In 1950, Ford became the first carmaker to offer a police package, and its Crown Victoria police car served until 2012. In between, Detroit’s makers turned ordinary sedans and coupes into pursuit machines with special engines, heavier hardware and, in a few cases, real top-end speed.
Altogether, these seven police cars span those six decades. Each one earns its place with a sourced figure: an order size, an engine rating or a share of the market.
1. 1954 Ford Interceptor police car
Ford’s police business started before the Interceptor name did. The 1950 police package offered three power choices: the Ford V-8 Special, the Ford 100-horsepower V-8 and the Ford 95-horsepower six. In fact, that made Ford the first maker to sell a dedicated police package.
Then the name arrived four years later. According to Ford’s own history of its police vehicles, 1954 brought the first police model to carry the Interceptor badge. Ford reused that name on police cars for decades afterward. By 1961, Ford says, 58% of the police cars in the 50 largest U.S. cities were Fords.
2. 1969 Dodge Polara 440 police
In 1969, the California Highway Patrol ordered 1,564 Polaras as pursuit vehicles. Each also carried CHP-specific gear, including a Motorola radio, spotlights, sirens and a whip antenna.
The top engine was the 440 Magnum, rated at 375 horsepower and 480 lb-ft of torque in stock form, Street Muscle reports. A three-speed 727 TorqueFlite automatic handled the shifting. As a result, the big Dodge could reach a top speed of 147 mph.
3. 1977 Plymouth Fury pursuit
By 1977, police buyers could still order a special big-block from Plymouth. Its E86 440 was an option reserved for police vehicles. In addition, it added a high-performance camshaft and dual exhausts.
In that form the 440 made 245 horsepower and 355 lb-ft, according to Hagerty. The Michigan State Police ran a small fleet of these Fury pursuit cars. Today, though, Hagerty identifies just one known survivor. That car belongs to Ross Urtel and Eric Laesch’s company, Chase Classic Motors, in Clinton Township, Michigan.
4. 1982 Ford Mustang SSP
Ford’s smaller pursuit car, however, began as an experiment. At the CHP’s request, Ford built 406 Mustangs with its Special Service Package to serve as test beds. Every one was a notchback, apart from five hatchbacks built specially for the CHP.
The 1982 cars used a 157-horsepower 5.0-liter V-8 and a four-speed transmission, Autotrader Classics reports. At $6,800, the SSP cost 10 to 15 percent less than other police cars. Ford’s own history credits it with a 0-to-50-mph time of 6.3 seconds. Eventually more than 60 agencies, including the U.S. Air Force and the FBI, bought nearly 15,000 SSP Mustangs.
5. 1983 Ford LTD Crown Victoria police
At first, the Crown Victoria name reached police fleets through the LTD. For 1983, Ford offered the LTD Crown Victoria with a police package.
According to Ford, buyers could order an optional 351-cubic-inch, 5.8-liter high-output V-8. Later, in 1992, the Crown Victoria became its own model, without the LTD name.
6. 1994 Chevrolet Caprice 9C1
Chevrolet’s case rested on the Michigan State Police tests. From 1987 through 1996, the Caprice won the top rating in those tests every year. Specifically, the 9C1 code marked the police-package car.
Even so, the biggest jump arrived in 1994. Back in 1991, the 9C1-only 5.7-liter LO5 V-8 had made 195 horsepower. For 1994, the LT1 brought a gain of 55 horsepower and 30 lb-ft, according to Curbside Classic. Conceptcarz rates the 350-cubic-inch LT1 in 1994 to 1996 Caprices at 260 horsepower. However, the run ended soon after. The last of these B-body cars came off the line in December 1996.
7. 1998 Ford Crown Victoria Police Interceptor
With the Caprice gone, Ford had the full-size pursuit market nearly to itself. The Crown Victoria had stood as its own model since 1992. Its police version, meanwhile, carried the Police Interceptor name.
In 1998, the Crown Victoria police package accounted for 85% of police pursuit sales in the U.S. and Canada, Ford says. Finally, Ford retired the Crown Victoria Police Interceptor in 2012.
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