"PRIOR POLICE" on car titles
 

Hey guys! I know that some states like California and Florida would mark the term "PRIOR POLICE" on new car titles when a vehicle was sold by the agency. My question is why would DMV go through the effort to identify the car in that manner? Is it a way to protect future owners so they know that the car lived a hard life?

I had to go to DMV today, and it got me to wondering why some states would do that... :)

It's a consumer protection type of alert to indicate fleet use. I believe they brand titles for taxi and livery use also.

Michael, thanks for the info.

Andy, thanks for the laugh!


I had a feeling it was a mandated requirement to protect future owners. I couldn't imagine the DMV's making the extra effort without just cause. I just didn't want to assume anything, so I put the question out there for all to see. :)

Is your DMV going to mark the title for your new addition as Police?

not every police car get branded prior police some members with chp cars dont have it branded on the title

Mike, well you know the reason I got to thinking about this question. We picked up the car on Friday, and drove it 620 miles home without any real issues. I will be going to DMV tomorrow to get it inspected, titled, and registered. I need to swap the license plate number onto it from the Focus before we sell that car. I will see if DMV wants to put "Prior Police" on my new title, because the current title lists the owner as that police department (not the overall city). :)

And for those who don't know what the heck I'm talking about, here's a hint:

http://images40.fotki.com/v776/photo...lesiggy-vi.jpg



...and here's a news article about the car:

http://www.examiner.com/autos-in-det...ord-mustang-gt

The City of Harper Woods, Michigan was having budget issues, so they sold their Mustang GT and an unmarked Lexus on ebay. I bought the Mustang :D It has the 4.6L-3v motor, with an auto transmission (which made Debbie happy), and only 38K miles when we picked it up. It's no cream puff, but it's not too badly beaten up.

Hmmm Makes me wonder from the other day...

Wow! It really is a small world. I wish you would have come over and said hi. I remember there being a vehicle (you) at that pump, but I was more aware of the guys in the truck on the other side of my pump.

That's too funny!

That wasn't me Bill. That was one of my specialists that was coming from Michigan that notified me of the car and sent it over to me to look at. I have a wide network of spotters and get lucky sometime.

COOL
 

What does it say on the side? I'm hoping to pick up one of the El Paso, TX new 5.0 cars one day. One of them is Grabber blue. Mmmmmm. They use them for "traffic inforcement".

That is still too funny that you rec'd a spyshot of us traveling home with the new car. It just reinforces the fact that enthusiast-owners in the copcar hobby need to be ever-mindful of how they behave on the roads, cuz you never know who's watching you! :)

That was our first fill-up at 137 miles into the trip. We averaged 23.0 mpg on the way home, which I thought was about right.


Yes, there was a thread on Mustang Forums saying that El Paso is now using some 5.0L's. The right side on mine says "TRAFFIC ENFORCEMENT" on the rocker stripe. Originally, the car was a police demonstrator for Gorno Ford in Woodhaven, Michigan. Here is how the car looked before it was purchased by the City of Harper Woods with about 6K miles on the odometer:

http://images38.fotki.com/v1223/phot.../200602-vi.jpg


I noticed last night as the dew collected on the car that the top edge of the rear window had lettering that said "got lights?". So the car was used by Gorno Ford as a demo to help sell the idea of using these S197's for police duty. I got to speak with the fleet salesman at Gorno today, and he filled me in a bit about selling this car to Harper Woods. :D

Perfectly put.

I'm surprised that they didn't, at the very least, cover over the decals for you. I wouldn't have wanted to drive it home like that.

True. When Charles Ricks registered #3035 after buying it at the auction they didn't do it. So when I went to the DMV after my purchase, I showed them a copy of the original CHP registration card for the car and they were more than happy to brand my title. :)

