How often are police interceptors cycled out?

The auto shop guys at the school I teach at were at a auction yesterday. A miled out Taurus PI. went for 6200 Canadian dollars. That's a lot of car for that money. I immediately thought of this thread

The condition and mileage will vary greatly. They don't always go hand-in-hand either. Crown Vic prices are low, because the car count is high. White is the most common, price is usually lower. We have a 2000 Chevy Impala 9C1 we picked up in 2008 with 67,000 miles - used mostly for city and SWAT team use. In the mid to late 90's, I had an 85 Impala I bought with 150K that I sold at 200K and last I heard was still running at almost 300K after 2 teens drove it. I've witnessed old police cars to go 300K. The LS V8 Chevy Tahoes would also make a good family car/driver. But I'd really like a 6.0 LS Caprice or 5.7 HEMI Charger. Black of course.

Good luck finding a Hemi Charger. The engines do NOT tolerate all of the idling that cruisers do. The exhaust rockers/valves suffer from oil starvation.

That's most of why junkyard Hemis are so expensive. Unlike the 4.8/5.3/6.0, there is a high demand for used engines because they fail a lot in service.

(I just had one of those moments where I think about what I just said, if I told Me From 20 Years Ago that I just said it. "Hemi Charger" times "police cruiser" = "yeah right!" And "junkyard Hemi"? Where, in the row with all of the ZL1s and Cammers?)

In reply to Knurled:

that is probably why the prices are dropping fast on the used HEMI police cruisers

I wouldn't touch a twin turbo v6 police interceptor with a mile long stick.

lol can you imagine if they used a 300ZX as a police interceptor? The nightmare would be real owning one of those.

The P71s are popular because they are simple and easy to fix with little to go wrong. Everything an awd turbo car is not.

TIGMOTORSPORTS wrote: In reply to Knurled: that is probably why the prices are dropping fast on the used HEMI police cruisers

Could be. The rest of the car is a pain to deal with too. Some suspension related repair isn't too bad but some is horrible in ways that make you remember that the chassis was designed by Mercedes. And police cruiser is equal to frequent suspension repair. I think the PD that was subbing work out to my shop was replacing P71 control arms every 2-3k.

If the cooling system is adequate and the oil is reasonably fresh, I don't see why idling would cause any substantial mechanical wear.

And they are serviced regularly. Packaging on the ecoboost AWD isn't bad. Especially if you go single turbo.

In reply to chuckles:

Top end oiling in a modern pushrod engine is a balancing act between getting enough oil up there and keeping oil mist from getting ingested through the PCV system. Chrysler erred to the side of insufficient oil.

Although, I understand that the original Hemis and the 426 Hemis also suffered from top end lube problems when idled around a lot, so maybe it is simply more a problem if you are trying to drive a canted valve with a rocker and no direct means of lubrication. http://speedtalk.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=35747#p432981

Knurled wrote: In reply to chuckles: Top end oiling in a modern pushrod engine is a balancing act between getting enough oil up there and keeping oil mist from getting ingested through the PCV system. Chrysler erred to the side of insufficient oil. Although, I understand that the original Hemis and the 426 Hemis also suffered from top end lube problems when idled around a lot, so maybe it is simply more a problem if you are trying to drive a canted valve with a rocker and no direct means of lubrication. http://speedtalk.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=35747#p432981

For this reason, I would think grabbing a known Highway Patrol Hemi Charger would be ideal. At least the ones in Oklahoma actually patrol, instead of idling at speed traps.

Appleseed wrote: I would love to see a Hobbs meter on a squad car and see how many HOURS are on it by the time of retirement.

There's a car at the entrance to the Brooklyn Bridge that has probably been idling for a good three years.

kanaric wrote: I wouldn't touch a twin turbo v6 police interceptor with a mile long stick. lol can you imagine if they used a 300ZX as a police interceptor? The nightmare would be real owning one of those. The P71s are popular because they are simple and easy to fix with little to go wrong. Everything an awd turbo car is not.

A twin turbo Nissan from 25 years ago is quite a different animal than a twin turbo family sedan of today.

My current one at my new department is a 2011 Impala with 114k miles. It was a civil division car before I got it so it was babied plus we take care of the cars. My previous department had Impalas that might go 45 miles in a shift but idle all 12 hours. They were totally worn out around 70k miles. Plus that department viewed anything beyond an oil change as a major repair. When my Impala gets phased out it will be replaced by a Caprice.

It always seemed like p71s the cab co bought were well maintained straight from the departments and would come in at 115,000 miles or so. The less cool down cycles the better shape the motors where in (like the chicago criusers, i assume, were used 24/7 as opposed to just rush hour twice a day from a small town cruisers). They would all have a good amount of running hours but no where near what they would get being used as cabs.

More off topic from here but someone else mentioned taxis first The cab co i was at would run them until they got totalled out in a crash. The company would get $6000 from the insurance company and $2k from the drivers bond if the cab driver was at fault. Then they would only buy them for $1500-2500. I have never seen so many 450,000+ miles cars in any one place maybe 15 out of ~100.

The mechanic s always complained about shocks, bushing, and electrical issues from the police systems getting yanked out with little regard for the next owner.