Zoltan Finks wrote: > That's true. Another visual cue is the rear sway bar. Or maybe all > full-sized American cars come with rear sway bars now. It used to be a real > rarity.
All Crown Vics after a certain year have a Watt's link to locate the rear axle. (Older ones have a Panhard rod.) Dunno if the sway bar is always there, though. The cop cars have a stiffer spring rate and handle pretty well for a big car, although you're always aware of the amount of mass you're pushing around. > I notice now that the wheels on cop cars are a unique design that has an > offset that has the wheel center farther toward the outboard. And they don't > have any hubcaps, just a center cap if I recall correctly. Yeah, the big, black 16" wheels appeared some time after 2000, I think. After the style change to the big Grand Marquis grille the cop cars usually got a blacked-out grille instead of chrome, as well. Of course, the tricky bit is that all of this stuff is optional; it all depends on what boxes were checked on the order form. The only way to be absolutely sure whether a car was ordered as a police package model is to look at the VIN. > Often when trying to determine whether the Crown Vic in the distance is a > cop, I look for any clue possible, such as the visual profile of the driver, > and whether there are any objects resting on the rear deck or dashboard (as > in regular people junk). The cues are many. A partition between the front and rear seats is a dead giveaway. So is an "exempt" or state-government license plate. > Also, it seems you'll never see a Mercury cop car. Unless it's unmarked! Then all bets are off. Heck, I've seen people pulled over by cops in pickup trucks.
