Excuse me, but I was not particularly "hard" on the "R" body in fleet service. We used them for three full years, purchasing 79, 80, and 81 units, and some of those stayed in service 3 or 4 years after they could have been retired. A couple of my buds bought and are still using some of the ex squads. The 318-4V was all we could get in 1981, same as CHP, (which choose the DIPLOMAT in 1981) which was mandated or relegated, as you choose to the 318 4V in 1980. It was NOT a pursuit car, and we KNEW that before buying them! So did California!~ (NOTE: I said that in my article!) however, it was a damned good patrol vehicle, which I also pointed out. DO NOT BLAME THE DODGE IN CALIFORNIA! They were tested, and the performance parameters were WELL KNOWN! At the time....... it was the single BEST performing car for Police work! The CHP knew it, checked them out, tested them, accepted them, then began to cry later. A whole lot of other states used the R body cars, along with counties, towns, villages, and Federal Agencies, Mexico and Canada! They used them, liked them, kept a lot of them past turn in time, including many counties, cities, towns in California. None of those municipalities cried like CHP did about them.
What was Ford doing in '79 - '80 or 1981? Their new 4 speed OD was a maintenance nightmare, strangling a lot of fleet budgets. The "variable venturi" on the 351 was scary to operate, uncontrollable in application, refusing to get beyond idle, and at other times, jumping to wide open. The engine could not maintain enough power to keep up speed in overdrive. Officers were ordered NOT to use the OD on patrol. They were poor, vague handling units, numb in response to driver inputs. (Commentary courtesy Minnesota State Police) NOTE: This was the PANTHER platform. Only the body work and the engine changed later.
Do not try to revise what I wrote! I resent that! Are you just trolling here or what? Post appears to me to be better suited on a FoMoCo site!
The R bodies were so much liked that when a certain enthusiast magazine ran a questionnaire about the "best" or "most liked" squads........guess which one came in first....... by far..... the R bodies!
As for the CHP, I do not know when or where it changed, however, selection of the later model CVPI did not follow the LA tests as being the best vehicle for the taxpayer dollar. From the same agency that back in the 1930s used Chrysler Imperial Airflow, Buick Century, Hudson, Graham, and some of the fastest cars then, through the 1950s when they jumped into the Oldsmobile "Rocket 88" Pontiac V-8, Dodge Hemi, and began selection by testing in the mid 50s for the best performing vehicles, to adapting the '82 Mustang, Chevrolet Caprice, Dodge Charger..........then? Ford Utility "Interceptor?" Stock piling the last of the CVPI? What emasculated CHP? If, the so called "Panther" platform, the CVPI was soooo good, why is it not in production yet.......a fleet only thing? Ford certainly amortized the tooling costs ages ago for this vehicle. For one thing, the body lacked total integrity. The Federal Transportation agency initiated a full investigation of the CVPI for cooking people when the units were hit from behind... totally deforming the body, trapping the people because the doors where jammed shut. Most were labeled as "Cop Cookers" (or Cooking Various Police Individuals - CVPI) by those officers forced to use them through either low bid or politically influenced bids when better vehicles were available. As well, have you not noted the Michigan State Police Testing since Charger arrived for duty? That the CVPI is limited in top speed due to "driveline harmonics?" And NEVER corrected by Ford engineers. Changes, yes, such as speed limiting via computer inputs. Guess cop safety, like prevention of flaming BBQs in Fords was not a top concern. Oh, it was addressed, but never corrected engineering on the production line wise, only through add on items. Perpetually, they were doggy performers as well. The OHC V-8 lacked (and still does lack) low end punch when you truly need it. Like getting out of your own way! Ford had to resort to going back to the 1970s to update the EEVC-III computer to get past 110 mph while the Caprice was out there whipping along at 130, without the LT-1 Corvette engine package.
Just because a department purchases a certain type of vehicle, doesn't mean it is the "best" thing on the road, quite contrary to what the manufacturer wants to project to the public. Free, widespread advertising comes to mind first before actual "best" for the money purchases. A clue might be gained when in the last year of production, 1996, the Caprice was beyond ALL doubt, the single BEST police unit out there. Of which, the CHP had used the Caprice for two full model years previously! Much like Chevrolet resurrected the 1969 Dodge Polara sort of thing. And what did the CHP choose? The 1996 CVPI. Even in the face of MOST of the entire police forces in the USA opting for the Caprice. A joke, I thought. Heavy politics were afoot there, however, I am not going into that rat's nest here.
Further, you have a whole lot of resistance to change. How many years did agencies, like the CHP decry that ONLY 122 inch wheelbase cars would suffice. As well, we see yet, resistance to the unit body, the old guard baying in the back ground about "body on frame" as somehow being so much better. NOT. Chrysler went to unit bodies in 1960. How many years did the CHP use UNIT BODY DODGE vehicles? And... would not buy anything else?? A whole lot BETTER deal. Meanwhile in 1981,CHP crying all the way, accepting the SPECIAL SERVICE NON POLICE PACKAGE UNIT BODY 1982 Mustang as some sort of saving grace for their officers. Most of the reason that you see agencies using things like the SUVs and CUVs is that they are still built with the body on frame. Nothing at all to do with being the "best." That being relative to the wants, beliefs, and buying ability of the fleet manager.
Pointing to taxi fleets is also a matter of relativity since most taxi companies buy the well used fleet cars from police agencies after those agencies put them out of service. Yeup, Ford got a whole lot of mileage out of the ol' Panther platform. Ford also got a whole lot of miles from othe platforms. Doesn't mean that they were the best. Ford, by its own admission to fleet buyers, never, ever, and still does not strive to be the "best" in anything. What they seek is a good solid "average" for about what the unit is going to be used for.
Adequate, dubious, the best, no.
