Volvo 850/S70 "Police Interceptor"

Hello,

Anyone got any info or pictures of the Volvo 850/S70 T5's that were tested
by the California Highway Patrol and Michigan State Police back in the
mid-late 90's? I've seen two pics of the S70 in CHP attire, heard one
paragraph about the performance vs. Caprice LT1 and Crown Victoria, but
nothing else... anyone have anything else to add?

Thanks in advance,
Mike

 

Here's a link to a model of the California version

http://www.chimneyvilledecals.com/chvl.gallerysubpage2.html

Mike

 

The one used by the Halton Hills police (where I live) seems to be an high
speed interceptor. It's a T5, just unbadged. Looks like it has beefed up
bumpers, suspension bits, and wheels (still aluminum, not steel). I don't
think I would want to be pulled over by one, altough the female officer who
I see driving it, is quite attractive .

 

Is it in full markings?

From what I read, the "police package" offered by volvo for a few years in
the late 90's included beefed up suspension, aux. transmission cooling, a
heavy duty cooling system, vinyl rear seat, wider opening rear doors,
special cloth interior (up front), and push bar/light bar provisions. I
wonder if the one you see is a Police package, or just a civillian one
pulled from the floor?

Very interesting stuff here. Looks like they were even more feared than the
early 90's Mustang V8s the CHP was using.

-Mike

 

I remember reading that the CHP didn't like them because the trunk was too
small for all their "stuff".

--
-------------------------------------------------------------
Don

'67 122 - 1st car
'70 142 - Lemon
'72 145 - Gone But Not Forgotten
'81 242t - Esther's Turbo (Project Car)
'82 245 - POS
'89 740ti - Ilsa, Daily Driver

 

It has a front ram, the i'm pulling your ass over lights are mounted on the
dash, and in the back window like most of our Impala's, which were fitted
this way, after the Crown Vickies got they top lights smashed by punks.

The sides have the requiste Halton bading on it, looks like its been beefed.

I've seen it flying down a side road once, engine was just screaming, sirens
full on... that was a pretty cool sight.

 

Size was an issue, I had a chance to talk to one of the testing officers at
a meet in Perris CA, he also mentioned the lack of room in back for
transporting people. It was a while ago but I think he said there was no
room for the protective "cage" between the driver and prisoners. He was
impressed with the speed and handling however.
Dave Shannon
(Spring Valley CA)
1988 240 DL 19X,XXX
1984 245 DL 20X,XXX
1984 245T 19X,XXX
'01 Jeep Wrangler Sahara 14K
http://www.homestead.com/volvo2/

 

Who cares about room, lets the prisoners suffer ;-). I've been in the back
seat of a police impala (no, I wasn't arrested, my friend got into an
accident with me and a two other friends, and they were driving us to have a
coffee and calm down a little, call the parents etc...) and I even told
them, they made the damn car too roomy for prisoners, they agreed with me
, they said they would have loved more room up front to stretch out when
they are stopped using radar on people from the side of the road.

 

There was at least one, and perhaps two S70AWD's under test by the CHP
on Interstate 80 over the winters of 99-00 and, perhaps, 98-99 as well.
My best recollection is seeing such a vehicle at times and places that
made it look as though there were two being used at the same time.

I imagine that the real interest for them was AWD (lot's of snow up in
the Sierra). Now that Detroit has a renewed interest in AWD (not
everyone *really* wants an SUV when they are only looking for AWD),
Volvo's would likely be out of the running, even if they are part of
Ford's lineup.

bob noble
Reno, NV, USA

 

After some checking with a neighbor in the MSP, I was told that they were
probably returned to Volvo/Ford after an evaluation period. I think the MSP
liked the cars, but it might have been a hard sell in Lansing using Volvos
as MSP cruisers.