Speedo Calibration

[tbear853]

I know Prince William County PD got some new Fords in '78, biggest engine they could get was 400 with a 2bbl carb or maybe it was a 2bbl vv? I don't know who paid, county of officers, but a couple of the cars got an Edelbrock intake and Holley carb. I remember that we thought they got 460s and wondered why such dogs, then we were told by several officers. Would slow us up on I-95 if responding to the same call. In '79 they got some Malibus, they seemed even slower. Like one night got a "shots fired" call from a Trooper up near the north end, I and a buddy were down off 234, so we headed north in the third lane, ran up on a Ford doing all of 105, tough on the brakes of my Plymouth. He showed us his cars engine after the call was safe, his had the OEM 400.

[DerekTheGreat]

Jesus, brand new and the thought is, "these are terribly slow." LoL. What were your favorite PI cars? Did MoPar do anything special for police package cars or was that just a GM and Ford thing?

[tbear853]

Jesus, brand new and the thought is, "these are terribly slow." LoL. What were your favorite PI cars? Did MoPar do anything special for police package cars or was that just a GM and Ford thing?

I loved my '78 Plymouth, last year of the 440, had 2.76 rears but 1st was good to near 60, 2 took you into the triples. It ran much better after Bobby at Springmall Dodge fixed it. I thought the '81 Ford was comfortable enough but 351vv2bbl was a dog . I traded it to a buddy to get his '80 Plymouth Gran Fury. It had a 360, but it run pretty fair until I blowed the motor up, never really run great after that. I had two '82 Plymouth that we call "baby Furies", 318 but with a 4bbl, they were just OK, but would crack 120. I liked my '85 Caprice and really liked my '89 Caprice, then the '93 Caprice was nice, but Sgt traded me a '91 red unmarked that really was a good car, then I got a '94 Caprice slick top Caprice, LT-1 ... it was a good car, and then I got a '98 CV marked unit as those unmarkeds were dangerous and I had enough close calls. My next two were a '00 and a '06 CVPI. I guess the least liked car I had was that '81 Ford, what a dog, I often said I liked the '78 Plymouth the best.

I was always told the Mopars were not special except that they did offer some better engine options for police cars. Otherwise, I think they were pretty much what you could buy except they did put good brake pads on them and they had good radiators, the little hub caps with holes I was told was to col front wheel bearings, and they had a revised wire harness and ground straps everywhere. My '78 had a bench seat, then the rest had bucket seats. They did move the lean burn 'putor off the air cleaner and put it inside the car for cooling it. They were unibodies. I was told they had a stronger roof structure. Black rubber floor mat in the '78 was easy to clean. They put the "ticket light" in just like Ford & GM.

[CountrySedan]

What were the differences between the 78 PI 460 and regular version?

So there were 3 flavors of the 460 available in "Police Cars" between 73 and 78. (The 460 became an option in the full-size Fords in 73 and the 460 became the police engine.) The "C" code 460 "Interceptor" had a different camshaft and heads with slightly larger valves. It also had an electric fuel pump as the the mechanical one would starve the engine for fuel during extended wide open throttle. The Police "Cruiser" 460 was the passenger engine with all the add-on coolers. It was code "A" in the VIN, like the civilian 460. And the passenger 460 was also available in police cars.

In 77, when the LTD II replaced the Torino, the largest engine available was the 400-2v. I was not aware of a 460 being available in a Police LTD II, but apparently it was.

[tbear853]

So there were 3 flavors ... etc ...
In 77, when the LTD II replaced the Torino, the largest engine available was the 400-2v. I was not aware of a 460 being available in a Police LTD II, but apparently it was.

Prince William County could only get the 400 2v in their '78 LTD II police cars.

[gadget73]

maybe it was just a regular LTD then, its been a long time. Whatever it was, it had a 460, and that wasnt available on non-police cars that year

[CountrySedan]

The 460 was not available in California in 1978, leaving the 400-2v as the largest available engine. The 460 was an option in the other 49 states in civilian vehicles. Both the 400 and 460 were gone in 79, when the down-sized boxes appeared.

[Mainemantom]

I sold my 75 Ltd 460 with the police package about two years ago. I had it since 1991. There are pictures on this site somewhere. It was a good car. I don't miss it though. I previously owned 85,88 CV patrol cars and a 85 Diplomat. I did not like the Dodge Diplomats. Tough car however the "high performance" 318 was weak at high speeds plus Diplomats bring back bad memories. As far a GM, the 89 Caprice was the most durable. My favorites was the 91 CV and the 96 CV. The Mustangs killed my back. Camaros liked to get stuck in the center dividers and the oil pans got torn off.
Don't know if anyone remembers when Ford Maverick, Dodge Dart, Chevy Nova, Plymouth Reliant, Ford Fairmont and LTD (fox body) were tried out and mostly failed as patrol cars. All because of the 'gas crisis" Some cities used the Diplomat with the 225 6 cyl. for many years.