PennSilverTaco's "Perfect 5-Lug Regular Cab" Build, Aspergers, and General BS MegaThread!

forgot to add.. I just propped the front end of my truck up on jack stands, took the two front wheels off and let it sit in the driveway on the stands for 2 hours while I painted the calipers. I dont see the need in putting the whole thing up on a lift as you mentioned. Seems like a lot of work. If youre genuinely concerned about brake fluid on the driveway you can either lay a tarp down or just NOT disassemble the brakes at all. Just leave the caliper on the rotor and paint it. Its a little harder to get the brush behind it and into the little nooks of the caliper but its completely doable. Thats how I did it in my driveway

 

So, the Mercedes just sat for over a year, in a residential driveway in Boca. I don't think it would have made one bit of difference if the Benz was anywhere else besides South Florida. Being in a climate-controlled space definitely would have helped, but being exposed to the Florida weather did not seem to have a negative affect on the car itself. Good thing a significant hurricane didn't hit the area that year.

By the summer of 2003, I was about to start high school and very quickly approaching legal driving age. We were living in Northern Virginia at the time, and the minimum age in Virginia to obtain a learner's permit is either 15 or 15½. At the time, I had every intention of getting my driver's license at either 16 or 17, and my parents did not think we would be moving again anytime soon. In the summer of 2003, our family vehicle was a 2000 GMC Safari conversion van. My mom primarily drove the van. My dad's vehicle was an immaculate 1996 Nissan Pathfinder SE 4x4 that he'd owned since it was new and had no plans to get rid of at the time (the Pathfinder finally ended up being traded for my Tacoma in September 2009, when I finally did start working towards getting my driver's license). The GMC was traded for a new Honda Odyssey in May 2004. It seems like another lifetime when we were a "2-car family." We've been a 3-car family since 2003, and we only briefly became a 2-car family again in the summer of 2005 when the Benz was sold in May '05, and my dad bought a 2003 Honda S2000 in September '05.

Looking back on it, I think the Mercedes was partially a midlife crisis car for my dad, and partially a father/son project that was supposed to become my first vehicle.

NOTE: Even though my dad was the De Facto owner of the car from August 2003 until May 2005, the car remained titled in my Grandmother's name and registered in Maine the whole time. My Grandma paid CASH for the Benz back in 1987, so it was always hers outright and never had a loan or lien of any kind against it. It was registered in Arizona from 1987 until 1994, Pennsylvania from 1994 until 1999, and Maine from 1999 or 2000 until we sold it in 2005. Despite the fact that it sat for over a year, Grammy kept the registration up to date and continued paying the insurance. The Benz remained insured under Grammy's company during the time we had it, but my dad paid the monthly dues and also for all routine maintenance (oil changes, washer fluid, etc; Also the new CD player, and at least one A/C charge).

As I said above, the Mercedes was not in bad shape despite having sat for so long. What my dad and his older brother SHOULD have done was have the car transported to a garage and then had it worked on. What they actually did was jumpstart it, with all those year-old fluids (gas, oil, etc) in the engine. That is where they screwed up. If the car had been transported to a garage instead of being started up with stale gas in tank and driven there, and then gotten the appropriate work done, my dad thinks he would have kept it all these years instead of buying 4 cars between 2005 and 2014.

FYI: I don't know for sure if my dad and uncle jumpstarted the battery that was already in the car or replaced it with a new one, but either way they started the car with stale, year-old gas in the tank, and an engine full of oil that probably wasn't in the best of shape.

So, my dad and uncle got the car started without a problem. The only thing that actually seemed to be wrong with the car was that the A/C was not blowing cold (Pretty sure it was the same leak that manifested itself in the summer of '99). It was also discovered that the parking brake barely worked. Aside from the rear power window that hadn't worked in close to a decade, everything else seemed to be fine.

The car was driven to a garage (unsure if was a European car specialist), where the gas tank was pulled and drained, and the car was given a basic tuneup (fluids changed, all major parts checked). My dad was on a tight schedule, so he didn't get the A/C charged before driving back to Virginia. My dad did, however, find the time to buy a portable CD player with a car kit adapter and a few CDs (The Mercedes still had that circa 1997 Kenwood tape deck, which worked just fine). So, my dad had tunes for the drive back, but no air-conditioning. Driving from South Florida to Northern Virginia in August with no A/C was, uh...well, interesting to say the least. I think my dad stopped at a hotel once, but tried to go as long as he could without stopping.

