Different kind of Cop Car Advertising
Richmond, Virginia
April 4, 1976
The above cop car would have come from the Virginia State Police auction held at their HQ on Midlothian Turnpike in south Richmond. They were sold by sealed bid auctions in the 1970s.
Comments:
Blue & Gray state police cars sold for less than unmarked cars. The buyer had to sign paperwork that they would repaint the car.
It wouldn't be unusual for a running and driving Blue & Gray to sell for $350-$450. Less if trans was slipping. A little bit more if it was in nice shape.
Unmarked cars were typically black with a blue interior. A Sargeant's or Lieutenant's car were usually sought after by the bidders. The extremely nice black '73 Fury I wanted sold for $750 and it showed up on a dealer's lot a few weeks after the auction. Parental intervention stopped me from bidding $850 and they sold me their '71 Satellite for $1,100. Just as well I suppose.
Black cars would have one hole in the driver's (?) rear quarter panel for a whip aerial antenna.
Blue & Gray cars would have a spotlight on the driver's A pillar. I don't remember if unmarked cars I saw had a spotlight.
The '72-'73 cars I looked at during auctions of this period would have between around 71k - 95k miles. I recall a nice '72 with mileage in the low 40k range. It had a very deep thud when running. I shut it down after a couple of thuds. I thought at the time it was a main bearing knocking. I recall another '72 with mileage in the low 70k range. It sounded like one of the exhaust manifolds was cracked. Very loud! I once saw a '72 model with over 110k miles. It ran ok, but it had dings & dents. It looked "all used up".
Sometimes, I would see a white car.
I only saw a few '71 Fury I cars sitting at these auctions in 1975-1977. None were unmarked and the others were either beat up badly, wrecked, or not running.
That's my story and I'm sticking to it.
