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twitchykun (Level 1 Jalop-Knight)
10/13/09

In reply to Four Of Five Alexander County, Illinois Police Cruisers Repossessed
soooo, are we getting the band back together?
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P161911 probably shoudn't have promoted this comment

Old Grimey
10/13/09

In reply to Four Of Five Alexander County, Illinois Police Cruisers Repossessed
Very interesting. Now that Alexander County has only one cruiser that's on the fritz, and if they don't get their loaners on time, they might have to get sidecars for their motorcycles so that they can take prisoners to jail without a car. And about that picture, it looks like the Bluesmobile. Does any jurisdiction in the US still use Malaise-era cars in their police, sheriff or constable departments?
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brake booster by Lucas...I'd better get religion! promoted this comment Old Grimey was starred Old Grimey was unstarred

I was drivin' that Model A
10/13/09

@Old Grimey:

I'd swear I've seen a couple of Gran Fury cruisers around in the past 5-7 years.
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P161911 probably shoudn't have
10/13/09

@Old Grimey: I seem to remember seeing a 1970s/80s era Pontiac sitting on two flat tires in front of a small Georgia town police station in about 1998. My local sheriff used Gran Fury's well into the 1990's.

I know of another local sheriff that still uses at least one K-5 Blazer (1989 at the newest), or at least they did a couple of years ago.

While out in Seattle in 2008 I actually saw a 1967 Plymouth Fury working an accident scene on the interstate, but I'm pretty sure the car was a museum piece that just happened to have a cop driving it.

[www.pacificautotronics.com]
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Old Grimey
10/13/09

@brake booster by Lucas...I'd better get religion!: What kind of Gran Fury are you referring to? There are the C-body variants, which are a badge-engineered Dodge Monaco or a stripped-out Chrysler Newport (take your pick), there are the R-body cars, which are a badge-engineered Dodge St. Regis and a close cousin to the Cordoba and Magnum, and there are the ones that are basically the same thing as the 5th Avenue and Diplomat, and were the last rear-wheel-drive Mopars until the 300/Magnum/Charger, unless you count Rams, Dakotas, full-size vans, Durangos and Vipers.
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I was drivin' that Model A
10/13/09

In reply to Four Of Five Alexander County, Illinois Police Cruisers Repossessed
Cop tires. Cop brakes. Cop push bar to move traffic along.

I've seriously considered learning/practicing aluminium welding so after I make proper 'roo bars for my Beater Baby Benz and my wife's RX300, I'll have the skeellz to do one for the Freightliner-chassied 40' diesel pusher motorhome.

...then I need to ship it to Australia.
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57sweptside
10/13/09

In reply to Four Of Five Alexander County, Illinois Police Cruisers Repossessed
That license plate is the one used on the Bluesmobile, but I don't get why it has a light bar, let alone why the bar is of more recent vintage. If it is supposed to represent the Bluesmobile BEFORE Elwood picked it up, it would have "M" plates since around that time IL issued municipal plates for city-owned vehicles whether cop cars or snow plows. And to further nitpick, IL plates like this (circa 1978 or 1979 with yearly stickers) had blue letters on white background, and in 1974 had white plates with red letters. Black on white was 1972.
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coupeZ600 promoted this comment 57sweptside was starred 57sweptside was unstarred

If FromaBuick6 has to watch one more Chevy commercial, he's going to punch Howie Long in the face
10/13/09

@57sweptside: I also feel the need to point out that the number font on that plate isn't right. The "9" in the serial is the giveaway. But, in fairness, I checked and they were wrong in the movie, too.

/Plate nerd.
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57sweptside
10/14/09

[arielsgroove.files.wordpress.com]
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Edited by 57sweptside at 10/14/09 12:27 AM 57sweptside was starred 57sweptside was unstarred

Big Stig
10/13/09

In reply to Four Of Five Alexander County, Illinois Police Cruisers Repossessed
I bet the Alexander County, Illinois Sheriff's Department would be overjoyed to get their hands on some 1974 Dodge Monacos by now.

Alexander County is home to Cairo, which, for a lack of better words, is a ghost town. At one point it was a prosperous town of about 20,000 residents at the confluence of the Mississippi and Ohio rivers. However, decades of disinvestment coupled with racial strife that culminated in the 1960s have reduced the town to a shell of its former self, and the population is now about 4,000.

There are many nice places in Illinois, but with Cairo and East St. Louis, Illinois is home to two of the worst communities I've ever seen. Speaking of East St. Louis, I live just across the river in St. Louis, so I wouldn't be surprised to see a similar story about ESTL's police department soon. Talk about two places that could really use a stimulus package...in President Obama's home state no less...
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P161911 probably shoudn't have promoted this comment Edited by Big Stig at 10/13/09 3:14 PM Big Stig was starred Big Stig was unstarred

Number_Six
10/13/09

In reply to Four Of Five Alexander County, Illinois Police Cruisers Repossessed
Reduced to running rented wrecks, ruined rozzers repo'd in Illinois insolvency ignominy.
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Edited by Number_Six at 10/13/09 3:15 PM Number_Six was starred Number_Six was unstarred

TimTim
10/13/09

In reply to Four Of Five Alexander County, Illinois Police Cruisers Repossessed
I love the image that suggests the County Sheriff was still making payments on a bunch of '74 Dodge Monacos, 35 years later.
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Prawo Jazdy and The Velocity Trumpets: I miss Deartháir II
10/13/09

@TimTim: 5 cop cars for the whole county. 5. So it is possible.
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I was drivin' that Model A
10/13/09

@TimTim:

This is Illinois...not totally out-of-the-question.

