Retired Police Cars and Police Car Auctions
Posted: Sunday, April 01, 2007
by Mark Gittelman
certifiedmastertech.com
Police cars for sale are easy to find and are a great value. Police cars usually go for reasonable prices at GSA auctions because of the supply and demand scenario.
In this article I am going to discuss police car auctions and gsa auctions. GSA is an abbreviated term for general service administration or better known as U.S. government auctions.
Well I have worked on many in my day and currently I am working on sheriff dept and county vehicles. A police car is built with heavy-duty parts.
This is what I love about buying old police cars. You get well-maintained vehicles with heavy-duty parts.
First what parts are heavy duty. Well this varies from each manufacture. But in most cases we are talking about heavy-duty belts, hoses, beefed up suspensions with heavy-duty power train components and heavy sway bars, links, shocks and commercial grade floor mats instead of carpeting.
The vehicle is constructed for pedal to the metal performance and handling. My favorite police car of all time is the 96 Chevy caprice with the 9c1 package.
In my professional opinion this was the cream of the crop in heavy-duty police car manufacturing. The 1996 Chevy caprice police interceptor was built with the corvette LT1 engine with a 4 bolt main block and all the heavy-duty hoses and accessories that GM could find.
This police interceptor had 16-inch tires and Gm's 3.73 or even 4.11 positraction rear differential. The engine included gm's most powerful high-energy ignition system and dual exhaust to help let the LT1 350 V8 breath.
The electrical system was also upgraded with a high out put alternator, Gear reduction high torque starter and extra capacity dual battery's to help handle all the electronics you would find on a police car.
The package was very well balanced. It was fast and handled great. I have driven these cars many times and lets just say I would smile the whole time.
I worked for a Chevy dealership in 1996 and performed warranty repairs on these vehicles. I had a police officer tell me a great story.
His department had half crown vics and half caprices. When they would patrol on I 295 in New Jersey they would sometimes get into high-speed pursuit situations.
He described in great detail how he would blow by the crown vics that had wide open throttle with his caprice not even at 75% throttle.
The officers in this department would fight over the caprices and the loser's got the Fords.The caprice I speak of can still be found at some gsa auctions and other police car auctions.
The Chevy police car reached its peak in 1996 with the 9C1. Then Chevy got out of the police car game for a couple of years because they killed the full frame Chevy caprice all together.
This left GM with no police car platform. Ford dominated the market for many years. Gm has since got back in the game with its lame 6cyl Chevy impala. Now it's the Fords that blow by the Chevy's
Also Doge has come back into the police car competition with its hemi powered rear wheel drive dodge charger police interceptor. And Chevrolet has added a super charger to its underpowered entry. So we will have to see who winds up on top of the competition in the near future.
Gsa handles federal acquisition and procurement for equipment and supplies to various government agencies. Meaning they buy and sell the equipment that all levels of government use in the name of public service.
I have added a page to my website dedicated to the 9C1 Chevrolet caprice that includes videos of the cars in action and details of where to buy the best police cars for sale
Mark R Gittelman is an ASE Master Technician With more than 24 years experience in the automotive repair business. For more free automotive information visit his car questions web site. Or you can go straight to the car auction page to find out more about land based and internet car auctions.
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More commentsDo you know if any retired police cars get decient to good mpg? Impalas, dodges, crown vics or other. ThanksIn almost all cases police package cars have big V8 gas sucking engines. This allows them to keep pace with the common highway speeder or bad guys. Although I believe the wave of the future will bring fuel economy front and center for local law enforcement agencies. They will most likley start downsizing their power plants and when needed call in state troopers that may include air support.
want to buy classic black and white police car like 1970 ford?please help 281 804 0452 travis
9C1s with the LT1 had 3.08 gears and the ones with a L99 HAD 3.23s but all 9C1s had 4 wheel disc brakes
Thanks for the great write up! I really want to buy a use police car, but i'm having a hell of a time finding the auctions. I'm not really sure where to go. I went to the site on your page and didn't find any answers. Any help is greatly appreciated, Thanks
I've owned a '95 9C1 for 2 years now with 140,000 miles on it and it runs like it's still brand new. Keep up with basic maintenance and the car is happy. It's as tough as nails, has all the power I could ever need/want and is smoother than melted butter on the highway. Mine's special though, it's got a goofed up paint job from the factory, one of 127 total that were ever made by the Texas Plant for South Carolina's Highway Patrol. It was sold to an old man and NEVER saw Police duty. It was cared for like a baby. Look me up on Cardomain, my name is Big73Catalina.
Anybody has a 9C1 caprice complete rear axle in good condition? Give me a call 269 343 6488 Andy
A crown vic can kick a caprice's ass. I now since i race in one ata 3\8 mile paved track in a stock class.the ex-police fords win 5 out of 6 races and every championship.I am looking to buy a few retired police cars 2004-2006 any idea where I can get a few? Please email amylizzy26 at yahoo thanksHey I read your article and it got me thinking. See, i'm taking the storm spotter class in my county next year, and i was thinking of getting into chasing. I was thinking a retired police intercepter would be about perfect for this. Lots of room for a radio (weather and CB), a hands-free cell phone setup, a laptop and a dash-mounted camera. And if i had to vacate in a hurry, i'd have the power and raw speed to do it. What are your thoughts on this? At the very least, it might be better than my '89 B150 Ram van, which has the old 318 in it.Do you know where I can find a engine coil for a 1994 engine coil caprice classic 5.7 L trooper car? This coil mounts in the front under the crank case not the one that comes standard and mounts in the back. I realllyyy need to find this part and would appreciate any leads I can get on where it might be found
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