This is the car, according to the fender number, that drove through the Baskins Robbins on 111th Street in Beverly on the South Side while in pursuit of a stolen car.
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When was that incident? This photo was taken in March of 2003, so it couldn't have been recently. This car was not repaired, it was scrapped and that car number won't be used again for about another 9 years. That's about how long it takes to go all the way around the numbering cycle for cars.

Greg
CPD and
copcar dot com

Why did CPD use an Oldsmobile not a normal patrol car? Also is it true around the same period the Chicago Fire Dept.used Oldsmobiles also? Also one more question, old CFD used what looks like a mini-light bar.Why didnt the CPD use it instead of a MARS 2-bulb rotor?

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Because in the bid process for administrative cars that year, Oldsmobile must have come in with the low bid. Admin cars didn't have the same requirements or specifications as patrol cars.
About your second question: Don't know. Don't care. Probably way too expensive to outfit a 1200 car fleet and more parts inside that would need repair when it broke down. That costs money.

Greg
CPD and
copcar dot com

No blue MARS light????????

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Nope. It had dual spotlights, flashing headlights and a siren.

Greg
CPD and
copcar dot com

I'm sure this Crown Vic was purchased on a State/City Contract using competitive bidding process. I estimate this car cost $22,000, or less. As for the price of a contract Tahoe, price for those is about $25,000. Expensive? Depends on your perspective, but $35,000 is off the mark for gov't purchase price. A 4X4 Suburban is $29,000.
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Joe's right. The prices of vehicles purchased by govt agencies are nowhere near what the regular consumer pays.
Chicago gets their cars on their own contract instead of piggy-backing with the state bid. And in buying 300-500 cars at a time, we get them for a lot less than $22k. I think it's around $18k or $19k.

Greg
CPD and
copcar dot com

i love the old copcar pics ecspecially when they are mopars

I guess that is one way to store parts.

Kind of reminds me of a file cabinet in a way.
One part after another. Just take what you need and install.

Just never seen it done this way.

Dave

Nice ride for the Chief. Luxury minded but still on the side of being "piggish" for himself.
I know the old Chief of Milwaukee Police had a Chevy Yukon - I know those are at least $35,000.

Is this an emergency run or a staged photo
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Why can't it be exactly what it is: a picture of a police car taken out the rear window of a '68 Plymouth?

Greg
the photographer

Is that a computer in thr middle of the car? And where is this pic taken at? Looks like LSD.
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Yes. That's an early computer terminal for running plates and driver's licenses. The picture was taken on an arterial street overpass on the north side, possibly the old Ogden Ave or Damen Ave bridge.

Greg
copcar dot com

Is this one of the rare CPD units with alley lights on a Mars light bar?
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Yup

Greg
CPD and
copcar dot com

In 1974 most of the pre-white (blue/white) CPD cars have no siren mounted on the Mars bar.Why?
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A couple of reasons:

1-To save $$, the department recycles everything. They recycled as many underhood sirens as possible because they were only a few years old at that time.

2-The CPD decided to outfit its entire fleet (about 1200 vehicles then) with Mars lightbars over a very short period of time. Mars couldn't keep up with the demand so they shipped everything to to our garage separately as fast as they could make it and the shops put the bars together with the equipment they had on hand. Some CPD cars back then also had alley and take-down lights with a siren cone, while others only had the rear brake lights depending on what the guys at the vehicle prep shop had extra to install at the time.

Greg

I've never seen a Checker police car till now. Didn't think they existed! Thanks for showing the picture!
I'm in the cab business here in Phoenix and enjoyed driving the Checker, I miss them, with all the room they had.

Oh my goodness, what a riot!!! How much is it, AHAHAHA didn't you know that these are just pictures, not a trader page?

What are you asking for this blazer? Does it have air and how many miles? You should post this info instead of people having to ask you. Where is the truck located.
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Sorry. Just like the station wagon you asked about, this Blazer has also been enshrined at Metropolitan Gardens Cemetery as a monument to Sundance, the first CPD horse killed in the line of duty after he was struck by a subway train in 1976.

We had a car like that. Took it on vacation to Jersey when I was ten. Do you still have it?
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Sorry. The dog was shot in the line of duty in 1963 and since it was the first K-9 killed, he was given a full honors funeral and buried in the car with only the blue light sticking out of the ground as an "Eternal Beacon of Justice" at Metropolitan Gardens Cemetery.

No M Plate?

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Through the years we have had many unmarked department vehicles in our fleet with standard passenger car registrations.

We still do.

Greg
CPD and
copcar dot com

Why on earth does it have a round mirror? And just to give a question that can be answered, what kind of engine, 302, or 351?
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Round mirror was a replacement for a broken original. These cars had the larger 351 engine.

Greg
CPD and
copcar dot com

I notice that some of these 60 Fords use 3 didgit whereas others use 4. I presume this was the year of a numbering change. What brought on the Change?
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Very good observation. Prior to 1960, the CPD had a very small fleet of vehicles. Usually only 2 patrol cars and one squadrol (paddy wagon) per police station. The majority of officers made their rounds on foot or 3-wheel motorcycle. When O.W. Wilson became the new police superintendent in 1960, he immediately began to implement radical changes to the Chicago PD through moderization and mobilization. Wilson increased the size of the vehicle fleet from a several dozen black sedans with a red light to over 1000 newly marked bright blue patrol cars and trucks of various makes and sizes with blue roof lights in less than a year. It quickly became apparent that they would have to add a 4th digit to the vehicle's door number or they were going to run out of numbers. The first batch of new blue and white 1960 Fords, Plymouths and Checkers all had three digit unit numbers. For 1961, new patrol units had 4 digit numbers and older ones were eventually updated to match.

*Side note* The number on the door (and later on the fender) is not the radio call sign of the car. It is only the department's serial number for the vehicle. The radio call sign or beat number was added in about 1965 and was displayed on two metal tags, one at the top center of the windshield and another in either the upper or lower left corner of the back window. When the department switched over to Mars lightbars in the 70s, the beat tag was moved onto the lightbar where it remains today.

Greg
CPD and
copcar dot com

That's the funniest looking thing Ihave ever seen, but it looks like fun to cruise aroound in!

MY DAD HAD A '34 FORD WHEN I WAS A BOY. THOSE ARE '34 FORDS FOR SURE. YOU CAN TELL AS TERRY READY STATED BY THE HOOD AND GRILLE. DOES ANY ONE KNOW OF A PICTURE OF A LONG SLIGHTLY CURVED LINEUP OF '34 FORD POLICE CARS? I SAW IT ON A TV SHOW ABOUT POLICE CARS. I WOULD LOVE TO HAVE A PRINT OF IT. HJIMHAMILTON@AOL.COM