# Legality of owning and driving ex police car **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 13, 2008, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legality-of-owning-and-driving-ex-police-car/445206 "2008-04-13T21:25:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Will\_Repair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a698b9/32.png) [@Will\_Repair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Will_Repair)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2008, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legality-of-owning-and-driving-ex-police-car/445206/21 "2008-04-14T16:56:32Z")
[QUOTE=TheLoadedDog] They do punish the vehicles, but they also maintain the things excellently well - and they get rid of them young. [/QUOTE] Click and Clack, the Car Talk brothers advise against getting old police cars. Not because they’re punished but because the engines have been used for many hours without showing that much actual mileage. The cars sit a long time with the motor running, wearing out the engine even thought the the mileage will be low. ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2008, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legality-of-owning-and-driving-ex-police-car/445206/22 "2008-04-14T17:10:57Z")
I owned a ex LA County Sheriff’s car. 1968 Plymouth Fury. That was one fast sum bitch and it handled too. Fun times. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2008, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legality-of-owning-and-driving-ex-police-car/445206/23 "2008-04-14T17:48:13Z")
[QUOTE=Balthisar] First, the Crown Vic is an awesome car. It’s _not_ a sports car, but **it’s probably the most comfortable thing on the road today** – body on frame construction and all that. It gets decent mileage for its size, and the power is reasonable for its size. The amount of space as a driver, passenger, and rear seat passenger is amazing (being 6’2", I think about these things!). And the trunk space leaves nothing to be desired. On the other hand, it’s not sporty. [/QUOTE] Bit of hyperbole there, no? ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Slant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c57346/32.png) [@Mr.Slant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Slant)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2008, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legality-of-owning-and-driving-ex-police-car/445206/24 "2008-04-14T17:58:25Z")
At one point, New York State had a law forbidding the “Police Interceptor” badge on the trunk lid of the newer CV police vehicles from being displayed on non-police vehicles. ---
**Author:** ![danceswithcats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9e8a1a/32.png) [@danceswithcats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/danceswithcats)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2008, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legality-of-owning-and-driving-ex-police-car/445206/25 "2008-04-14T19:07:32Z")
[QUOTE=Rick] I owned a ex LA County Sheriff’s car. 1968 Plymouth Fury. That was one fast sum bitch and it handled too. Fun times. [/QUOTE] Gonna guess 440 Interceptor with a Carter Thermoquad carb. Damndest carburetor I ever came across (to rebuild). ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2008, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legality-of-owning-and-driving-ex-police-car/445206/26 "2008-04-14T22:13:19Z")
[QUOTE=Really Not All That Bright] Bit of hyperbole there, no? [/QUOTE] Well, yeah 😉 The Town Car probably is a bit more comfortable, though. ---
**Author:** ![drachillix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/48db29/32.png) [@drachillix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drachillix)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2008, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legality-of-owning-and-driving-ex-police-car/445206/27 "2008-04-14T22:52:09Z")
[QUOTE=Hostile Dialect] Speaking of taxis, why the hell are all the _taxi_ cars Crown Vics too? [/QUOTE] Anything that is going to be a common model for a police car is going to have a massive parts infrastructure to back it. The larger the # of vehicles in service the larger the OEM parts allocations will be for supporting them, making it more likely that parts will be plentiful for many years as well as making more cost effective for 3rd parties to make parts when OEM stocks start to shrink/disappear. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2008, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legality-of-owning-and-driving-ex-police-car/445206/28 "2008-04-14T23:11:06Z")
The post title made me think of this (should be familiar to most people): > [@](#): > > Jake: What’s this? > > Elwood: What? > > Jake: This car. This stupid car. Where’s the Cadillac? The Caddy? Where’s the Caddy? > > Elwood: The what? > > Jake: The Cadillac we used to have. The Blues Mobile! > > Elwood: I traded it. > > Jake: You traded the Blues Mobile for this? > > Elwood: No. For a microphone. > > Jake: A microphone? Okay I can see that. Well, what the hell is this? > > Elwood: This was a bargain. I picked it up at the Mount Prospect City Police auction last spring. It’s an old Mount Prospect Police Car. They were practically giving them away. > > Jake: Well, thank you pal, the day I get out of prison, my own brother picks me up in a police car. > > [Fog horn and warning bell sounds.] > Elwood: You don’t like it? > > Jake: No, I don’t like it. > [Elwood drives over a raising draw bridge.] > > Jake: Cars got a lot of pick up. > > Elwood: It’s got a cop motor, a four hundred and forty cubic inch plant, it’s got cop tires, cop suspension, cop shocks, it was a model made before catalytic converters so it’ll run good on regular gas. Whaddya say? Is it the new Blues Mobile or what? > > Jake: Fix the cigarette lighter. Carry on. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2008, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legality-of-owning-and-driving-ex-police-car/445206/29 "2008-04-15T03:08:03Z")
My brother drove a dark-colored Crown Victoria for a while. Rather than people slowing down around, him, sometimes when he would slowly cruise through certain parking lots, groups of people all of a sudden seemed in a hurry to walk or drive away. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legality-of-owning-and-driving-ex-police-car/445206.md?page=1)