72Fury
Senior Member
Fc_plumcrazy and 71dk41, you have some really neat cars.
1971 California Highway Patrol
- Thread starter polara71
- Start date
polara71
Old Man with a Hat
Welcome to the board.... one of these days i'll own one
Fratzog
Old Man with a Hat
Outstanding. Welcome aboard. Tell us more about your ride and more pics under the hood and interior.
Same here lets see and hear more about this car.
71dk41
New Member
First of all this is the real deal,not just a paint job on a 4 door sedan car.
The 71 CHP Cruiser is correct down to the shot gun and ticket book. the trunk has all of the items that a CHP Sergeant would have carried on patrol. Most of the items have been donated by retired officers or their families. I have the plate style bellows camera and skid mark checker used for accident investigation, portable GE "lunch box" radio, the Geiger counter, Riot helmet & gas mask, first aid kit & fire extinguisher. All of these items are marked "State of Cailf. Highway Patrol.
Inside I have the correct Motorola Motrac Radio and PA-20, shotgun rack with night lamp, all log books for both the officer and the cruiser. the wooden "billy club", correct shotgun, rear package shelf lights.
Under the hood It is all original with the 440 Magnum, Air conditioning and NO Power Steering. What a bear to park! On the open road it still will reach 140 mph + with no problem.
The 71 CHP Cruiser is correct down to the shot gun and ticket book. the trunk has all of the items that a CHP Sergeant would have carried on patrol. Most of the items have been donated by retired officers or their families. I have the plate style bellows camera and skid mark checker used for accident investigation, portable GE "lunch box" radio, the Geiger counter, Riot helmet & gas mask, first aid kit & fire extinguisher. All of these items are marked "State of Cailf. Highway Patrol.
Inside I have the correct Motorola Motrac Radio and PA-20, shotgun rack with night lamp, all log books for both the officer and the cruiser. the wooden "billy club", correct shotgun, rear package shelf lights.
Under the hood It is all original with the 440 Magnum, Air conditioning and NO Power Steering. What a bear to park! On the open road it still will reach 140 mph + with no problem.
polara71
Old Man with a Hat
Any restoration photos from where she was before you got her or at her worst state?
Greg B.
Senior Member
Funny how CHP spec'd a white steering wheel for heat retardation but had black door panels.
MrMoparCHP
Old Man with a Hat
Actually the interior door panels are a medium gray. The roof went to white in 1961.
I think they chose to keep the rear doors black when they went to 4-doors about 58/59
Alan
tbm3fan
Old Man with a Hat
Does that 71 bring back memories. With the state using them in 1969, 1971 and 1972 they were all over the place. In 1970 they sidetracked that year to the big Mercs but came back. Still remember passing one of them going downhill, on the Altamont Pass, at night in 1973. Actually the night was Dec. 18, 1973 and I went right by him at 65mph when the speed limit was 55. Was on the final leg coming up from San Diego. He got off, then got back on, and was in my rear mirror pulling me over. Said I was speeding and I told him I was letting the car coast in drive since I was out of gas. Remember this was at night, along an undeveloped 580 and no gas stations only black freeway. Oh, and the car was a VW Squareback. At least the officer said Happy Birthday...
commando1
Old Man with a Hat
LOL - Great story.
Denis
New Member
Is this Glenn from San Jose, Ca? I know he has, or had one of these. Glenn sold me one back in 1998.. Mine is unit # 7604. The number is still in the door jamb. It has 70,000 miles, and also registered as a historical vehicle. My Polara has gray interior also, but has different door panels. Mine have much smaller ribbing on the lower portion of the panels. They have the Polara emblem design in the upper center of the door panels. I have been looking for the CHP equipment since I got the car. Glenn told me that my car had the engine and transmission removed and replaced by parts from a motor home. I can say he was wrong about the transmission. It has the vin stamped in the case that matches the car. While the engine in the car was not original to the car, I got a lot of extra parts with, and from other sources to replace it with an accurate and correct 440 HP. Anyone with parts and equipment specific to one of these cars is of interest to me. Any additional information about it is also appreciated.
MrMoparCHP
Old Man with a Hat
Hello Denis,
I had a 69 that I restored, not much kept but still know people. What are you looking for?
Alan
Beep Beep Dave
Senior Member
Beep Beep Dave
Senior Member
Denis
New Member
Alan,
Thank you for the reply. I got some parts from Leo.. he’s a police car enthusiast. He sold me the deck lights and brkts. I got the spotlights from the manufacturer. The parts were still available when I got them, like around 1999. Leo also got me the red bulb for the drivers side. My spotlights have ivory handles. The original steering wheel was seriously delapitated.. I got a new one from a company that caters to Dodge Chargers.. and had the color changed to match the original. It has the original horn ring and other components. The dash pad was also in very poor condition. It was basically rebuilt but with vinyl.. and stitched to look like the original. The seats are all vinyl gray, and the headliner was replaced with something very similar to the original. The floor had a hole where the rubber mat was worn through.. probably from the officers heal. It was fixed when the car was painted. The body is pretty straight, but hard to make perfect. It has a base coat/ clear coat paint job. I had a push bar built from measurements and pictures.. pretty close to what the CHP had on it. The body shop removed the siren brkt from the frame. They lost it. So, aside from the equipment that I mentioned, the rest of the CHP equipment is missing. I found a radio delete dashboard section and installed it, so the wiring switch plate isn’t there. I have an extra radio delete piece for the dash, if anyone needs it. There is an antenna in the rear, but it’s not correct. I don’t want to go overboard on this. I was thinking maybe adding the dash switch panel, siren and a radio would be good. Maybe the shotgun bracket would be good. You know, the basic equipment.. without going overboard?
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