Oct 2023. Blues Vol 39 No. 10

IT’S CHEVY’S TURN

IT’S CHEVY’S TURN CHEVY NOVA When police departments wanted better performance and gas mileage and could make do with a smaller car, the Chevy Nova was a popular choice. Chevy designated the Chevrolet Nova as a 9C1 Police Package and was tested as a prototype for the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department before becoming widely available from 1975 to 1979. The feature set of the police package included oversized front and rear sway bars, a high-output alternator, four-wheel disc brakes, HD steel wheels, a quick-ratio power steering system, stiffer body mounts, a dual exhaust, anti-stab steel plates in the front seat backs, and a performance 3.08 final drive ratio from the 4.3-liter L99 V8 making 200 hp and 245 lb-ft of torque. CHEVY TAHOE PPV When Chevrolet stopped making the Caprice in 1996 and Ford stopped making the only rear-wheel-drive police packaged car, Chevy decided to offer a police package of its V8 powered rear-wheel-drive Tahoe. At the time, many police departments were slow on the uptake of a full-sized SUV, but it was popular in rural areas despite an all-wheel-drive version not being available. It was an inch lower and faster than a standard Tahoe, despite all the heavy-duty and performance components added to bring it up to law enforcement specification. The Chevrolet Tahoe is still out there in full “Pursuit” spec and a valuable tool for law enforcement. 104 The BLUES

1996 CHEVY CAPRICE 9C1 Beginning in 1986, the Caprice would replace the Impala for the retail, taxi, and police markets based on the third generation model which was launched in 1977. Like its civilian counterparts the car would get a face-lift in 1987 and would remain the same until 1990. The Caprice 9C1 was available with either a V6 or V8 in this generation. When the fourth generation 1991 model was released, the V6 was dropped and only two choices of V8 were offered (the 5.0 V8 carried from the former generation and 5.7 V8) and featured a digital instrument cluster unlike its civilian version’s analog interface, which would remain until 1993 when the LTZ version was introduced. When the 1993-96 model cars lost its rear fender skirts design, this increased the 9C1’s sales and appeal to law agencies, as this feature wasn’t popular on the 4th generation Chevrolet Caprice. Despite General Motors ending production of the fourth generation model 9C1 Caprice in 1996, many police departments across the nation kept them in service a lot longer than most other police vehicles, reason being for lack of finding a good enough equivalent for replacement with decent fuel mileage for its large size, high horsepower, affordable sales pricing, and reliability. With General Motors leaving the police market in 1996, Ford’s second generation Ford Crown Victoria police interceptor became the de facto police car, despite being more costly. But it too went away in 2011. The BLUES 105