Where's Blagojevich when you need him?
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JCWhitless
10/13/09

@Prawo Jazdy and The Velocity Trumpets: At one time the small town I grew up in had four police cars (less than 2k people). The budget was insane for that size town, and those responsible were sacked. One of them was a CHP stang.
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leavethegun-takethecannoli
10/13/09

In reply to Four Of Five Alexander County, Illinois Police Cruisers Repossessed
Do you think they chained dogs to them, or tried to hide them behind various buildings?
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Jagvar
10/13/09

In reply to Four Of Five Alexander County, Illinois Police Cruisers Repossessed
Surely they could buy some high-mileage Crown Vics for peanuts. Hell, half the cars at LeMons are Crown Vics.
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P161911 probably shoudn't have promoted this comment Jagvar was starred Jagvar was unstarred

JCWhitless
10/13/09

@Jagvar: Even better, hold a Lemons race as a fund raiser so they can get the cars, and donate the top five cars to the county to use as squad cars!!
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BЯдΖǐL-ЯЄРΘЯΤЄЯ
10/12/09

In reply to We Thought Highway Patrol Cars Weren't Supposed to Lure Drivers Into Racing Them

Dutch police knows what to use.
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BЯдΖǐL-ЯЄРΘЯΤЄЯ
10/12/09

@BЯдΖǐL-ЯЄРΘЯΤЄЯ: since the sixties the Porsche Targa is a well known police car on the Dutch highways.
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BЯдΖǐL-ЯЄРΘЯΤЄЯ
10/12/09

@BЯдΖǐL-ЯЄРΘЯΤЄЯ: What to think of a more recent model, the Opel Speedster
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BЯдΖǐL-ЯЄРΘЯΤЄЯ
10/12/09

@BЯдΖǐL-ЯЄРΘЯΤЄЯ: To go real Dutch, they also use Spyker
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Maxichamp
10/12/09

@BЯдΖǐL-ЯЄРΘЯΤЄЯ: Here is a comprehensive list of Dutch Porsche police cars:
[karakullake.blogspot.com]
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Shamoononon: I shave my legs.
10/12/09

@Maxichamp: How come the biggest people drive the smallest cars? I mean, my mom is 100% Dutch, 6 feet tall, and buys the tiniest cars. Then she complains about how hard it is to get out of them.
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Maxichamp promoted this comment

Novaload
10/12/09

In reply to We Thought Highway Patrol Cars Weren't Supposed to Lure Drivers Into Racing Them
It's too cute to be a cop car. What is this, the Toy Police?
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Maxichamp
10/12/09

In reply to We Thought Highway Patrol Cars Weren't Supposed to Lure Drivers Into Racing Them
Here are some more fast Japanese police cars:
[karakullake.blogspot.com]
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twitchykun (Level 1 Jalop-Knight)
10/12/09

In reply to We Thought Highway Patrol Cars Weren't Supposed to Lure Drivers Into Racing Them
There was an old anime series called "You're Under Arrest", and the chief had a NSX w/Police Livery. Makes me wonder if this was the basis of that car.

Either way, don't we have Mustangs, Camaros, Chargers, and the CAPRICE?
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brake booster by Lucas...I'd better get religion! promoted this comment

I was drivin' that Model A
10/12/09

@twitchykun (Level 1 Jalop-Knight): Either way, don't we have Mustangs, Camaros, Chargers, and the CAPRICE?

Sure, but this police cruiser can pull more than .7G on a skidpad (so can the others, but the driver's typically tend to lack proper skill in balancing coffee and doughnuts to pull it off).
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west-coaster
10/06/09

In reply to The History Of Chevrolet Police Cars
There are bonus points for ANY pre-fuel-injected 9C1 Caprice that had the air cleaner lid flipped over.

Essentially, turning the lid upside-down produced an inexpensive open-element air cleaner, with about a 3" gap between the base portion and the lid. The sound at WOT was magical. I even saw a used Caprice or Impala at a municipal auction once, and apparently the officers had learned this trick. There was a stern warning label on the dashboard that read: "DO NOT FLIP AIR CLEANER LID OVER!"

So, obviously, the guys who handled movie cars knew about this too. So in lots of '80s films where there was a Chevy cop car ("To Live in Die in LA" was the ultimate example), my friend and I would go nuts when we'd hear one on the big screen.

Usually, there was an split-second bog from the Quadrajet when it started sucking in all that air, then blammo!

Something like: "BWUH-WAUGGGHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!" as the car accelerated toward the camera. What made TLaDiLA so cool was that the stunt guy driving the car in the wrong-way freeway chase was on and off the gas all the time. "WAUGHH...WA...WA...WAAAAUUUUUGGGGHHHHHH!!!!" beating the engine and the rest of the car within an inch of their lives.

Unfortunatly, fuel injection kind of ruined the party.
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Jono
10/06/09

@west-coaster: I know that sound, it's become kinda like an automotive Wilhelm Scream.
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Novaload promoted this comment Jono was starred Jono was unstarred

Novaload
10/06/09

@Jono: Yeah, it's also right up there with the "car wreck" where even if a car is just pulling out of a driveway, there's a whine, a squeal of brakes, and a crash with broken glass. Used constantly on TV.
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zeeboid
10/05/09

In reply to The History Of Chevrolet Police Cars
What no Bitch'in Chevy Camaro cop cars!?
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