Who made the best cop car during the 1970's?

"Itss got a cop motor, a 440 cubic inch plant, it's got cop tires, cop suspensions, cop shocks." LOL. Great vid Hawk!

I own my assigned 1973 Police dodge coronet with 440, and 727 trans. I wa s assigned this unit when I was Police Chief in Cave Junction Oregon in the 70's. I went on to a larger department when C J went bankrupt in the late 70's ( Spotted Owl B S shut down logging and all our mills closed ) In the 90's after I had retired a friend who was a deputy in Josephine County saw the car in a wrecking yard and brought it to me. After having to buy a parts car and a lot of expense and labor it is again looking good! Get to relive memories of when I was the youngest Police Chief in Oregon, am now 80 years young. Great video! Thanks. JP3

As a former state trooper, I served through the 70's, 80's, and early 90's, and IMO, the Fury III's of 71/72/73 couldn't be matched. They were heavy beast, but with the 440 engine, a good one would lay rubber in the first two gears. I had one past 145mph and it was still going. In all my time on the job, anything that came after those was a disappointment. In 74/75, the 440 was bogged down with smog equipment, and we began seeing cruisers with the 400 engine which was a dog in comparison. To give an idea of what that smog equipment did to performance, the troop mechanic took a 400 equipped cruiser, removed a bunch of hoses and plugged the holes they were connected to. That car ran like a scalded cat afterwards. My department stayed with Chrysler products for a few years, and I drove Diplomats (318ci/4bbl) which wouldn't get out of it's own way, followed by the Magnum (360ci/4bbl). That was a step up from the Diplomat, but it was no 440. Over the years I operated Chevy Malibus (305ci/4bbl) that was as bad as the Diplomat and maybe worse. The absolute WORST cruiser I ever drove came from the "Blue Oval"....FORD. We were equipped for a short time with the 77-78 LTD II's (351ci/4bbl/single exhaust. Top speed was about 90mph....if you could ever get it there...and acceleration like a mud-logged tortoise. If you ever got involved in a chase and had to brake hard, you had better hope you didn't have to do it twice, because the second time....there weren't any left to speak of. Handling was as pathetic as everything else.

So, back in 1981, as a teen, I bought at police auction one of their used Interceptors for $500. It was a 75 Torino with 460 Interceptor engine. 4 Door, but was highly factory modified with what they called SVO and DSO options. None of the suspension or over sized brakes and bearings were same as regular Torino. 9 Inch rear, beefy tranny, 140mph speedometer, extra cooling systems such as engine oil cooler, hydraulic, trans, 4 row radiator the whole works. Package was called Desert Rat cooling from Ford. Ride height was very high. Used to dirve down dirt back roads and mountain forest roads in Arizona at speeds well over 90mph, jumping cattle guards, railroad tracks , ditches and much of the dukes of hazards in this thing. Could pull itself up the grades north of Phoenix at 130mph without over heating. Learned to drive in this car. Got pulled over a couple times by Az Highway Patrol, not for speeding, but because they loved the car and was curious who wound up with it. AZ apparently only bought about 4 of them for the whole state just for hunting down high speed chases on interstates. So, if I was to vote, the best was the 75 Torino Interceptor.

Tough call. I'd take the 440. I had a customer, former Chicago cop, had a Coronet 440. He said he couldn't believe he got paid to drive that car.

Good friend of mine is a retired police officer … said that the Plymouth Fury cruisers with the police 440’s were absolutely animals on a high end chase …

Back in the early 70's I shared a house with a mechanic for the LAPD. He said the Matadors were pretty good all around patrol cars. He also said that the late 60's Plymouth (68/69), "B" bodies were basic Roadrunner's with four doors.

1973 movie " White Lightning " with Burt Reynolds driving a 1971 429 police package Ford Galaxie is a great movie , lots of car chasing.

Idk how, but I missed this one. Unexpected Green Hawk?! That like finding a big roach in the ashtray when you’re out. Like the best thing ever 😂

My father bought a 72 Plymouth satellite cop car i learned how to drive in it and I loved that car

My neighbor had a retired Illinois State Trooper 70-71 Fury 440. He gave me a ride and we were running 140 mph quicker than I could believe. Car was very solid.

The AMC's were so durable some stayed in service well into the '80s. I bought one in the late 80's (for the block) that still ran.

My favorite TV show of the 1970's is The Rockford Files and they always had a lot of AMC Matador police cars, so they would be my favorite.

I personably like anything made by Chrysler . They looked so different from anything else and handled better than most.

Offering this almost completely unrelated comment: In the Australian Capital Territory circa 1975, I recall being chased by the Feds whilst hooning around Canberra in my ‘64 Studebaker Cruiser, which had the Stude 289 V8 (and btw retrofitted with a 4-speed ‘Moss’ gearbox - ex Jaguar). The particular marked Police car that was chasing me, yes with lights and siren, was a Volkswagen Kombi van with the air-cooled 4-banger and automatic transmission. Good times!

Picked up a 78 Plymouth Fury a few years back. It was a North Carolina state interceptor. Powder blue with all the equipment still on board. 440 engine with 750 cfm thermoquad carb, factory headers, dual exhaust mated to a 727 trans. A very fun and comfortable car to drive. Still have it. Needs a complete restoration but would be a great car to restore.

Arizona's Lacj of rust keeps the crown Vic here eternal

You missed the Mercury cop cars. In 1975 my uncle purchased at an Iowa State Auction an Iowa State Highway Patrol car that had just had a new 460 engine put in it. It was a '73 Mercury Monterey 4dr sedan, white body with a black vinyl roof and the certified 140MPH speedometer in 2mph increments (as I recall it). When the secondaries of the carburetor opened up you could see trees leaning toward the car as wind sucked past them into the engine! HA! He took it up to the 140 and it was still going faster, but he was scared of the tires and brakes so he shut it down. It would run rough on regular gasoline, better on ethyl, but really well on super premium. No idea what the compression ratio was, but it had to be above 10:1. Good times!

You are correct that all the OEMs had to detune the engines after 1970... lower compression ratios in particular. But... the entire industry changed the horsepower ratings from SAE gross (engine run on a dyno with no "restrictions") to SAE net (engine on a dyno as it was installed in the car with belt driven accessories, air filter, full exhaust system). Ratings from 1970 and 1972 were not comparable. Many 1971 cars only had both gross and net ratings published, showing how much the two rating standards differed.

I turned 16 in 1970 and got my license on my birthday. I got to drive the family car sometimes. It was a 1967 full sized Ford, ex Washington patrol cop car with a 427 V8 - we got it at the state auto auction. It was awesome. The handling was amazing. But a huge difference between those older cars and modern cop cars (SUV's not included) is that most of them were "body on frame" construction rather than unibody. It's why they were so tough. If you've ever played Grand Theft Auto and stolen a cop car for a nice joyride, it's amazing how much damage the software allows crown vics to take before they can't go on, compared to the Tauruses.