Why I bought a Police Interceptor (p71)

OK, when I tell people I bought a police car, I always get the same question: “why?” Unless they’re on Facebook, since I documented the experience there. However, Facebook people always say “man…I thought you were joking!”

So here’s why I did it.

16+ years of information technology work and management has finally impacted my mindset to a point where it affects my life decisions. To me, a tech purchase (including a car) is about functionality, reliability, and “industrial strength elegance”.

I look at a Sony desktop with all it’s bells and whistles and immediately think of things that I don’t need. I am appalled at how fragile Macbooks are. I consistently find places in cellphones and PDA’s of all brands where I’d rather have a shortcut than a pretty looking interface (the original Blackberrys excelled in this area). Little plastic parts make me nervous.

Our desire for fancy-pants technology is working against us in terms of quality experience. I had a rear projection TV for 10 years with no problems (in fact, it’s still in use at our church), but my Vizio lasted 16 months before developing flickers and lines. What good is high def if the picture goes bad?

In short, our throwaway high-tech world has become expensively annoying.

The automotive world has started to look the same way. All these fun little bells and whistles on today’s cars are pretty much just one more thing to break. When my Saturn died, all the ‘cheap’ and/or ‘high value’ options were questionable. I needed something that would “just work”, and be cheap and easy to fix when it didn’t.

If you’ve been in IT long enough, you eventually get asked “What is a server anyway”. And the answer is very similar to why I bought this car. A server is a computer with the best components, solid physical construction, high performance, and built in resiliency. There is no ‘sizzle’ in a server to draw your eye in a display at Best Buy. It’s about getting the job done for days, months, and years on end….with no planned downtime. And despite what you might think, servers look pretty cool too.

Ford’s Police Interceptor is the server of cars. It has a basic and heavy duty drive train; high performance brakes; A durable, tight suspension; A rugged and kid-proof interior. The body is modular and easy to fix (the way cars used to be). There are tons of these vehicles out there and they are all standard. The car is well documented and you can get to all the parts if you want to fix or modify something. Like I said: “industrial strength elegance”.

It was cheap too. A comparable normal car would be tens of thousands of dollars, and I found this one for four digits. Even with the added fuel expense, I’m anticipating this vehicle to be much cheaper over the next few years. I guess we’ll see!

Here are some pics of the new ride:

Still looks like a police car, and people are on their best behavior until they realize you’re just some dude in a white car.

Also looks like a grandpa car, but that’s ok. I can’t be defined by my car. Don’t label me man!

Nope, I won’t be putting spinners or 19 inch rims on it. The nice thing about ‘normal’ tires is that I can buy high performance, long life tires for 100 bucks each.

Yep, the spotlight is still attached. And it’s bright! I can blind the cat from across the yard.

The engine on this baby is immaculate. Very well taken care of. It looks brand new.

Steel brake lines. You won’t find that on cars that cost 4 or 5 times as much.

The back seat of patrol cars is modular. They rip out the original seats and install the plastic and the cages. This one had an original stock seat installed after it was de-commissioned. The back door latches are still disabled though, so I have to fix that. In the meantime it’s the ultimate child safety feature!

Also note that the floor is a rubberized plastic floor. I’ll get some decent floormats, but it’s nice to know you can scrub it out if the kids track in mud or something.

Another minor project. The police install department specific electronics in the middle. I’ll have to get a 3rd party armrest. There are some really nice ones for under $100.

In many ways, this car is more of a traditional sports car than most official “sports cars”. Today a sports car is more of a touring automobile. This no frills, basic instrumentation is more in line with days of old. The only problem is it’s missing a tachometer, which would usually be considered standard issue.

Full size spare, and I could fit my old car in this trunk.

The vehicle is a hackers dream….power everywhere, all sorts of little connections and settings. There are several modification guides that show you how to how to customize the car to a wide range of specs. Different departments and agencies do different things to them.

So there you have it!

(BTW, people joke about me wanting to look like a police officer…but that ain’t it. It is amusing to watch people suddenly obey the law because the car looks like a law enforcement vehicle. But I don’t really have any desire to be shot at because someone thinks I’m something I’m not. Plus, I know and respect many people in various areas of law enforcement and I would never disrespect them by trivializing their calling in such a way.)