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Old 11-01-2011, 09:58 AM
93LSPssp 93LSPssp is offline
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Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: Louisiana
Posts: 13
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Quote:
Originally Posted by texunter View Post
Thats an awesome and helpful pic of the caprice.

Any idea what tree that is?

I see four mic's in that car and my car shows evidence of three antennas on the trunk lid and 1 on the roof so that jives too.

Ted
I have no idea exactly what manufacturer that tree is by. This was in the day when airbags had only JUST been introduced into police cars (90 for Ford, 91 for Chevy) and in addition, LSP still clung to the bench or 50/50 bench seat, so they needed an equipment rack to hold everything AND clear the airbag deployment zones. I do know that while it LOOKED kinda cool with all that stuff stacked up there like a fighter cockpit, the reality was that they became loose, noisy and they rattled. You had to tighten them up occasionally.

When manufacturers started building police package cars with buckets only (the 95 Caprice being the first LSP encountered I think) they pitched those 'trees'. Everyone else must have too. For that short period of 91-95 or so they were EVERYWHERE, but then they disappeared overnight. They must almost have been universally hated because I have searched high and low for one with almost no success. They crop up on eBay now and then but always seem to go quick before I can get it. I'm resigned to fabricating one for my 91 LSP LTD Crown Vic, and the 93 Mustang.

As to mikes, this was my friend's unit and he was a resident trooper at the time in Beauregard Parish out of Troop D, Lake Charles. So in addition to the new high band Spectra, and old low band Motrac, he also had a separate Motorola parish sheriff's radio supplied by them, a CB for interstate work, and finally a PA mike on the siren. So he actually had about FIVE different mikes in the car. AND a mounted cell phone. My SSP had all but the sheriff's radio too.

Personal side note the interior shot was my friend Steve Gray's unit, D-34. That pic was taken in late 1993. In 1994 he got a new WHITE (the return of vintage colors and markings) Caprice, and he was also subsequently killed in that vehicle in a LOD death responding to an accident with injuries in SE Calcasieu Parish, in May 1995.

He was a great friend to me and just a good man. He was also an excellent state trooper and LEO.
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