(AOL Autos) -- If you have a heavy foot and may travel a bit over the speed limit, you might want to keep an eye out for these popular police car models.
I'll spare you the list, but in a nutshell, the things to look for are:
- Crown Vic. The Ford Crown Victoria has been a police car staple since at least the late 1970s, and has been pretty much the exclusive full-size car since GM stupidly dropped the Caprice in 1996.
- Dodge Charger. The Charger is smaller and lighter than the 'Vic, but with the 390+ HP Hemi has more than enough oomph for its role as interceptor.
- Ford Mustang. Police agencies have been using 'Stangs as interceptors since at least the mid-1980s 5.0L model.
Realistically, this covers 95+% of the unmarked cars you're likely to come across on the highways and byways of America. Most cities don't get more creative than an all-white version of whatever model car they use for cruisers; it's the highway patrol/state police that tend to have more options available to them.
What to look for? Lights in the grill are an obvious giveaway. Look for a perfect finish - for whatever reason, the unmarked cars are typically kept in much better condition than the standard cruiser. Dual exhaust on a model that doesn't typically come with twin pipes. Plain hubcaps - this is truest on the Vics.
ETA: Tinted windows. Quite often, the windows will be tinted to hide/obscure the light bars. Now, in states like FLA where most cars have tinted windows this might not be such a giveaway. In states like NH or MA, though, where tinted windows are either illegal or limited, it's a giant neon sign that screams "UNMARKED CAR"... Thanks to OrangeNeckInNY for the tip!
Basically, if it looks like a cop car, odds are it *is* a cop car...
That is all.
PS: Hmmm. "Top Ten Police Models" sounds like a killer idea for tomorrow's Fun Thread...
22 comments:
They also have 1 or 2 extra antennae, dark tinted windows so you can't make out the flashing red & blue lights in the back window and a spot light over their driver side mirror.
You didn't get pulled over by one of these guys, did you?
OOOOooooooh, the tinted windows. That's an excellent point, too.
No, I didn't get pulled over, I just saw the article and thought it was surprisingly useful, coming as it did from CNN... ;)
Usually the spot light on the driver's side is the first thing I notice. Up here in Nunavut we usually see white or tan versions of them. They aren't exactly hard to spot.
When are we going to see a Police Prius? Heh. They already have Segway Scooters, don't they? There's your top 10 list. Top 10 cars you don't want to be behind the wheel of during a high speed chase.
You missed the Caprice Classics (less common now) and Impalas.
NYSP have a limited number of slick-top "low profile" pursuit cars, pretty much only on the interstates and the NY Thruway - they're navy blue Camaros with no lightbar on top, but the usual NYSP markings on the sides.
St Louis City (Missouri) cops have some Silverados. And I'll 2nd the Impalas, I've seen a bunch of them in the midwest.
I've seen a TON of people pulled over by unmarked Cameros as well as Impalas.
Also Mass Highway appears to have a bunch of late-model Taurus (the Volvo Chassis).
That sure does make them hard to spot...I guess that's the point.
Huh. I've only seen the Impalas as local/city cruisers. Not unmarked yet.
And yes, the Tortoise unmarked.
I figure those don't count as interceptors since they can't outrun most lawn tractors...
Here, now, they use what they confiscate. They may be in Escalades, Tahoes, etc. Some even have rims.
The antennae are the giveaway, cell phones have replaced CBs so cops are the only people with radios in their cars nowadays.
No chrome. The unmarked cars here are all devoid of any decorative accouterments. They are almost all universally white Crown Vics. There is another giveaway - a small badge on the back that says "police interceptor".
And look for the lack of dealership stickers. The average Crown Vic owner doesn't care enough to remove all the free advertising in the form of plate surrounds, stickers, and emblems. The unmarked cars don't have any of this stuff.
Y'know, if you just obey traffic laws, you don't have to worry about it. *sigh*
Anyhoo, they have a good number of Ford Tauruses around here dedicated to road rage abatement. I'm not sure how many of these they still have, though, as it was several years ago the program started. There's not much less obtrusive than a dark green Taurus, because there's so many of 'em.
Oddly, the only agency I've seen locally with Chargers are the constables. While they can & do write traffic tickets (which I think most folks don't realize), it's far from their main raison d'etre.
The issue here that's bigger than unmarked cars is red light and speeding cameras. Certain intersections have cameras that take a piccy of your plate if you enter on the red or speed. The owner of the car is responsible for the fine, regardless of who is driving. They were installed under the banner of "public safety", but they are operated by a private company who installed them for free for a percentage of the fines. The local government gets free money and they love it. Its only a matter of time before they debut in your 'hood.
Given that my town doesn't HAVE a stoplight, not too big of an issue... ;)
Washington State Patrol uses a White Volvo Turbo Wagon, as well as a brown Tahoe with 22s. And no unless you knew it was there you can't tell with the Wagon.
YES! Top Ten Cop Cars gotta include the Fury III with the 440 engine. VA State Police used them. Just pull over an take the ticket 'cause you'd never out run them.
Around here, you look for the new looking blue car (or "champagne gold" for the local cops) with the old-style orange-yellow license plates, which Oregon moved away from a decade or two ago for civilian vehicles, but kept for their state or local owned ones.
Every once in a while you'll have a false alarm, as some older people will keep their old plates when they get a new car, but you'll never see a government owned rig without one of the older orange-yellow license paltes, so it's a pretty good indicator.
Well, I just had a white Chevy Tahoe go tearing past me down I-40 today with its little hidden blue lights flashing and its siren running. Tinted windows, of course, but not much else to be said for this particular one.
The TN cops are getting crafty.
I've been noticing the locals with any kind of car and color- but with the police markings in almost the same color. You can't tell until you're next to them.
In San Antonio they like to have a spotter on top of an overpass or an acess road near a curve telling their buddies which car you're driving and how fast you were going when they painted you.
Saw a station wagon pull over another car yesterday. Silver and I joked about the police car being in "stealth mode".
What Stretch said. We used surplus VSP Furies for driver's education in 1974.
Always fun to give a hormonal teen a stripped down police car...and tell him to do twenty-five. Heck, we used to smoke the tires on the bus ramp going over to the driving course.
I've been noticing the locals with any kind of car and color- but with the police markings in almost the same color.
Bexar County has a LOT of those. But they're typically Crown Vics, from what I've seen around here. Love to watch 'em pull people over. I mean, damn, it's THE police car in this metro area, and people still get fooled.
Saw a guy in a red Taurus, which from the back at least looked factory-original, at McDonald's yesterday. Only reason I knew it was an unmarked car is because I saw the badge on the portly fellow getting into it while he was eating with a uniformed deputy. So I don't know if that was SAPD or BCSO, but I lean toward the latter. (And it could well have been his POV too & not an unmarked.)
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