Topic: Not bike related at all...but anyone have any Police Auction experience?

[ColinMc]

Well my truck sharted a valve a couple months ago and so I need some winter transportation...I figured maybe picking up a used police crown vic or something at an auction could be fun and hopefully cheap. I'm in NY, but does anyone have any experience with those auctions, are there other ways to acquire these cars? Any recommendations? Hell, i'd even take a beat to hell taxi cab at this point lol. I've just always wanted a crown vic that I could black out and beat the crap out of lol...why not make it a winter car? Any input would be appreciated!

Thanks,
Colin

[BobbyR]

Yeah, i knew a guy who ran them and people who bought some cars. Cop Cars are beat to hell. They have multiple drivers so different parts of the car are worn by different driving styles. They idle for very long periods of time. Most of the problems are in the tranny. It is a crap shoot. The Detective cars are the best bet. I love Crown Vics personally. I had one for 15 years. Crappy traction, but real comfortable.

[Jinxracing]

I've had some experience driving ex-police cars...was a cabbie for a few years in my younger days here in Southern California. All of our cabs were from police auctions, and they were all fairly nice when they came in.

The Sheriff patrol cars were late '80s/early '90s Caprices at the time, with the occasional Dodge Diplomat from the CHP. The detective Caprices that came in were in the nicest shape, but were bone stock underneath while the Caprice patrol cars were a little more beat up but pretty beefy underneath; HD suspension and tires and faster than you'd think.

The real monsters were the CHP cars though. Those Diplomats had bucket seats, awfully stiff springs and swaybars, handled shockingly well, and would flat out haul ass. I got clocked one night at 127mph (and still accelerating) coming up the 5 from San Diego with a fare in the back. Luckily, I only got written up for 85 in a 65, but that took some fast talking. 

[seaweb11]

  All of our cabs were from police auctions, and they were all fairly nice when they came in.

Remind yourself on the way to the auction..don't buy a cab, don't buy a cab,don't buy a cab,don't buy a cab,

[Jinxracing]

Remind yourself on the way to the auction..don't buy a cab, don't buy a cab,don't buy a cab,don't buy a cab,

Yeah, I probably should have mentioned that, so here goes...

For god's sake man, whatever you do, DO NOT BUY A CAB! The horrible things that go on inside and outside of those poor cars...it would be ungentlemanly of me to elaborate. 

[USN20]

Good article on how cabbies get 300K on crown vic ex-police cars:

http://www.hendonpub.com/resources/articlearchive/details.aspx?ID=373

[ColinMc]

Lol, maybe i'll just find a Grand Marquis, Crown Vic or something from the local want ads for cheap...perhaps from an old lady that never drove it lol.

[Rushoid]

I never dealt with the police auction but I did have a '95 police interceptor. It was a detective's car so it was in good shape compared to the patrol cars. Actually, here's a pic:



I had it for a couple of years and never had one problem with it. I loved that car and never should have sold it. Oh well.

By the way, Police Interceptors have "P71" in the vin. Some people try to pass off fleet cars (cabs, government cars) as police cars because of the spot light and trim, but unless it has "P71" in the vin, it ain't an Interceptor.

[DammitDan]

My brother in law told me about a car he used to have that he bought at an auction...  Though the auction was a little more exclusive.  He knew a guy who worked with federal police auctions.  He got an FBI crown vic that was the section chief's vehicle for something like $4000.  The thing only had 50,000 miles on it and was only a few years old.

He said he could make it smoke the tires at 40mph 

[jrtruckn]

Be careful with those police auctions. I had a friend that worked for the Department of Justice. Got married and his new wife's father had bought her a car from a police auction. Was suppose to be an undercover cop car. Turned out the car had been seized in a drug raid. He got pulled over at a DUI check point. Police dog hit hot on the car. Turned out there was about 50 pounds of drugs hidden in the car. He almost lost his job. Luckly her father was able to produce a bill of sale and they were able to track the car back through police channels but it took about 4 months.

[754]

JR lucky someone did not come and take the car from them at gunpoint!!

[ColinMc]

Wow, Usually any car that is seized, from a drug raid or for ANY reason is hit with the dogs from the get go before they can even think about auctioning it. So that exact thing doesn't happen. Something went wrong somewhere I guess lol.