The summer of 2003 in our area was HOT, even by Northern Virginia standards. I'd say about a week passed before we brought the Benz to a dealership in Tyson's Corner (Then called HBL; now Mercedes-Benz of Tyson's Corner), where we had the A/C, the brakes, and a few other things fixed. Our new life with the Mercedes got off to a rather rough start, right there at the dealer. Soon after arriving, my dad parked near the service area, but forgot to put the car in park. I remained in the car while my dad talked to my mom, who'd followed in the Pathfinder. The engine in the Mercedes wasn't running, and I don't even think the keys were in the ignition, but I was able to listen to the radio because the radio was wired in such a way that it could be turned on without the keys. Only German vehicles seem to have this feature. Keep in mind that it was an aftermarket radio, so I just assumed it had been rewired to be this way. However, while browsing the lot at the Carmax near Dulles Airport (a dealer where most vehicles are left unlocked during business hours), I discovered that Golfs, Jettas, and Passats all had this feature. My dad's 2002 BMW 3-series was the same way, as are all other E46 and earlier BMW 3-series models. The woman who owns the bar where I work has a 2003 BMW M3 convertible, and I can confirm that the radio does in fact work without the key being in the ignition.

Anyway, I was just sitting in the Benz listening to the radio, when the car just started rolling down the slight incline. The gearshift was right there, and I probably could have thrown it into park with no damage to the transmission resulting, but I was too freaked out to do anything. I just started screaming for my dad. My dad literally dropped what he was doing and bolted after the car. He'd left the driver door open while talking to my mom. He attempted to enter the car through the open door but fell short and hit his head on the corner of the door. The Mercedes continued to roll until it hit a parked Mercedes SLK roadster parked nearby. The left corner of our Benz's front bumper made contact with the left front corner of the SLK's front bumper, and the SLK's alarm system immediately went off. There ended up being absolutely no damage to either Benz, but my dad was not so lucky. He hit his head on the lower corner of the door, and almost immediately bleeding.

A woman who worked at the dealer happened to be standing right nearby and saw the whole thing, and she immediately rushed over to see if she could help. The guys in the service center came to the rescue with a first aid kit, and the woman asked my dad if he needed an ambulance, which he declined. Absolutely zero f*cks were given about the cars, which like I said ended up having no damage.

So, the Mercedes was dropped off as planned, but instead of driving home we drove to the hospital. Since we now only had one vehicle and we were probably 20 miles from home, I had to go. My dad knew he would have to stitches, but I wasn't worried about him. The bleeding was under control by the time we got to the hospital, located on a military base in Bethesda, Maryland.

So, if you're a 14-year old kid who had every intention of spending the evening pigging out on junkfood while either watching cartoons or playing Grand Theft Auto, you're going to be absolutely miserable spending the evening in a hospital. If you're a 14-year old kid with Asperger's Syndrome, magnify the feelings of boredom and misery by ten times or so...

So, we waited, and we waited. I don't remember how I passed the time (I think I found a recent copy of Car & Driver or Motor Trend on the magazine rack in the waiting room), but I got through it. It wasn't particularly busy in terms of medical emergencies, but for whatever reason the hospital was understaffed. If I remembered correctly, my dad wasn't even able to get his head stitched up by a full-fledged doctor, and it hurt a hell of a lot more than he would have liked.

I got stitches for my first eye muscle surgery in 1994, when I got my wisdom teeth taken out in 2014, and when I had my second eye muscle surgery just this past February. However, I've never had to get stitches on any external part of my body because of an injury.

There was one time when I sliced open my thumb at work while cutting limes, when I probably should have gotten stitches, but I didn't. Long story short, I made it all the way to my early teenage years without a significant injury; Then I sprained my ankle when I was 13 and broke my elbow when I was 19. I still have not had to get a flesh wound sewn up though, and I hope to Christ I never do!

