Retired police cars always draw a crowd, and this one likely got some extra special attention while on display at the 2010 Police Car Trials. That’s according to the seller, who claims it was chosen to be on display while that year’s new pursuit vehicles were demonstrated. This Caprice 9C1 has been lightly restored with new graphics and a few other tweaks, and it’s available here on craigslist for $4,650. If craigslist archives it, go here if the ad disappears.
Thanks to Barn Finds reader Rocco B. for the find. I wouldn’t call this officially restored, but it is still a bit nicer than what we normally feature. The seller has added the new generic police graphics and upgraded the wheels to those steel units from the 1994 model. This is a former Newport, Tennessee police department vehicle, and the seller claims it’s been driven less than 1,000 miles since the updates took place. Mileage is difficult to verify due to a non-original odometer, but one shows 117K while a spare cluster with the vehicle shows 135K.
The seller says the engine is the “…original L05 5.7 V8 with green hoses,” and some updates have taken place. A new radiator was installed, along with a dual stainless exhaust without converters. It also has a new A/C compressor but the system hasn’t been charged. The interior is harder to figure out, as I’d assume all cruisers came with vinyl seats, but this one has cloth buckets up front. The rear seat is vinyl, as you’d expect. New OEM rubber floor coverings have also been installed.
Many of these ex-police vehicles are sold without the light bars and strobes, but the seller has addressed that: “Roof lights functional with console control panel and has roof quick disconnect for removal. ‘Out-of-Service’ roof bar canvas cover included.” Those aren’t cheap, either, so definitely a nice-to-have. Tires are new as well, but aren’t pursuit-rated, per the seller. Overall, these Caprice police vehicles have maintained a warm spot in enthusiasts’ hearts, and this one seems like a lot of car for the money.
Why would you go to the trouble and expense of installing a new a/c compressor and then not bother charging the system?
The cloth front seats are correct
Everyone knows that every car ever listed on Ebay or Craigslist with a non functioning A/C just needs freon in order to make the A/C system work…Gah!
(My bet is they tried to charge it and there is a leak somewhere…)
Steve, I’m betting the contents of the old compressor are still in the system.
Many police vehicles came with cloth seats up front. You know what happens when you assume, Jeff?
My oldest brother had a 94 9C1 ex detective car with cloth bucket front seats and vinyl rear seats. Even with the “baby LT1” 4.3 litre V8, it was a decent running car. He swapped all of it out for a power front bench cloth seat and matching cloth rear seat out of a wrecked “civilian” caprice. The sad part of this story was how he painted the car, found a 5.7L LT1 out of a z28 that was a warranty take out. He went through it, had it balanced, LT4 cam, and a few other “upgrades”, had the 4L60e rebuilt, got it all going for a few months and a douche in a jeep on his cell phone ran a stop sign and totalled it. He bought it back from the insurance company and we used the drivetrain in my uncle’s 37 Chevy street rod.
It sounds like the car was running fine before the mods.
“Sheriff Interceptor?” Was that a thing? I’ve only ever seen Police Interceptor on these.
Ummm, the LO5 was a throttle body injected (TBI) 5.7 and should not have been a factory engine option for 1994. The engine pictured is not an LO5
This is a 1993…has wheels from a 1994. The L05 is the correct engine in the 1991-1993 cars, 1994-1996 would have an LT1.
Perhaps, in my humble opinion, the ugliest car Chevrolet made in recent history..right up there with a Cavalier earlier. The whale.
The earliest Cavaliers are the only car i ever seen with modern “custom to the car” headlites that don’t yellow or fog! They may be GLASS! Not sure.
I think the Cavaliers are pleasing shapes, & i miss 2 door affordable cars
from the big 3! The Caprice & even the Aztec are beauties, after you seen your 1st 1st gen Chevy Spark, where the headlites are bigger than the wheels!!
I like these they were actually good cars. Yes they are a bit frompy looking but I like rounder frompy cars and even though they weren’t the most powerful car around they were reliable and they looked better then there boxier chiseled looking predecessors there chassies also make great platforms for making a restomod.
Is Frompy a word? Frumpy yes . But anyway i agree with you
I spent most of my working career trying to ditch these cars, I’m not going to buy one to drive around. I have the utmost respect for LEO’s, ( once I did get stopped) but I’ve always felt, and I didn’t get much response the last time I mentioned this, something about a person that buys and drives an old police car. Couldn’t get into the academy, but gonna drive a police car ( and the inflated sense of self esteem it brings) anyway, dagnabit. Be careful with those lights. In some states, ( like Wisconsin) it’s illegal to have blue lights on a vehicle.
