[geeks] my (hopefully) last note on these car threads...

[alex j avriette]

I'm a car guy. I went to school to be an automotive engineer. I raced 
cars in the SCCA and on the drag strip (pomona) when I lived in 
california. I grew up around cars. When I go to the grocery store, once 
a month, I take the car I built to race, from the ground up. Maybe I'll 
get some pictures of it this summer. At any rate, I'm an ASE certified 
mechanic (if anyone would like a picture of the certification, I can do 
that), and I've built the cars you guys are talking about, and worked on 
them. We had quite a few ford "donor cars" in the shop when I was in 
school (I had to have 2 years shop experience to get my certification, 
per certification), as well as GM's (I am intimately familiar with the 
GM 3800 supercharged motor).

I feel that my knowledge of mechanics and specifically the cars being 
discussed (the 350 and 454 V8, as well as the ford 4.6 SOHC and DOHC 
motor and the ubiquitous 5.0) makes me exceptionally qualified to judge 
the capabilities of almost any given car on the road. Even without 
driving it. Because for years it was my profession (and indeed hobby 
being a racer) to know what was under the hood, and what options 
packages were available. Being a racer, I also understand the advantages 
to be had by various aftermarket additions to production vehicles 
(intake, exhaust, heads, cams, chips, blowers, nitrous, etc).

I am not, as Bill states, out to prove everyone else is wrong. I'd 
genuinely like to see evidence to the contrary. Alas, the facts are 
making most of you wrong -- not me. Nobody has shown me anything 
convincing that police vehicles are in possession of these phenomenal 
horsepower increases claimed. I can believe the bigger motor is used, 
but that's not something that is different from the "civilian 
version" -- it's available in the "sport trim" as well. My stipulation 
from the beginning has been that the police options, aside from the 
radiator, transmission cooler, possibly gearing, and suspension tweaks, 
are no different than the "sportiest" option generally available on the 
car.

I recall reading a book that outlined the performance curves of various 
police vehicles (I was trying to determine at the time whether my 
personal car could outrun a police helicopter). I regret that I haven't 
been able to find that book. However, I did find a site:

http://www.v8sho.com/SHO/twpiwif.html

which lists the top speeds for various police vehicles. None are listed 
above 130mph. I see a Chevy Caprice with a quarter mile time of 15.03, 
which is roughly as fast as your average Dodge Neon anymore. Seeing it 
on the internet doesn't make it true. But it does make me feel a little 
bit better about "sticking to my guns" on this one. The page also makes 
the point of mentioning police cars contain prisoner cages, tools, 
"action bag," and other gear, easily adding up to several hundred pounds 
of stuff.

I'd like to point out one other site:

http://www.impala.net/9C1/CaliforniaCopCars.html

In California, at least, Law Enforcement seems to buy the right car for 
the job (i.e., Camaros and Mustangs) rather than slapping a blower on a 
crown vic.

I don't dislike any of you. Even Greg (really, no offense intended, 
Greg). I realize this thread has been one of the uglier of late, and I 
apologize for that.

Alex