Reply With QuoteI have also seen a few sleeper Chargers with those well-hidden wig-wag LEDs.
A new use for the new GTO: Cuffin' and Stuffin'
By Eric Peters
for immediate release
The new GTO may not be doing very well in the civilian market -- where sales are neck and neck for last place with Pontiac's latter-day Edsel, the Aztek -- but cops are taking to the reborn muscle car icon like a 16-oz cup of coffee and a dozen Bavarian creme dougnuts.
I spied my first one maybe three months ago; a red one that at first seemed to be just a new GTO -- the first one I'd seen near where I live. Then I caught those wig-wag lights on the dash; but otherwise it looked dangerously, deceptively stock. The kind of car you'd be tempted (well, if you were me!) to slide up next to at a light, gun your engine and "see what she's got."
The surprise would be an ugly one.
I thought maybe it was an aberration -- an asset-forfeiture/drug seizure vehicle turned to police service. But then in the paper this morning, there was an article about the Boones Mill, Virginia (not far from where I live in rustic Floyd, Va.) acquiring a brand-new "Goat" for service as an unmarked pursuit vehicle -- a role for which the GTO's 350-hp V-8 and a six-speed manual transmission are ideally suited.
Ouch.
And you can bet your bippie that if small town departments like Boones Mill (a real- life Hazzard County if ever there was one) think it's worth the scratch to buy GTOs for high-speed pursuit/traffic enforcement, big city departments are going to follow-suit.
It's only a matter of time before you find yourself being pulled over for a piece of payin' paper by a reborn legend. And if you plan to run, son, you'd better be packing some serious heat. The '05 GTO's will have even more horsepower -- an almost-NASCAR 400-hp, in fact -- and have 160-plus top-speed capability.
The long arm of the law just got a lot longer!
The GTO's useable back seat is also much better for "cuffin' and stuffin' fleeing felons than the cramped confines of a Camaro Z28 -- the other "stealth" pursuit vehicle many departments have been using for high-speed work during the past decade or so. But Camaros have been out of production since the '02 model year -- and the miles are racking up fast. No Smokey worth his radar gun wants to be saddled with a tired-out Camaro -- especially when there's a newer, faster ride in town. In particular, one that most people would never associate with an undercover Smokey (unlike, say, a plain-looking Chevy Impala or Ford Crown Vic with blackwall tires and one too many antennas).
That's what's so sneaky about turning the GTO into a cop car. Everyone knows that only AARPers -- and cops -- drive boats like the Crown Vic. So it's fairly easy to pick them out of a crowd; if you see blue hair, you're clear. But if it's a guy under 50 alone -- red light! Slow down; ease behind that semi -- and ride it out.
But a GTO?
Who's gonna suspect?
If you're interested in boning up on the opposition, it's worthwhile to check out the online publication, Police Fleet Manager (see http://www.pfmmag.com ). Believe it or not, they actually publish all the details about current police service vehicles -- which models are in use, what they're packing, etc. This is like being in WW2 and having access to a full intelligence briefing on German or Japanese capabilities.
Very handy!
Boning up on what's being deployed could definitely save you a ticket. Meanwhile, be extremely wary of any new "Goat" you come across out there. It's just as likely to be Johnny Law as it is to be a guy looking to race for pink slips.
Forewarned is forearmed!
END
I have also seen a few sleeper Chargers with those well-hidden wig-wag LEDs.
Eric
but cops are taking to the reborn muscle car icon like a 16-oz cup of coffee and a dozen Bavarian creme dougnuts.
QLD Police have a few of them here also. ..but they are well marked
http://www.nextcar.com.au/n.holden.m...ice.05nov.html
Interesting last sentence comment about the stellar run.... Then why end production. I don't notice many of them as private cars on the road...or is it that they re not really noticeable
Rex
On the Sunshine Coast, in the Sunshine State Queensland (QLD), Australia
Yes, me too.
DC is selling fleet/policer service versions all over the country... everyone be warned and learn to "ID" these cars in the same cautionary category as a white/grey/dark blue Impala or Crown Vic (without the AARP sticker)!
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