When I was buying cars to resell, I bought a few 1990 Caprices that used to be police cars.
I was impressed with how they drove and would buy another one.
I have never had any desire to be a police officer, but I like the upgraded cars.
Unfair to lump all owners of these cars into the wannabe cop category. I traded a Roadmaster for a Ford P71 and drove it for a couple of years. Strong runners with plenty of heavy duty parts. Sadly, a lot of them end up as derby cars. And yes, there were plenty of people who would take a second look on the highway when I was in their mirror…..just as most people will do for any darker Charger. Don’t assume that being mistaken for a cop is always a good thing…..
Happens to me all the time. I get behind someone in my all Black Charger with cop-spec winter wheels and the left lane clears.
Of course, the exact opposite can happen on back roads when I get stuck behind someone going the speed limit because they think a cop is terrorizing them.
I didn’t buy the car to pretend to be a cop – I really like the look of the blacked out car with tinted windows, big enough to haul the family. Better than any non-descript SUV, IMO.
I’ve had three ex-State Police Ford Galaxies; a ’69 with the 428 PI and two 1972’s with the 429 PI. I bought them because they were very fast/powerful and they handled well. You have no idea how many muscle cars I smoked with those sleepers, especially with the ’69. Not great out of the hole but from mid-range to top end, very few could stay with those big block cruisers. I had no interest in being a cop wannabe, I just wanted to go fast……….. very fast!
Awesome! I’ve always loved police pursuit vehicles. Probably more so than the standard cars most people bought.
I disagree with you,
1. I work with over 200 state troopers and most of them remember these cars from when they were attending kindergarten and would love to drive something like this once….
2. This is an antique vehicle and no one will mistake this for a real cop.
3.Also you should have no problems having blue lights on it in Wisconsin, you make it sound like possesion of blue light is illegal. driving with them lights on is illegal.
Awesome looking Caprice police car! I’ve always loved this generation Chevy Caprice. I’d strip the car of its police badging and the lighting on the roof, but otherwise, I’d leave the car as it is.
And if the cats have been removed, how will it pass an emissions test when you go to register it, unless it being 25 years old, in some states, you can get antique plates and be exempt, but then your legal driving is limited, OR, if you are in CA, and the numbers on the engine and chassis match, AND your emission control sensors are all in front of the cats, maybe it will pass. My ’93 Allante with the Northstar passed CA emissions, but not until I installed a new cat, so I would guess, this being a same year GM, that it will not pass.
I’d keep the catalytic converter in place.
The car is legal in Tennessee. There’s no inspection but don’t keep the blue overheard light bar. That’s for emergency vehicles red would be legal. This is a fine example of an older police car. I’d love to own this one. I’m in PA now and the county I’m in doesn’t have emission testing. Who ever gets this car enjoy your special car.
This one brings back some fond memories. In 2000 my dad helped me by a ’94 Caprice with the LT1 engine. It had been a police car and a taxi; and I had worked for the taxi co. that had it up for sale. Got it then for $2000, which Dad and I thought it was a good deal. I had driven it quite often when it was still a taxi and loved the way it ran. And for a big car and an LT1 engine, it was actually great on gas. One weekend I drove it from Midland to Amarillo: a little more than 200 mi. one-way and it used less than a half-tank each way. And it was one fast-running machine, too. But with the mega-miles that it had on it, after about a year and a half, anything that went wrong, did, so it was parked. Eventually gave it to a young guy had was able to restore it.
I rented a Crown Vic one time on vacation, it was fun on the highway, everyone just gets out of your way!
Adam: I’ve gotta agree with you on that. Not only will people get out of your way….sometimes they’ll run like hell! I bought a ’97 CVPI in 2002; and being a first responder, I had it outfitted with warning lights up by the rearview mirror and the rear deck along with twin antennas on the back for my two-way radio and scanners.
I drove up in front of a friend’s house one afternoon late, just to show off the new car and suddenly saw both of his stepsons, both in their late teens at the time, go flying out the backdoor and run down the alley. I went inside and my friend and his wife were laughing, almost hysterically! Turns out that both boys (w/o my knowing about it) had been in trouble with the law for “wacky weed”possession at some point and they thought I was a cop coming after them.
That should be blue hoses, never remember green while I worked on them (’91-95) and Police Interceptor was used on the Crown Vics.