Police cars are an interesting niche segment of the collector car market. They get a ton of attention wherever they go, but are usually relegated to parade and show duty. In some areas you can’t have official police markings once the cars are “retired” and if you buy one at a surplus auction they are usually stripped of their graphics and emergency lights. This 1985 Ford Crown Victoria seems to have escaped that fate and still looks like it did in the mid-80s. It can be found here on Craigslist with an asking price of $5,500. This car saw duty for Maricopa County, Arizona, and still resides in the Arizona town of Avondale. Take a look at this awesome car and let us know if you’d like to own a police car for yourself.
The engine is a 351 cubic inch V8 with the High-Output police package. While they were decent engines, performance numbers weren’t great due to the heavy four-door car it was pushing. The transmission is, of course, an automatic. The seller says the engine has just been tuned up, so hopefully, it can be driven as-is.
Unlike modern police car interiors, these cars were normal passenger cars that were modified for police use. Back in 1985 sophisticated onboard computers, GPS, and cameras were a way off. This car retains all of its original equipment including the original loudspeaker, siren system, spotlight, and microphone. The rear seat has a divider to keep the suspects contained.
You can see the tires have been upgraded to BFG performance radials but the car still wears the steel wheels with plain hub caps. I’d love to have an old police car like this and make it a performance car similar to the police car from the movie Black Sheep. Would you ever want a police car in your collection? If so, from what era?
I have had more Crown Vics than I can remember. Only one of this generation though, and mine had the more common 302. I am disturbed by how much I want this car. 🤦🏼♂️
Don’t be disturbed. In 1999 I bought a 1984 DPS (Arizona Highway Patrol) unit. I absolutely LOVED everything about it. I reached a point where I was moving and had to pick between it and my truck that I had just dumped 7 grand into it within the last year to make it how I wanted. One had to go to help finance the move. I let my Crown Vic go but it took me a full week to decide. It honestly was a really tough choice. Both were awesome vehicles.
Nice to see this one. It had the CFI system, injector under the round air cleaner assembly and went to port injection in 1986 with all the small blocks in the ford line.
What I remember most was the headlight pattern in the rear view mirror ! Growing up in Columbus OH and driving in the mid ’80s. Ohio HP always was the Crown Vic until the Charger not too long ago. The City of Columbus had those unmistakable Gran Fury dual lights until they went with the Caprice around 1988. Now-a -days I get spooked seeing a white Explorer with a ski rack… I digress
The 351s in the cop cars actually stayed carbureted through the lifespan of this model in 1991. I believe it was one of the last carbureted cars sold in the US. I used to see a lot of these here in the junkyards in Phoenix. They have the big coolers on them and the ‘certified calibrated’ horizontal sweep 140 mph speedos.
Yes. This, along with the Olds 307 powered cars from GM, were the last of the carbureted dinosaurs!
Not just carbureted, either, but saddled with the dreadful FoMoCO Variable Venturi carb that ran so rich in sub-zero cold starts that my exhaust system caught fire more than once.
Variable venturi carbs, as I recall.
Great vintage. Remember these all over. Mounted the tires wrong, you don’t put white letters on police cars .
My half baked views on whether you want to be seen in an old police car aside, I believe certain agencies frown on such behavior.
https://thenewswheel.com/what-are-rules-for-owning-decommissioned-police-car/
Howard your link is about buying a retired cop car when it retires (modern, currently used models). Its more suited to explorers, tauruses and a.few crown vics still left. This one is older than an average police officer pulling you over. You slap vintage/antique/collector plates on dont try to go code3 and youre good unless you have some weird.village ordinances.
I know, still, for the average person, they aren’t going to know if it’s a valid LEO or not. Being stopped by a cop is for some, the most terrifying thing, and some get off on that. Like CAM says below, it gives the wackos fodder to do what they please. Like I said on the last cop car post, a guy in Co. Springs had an old cop car and was pulling people over for being out during the lockdo,,,oops, I mean, stay at home order. They have superior mechanicals, but I see no merit in having the writing and lights.
You should be able to drive this anywhere if you have vintage/antique or collector plates. Just keep your fingers of the lights and siren. I wouldn’t even go code1 on public roads. (Impersonation is not about how you look but what you do- pull people over etc get Tyrone keep you company in County)
Most likely the fleet department was updating their light systems so this was retired with the old system.
We have almost 300squads and its normal for the equipment from the old units to.be moved to new units until there is some sort of major upgrage
Ps most cops nowadays would only recognized this model from the movies. I only met a couple older guys who had experience with the 90ties caprice police interceptor as their first whip.
Even with historical tags I do not think with original graphics & saying Sherriff on the side of the car you could get away with it .My buddy had a old cop car painted it all white , antennas on the back , he still was hassled by the local police & he had no graphics on his car . Nice car put into a museum or just use as a parade car in its own state .
