The mechanism that controls the passenger window failed, it was a 50 dollar part at the junkyard.
When i got the car at a county auction for 1600 dollars the only problems it had was, the gas cap was missing, and when i got it home and washed it, the left front headlight filled up with water.
About the biggest problem the car has is that it is so shiny and clean, it has the little gold emblems in the rear door windows that say police interceptor, when driving in traffic and a real cop passes me, or vice-versa, they always look over to see if they know me.
The only real fault, if you can call it that, is in parallel parking, the throttle pressure is not like a normal car. With a regular car you push down the throttle until the engine revs up to give some motion to the direction you want the car to go, not so with this car,,, the first couple of times parallel parking were really close calls in hitting the brakes just in time, the throttle pressure is almost feather reactive, a tiny motion of the accelerator, and the car responds accordingly. If you are new to the driving of one of these vehicles this will be one thing that has to be learned.
There is nothing like the ride of a big car, for a vehicle that weighs about 4300 pounds, its acceleration and its handling is excellent.
The ride is comfortable and smooth, the car has new shocks and new tires on it, they really make a difference in handling and control.
I went on a trip recently to Kentucky, about 250 miles each way, the car averaged about 30 miles to the gallon on gas.
The auction that the car came from was a county government surplus vehicle auction, they had 49 white cars and one blue one, the average price for '95 thru '97 cars was about 1100 dollars, I wanted the blue one, and for 1600 dollars it was the "deal of the day", people walked up to me and told me that I got the best car out there.
A used cop car "in color", has a much higher resale value and is much easier to take care of, white cars seem to be attract flocks of birds that use them as targets.
A clean car is a happy car, a couple cans of wax and polish and the rainwater beads up, for a car that is built to take the punishment that its life as a police car may have had, this car seems to have stood up very well, when i got it the dashboard and carpet were stained with the gummy residue of what must have been gallons of coffee spilled repeatedly from the undersize cup holder in the slide out ashtray/cup holder/cigarette lighter assembly in the middle of the dashboard,,, it took almost a can of that foaming scrubbing bubbles spray cleaner to get the stains out, i actually had to use a screwdriver to pry out the ash tray from its gummy restraints.
The overall review of this car is that it is a fun car for driving, it gets up and goes vroom, and it will do it all day long and it is an excellent cruiser, whether at 35 mph or at highway speeds, it has a whole list of advantages over regular production cars, heavy duty this and that, lower gears in the rear axle, one key opens all the locks, the one thing i dont understand is the intentional disabling of the interior lights, but the advantages of the beefed up parts and accessories found on surplus police cars is certainly a plus to owning one.
This vehicle is very much worthy of regular oil and fluid changes, a regular checking of the air pressure in the tires, and good old fashioned hand washings and waxings in the driveway.
These are very well built heavy duty performance cars, and they continue to perform very well when they are well cared for.
Notice you did not mention gas mileage, which ex-police cars are not noted for; you may want to reassess your rating of running costs when the mpg is factored in.
You are correct about the heavy-duty equipment, but the trade-off is that by the time they are auctioned off, most police cars have been beaten to hell, although you can occasionally find a good one; the unmarked cars used by detectives and higher-ranking officers usually seem to be in better condition; hopefully yours is one of those.
That attention you mentioned getting from police while driving is probably not from them trying to see if they know you, at least not as a fellow officer. Cops know that the "bad guys" like to buy these cars at auctions so don't be surprised if you seem to attract as much attention from the police as the ricer with the tinted windows and neons!
The reason for disabled lighting is a safety feature that enables for the best possible situation when an officer does not need to be seen, as a shooting target when he/she opens the door on the car as he runs to it for cover. Many officers have been victims of, setting ducks so to speak, when someone shoots them at night when the officer opens up the door. It just lowers the chances of being shot or seen when the lighting has been disabled.
Also in many cities the tag lights are disabled as well to try to make the entire cop cars seem to blend in with each other. No one can tell if that is the same cop car that drove through hear 5-minutes ago or not. "Are they on to us or is that a different cop, I can't tell they all look the same. I bet that they are not on to us" Next they are busted.
If you go to http://www.p71interceptor.com/lcm/darkcar.html you can find the info on how to enable normal interior lighting. The p71interceptor site is comprehensive!
Better yet go to www.crownvic.net.
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