Cool stuff, especially the '71 Special. Buick must've had a decent police market as the cars got lots of unique "cop" parts.
Never saw that article before. Thanks for sharing! It looks to be a hardtop car. That trooper on the right has to be 6’5”!
Hall County, Ga had a 77-79 LeSabre that was used for warrants and non patrol duties into the late ‘80s. Patrick
I don't think Buick had a big piece of the pie. I also don't think there was a Special in 1971. Prob 1969 was the last year till the mid-1970s.
Dodge built two '66 four-door Coronets with the 426 Hemi and 727 automatics for the FBI. One (which may or may not be a clone) is in Don Garlits museum in Gainesville FL, I don't know where the other one is, but a friend of mine who now lives in Phoenix owned it briefly about 30 years ago.
I had a friend who was with the CHP in the 60's. He said they used '64 Riviera's almost exclusively for about 4 years. Most were KX's, some single 4bbl. They used 2 sway bars up front for better handling & sintered iron metallic brake shoes on the pursuit cars. The single 4's actually out performed the quads top end & would top out around 140MPH. Some had over 500K on them & were very reliable & also extensively cared for. Then they were retired to more civil duties.
The CA CHP has a very long history of searching for and acquiring dedicated pursuit vehicles if the regular pursuit cars just aren't enough. I doubt that's the case lately with the Charger police cars' powertrain options. CA CHP and the Mich. Highway Patrol have - hands down - the most extensive testing and evaluation programs for cars for potential police duty including all kinds of measurements and real-world testing. Fact is that most states go to these two programs to buy the evaluations of the vehicles being considered. And, Manufacturers provide these two Agencies cars to test (and get promoted by the evaluation process) to other law enforcement Agencies. If I remember the story of the FBI Grand Nationals and T-types correctly, the Feds acquired a GN in a confiscation of a drug dealer's assets and used the car in later law enforcement actions. It proved so capable at keeping up with seriously exotic cars that the FBI actually purchased some T-Types for FBI Agents to use - certified spedometers and all.