I wouldn’t want to be driving around in the same town (or in this case, county) that the cruiser is marked for.
Just seems like asking for trouble.
I used to get nervous driving my Corvette with antique registration and a 1970 plate in the front.
There is nothing unlawful driving a 40yo vintage police vehicle on collectors/ antique registration in IL unless youre trying to pass as a cop. Anybody can posses red and blue lights as long as he is not using them. (Same for PA)
I am.very sorry you guys have to put up with harrassment from poorly trained law enforcement. I apologize. Clearly if a cop runs a plate and it comes back as “collector, 40yo vehicle” and there is a guy in a tank top and a baseball cap driving it there is no crime there
Its a nice car but I would think that most states would not let you drive around with those graphics on it . That would be a hassle waiting to happen .
I own a ’70 Plymouth Fury III ex-Washington State Patrol car. I restored it to a clean top unmarked car. I made it my my own county but put the graphics on refrigerator magnet material. They don’t go on until I’m at the car show. All emergency equipment is operational. In my state the color to cover up is “blue”. I even found a period correct radar unit.
It’s rather disturbing to see a fully equipped police car up for sale. Not sure if you heard but here in Nova Scotia an individual purchased 4 of them , and fully equipped one of them with lights, decals etc. 10 days ago , dressed in a Mountie uniform he went on a rampage killing 22 innocent people in 12 hours. They got him about 5 minutes from my home, and killed him in a gun battle in a service station/ restaurant parking lot. Gerald Elliott
My BIL bought one off a used car lot nearly 20 years ago. He told me that it ran like a scalded dog! He also related a story to
me of how he mashed the gas one night on I-4 and was running
over 90 MPH before he knew it. He, my neice, and my nephew we’re all very proud of the car and often cruised it at the weekly
cruise at Oldtown in Kissemee, Florida for a year or so. He has a
picture of them and the car hanging on the wall at his house along with the award they won on one of the cruises during that
time. Even today when you go visit them, he’ll still point with pride at that picture and the award that went with it. He wound up trading it for a later model Grand Marquis in 2004. To this day, he still talks about the great old sherriff’s car he let get away.
The only thing missing is the disgraced Maricopa County “Sheriff” Joe Arpaio wearing cuffs in the back seat.
Look_alike cop cars are a hot topic in Canada right now. A week ago last Sunday, a man in rural Nova Scotia, Canada used a replica police car in a murder spree killing 22 people including a police officer.
The now-deceased suspect was a successful 51 year old denturist, with a passion for collecting RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police)memorabilia. He also had purchased several de-commissioned local RCMP late-model cruisers, and restored them to like-new condition, with light-bar, and exact RCMP current graphics.
Apparently after a fight with his girlfriend (she escaped), the man dressed in some authentic items of RCMP uniform, armed himself (he did not have a Firearms Licence) with a handgun and rifle(s) and went on a murderous rampage. The man was driving his late-model RCMP-marked Taurus and used it to drive to targets homes. He murdered several neighbours, and torched their homes. Some he knew, others were random. He used the cruiser to pull over motorists, then shoot them to death.
Real RCMP officers began to respond to “shots fires”, and houses on fire. The first responding officer assumed the suspects fake cruiser was his backup, and he was shot twice (wounded officer escaped and radioed what happened). The next officer, became involved in a head-on collision and subsequent gun battle. She was murdered. the suspect torched both police cars and fled on foot. The suspect then murdered another women, changed out of police uniform, and stole her car. By chance, the car was low on gas, so he pulled into a gas station. moments later, by chance, RCMP tactical officers pulled in. He engaged them and was shot dead. RCMP are still investigating the motive.
This was the worst mass-shooting in Canada. Much is being made of his possession and use of the authentic-looking police car. It appears most victims assumed they were safe when they saw the police car. In Canada it is against the Criminal Code to personate a Peace Officer, but there is no offence to collect or posses most police equipment. Most Provinces prohibit civilian use of red/blue light and siren, but are generally lenient with regard to collectors.
There are calls to ban civilian use of look-alike police vehicles. While some might argue that the rule should not include older models, many people really don’t know the difference. For the next while, in Canada anyway, driving an x-cop car will not be considered cool. Especially if it has had any equipment reinstalled like push-bars, antennas etc.
Back on topic. I was a police officer for 30 years and drove Fords like the one for sale. They were Slow, had small fuel tanks, and needed frequent repairs.
My grandparents lived in a suburb of Milwaukee that used these for patrol duty. Their municipality cap cars were painted light blue.
My grandparents, not being at all interested in cars, walked into a local ford dealer & bought a light blue Crown Vic sedan, dark blue full vinyl top, not the half top most of the luxury Crown Vic had. They used to back into their driveway, parking at the end by the street. I used to sit in their livingroom & laugh at all of the idiots flying down their street, slamming on the brakes when seeing grandma’s family car. Good times!