You mean like this? 
I actually keep to the traffic laws and drive a well-maintained car.
Your obsession with ‘ohmygodthatsACOPCAR’ is completely alien to me.
Too bad. That was my go to rental when I travel.
The OMG!!11!!! COP CAR!!11!!! thing has less to do with individual behavior and more to do with collective behavior. I’ve seen too many near-misses and a few actual collisions on the Interstate because some moron thinks he saw a cop car and slams on his brakes, which in turn, causes others to do the same. Because the focus then shifts to the possibility of a cop nearby, people stop paying attention to the traffic around them, which increases the risk of an accident.
That said, where Airman and I live, local police tend to enforce traffic-safety laws with a zeal normally reserved for members of the school safety patrol. It doesn’t matter how well you maintain your car, they will find something to cite you for. Hell, I know people with cars with legitimate out-of-state registrations who have been cited for cars that don’t meet Pennsylvania standards. It’s nice to know that local cops have solved all of the serious crime. :rolleyes:
I don’t think the police are happy about that either:
http://www.caranddriver.com/features/09q1/more_tickets_in_hard_times-feature
Back in the day when I worked in law enforcement, we had the big-ass Plymouths - the Satellite and later, the Fury. One of those bad boys with the big 383 engine sounded like a jet engine on startup. They were great cars, but all the while that we were driving them, we were bitching because they weren’t Vics.
The article you linked to is about aggressive citations for speeding, not about citations for other things. We live in an area that has a college and an Army base, and people who are here for either one are not required to change their registrations or driver’s licenses. And because they’re here, they can go to court to contest all or part of the citation, which at least some do. This overzealousness on the part of the police ends up costing more because the court’s time is valuable, and because the cop has to show up to defend something that he shouldn’t have done in the first place.
But this is getting far afield of the discussion. The initial hijack started with MostlyClueless’s assertion that s/he doesn’t understand why people get spooked when they see a Crown Vic because s/he drives within the speed limit and keeps his/her car in good condition. I was simply demonstrating that the latter sometimes doesn’t matter.
I’d love a low mile one as a 2nd or 3rd car. Throw a supercharger on it let the good times roll.
Ford has a history of perfecting a car and then abandoning it and the Crown Vic is one of those cars. they are huge, get great gas mileage for their size, ride well, and last a long time. It would be a great car to convert to an electric. You could put tons of batteries under the hood and in the trunk and STILL have room for 5 people and luggage. It would be a beast.
What I’d really like is a Mercury Marauder and swap in the new 5.0 Liter engine. it would be the Impala SS all over again.