Quote:
Originally Posted by Rhino
I heard rumor that the CHP had allowed one or two of the older cars to be released to a private party for restoration. Some guy was talking about how he was restoring one of the older 70s units for them (private funding) and they allowed him to take it off property. Any truth to that?
|
Yes, a '73 Dodge Coronet was released to a private party for restoration. I've talked to that individual and he's a retired CHP officer who has worked on some prior car restorations of his own. The car is a very rare test and evaluation unit and at one time was sitting next to the Diplomat before he pulled it out of there.
Not sure how old the photos above are but you can see the Dippy has deteriorated even further.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Rhino
Maybe we all offer to take one home for safe keeping?  That dippy could be a cool car with a little love. |
I made that suggestion to the Sargent in charge of the vintage fleet. She mentioned that she is currently recruiting civilian volunteers to help restore, maintain and show the cars while permanent museum space is found. Heck, I'd do it in a heartbeat if I lived a little closer to them!
As raising funds for a separate musuem building has fallen very short of goals, they are instead planning to greatly increase the current museum space in the Academy building but they will still have to rotate cars into that facility.