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THE CROWN VICTORIA: I drove a 2005 Crown Vic p71 not too long ago, which will soon be in serving the Stratford Police. I'd like to take this time now to take back almost all the bad things I've said about Ford. First of all if your going to buy a Crown Victoria police car, and drive the number one popular police car on the road today, you must find one with the 3.55 gears. The 2002 I drove was nice, but the 2005 is real nice. So nice in fact, if one came damaged in shipment and was sold on ebay brand new I might want to buy one. The 4.6 liter SOHC is producing the most horsepower it has ever had, at 250 horsepower/ 297 foot pounds of torque. So pretty much in 8.1 seconds, the 3.55 rear Ford will be at 60 and coming for you. I stated earlier the Crown Victoria will be around through 2008. That may not be so. The word is the Ford Fairlane (or galaxy) is coming back in 2006. This car will be bigger than the taurus placing it in the Crown Victoria path. That's more than I can say for the MERCURY MARAUDER. The Marauder is done for those of you that don't know. Sales have been so terrible, the car is finished!No SVT model, no nothing! Will the 4.6 become DOHC? I have no idea. Remember that NY auto show pic? That reinforced pushbumper and claims of a 300 horse engine? Well where is it ford? Gas mileage on the new Crown Victoria is a pathetic, I mean pathetic 15/21. It probably will have the most muscle the car has had since the 1960's, but it's no Chevy Caprice LT1 and it sure is no HEMI. The current issue of police fleet manager states the 2005 p71 is literally as fast as my LT1. I wouldn't go that far in celebrating the Ford. Dual overhead cam engines have been in Lincoln's for years and then a 300 horsepwer SOHC was put in the Marauder, but Ford continues to use the delicate single over head cam 4.6 for it's police cars. In the future, when the Crown Victoria changes to a newer body style, perhaps like the concept car above, they will put a Mercury Marauder engine in her. And the Marauder gets 17/25 gas mileage compared to the lousy 15/21 of the 2005 P71.

The FORD FALCON: A lot of you might remember the Ford Falcon. After 1970 it disappeared. Well guess what it went to australia! While looking at my old Car and Driver mag from 1998, there it is the Ford Falcon with nice performance. With a 6 cylinder SOHC, the car produces horsepower and torque like the 4.6 SOHC in Crown Vic's from 1992-1997. No wonder why Toyota beat ford as the number one car seller in America. Because were selling Falcon's to Australia.And the Ford Falcoln in Australia has a turbo now, producing like 300 horsepower!

THE FORD 500:The Ford 500 is coming out here in the good old USA. It looks like a sleeker, more rigid Taurus, and I believe AWD will be an option, or perhaps standard. The Custom '500's were cruisers back in the 70's. The Ford 500, I believe released this year, will have a 3.0 V-6. Will the Falcon and 500 be driving around your town with lightbars on top in a year or two? Probably not.

THE 2005 MUSTANG: OH YEAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! This car looks great! Doesn't it look great! Big ass 18 inch tires, 300 HP, and a live axle. And police are still using them for police work, DARE use, or traffic enforcement, even though the special service mustangs stopped oh, 11 years ago. And forget about that Lincoln LS platform crap. The mustang is going to be 4 inches longer than the old body style. NOW THE CAR LOOKS LIKE STEVE MCQUEEN! BUT WAIT...THERE'S MORE... The Mustang engine is getting mercedes technology. 3 valves per cylinder. Which means a 2005 Mustang will be around easily in 2040! Not that it wouldn't anyways. Were talkin about an American made car here, not a junk corolla with recyled metal. But who knows, maybe, just maybe when Dodge starts kickin ass, Ford might make a limited number police package mustangs. The only difference will be lower seats, a 160 speedo, transmission/oil coolers, and police radials. And of course light/siren hookups.

THE TORINO: Starsky and Hutch is coming back as I said. Well how bout the Torino! What did they drive with, a 351 or a 460 Interceptor? Either way it would be nice for this car to come back. See Ford you have many choices to compete when the HEMI police package comes out!

So far this is what the magazines say about the Marauder!

Magazine 1 0-60 test of the Mercury Marauder	7.5 seconds
Magazine 2 0-60 test of the Mercury Marauder	7.3 seconds
Magazine 3 0-60 test of the Mercury Marauder	6.8 seconds
Magazine 4 0-60 test of the Marauder	8.01 seconds

An average of 7.4 seconds like the Chevy Caprice LT1 but they won't put that engine in the police interceptor.

