it warmed up, rear brakes locked up, sideways radio was hokey but I did find a good replacement. All that said I loved that car, it looked cool and it was pretty fast. I beat the living crap out of that thing, towed a trailer and bikes to MX races all over the country, climbed the hillclimbs in the pits, drove to Florida on daytona beach, great memories. It made it to 110K before I traded it for an Alpine car stereo, I was sad when that car died. The next owner got another 19k before it finally met the junkyard. They will be collectable because so few will survive. The one in the picture is the exact one I had, identical.
Had a ’81 X-11 4-speed. It was far from a slug. Used to tick of Z-28s and Mustangs GTs. That little beast would keep right up with them. And the only problem I ever had was I snapped a half-shaft. And the only thing I (like everyone else) disliked was the goofy vertical radio.
Sold it to a Nashville cop and he spiced it up with hidden red/blue lights and siren for drug intradiction undercover/pursuit car.