This is my old car. My present car is a 95. Go to Page
This is my 1994 Chevrolet Caprice 9C1 (that means cop car). In its former life it was a Texas Department of Public Safety Highway Patrol car. It was in service from March 1994 to November 1998 in Livingston, east Texas, where it was apparently taken very good care of by a single DPS officer. An unknown series of events brought it to Aaron Edwards in Phoenix, Arizona whom I bought it from in July 1999 with 116,000mi on the odometer.
this isn't my car, but this
is what it used to look like
Features Modifications Wishlist Narrative Pictures Links
9C1 Police equipment package, includes:
Heavy duty suspension
Upgraded brakes with rear disks
Extra frame mounts
Oil cooler
Power steering fluid cooler
Heavy duty radiator
Silicon lifetime hoses
140 amp alternator
Certified digital speedometer, with "covert" turnoff
switch
Heavy duty bucket seats
Heavy duty steel wheels with bolt on center caps,
235/75R15 tires
Single key for all locks
LT1 5.7L V8 - 260hp, 330torque, dual exhausts, slightly detuned
version of Corvette and Camaro engine
Cruise control
Power windows and locks- rear controls functional
Manual mirrors (they suck)
Cloth seats, front and rear
Carpet
New stereo - CD, tape, speakers, amp subwoofer
CB radio
Custom made center console with armrest, cupholder, storage, electronics
Caprice SS dash plaque
Use overdrive in pursuit sticker
New trunk lining
New trunk storage and stereo support bases
First gear lockout removal
Passenger seat moved back to the left
New paint - high quality job with striping old paint, remove and replace
trim, Caprice SS scripts
New mufflers - louder but not intrusive
New air intake - probably SSRI
New tires - stock size
New high performance front end bushings and ball joints
Rebuilt engine
GPS system
Impala SS rear window
95-96 mirrors
This car has some attributes that make it somewhat unusual for an X-copcar. It never had push bars or spotlights, and consequently doesn't have left over holes from them. It only had one antenna hole, on the trunk. There's no holes left from the lightbar and the interior doesn't have any dash or door holes. It just had some sticky residue on the dash from velcro attachments. This cleaned off easily. The interior is in really good shape for a copcar. No sigificant wear on the seats, drivers side carpet worn about what you would expect on a nice civilian car with similar mileage. The steering wheel was replaced late in it's service life. Texas DPS keeps it's service records from which I know it was used primarily by one officer who had oil changes and service done like clockwork. This is a really nice car.
On the downside, Texas put a cheap blue metallic paint job on it. It doesn't look bad, but up close one could not mistake it for a quality job. The mileage is a little high, but it's still a tight car. Power is good, but I still haven't driven another LT1 Caprice, so I have no basis for comparison. I have a feeling it has lost some power. There's no posi, but it still virtually never loses traction.
Gas mileage is good, for a car this big. 15mpg- leadfooted city driving, 18-19 conservative city driving, 22-25 highway. This is an awesome highway car. Hills? what hills? Mountains? feel like hills. The cruise goes up or down a mph for each touch of the controls. No windnoise, but roadnoise seems a bit high. I'm not sure if this is the tires or inherent to the car. Once as an experiment I drove about 100 miles at 55mph to see what the mpg would be. 30!! I would have done more to see if this was accurate, but I couldn't stand going slow any longer. This car is happy at 70 or 80 or 90 or whatever you feel like. I've driven it to Texas and California, from Arizona and it was an absolute pleasure.
I'm really happy with the ride and handling, too. The ride is firm, but smooth. Bumps are never uncomfortable, and any humps, dips or undulations are controlled and neutralized. Corners flat and confidently. Brakes insanely well, with no perceptible dive. I compared performance stats in car magazines of the Impala SS (mechanically similar), and it's stopping distances were better than average even among world class sports cars.
Don't get me wrong about the performance. Even with almost 130K and
no performance mods, it hauls serious butt! I've never owned a performance
car before and I love having a car with these capablilities. I'd alway
appreciated Caprice copcars, Impala SS's and regular Caprice LT1's, but
never really thought about buying a police car until I saw this one.
I'd had certain assumptions about the poor condition of retired squad cars,
which I think are still often true, but there are many exceptions.
I never condidered an Impala due to being cost prohibitive. Also, though
they are very cool cars, I've never really liked their flashy image. A
4 door muscle car has always seemed an oxymoron to me. Just doesn't
seem right. I much prefer the more stealthy but purposeful look of
the 9C1 with black wheels and center caps. A copcar, of course, looks
appropriate as a 4 door. So, I stumbled on the idea of BUYING
a cop car during a period of automotive restlessness when I happened to
see this car for sale. It suprised me for being so nice even as a retired
police car. It was more than a weak man like me could resist, so
now I'm an official 9C1 enthusiast!
11/17/00 - I took my car the the dragstrip for the first time. Lets just say it was a learning experience. Specifically, I learned how traction limited our cars can be! My run was 17.45 @88mph, about 2 sec slower than it ought to be. I lost some tire tread, but it did leave some cool rubber residue all over the wheel and fender!
click for larger picture
12/1/00 - I made another trip to the dragstrip, with better results. With very little traction loss, it did 15.35 @ 90.0 mph. From what I've heard, this is about normal for a completely stock car. It is also similar to original car magazine tests for the Impala SS. Of course, I made two more runs in which I lost traction and had much worse times.
3/16/01 - Sold the car for $4800
www.9C1.com - starting point for an internet 9C1 adventure
www.b-bodyworld.com - excellent site with many resources. Some great technical tips. For 9C1, Impala SS or any 91up b-body
www.b-body.net - similar attributes as b-bodyworld.com, different site.
9C1source.gmforums.com - 9C1 specific site, lots of good stuff
www.egroups.com/groups/9C1
- what if you had an older car that needed repairs and improvements and
you had hundreds of friends with the same car that you could instantly
ask questions? If you have a 9C1, this is it!
Last updated 11/24/00