Mike, I was expecting them to cover the decals too. Before we left, I printed lengthwise on a sheet of paper in bold large letters "NOT IN SERVICE" which folded laid atop the middle of the light bar in the rear window (keep in mind that we flew in one-way, and didn't check any bags). I brought a small roll of electrical tape with me on the plane, so I used that to cover up the DIAL 911 on the rear fender. They removed POLICE from the front fender, which left a really nice looking ghost image on the paint -

http://images112.fotki.com/v106/phot...Car6608-vi.jpg


I have the same ghost image on the rear fender from where I removed DIAL 911 once we were home. You really have to catch the reflection in the right light to see the outline of the letters. On the side stripe, I ended up using one long piece of electrical tape, but didn't have enough tape to completely mask it at the time -

http://images55.fotki.com/v585/photo...Car6607-vi.jpg


I don't have a picture with the add'l tape covering the rocker, but I plan to paint a magnetic strip to match the stripe that will cover the letters. I may use a product called "Nightshades" on the LED lights, which is an aerosol spray film used to black-out taillight lenses. The lights have a disconnect switch under the hood, so I will be compliant with local laws about not having working lights on the car while on the road. I told Jack that the only time the lights will be used is for parades, car shows, or in our driveway (for the kids next door, of course!). On another note (pun intended), they left the siren mounted in the car (they didn't want to pay to remove it, since the front-end of the car would need to be removed to access it). However, there are no controls for the siren, and I plan to keep it that way.

And here's a shot with my SSP in the background (before removing DIAL 911 from the fender) -

http://images60.fotki.com/v224/photo...Car6610-vi.jpg

If you are going to show it (which it sounds like you are), I would remove all of the decals, decal remnants, etc. etc. etc. and have them re-made on magnets. That way, you could mark up the car at shows, parades, etc. and it would look completely stock otherwise. The magnets you mentioned for the side stripes will scratch up the car (and be a PITA). I think it would be different if it weren't a daily-driver, but I figured you were going to be pulling all of that stuff anyway, especially since it's so new.

My .02.

Mike, I appreciate your input. Your earlier comment about "de-militarizing" the car may prove to be the best path forward. I will most likely remove most of the emergency lights to keep from drawing attention to the car on the road, and prevent any hassles with the Federales. I think it would be better to keep the car clutter-free in terms of police equipment, rather than need to put signs on the car that say it is NOT IN SERVICE.

Presently, all markings have been removed except the rocker stripe (which is now fully masked). I like your comment about having the lettered magnets be for display-only, and leaving the car unmarked. The 8" LeMans stripes are cracked and faded so badly that the silver almost looks white. I plan to re-do those stripes, and could easily do the rockers at the same time with a plain stripe in the same color as the new ones going over the car. Then I could have a magnet done for display purposes to replicate the TRAFFIC ENFORCEMENT lettering. That's a really good suggestion, the more I think about it.

No prob. I figured you were going to have some work to do to put it back to stock.

It looks great Bill...attached is the photo I took of it at the Ferndale Emergency Vehicle show in August that's held in conjunction with the Woodward Dream Cruise. Did they strip off their Department emblems from the passenger side door? How'd they treat the inside when they pulled their radio and laptop assembly out? I'm kind of surprised they left all those lights, but then again alot of departments seem to get lazy taking the time to remove items. Enjoy!

Crazy thing is that I remember that car from Gorno when I was working at Woodhaven Stamping! Cool to see the car out. Too bad it wasn't totally decommissioned when you got it.

Thanks Mike! I love that photograph. :)

They removed their emblem from the passenger door, and there is a very slight outline of it in the paint despite their efforts to buff out the door. The inside isn't too badly beat up. Here's the interior set-up they had while in-service:

http://images51.fotki.com/v282/photo...Car6611-vi.jpg

http://images61.fotki.com/v777/photo...Car6612-vi.jpg


They removed the laptop and mount, the radio, the radar unit on the dash, and the video system that was located where the factory radio once sat. I had an OEM Shaker 500 radio from Debbie's vert, so Jack put that in over the weekend (I assisted him! :)) They left the controller for the light stick, which is located along the toggles by the shifter. The toggles work the LED's. The interior has holes and is banged up a bit, which I expected. I tossed the seat cover in the trunk during the first fill-up. They had added a vinyl strip where the seat was worn through, so something on the drivers' (plural - they had two officers assigned to the car) duty belt really trashed the seat.

In talking with the department prior to coming out there, they said that they would remove all of the equipment that they could re-use in another vehicle, but they didn't want to incur too much additional expense getting the car ready for sale. They felt more comfortable leaving the lights in the car knowing that I had another collector copcar. I sent them the link to my car in the Members' SSP Section, and that made them feel much better about selling me the Mustang. I am really happy with the purchase. I elected to have the transmission serviced, so it's still in the shop as of this morning.


For the price (as compared to buying a privately-owned GT), I can't complain about having to work on it a bit. :D