Welcome to the Police Interceptor page

03/23/10: I knew about this guy that sells retired police cars over in Tarpon Springs. I've driven past the place countless times. Well, the Taurus starting spewing all kinds of fluids. Power steering fluid, transmission fluid and oil, so I decided to give it up. I bought that car for $3,000, drove it for 7,000 miles and then sold it for the same $3,000 that I paid for it. I think that I put *maybe* a hundred dollars or so into that car, the biggest portion of that being brake pads and magazine for the CD changer. I really liked that car, so much in fact that after I took a deposit on it, I almost talked the woman out of buying it. However, I do love trying a different vehicle every now and again.

Well, I took the day off and my first stop was at the dealer that sells the "cop cars". I looked at this one and found that it was dry underneath. I also looked at a Jeep Cherokee that was not dry underneath and a Cadillac that also wasn't taken care of. So I left and kept the police cruiser in the back of my head. I kind of didn't want it, so I tried really hard to find something else. I looked at a VW Golf, but it was kind of faggy and the dealer wouldn't work with me until after I walked out, screw him. The Golf was $4,900 plus tax and tag, which was kind of beyond my budget of (considerably) less than $4,900. That was because I only had $4,900 in my pocket and I didn't really want to blow it all. I really wanted something left over for gas and if the car needed any little bits or pieces replaced.

I drove all over Pasco, Hillsborough and Pinellas counties. I looked at an Extremely clean Land Rover Freelander, but it leaked worse than the Taurus. I also looked at a Sebring that leaked a lot, another Jeep that had a lot of dents in it, a Mitsubishi Montero that was just, not taken care of and a few others that were so unimpressive, that I don't even remember them. Finally I decided on the Crown Vic. I went back and tried to haggle, but only got $100 off of the price. That's OK, because the car was only $3,900 and it was clean, straight and very well maintained. Luckily, this little, tiny, rinky-dink shop was able to take care of all of the paperwork and got me on my way in short order. The owner Mike, was a real pleasure to do business with.

03/24/10: Holy Crap! Noone want's to go near me. Noone speeds up when I put on my directional. What a pleasure it is to drive this thing. I mean the car rides nice, kind of like a rattling old truck with a nice bit of oomph off of the line, but that's not what does it for me. The fact that people steer clear and let you drive makes this thing a real pleasure! The growl from the V8 is kind of intoxicating as well, but my wallet can't handle too much of that!

03/26/10: I realized that the car doesn't have a spare, so I called Mike and he said, no problem! I went and picked up the spare with jack and once again he was very nice. He told me that if I ever need anything for the car, I should call him.

03/27/10: I need something for the car. The wifey let me work on the car today. So I spent the day ripping out wiring and I removed the cage from the rollbar. That was a bitch. Anyway, I found that I was missing a clip for the headlight, a socket for the headlight was broken and I needed the bars to operate the doors from the inside. I stopped by to see Mike and he supplied me with all of the needed parts. This guy is REALLY nice! He also gave me a used Alpine deck for the car. He wasn't sure if it worked, but since it's for free, I really can't complain. Oh yeah, I hooked up the flashing headlights too...

04/02/10: I stopped at Karl's shop (Karl is a QC guy that I work with) for lunch today. Karl rents a little shop right by where we work. He was nice enough to polish out my head lights with his heavy duty orbital poilsher. He did in five minutes what would have taken me hours to do by hand. Tomorrow I plan to install the stereo, build a box for the console, so I store my junk in it, rather than the carboard box in the back seat and detail the car. Maybe, if I have time, I'll try to install the arm rest that I got from work. It came out of a comercial airliner. One man's junk is another mans treasure!

I've considered hooking up the strobes as well, but I don't want to get in trouble for impersonating an officer. The wig-wag headlights I put on a momentary switch, so that I can't accidentally leave them on. However, I don't think that wig-wag headlights are illegal, except, maybe if they are on a retired police car...

Right Side	Right Front	Left Side	Left Rear	Right Rear	Interior
Console	Back Seat	Engine	Brake Lines	Maintenance	Suspension
Cage Removal	Wires	More wires	Even more wires	That's a lot of wire!	Tidy electronics

04/03/10: I built an aluminum box for the console and removed the roll bar. I'm just not feeling it. Then I went to Best Buy and purchased a radio. I was going back and forth between getting a mounting kit for the dash and an extension for the antena, so that I could install the radio in the center console. After going back and forth for a while, I decided on the antena extension. I thought it would look pretty cool in the center console, like a police radio or controls for something. When I got home, Theresa reminded me that it would be dangerous to keep looking down, so I decided to put the radio into the factory location.

Reconfigured Console

Last weekend I had to trade my mother for her '08 BMW 328i. She needed the 'vic to move from her apartment to her new home. I actually miss it. The BMW is nice, but it's small and the site lines aren't nearly as good as the Ford. Also, I couldn't bring myself to putting the dog in her car. With the 'vic, it's got a vinyl back seat, so I don't sweat it. I still want a pickup, but I am content with this car for now.