My dad got sewn up, we went home, and a few days we later we got the Benz back with the brakes fixed and the A/C blowing cold air. Rather than paying a fortune to have the A/C system completely overhauled and retrofitted to R134a, my dad opted to pay $300 for a full charge of R-12 and see how long it lasted before he started spending the big bucks. Granted, $300 was not cheap, but now we had A/C. FYI, it cost just under $165 to have my Tacoma's A/C leak-tested and charged in June 2017. My Tacoma, of course, uses R134a. While licensed to possess R-12, my mechanic doesn't even stock it anymore. When an older vehicle with R-12 comes into the shop needing A/C service, he either replaces the necessary parts and retrofits it to R134a, or he just charges it with an R-12 substitute called Freeze-12.

Now, the Benz was at least somewhat operational. The A/C worked, as did all accessories and power options. The Benz had a driver's airbag but no passenger airbag, and for whatever reason it was determined by the dealer that the airbag was no good. Keep in mind that this was not only a 16-year old vehicle at the time, but an accident-free one. That airbag was most definitely original, and i I remember correctly there was a tear in the black plastic around the area on the steering wheel where the airbag is locate. The dealer wanted to replace the airbag probably just due to age, but this would have cost $2,000 or $3,000. The airbag light was not on, and the car was otherwise safe, so after discussing the matter my dad and Grammy decided not to shell out almost three grand to have the airbag replaced.

Not long after getting the car back from HBL, my dad and I went to Best Buy to pick out a new head unit with a CD player. My dad and I initially decided on a JVC head unit, but the stereo currently in the car was a Kenwood, car stereo shop at Best Buy was about to close, and buying the JVC would mean putting in a new wiring harness to accommodate it. This would have taken much longer, and we would have had to take the car home with us and bring it back the next day. Installation was free for all car audio equipment $99 and higher, but my dad would still have to pay for the JVC wiring harness. There was, however, a solution! There was a Kenwood CD player with the same features, and if I remember correctly at a slightly lower price. The installer guy said that the Kenwood CD player would be a drop-in replacement for the Kenwood CD player, and we could re-use the wiring harness! This mean my dad would just have to pay $110 plus tax for the head unit, and it would be a truly free installation. This was back before head units had all sorts of fancy shit, so a 2003 Kenwood CD player was able to replace a 1997 Kenwood tape deck with no updates! This was back before AUX inputs became commonplace, at least in the front of the head unit. I did not even have a portable MP3 player yet, so I didn't care. We were still listening to CDs. My dad chose to buy the Kenwood, and if I remember correctly I got to to sit in the shotgun seat and watch the guy swap out the Kenwood tape deck for the Kenwood CD player, while my dad paid for the new radio.

Now the Mercedes had a CD player! I was very happy! Also, that car had factory speakers from 1987, and it only had 4 speakers; 2 in the dash, and 2 in what some would call the "hat shelf," right behind the rear seat. This was a far cry from the umpteen-speaker digital surround sound systems being installed in Benzes today. My dad thinks the speakers in Grammy's Benz were Harman/Kardon, but I'm not so sure. Whatever brand they were, they were definitely decent for factory speakers in a car that was almost two decades old. The issue to this day, however, is that I've researched aftermarket speakers for that exact cars, and Crutchfield only stocks speakers big enough to fit the factory rear locations. There are plenty of brands available, but none fit the front.

My dad started driving the Mercedes to work regularly, occasionally switching between it and the Pathfinder. For close to a year after my dad brought the Mercedes home, it was absolutely fine. In spring 2004 when the first hot day came, we discovered that the A/C was blowing warm air again, but a trip back to HBL fixed that, and a $300 charge of R-12 lasted the entire summer. My dad got rear-ended by some guy in an old Nissan Sentra, but the Benz had no damage and the Sentra was so beat up that my dad honestly couldn't tell if it had been damaged. My dad is also pretty sure the guy wasn't here legally. The accident was so minor that my dad didn't even see fit to tell me at the time it happened, and I didn't know about it until he told me over a decade later. My dad says that he got out of the Benz to check the damage, and there ended up being none. The other guy didn't even get out of his car, and my dad just waved him off and went on his way. Even though the other driver stopped, my dad says he would have been surprised if he had insurance. Despite there being no damage to the Benz, my dad wasn't so lucky. He was sore for a few days after the collision.

