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Topic starter
17/02/2022 8:20 am Â
Road Champs made two distinct castings of the 1990s Chevrolet Caprice. The first had the 1992 car's rounded rectangular rear wheel fender opening. When the 1:1 was changed to a circular fender opening in 1993, Road Champs revised their casting. Both were numbered 643029. The models were issued in 1996 and 1997, respectively, and sold for about $4 in stores like Walmart. RC issued almost every state's highway patrol car, then issued them for various cities, territories, Canadian provences, etc. I believe Pennsylvannia was a hold-out, jealously guarding their logos and seal, but enterprising modellers offered their own "Code 3" versions. The two versions have 1992 and 1993 where an authentic plate ought to be.
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17/02/2022 10:30 am Â
I saw many of those for sale over time but never realized there were two versions! 🤔
If I had seen a TN, IL, or IN version in front of me ever, I would have snagged one! 🤨Â
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Harv Goranson and Harv Goranson reacted
17/02/2022 10:38 am Â
We used these these as patrol cars. They went not too bad and handled almost as well as the beloved square Chevys (best police car ever made IMO). I understand they had the same underpinnings as the earlier Caprice. The only downside was the ABS brakes; our department mechanic said that we would wear out the front brakes and rotors in 12,000 miles and it cost the department a fortune.Â
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17/02/2022 11:36 am Â
Interesting observation Harv. I'll dig out mine to see which configurations of the rear wheel arch that I have.
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Harv Goranson and Harv Goranson reacted
17/02/2022 9:39 pm Â
That diecast made a great base for this one but I always thought they were kind of ugly cars.
John F. Quilter
Eugene, Oregon USA
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18/02/2022 10:41 am Â
A friend was in charge of purchasing all police vehicles for our city...he told me the Caprice not only had front brake problems but also front end suspension failure and front seat failure. He also said the Crown Victorias were far more durable in every way and when they were auctioned off brought twice the money.
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18/02/2022 2:04 pm Â
A friend was in charge of purchasing all police vehicles for our city...he told me the Caprice not only had front brake problems but also front end suspension failure and front seat failure. He also said the Crown Victorias were far more durable in every way and when they were auctioned off brought twice the money.
This is interesting Bob. When I started in 1979 the department fleet was Chevy Impalas after giving up on the high repair Dodge Coronets through the mid 70s. The guys loved them and they took an incredible beating as you can imagine. Unfortunately the purchasing Inspector (a penny pinching non-car guy sadly) went with a replacement fleet of police package Dodge Aspens (unbelievable I know) in 1980. These cars went like stink and otherwise were garbage in every category....so bad in fact that we dumped them all after only 40K miles per and the same guy bought a fleet of 81 Mercurys. These were average at best, slower than the Chevys and handled much poorer at speed; especially in pursuits. The Inspector retired thankfully and we went with Chevy Impalas after that; right up until GM stopped making the police package. It was the Ford Crown Vics after that which were quite decent IMO, but they never came close to the durability of the Chevys. Trade in values were similar between these two though...the taxi companies loved them. We always dumped them at 100k miles and the cabbies rolled on for another 300k miles after that so I found out. Personally I have always thought that police cars should be scrapped/parted out after police use....I know the incredible pounding they get! It's a moot point now though as the taxi companies are all just into Prius and the like.
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18/02/2022 5:21 pm Â
Jack, When Ford announced they were dropping the Crown Victoria a friend, who owned a Ford dealership, bought 400 police units and within two months had sold them all. Your comments regarding the Dodge Aspens sounds like the comments I hear about the Dodge Chargers today.
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18/02/2022 5:29 pm Â
Jack, When Ford announced they were dropping the Crown Victoria a friend, who owned a Ford dealership, bought 400 police units and within two months had sold them all. Your comments regarding the Dodge Aspens sounds like the comments I hear about the Dodge Chargers today.
Wow....he was very fortunate to be allowed that many from Ford. Obviously he is a very smart guy! I wonder if they all went to police use or did some go to civilians?
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