75LandYacht
Yank Tank
What happened to it?
1977 Gran Fury - Texas Highway Patrol
- Thread starter ZedR
- Start date
What happened to it?
Binx
Active Member
Not a retired statie. Unfortunately I sold her a long time ago.
ZedR
Member
Found some additional information on the 'Super-Cooler' that is on the '77.
It's a Texas-born and manufactured product, patented in 1968 by the Opti-Cap company. Mr Allie Holmes and his wife Chloe Holmes co-owned and operated the company in Corpus Christi, where I assume this product was also made. (The Opti-Cap had previously been patented and in production since about 1964, first known as the Kwik Chek Cap)
Mr. Holmes was a decorated veteran of the 101st Airborne. Having been severely wounded on D-Day, he was later medically discharged and returned home to Arkansas where he met and married Chloe after the war. The two moved to Corpus and started the business together.
Mr. Holmes died tragically in a car accident in 1975, Mrs. Holmes passed away in March 2017.
I do not know when production ended, but I did find the original patents and some newspaper articles from when it was first released.
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This may be the source of the screw holes on the drivers side inner wheel well on the 1968 fury...I will try to acquire another Supercooler, but I may just have to end up making one.
Searched for several hours for the Opti-Cap, but I can't find one or even a modern one that functions the same
It's a Texas-born and manufactured product, patented in 1968 by the Opti-Cap company. Mr Allie Holmes and his wife Chloe Holmes co-owned and operated the company in Corpus Christi, where I assume this product was also made. (The Opti-Cap had previously been patented and in production since about 1964, first known as the Kwik Chek Cap)
Mr. Holmes was a decorated veteran of the 101st Airborne. Having been severely wounded on D-Day, he was later medically discharged and returned home to Arkansas where he met and married Chloe after the war. The two moved to Corpus and started the business together.
Mr. Holmes died tragically in a car accident in 1975, Mrs. Holmes passed away in March 2017.
I do not know when production ended, but I did find the original patents and some newspaper articles from when it was first released.
------------
This may be the source of the screw holes on the drivers side inner wheel well on the 1968 fury...I will try to acquire another Supercooler, but I may just have to end up making one.
Searched for several hours for the Opti-Cap, but I can't find one or even a modern one that functions the same
ZedR
Member
Is there a update on this project?
I am new to the site. A copcar nut. Live in western Louisiana and bought many ex-TXDPS vehicles over theyears to re-sell and drive personally starting around 1982 and finishing up just after hurricane Katrina in 2005. I had some of the answers to the questions posed earlier in the thread and a couple of others answered most of those as well.
I had a partner in Baton Rouge, and being closer to Austin by almost 200 miles I used to attend the sales and buy vehicles for re-sale near Denham Springs. We got to be fairly well aquainted with the TXDPS fleet svs manager at the time as well and he would often answer questions about strange differences in their ordering processes vs the others we encountered at other agencies because we bought all over the south.
TXDPS used to order their standard bid winning vehicles (they usally had at least two for each fiscal year, Dodge & Ford, or Ford & Chevy, sometimes all three) in multples of hundreds each. They had something with each builder called the 'Texas Package" for the main state contract (it actually said that on the build sheets if you can find them) that had them delivered having been painted the proper B&W scheme, a certain 3-4 basic interior color rotation and upgrade in some comfort options as the years progressed. Things like cruise control, tilt wheel and dual spots & 50/50 split bench reclining seats to accommodate seperate troopers when they used to team up at night. One of the strangest things I ever saw in those cars was a seperate spacer factory built and installed at all four mount points of the on the driver's seat. It repositioned the seat another 2" back towards the back seat to accomodate the lankier, taller troopers they used to more or less field back in the day, and give a bit more adjustment. I still have some of those things and the external coolers too stored SOMEWHERE in my workshop.
The comfort upgrades strange as they were on copcarsin those days were with an eye towards the resale value of th car down the line. Also why the repaints. Somewhere around 2000 they abandoned that and just strated scraping off the decals and going up and down the car with a can of gray primer spray paint. Attached is a pic of me bringing one of a couple home after one of the sales about 2003. I'll shut up now, but I'd like to see how that lovely survivor is coming along!
I am new to the site. A copcar nut. Live in western Louisiana and bought many ex-TXDPS vehicles over theyears to re-sell and drive personally starting around 1982 and finishing up just after hurricane Katrina in 2005. I had some of the answers to the questions posed earlier in the thread and a couple of others answered most of those as well.
I had a partner in Baton Rouge, and being closer to Austin by almost 200 miles I used to attend the sales and buy vehicles for re-sale near Denham Springs. We got to be fairly well aquainted with the TXDPS fleet svs manager at the time as well and he would often answer questions about strange differences in their ordering processes vs the others we encountered at other agencies because we bought all over the south.
TXDPS used to order their standard bid winning vehicles (they usally had at least two for each fiscal year, Dodge & Ford, or Ford & Chevy, sometimes all three) in multples of hundreds each. They had something with each builder called the 'Texas Package" for the main state contract (it actually said that on the build sheets if you can find them) that had them delivered having been painted the proper B&W scheme, a certain 3-4 basic interior color rotation and upgrade in some comfort options as the years progressed. Things like cruise control, tilt wheel and dual spots & 50/50 split bench reclining seats to accommodate seperate troopers when they used to team up at night. One of the strangest things I ever saw in those cars was a seperate spacer factory built and installed at all four mount points of the on the driver's seat. It repositioned the seat another 2" back towards the back seat to accomodate the lankier, taller troopers they used to more or less field back in the day, and give a bit more adjustment. I still have some of those things and the external coolers too stored SOMEWHERE in my workshop.
The comfort upgrades strange as they were on copcarsin those days were with an eye towards the resale value of th car down the line. Also why the repaints. Somewhere around 2000 they abandoned that and just strated scraping off the decals and going up and down the car with a can of gray primer spray paint. Attached is a pic of me bringing one of a couple home after one of the sales about 2003. I'll shut up now, but I'd like to see how that lovely survivor is coming along!
Weird, but a similar interior code, 97Y3, appears on the fender tag of a 1976 Gran Fury Police, so maybe there is more to it:
Interior pictures are in this thread.
It´s my eyes too.
brougham brummel
Well-Known Member
Lovely front end before stacked halogens ruined body styling.B.B
GOLDMYN
Senior Member
Hi, Any progress?
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