Today’s Nice Price or No Dice Dodge is claimed to be a police package car, but as a former detective’s ride, it hasn’t suffered the full police car life. Let’s see what that might be worth.
According to the American Kennel Club, Pit Bulls are the breed most commonly found in animal shelters here in the U.S., as well as the most often euthanized. The reasons behind this unfortunate state of affairs are manifold but the statistics represent a sad indictment — not of the Pit Bull breed but of the people who own and then abandon them.
I sometimes think of those small used car lots that dot that nether region between city and suburbia as the animal shelters of the automotive world. Now, I don’t mean to demean the plight of our furry friends by such an association, I just feel like there are times when, we as a society, tend to turn away from the harder path. Bringing a fairly unknown commodity into your life, whether it be a dog or cat, or an older car sold by a potentially unscrupulous dealer, may cause you serious problems.
That’s likely what caused yesterday’s 1994 Chevy Corvette coupe to come away with only a 73 percent Nice Price win for its $5,988 asking price. The small, Vegas-located dealer offering the car gave almost no information about it in the ad, and, being a C4 with an automatic gearbox, it wasn’t exactly the most desirable model in the Corvette’s lineage. Still, it seemed like it should have been more of a slam dunk.
So tell me, have you ever ridden in the back of a cop car? Don’t worry, we’re not here to judge, only to learn. If you did, how did that feel? Pretty cramped and uncomfortable I’ll bet. It probably smelled pretty bad back there too.
I’m going to guess that what you really wanted at that moment was to be up in front, sitting behind the wheel. There you could imagine that you were something like the third Blues Brother (or Sister) and could experience first-hand that cop motor, those cop tires, the cop suspension, and the cop shocks.
Well, permanent record, have I got a treat for you. This 2012 Dodge Charger Pursuit is presented as a decommissioned police car, but according to the ad, this was not some neighborhood-crawling patrol car but a plain-wrap ride for detectives. You know, Joe Friday, Book ‘em, Danno, that kind of stuff.
While it may not carry traditional black and white livery, the Dodge still looks the part of a law enforcement vehicle. That’s obvious in the plain steel wheels, tall Goodyear tires, and, in the cabin, the institutional upholstery and large console box where no once doubt sat a multi-band radio and other cop equipment. What you don’t get here is a push bar or an A-pillar spotlight, and I’m a little disappointed at the absence of each.
What you do get is a 370 horsepower 5.7 liter Hemi V8. That’s also good for 395 lb-ft of torque and with the Charger’s W5A480 five-speed automatic, can push the car to a top speed of over 150 miles per hour, giving the car’s Pursuit name some credence. Like the movie says, you also get a beefed-up suspension, larger brakes, and a cooling system that will allow for all-day idling if that’s your bag.
The ad claims a clean title and 179,900 on the clock. That seller says this was an unmarked detective’s car but then claims it to have covered “All highway miles.” I’m not sure what those detectives were detecting out there on the highway, but whatever. I’m not going to question the Po-Po.
The tires are said to be newish and the car carries new plugs that the seller claims inexplicably cost $700 to replace. The bodywork is clean and while the interior is appropriately spartan, it doesn’t look too beat up. Just don’t plan on having any coffee with your donuts since there are no cupholders in the car.
Per the ad, there are no issues with the car, either mechanically or aesthetically, and it’s said to have been well maintained over the course of its service with a State Police force “down south.”
The seller asks $5,550 for the car and says that the price is “absolutely firm!” What do you think, should that price be a little less firm and a little more jiggly? Or, is that price feel like just the ticket for this former cop car?
You decide!
Minneapolis, Minnesota, Craigslist, or go here if the ad disappears.
H/T to Andy Busche for the hookup!
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