Like I said, the Mercedes was absolutely fine for the first year or so that we had it. It did however have a few little quirks, mostly electrical, that were typical of older European vehicles. For starters, the A/C and heat would turn on by themselves. One time, my dad and I were driving with the windows down on a nice day, and one of the buttons popped out and the A/C turned on. Another issue was the power sunroof, which got stuck open a time or two. After getting the sunroof closed the second time, my dad eventually forbid me to open the sunroof. One of the dash speakers would randomly cut out, most notably when I had Meat Loaf in the CD player and was listening to Bat Out of Hell. The plastic knob that controlled the power mirror actually came off a couple times, but reattaching it was like putting a computer key back on. One of the headlights quit working, and I got it to work once by applying what I refer to as "percussive maintenance." The second or third time I did this, with my dad right here no less, I put my fist right through the plastic light cover. We sold the car maybe six months later and never bothered to replace the busted light cover. If I remember correctly, we got the light working again.

Sometime in 2004, my dad took me to movie theater parking lot and let me drive the Mercedes. I was only 15 and didn't even have a learner's permit!

In late 2004 or early 2005, the Benz started having a very distinct mechanical problem. It would be running fine, and then seemingly at randomly it would start revving and bucking back and forth, and sputtering, under normal acceleration. Sometimes, the car would start doing this while driving. Sometimes, it would be running okay while idling, but then my dad would hit gas pedal and it would start bucking and sputtering. It might start briefly acting normal, but not for long. Typically, it would end up stalling. It would then refuse to start. The first few times this happened, the solution was to let the car sit for a little while and then try starting it up again. It would always fire up and we'd get home, and again the car would go for days or even weeks without exhibiting these bizarre behaviors. As 2004 turned into 2005, these sudden "fuel system fits" became more and more frequent. This was without a doubt a delayed response to my dad and uncle running the car on old gas, for some reason not manifesting itself until about a year later. The problem eventually got so bad that my dad stopped driving the car to work. We took it out on weekends or after school, but never ventured too far from home or took it on the highway because of the car's unpredictability. The last thing we needed was for the car to lose power, which would subsequently result in the loss of power steering and power brakes, at 60 MPH on the Fairfax County Parkway.

In 10th grade, I was taking auto shop, and I convinced my dad to drop off the Benz at my high school so the kids in the more advanced class could take a crack at fixing it. Since I was a student, my dad would pay next to nothing for the parts and labor. I made arrangements with my shop teacher, an ASE certified former mechanic, and the plan was to drop it off right outside the shop class/garage at night, and then give my teacher the keys the next morning when I came to school. It should have been simple, but the Benz had other plans.

I did not remember exactly what road the Mercedes started acting up on and where the car ultimately broke down, but I knew that it happened right at an intersection right in front of our church. Just minutes ago, I looked up our church on Bing Maps and found what I'm pretty sure was the exact spot where the Benz stalled 12 years ago. I also looked up our old house and my old high school to pinpoint exactly which way we were going, and the memories came back...

I found the exact spot where our Mercedes broke down back in 2005! The approximate location is circled in red...

 

What was supposed to be a simple operation that took maybe a half hour at the most turned into a 2-hour nightmare. We were second in line in the far right lane waiting to go straight. I don't remember if the car started acting up before we stopped and then stalled while we were stopped , or if the light was green and the car starting sputtering and stalled right before we got the intersection. Either way, the Mercedes would not start, at all. The person in the Ford Ranger behind us thought my dad wasn't paying attention and immediately started laying on the horn. I got out of the car and started shouting at the guy in the truck that the car had stalled and wouldn't start. He just drove around. Meanwhile, my dad continued unsuccessfully trying to start the Mercedes. A European guy with a thick accent got out of his car and came over to help. He kept telling my dad to put on the hazards, which my dad did; then we determined there was little else he could do and thanked him, and he left.