1/4 mile speed Max Speed

1996 Chevy Caprice LT1 @	16.14 seconds	88 m.p.h.	139 m.p.h.
1996 Crown Victoria@	16.89 seconds	83.83 m.p.h.	135 m.p.h.
1999 Crown Victoria @	16.63 seconds	84 m.p.h.	129 m.p.h.
2002 Crown Victoria@	16.43 seconds	86.53 m.p.h.	129 m.p.h.
1994 Chevy Caprice LT1 @	16.18 seconds	86.8 m.p.h.	141 m.p.h.
1995 Chevy Caprice LT1 @	16.29 seconds	86.8 m.p.h.	135 m.p.h.
Future Ford Police Interceptor? My new educated guess...	15.9 seconds	89m.p.h.	130 m.p.h.

CHEVY

Here is my updated horsepower! 260 to be precise! Crown Victoria's are reliable but you know something...they are slow. So I bought this 1995 Chevy Caprice LT1 last winter. It has 110K miles and it used to work for the New Britain, Connecticut police department. Now it's going to work for me.

OPTIONS THAT CAME WITH THE CAR

VK3 LICENSE PLATE BRACKET
7Y6 INOPERATIVE DOME LAMP
AA7 WINDOWS-POWER DRIVER EXPRESS DOWN WITH F/R PASSENGER LOCKOUT SWITCH...
IK5 TRANSMISSION LOW GEAR BLOCKOUT
6N6 REAR DOOR INOPERATIVE
6E2 SINGLE KEY SYSTEM
C49 DEFOGGER REAR WINDOW
VZ2 SPEED LIMITER
KD1 TRANSMISSION OIL COOLER
DE3 DUAL ELECTRIC REMOTE OUTSIDE MIRRORS
7X6 SPOTLIGHT
AS7 BUCKET 45/45 W/RECLINING SEAT BACK
GU4 5.7 LITER

Chevy in 2005 is only offering the Chevy Impala Police package 9C1. The 2006 Chevy Impala is supposed to have a 3.9 liter improved engine, producing 240 horsepower. And the 2006 Impala is suppose to have a 5.3 liter 303 horsepower/323 foot pounds of torque 8 cylinder available for the SS. The new 2006 Impala, sorry to say looks like a Honda. I'm not impressed at all with the look but when new cars come out, I guess it takes some getting use too. The car is still going to be front wheel drive I think, so the next Impala SS will be the next Ford Taurus SHO. In 2007 or 2008 Chevy might come back to rear wheel drive and reality. The Impala is a nice car, I've driven two 2001's and one 2004. There are just so many Ford's on the road; no one I believe takes Impala's seriously, like the Chevy Caprices. Let me tell you about driving the classic 1995 Chevy Caprice LT1. The LT1 is definitely one of the best police packages built in the 20th century. The car handles so damn good it's ridiculous. My Ford is an inexperienced juvenile compared to the mighty LT1. The Chevy not only accelerates better, but it handles better as well. My Ford has the same mileage as the Chevy and with the Chevy you don't feel all of the bumps in the road. And the digital speedometer is great. When I see a cop he/she knows how fast I am going and so do I. There's nothing wrong with the calibrated speedometer of my Ford, but digital is so much cooler. It looks like Daimler/Chrysler is once again going to dominate the police car market. I think if Chevy had a rear wheel drive for the Michigan State Police to test this year, it wouldn't matter because of Dodge.

The FORD MUSTANG

You down with OPP, yeah you know me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well, well, well. Remember what I wrote back in February of 2005? "...Now I do not know why Daimler/Chrysler is going with a police package station wagon. Sure, it may be a better idea to have the storage of a SUV in a car that can engage in high-speed pursuits, but just like the Crown Victoria, the four-door charger can be and who knows, might be offered as a police package." Well it looks like Law Enforcement and future collectors are getting their wish.
When pictures of the new Dodge Charger came out, a lot of people did not like the look of the car. I mean the car had four doors, Bo and Luke Duke did not drive in a four door charger. But it doesn’t take a genius to realize that Daimler/Chrysler is making a HEMI fast performance car for muscle car fans. But they also realized Law Enforcement wanted another option besides the slow Chevy Impala and gas guzzling ‘Police Interceptor.’ This “Charger” is going to be the fastest sedan since probably the 1969 Dodge Polara which accelerated to 60 in 6.3 seconds, reached the quarter mile in 14.2 seconds and topped out at 147 m.p.h. Could the Ford do that? Not even with a 3.73 rear! Well that is the performance that is going to be possible with the HEMI. The ‘police interceptor’ gets 15 miles a gallon in the city and 21 on the highway. The Charger will probably do 17/25 and better due to the MDS, (Multi-displacement system) which shuts down half of the cylinders. The Charger is going to have ESP which will enhance driver control, Emergency brake Assist and all speed Traction Control. Traction Control is an option on the Ford only. At 197 inches long the sedan will be four inches longer than a Camaro but also a few inches shorter than the Impala. Here are some of the options: