Police Charger for retail purchase?

I'm an ARES member, fairly active in Amateur Radio Emergency Services, and am looking at new '06 Chargers/Magnums to fit my long inseam and

6'3" height. Yeah, I could probably find a 9C1 LT1 or similar Caprice somewhere, but I'd rather drive something less bulky as I have commute into a city and parking a whale like a Caprice is unfunny.

The Police edition of the Charger/Magnum has a beefier electrical system, as well as sturdier suspension and other performance/durability features I'd like.. so in order to get one, I think I'm looking for a fleet dealer (forgive me if my terminology is not correct) who'd batch my purchase (no police livery or MARS bar, of course) in with a purchase for a law enforcement agency.

Reply to
John Bartley
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And you are asking WHAT? P.S. Dealers cannot order Police spec vehicles for consumers. Only available for Governments, fleet accounts. So, If you do not have a government fleet code, you are not getting one. Oh, and a dealer would be in deeeeep Shit if he tried ordering one for a civilian on a governmet fleet account. Most likely end up in losing his franchise and fined.

Reply to
harts

Who are you, Jake from the Blue's Brothers? Why do you need cop shocks?

Reply to
General Schvantzkoph

Sorry I meant Elwood from the Blues Brothers. Elwood was the one who bought the used police car with the cop shocks and the cop engine, Jake was in Joliet when he did it.

Reply to
General Schvantzkoph

Uh-huh. And you do what for a living? Are you the fleet sales manager for a DaimlerChrysler dealership? You're not? Then STFU.

Reply to
Daniel J. Stern

Properly wiring your radio equipment in the car shouldn't require you to upgrade to a police spec model. I have a 50 watt rig in my car that is powered directly from the battery...I use a relay that is wired into the accessary line of the CD player. This way, my tranceiver comes on and off with the car but is still powered directly from the battery/alternator. This can be done in just about any car and I imagine a similiar set-up is all that comprises the radio console in police spec vehicles.

As far as the legality of driving a police spec vehicle, I do believe that police vehicles that are sold at auction must first undergo various mechanical modifications. The color and decals on former police vehicles are the obvious considerations in terms of legality. The same applies to the color of former school busses. ...Maybe you should looking into getting one of those?

73.
Reply to
jfbialek

Nope. Having owned several ex-police cars, I can say you are quite incorrect here. The decals, light bars, 2-way radios and other police cosmetics and comms equipment are removed, and in Canada the Daytime Running Lights are hooked back up if they've been disabled, but mechanically *nothing* is changed.

Nope, it's perfectly legal for a bus used for purposes other than school transport -- or any other vehicle, for that matter -- to be painted National School Bus Yellow. It's just that school buses *must* be painted that color.

DS

Reply to
Daniel J. Stern

Because the typical suspension package on a large American car is roughly equivalent to a bowl of soggy oatmeal? I'm surprised that anyone would ask that.

Personally, I think there would be a "niche" market for a police-package vehicle for the general public; I'd certainly be interested in one. Might improve private sector fleet sales as well; I would certainly prefer that my company car be so equipped and I'm sure taxi fleets would be interested as well (they currently seem to buy up all the used cruisers...) not only do cop cars handle better, but all the HD options make for better reliability and durability.

nate

Reply to
N8N

No I work for DC itself. And I know an individual cannot order this package. Maybe you should stick to lighting questions Daniel.

Reply to
harts

It is not illegal. It's just that DC has decided this RULE based on recommendations from the police forces that helped DC develop the pakages and such. And yes it is lgal for police forces to auction off used cruisers. however, the like of Michigan police and others they did not want civilians to be able to purchase Police equipped packages from dealers lots. There are various reasons not to, the biggest currently is to deter criminals wanting to make them look like police vehicles for illegal activities. That is why the can only be ordered for government fleet accounts.

Reply to
harts

In what capacity? Lots of people work for DC. Engineers...designers...secretaries...janitors...

Regardless of what you (think you) "know", it happens all the time.

Lighting is only one of my specialties. Heckling people who say stupid stuff is another.

Reply to
Daniel J. Stern

...which is reasonably easy to circumvent...

Horsepuckey. it's just as easy to dress up a civilian model as a phony cop unit as it is to dress up a cop unit as a cop unit. I think you're making it up as you go along.

Reply to
Daniel J. Stern

Too bad those "rules" don't help DC sell cars to the police.

Remember that pic that circulated some time ago - a 300C decked out like a marked police cruiser? How many of those has DC sold? In fact, I'd be hard pressed to identify any jursidiction that uses marked DC cars. Especially now, since Intrepids and Concords aren't made anymore.

On a slightly related topic, there's a house in my neighborhood where someone obviously works either at a Ford dealer or for the local police. There's usually a brand-new cop car sitting in the driveway every night. I mean brand-new - plasic-sheet protection still applied to the fenders, pained black and white, dog-dish wheels, spot-light, etc. No light rack, no lettering, logos, insignia of any kind. Don't know what kind of day job someone has to have to be driving that sort of vehicle home at night...

Um, so you're saying that having "cop shocks" and other drive-train and suspension goodies is somehow going to be visible to a civillian such that they'd mistake it for a real cop car?

Maybe the cops shouldn't drive completely un-marked cars for when they are performing their highway theivery if they don't want civillians to mistake *any* type of vehicle for a legit cop-mobile.

Reply to
MoPar Man

I'm not sure where you got your law degree from, but I'm going to have to disagree with that. Check out Title 39, Section 3-77.1 of the New Jersey Statutes. It states the following:

"No motor vehicle with a capacity of more than 16 passengers shall be painted National School Bus Chrome, unless it is used to transport children to or from a school, a summer day camp, or any school connected activity. When a motor vehicle is no longer used for these purposes, it shall be repainted a color distinctly different from National School Bus Chrome."

"National School Bus Chrome" is defined here:

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Similiar laws include Section 31-20-11 of Rhode Island Statutes and Section 49-1422 (4) of Idaho Statutes.

Reply to
JF Bialek

Our local (Chicago area) suburban mass transit, PACE, uses school busses to transport commuters to and from the train station. These are the exact same color as the school busses. The only difference is where the School Bus is so labeled and visible on the top from the front and rear and on the sides, these are labeled PACE. From a distance they appear identical.

Note that I'm not trying to say anything about NJ. I am just proving that Dan was correct and in Illinois, there is no such law.

Bob

Reply to
Bob Shuman

The suspension on the 300C is a good stiff suspension, it's not at all like the mushy suspension that you get on cars like Buicks. The HEMI Charger probably has the same sports suspension as the 300C.

Reply to
General Schvantzkoph

Who gives a crap what New Jersey has to say, except people dumb enough to carry on living there? The law requiring school buses to be painted NSBY is Federal. There is no corresponding Federal law requiring that decommissioned school buses be repainted another color *OR* prohibiting non-schoolbus vehicles being painted NSBY.

DS

Reply to
Daniel J. Stern

They also make great taxis.

----------- Alex

Reply to
Alex Rodriguez

Even if that is true (I have never driven one) a police package is still a Good Thing (tm) - it's basically like a handling package and towing package all rolled into one. Basically all the options that a car-savvy buyer would want for a car he's planning on keeping a long time all rolled into one convenient RPO.

nate

Reply to
N8N

Most of the good stuff in a police package is hidden from view. So if a criminal wants to make his car look like a cop car all he has to do is paint is and add some easily obtained extras. Very stupid reasoning.

--------------- Alex

Reply to
Alex Rodriguez

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