For whatever reason, my parents didn't have AAA roadside assistance (they'd seriously never needed it prior to this moment), and I'm pretty sure that incident with the Mercedes that night is what prompted them to become members. My dad finally, and very reluctantly, called a tow truck. With the tow truck about forty-five minutes away, my dad tried for what seemed like an eternity to start the car, hoping he get it started and cancel the tow truck. I became very upset because I was convinced he was going to burn out the starter or inadvertently do something to damage the engine. I'd spent a significant part of my childhood in that car, and at that point it was still destined to become my car when I got my license, and I don't think we were planning on selling it. I started crying, because I thought my dad was doing even more damage to not only my future first car, but also a car to which I happened to have a great deal of sentimental attachment. My parents finally calmed me down, and after my mom drove me back to the house to use the bathroom, she drove me back to the spot where the car was stranded so I could ride with my dad and the tow truck driver, and tell the driver where to drop the car.

An older redneck guy showed up in a rollback and loaded up the Benz; He then drove me, my dad, and the car the remaining few miles to my high school with my mom following behind in the Odyssey. I then had him drop the car of fright outside the auto shop garage. The tow ended up costing $70, which was not horrible, but still...

Like I said, my parents became AAA members after that little fiasco...

Before we got in the van and went home, I removed the detachable faceplate from the head unit so nobody would be tempted to steal the radio while the shop was unattended.

First thing the next morning, I gave my shop teacher the keys. After sitting for a night, the Mercedes started right up and was able to be driven into the garage under it's own power. Go figure...

If I remember correctly, the 11th graders were able to find and fix the problem, but in my dad's eyes the car was tainted. Sure, the older kids had fixed that problem, but the car was 18 years old. My dad did not want to buy a money pit; Grammy didn't need it because she had her 2002 Lexus. My Grandpa was still driving then, but not as much as he used to. Even though the Lincoln was gone, they decided they really only needed on car and made due until my Grandpa had to give up his driver's license about 5 years later. Grammy really did not want to sell the Mercedes, but she had no use for it. We would be moving in a couple of months, and that car needed to be gone sooner rather than later. I was enticed, with a cut of whatever the car ended up selling for, to find a buyer. My Grandma wanted to get around $3,000 for it.

There was this hot Black/Dominican girl named Sydney I'd had a crush on since 8th grade (we were both in the same grade, and she was just 3 months younger than me), and while the two of us were waiting for our parents to pick us up after school one day, I told her about the Mercedes. This was before we brought it to school, but after it started having problems. My dad was fed up, but we hadn't officially decided to sell it yet. Sydney really wanted us to sell that car to her dad. She'd just gotten her learner's permit, and I think she may have wanted it for herself. I can't say I blame her, knowing what I know now about Benz W124s. Back then, however, I thought that car was a piece of shit. My exact words were "Sydney, it's a piece of shit! You don't want that car." I would have felt really guilty if we unloaded a potential can of worms on the family of a girl I really liked. Sydney said her dad was very mechanically gifted, and I said I'd talk to my dad. My dad shared my thoughts, about not selling the car to someone I considered a friend. Sydney ended up not pursuing the matter any further.

I spread the word around my school about the '87 Mercedes my grandmother was trying to get rid of; stating that it was in decent shape and had less than 100K miles, but needed some engine work. It didn't take long before one of the school maintenance guys made an offer. I relayed the info back to my dad, who talked it over with Grammy.

The whole thing is a blur, and I think it actually took place over the course of a day or two. My dad brought the Maine title with him one day when he came to pick me up from school. The buyer gave my dad $2,500 in cash, and we left. I believe the Mercedes was still having some work done and thus wasn't exactly ready to the hit road. During this time, the maintenance guy went to the DMV, where he obtained a Virginia title and Virginia license plates. The way I remember it, the transaction took place in the school parking lot, and then a short time later I remember the guy leaving the school in what was now legally his Mercedes with shiny new Virginia plates. That's just not possible, to go from a Maine title to Virginia title in a day, the day you bought the car! The day the DMV is efficient and not bureaucratic is the day pigs start to take flight!

So, my guess would be that the the sale of the car took place one day, and the buyer put his Virginia plates on some time later. Either that or he just had other Virginia plates lying around and stuck them on the car just so he could drive it home.

At some point, I realized the faceplate for the CD player was still back at my house; The way I remember it, my mom brought the faceplate to school, but she was too late. The maintenance guy and his son were dying to take their Benz for a drive, and didn't feel like waiting any longer. I felt really bad that they had to take their first drive in the car without a working radio, but my shop teacher said it was fine and kept the faceplate safe until he could give it to the new owner.

Here is a picture of the Mercedes, taken in the driveway of our house in Fairfax County, in 2004-2005. The picture was taken with my mom's then-new Kodak digital camera, and it wasn't that great a picture to begin with. I photographed the original picture with my Fujifilm Finepix point-and-shoot and posted it to Facebook in 2008-2009. What we have here is a re-download from Facebook, so that's why the quality isn't that great...

 

I love my Bestop. It might be my favorite addition to the truck. (Konig Six Shooters a very close second). I bought it used on CL for $400 and it was less than a year old. I read all the same complaints I am reading here and since owning it, I haven't experienced any of them myself (knock on wood). I was sick and tired of the small capacity of the bed and the top doubled my storage area. I can now pack the family for a week at the beach and not worry about stuff flying out on the highway. I live In New England so I was concerned about the windows cracking in extreme cold, no issues at all. I also don't worry about folding it up and tightness of the canvas in the cold because I have no reason to remove it and it stays on year round. I agree with one of the other posters.....they look awesome. I get tons of compliments on the truck and I haven't seen any others around. I like the windows (not that visibility is great) but during the day you can see out pretty well. My only complaint is that you can't lock it, but for $400 you can't have everything. Customer service has been great. They sent me an extra set of bed clamps. The clamps do bite hard but they move away from the rail as you tighten them so I asked for two more to be safe. No issues in four years. So far, it has held up very well to year-round use in New England for four years. I would highly recommend a Bestop.

 

The 2012 single cabs came with a plain old AM/FM CD and AUX input. AUX is Below the AC controls.

 

2017 Jeep Wranglers have AC as a $1295 option on some trim levels.

 

Those look good!

 

sweet looking 2nd gen. you don't see that everyday.

 

Especially a regular cab! So many of these are driven into the ground! This particular example has just 92K miles on the odometer as of September 2017 and aside from the A/C needing to be recharged, it is in mint condition.

 

I like that better than the one that came with my truck!

So if I ever buy a 2012 it will be easy to put in a setup like I've got in my 2010?

 

So, as I write this, it is a bit after midnight and I am sitting on a bed in one of the guestrooms at my Grandmother's house in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania...

My boss sent me to the grocery store to get change for the bartenders, and I noticed a soundtrack CD for Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 2 for $10.99. As if if my avatar isn't a dead giveaway, I'm a rather big fan of the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise...

Needless to say, I impulsively bought "Awesome Mix Part 2."

After getting off of work, I unwrapped the CD and put it in my Tacoma's aftermarket CD player. It's times like this that I'm really glad I spend the extra money for a head unit with a CD player. There are 14 tracks on the CD, and I was on track 10 when I pulled into Grammy's driveway...

The verdict? Buy it! It's worth the $10.99 (plus tax in some states)! There are some really awesome songs on this CD!

I had relaxing nighttime drive to Grammy's house (I was about 2 hours late because of stuff that came up at work, but my awesome boss paid me quite a bit so it's all good!), and then the fun really began when I got there...

I had four beers, my cousin had two or three, and my 79-year old Grandma (Grammy) took a sip of my cousin's beer and the look on her face was just priceless (Grammy drinks the occasional glass of wine now and then, but she is not much of a drinker); we just spent the last three hours or so at the kitchen table over "cheese noodles" and beer chatting about all sorts of random shit.

Normally I'd be going to the U.S. Diesel Truckin' Nationals at Raceway Park in Englishtown, New Jersey. However, some guy I met at a car show earlier this summer told me about an all-van show called Keystone Madness. I need pictures of Chevy and GMC vans for these Chevy truck tribute videos I am going to be making for YouTube (I'll explain more about the "Like a Rock" tribute videos) later. Keystone Madness has been held at the Schuylkill County Fairgrounds for like 25 years, and from what I've been told it's one hell of a show!

I know a guy who knows the right people at Raceway Park, and since 2015, he's been hooking me up with two free tickets to the U.S. Diesel Truckin' Nationals ($30 apiece!) just because "he thinks I'm a good kid." I turned down free tickets to the biggest diesel truck event on the East Coast to go to this van show I've never been too before, in a place I've never been too before!

Also, my Tacoma's gonna be hitting 77,000 miles on this trip! I'm so excited! The 8-year anniversary of when my beloved Tacoma first came into my life is also rapidly approaching!

For those of you do not know, I drive a 2010 Toyota Tacoma regular cab 2WD with an automatic transmission. My dad bought the truck brand new at Peruzzi Toyota (on Route 309 in Hatfield, PA) on September 30, 2009. We traded a 1996 Nissan Pathfinder SE 4x4, with 113K miles on it, for the Tacoma. The Tacoma had all of 20 miles on it when we took delivery. Now it's almost at 80,000 miles! Time really flies when you're having fun!

 

BEST 1991-NEWER POLICE CAR POLL: The premise here is pretty simple, and the title says it all. I've chosen what I consider to be the best police cars of the last 25 years. This poll includes 1992-newer RWD 4-door sedans that were also available as civilian models only ONLY! Current and retired LEOs as well as civilian owners of ex-police vehicles, and even just civilian police vehicle enthusiasts are allowed to cast a vote as well!

The 1991-1993 Caprice is not included because the LT1 V8 was not available until the 1994 model year. I have also not included 2006-present Chargers with the V6 engine because I don't think they're that great, and a couple cops I've talked to who have actually driven them don't particularly like them either. For me, the Charger is at the bottom of the list because it does not have traditional body-on-frame construction, but it is available with the 5.7L HEMI, which I think is one of the greatest engines ever made.

I would like to point out that I am a lifelong "GM guy," especially when comes to trucks and muscle cars, but there are certain cars and trucks made by FoMoCo and MOPAR that I like.

I would also like to point out that this is not about whether you're a Chevy person, a Dodge person, or a Ford person. I'm sure there are plenty of police officers out there who prefer Ford products but think the Chevy Caprice was the best cop car ever, or prefer import over domestic for their personal vehicle; But, whether it's a car, a pickup truck, an SUV, or a van, law enforcement fleets seem to exclusively be domestic.

One TW member from California who also happens to be a LEO showed me pics of specially-outfitted Taco (I think it was a 3rd gen) in his fleet. Another LEO from New Mexico said that they use a 2nd gen DCSB as an undercover vehicle in their car theft/bait car task force unit.

Just about every police vehicle I've ever seen in person and on TV (and on the Internet) has been a Ford, Chevy, or Dodge...

Many police departments in North America use pickup trucks and SUVs as patrol vehicles, but this thread is about the 4,000+ lb, American-made, V8-powered, RWD, 4-door sedan. The black-and-white; The cherry-top; In layperson's terms, quintessential police cruiser...

Mustangs and Camaros are awesome, but they are for outright pursuit and more commonly used on the open road by state police. I'm guessing that if an arrest is made, especially if there's two or more suspects, another officer with a traditional sedan or SUV, or a van/paddy wagon, is called...

 

I think I've mentioned in here before, but I started in a CV and loved it. For pursuits, my ugly Intrepid FWD dominated in the streets. The Charger was fun but I didn't feel as in "control" as the CV. The Expeditions/F350 just pissed me off; I know, not for going fast, but when you hear a brother (or sister Cuffs), you are gonna go....fast.

Man, I can hear the sound of the fuel dumping in and that thing going. Not the sexiest, but never let me down.

 

Crown vic...

Easier to differentiate from a distance..

 

I don't care what they drive. I just wish they would all drive the same car/truck/suv. It makes spotting them alot easier.

10 years ago they all drove crown vics where i live and i could spot them a mile off. Since Ford discontinued the crown vic you never know wtf they're in

So if i have to pick a favorite it would be the crown vic. At least i knew there was a cop a mile down the road

 

A few of my cop buddies who drive the Ford Interceptor Taurus love it. They have said that it beats all other cars they have driven.

 

I'm not a LEO, but these were always a favorite of mine:

 

Tahoe