The Police Car Perfected

I have been busy enjoying an end-of-summer road trip to New England for the past week.  Now I am spending some time on Cape Cod renewing acquaintances with relatives and old friends.

As I drive around on highways and byways I am always on the lookout for a police vehicle as traffic law enforcement continues to be an excellent source of revenue without the procedural bother of hiking taxes.

Now a new automotive manufacturer has arrived on the American scene to produce police cars exclusively.  Carbon Motors has designed a prototype that is diesel powered and fully integrated with lights and computer equipment.

This is a police car that perhaps Mad Max would envy as it produces 300 hp from a turbo diesel and 400 lb/ft of torque.  Being diesel its fuel consumption is modest and it sport clam shell doors for ease of loading prisoners in the back seats.  The rear compartment is sealed off completely from the officer’s cabin in the front so that the prisoner can pee and barf to their hearts content without making a mess of the front.  Something that is a real problem with today’s police cars. 

The rear seat is a one-piece molded affair that has indentions for handcuffed hands.  It has plugs in the floor so it can easily be hosed out and returned to service quickly.

The front cabin is decked out in the latest electronics and instead of switches to locate and reach for many are voice activated.  Gun racks are built in to the area between the seats and the seats are formed so that the officers can sit comfortably with their sidearm belted on.

On the outside all the usual flashing and blinking lights are built in to the body work.  Normally these things are supplied by aftermarket companies and bolted on and wired in to the police cars.  With their being integrated into the body work the car’s aerodynamics are much improved, too. 

The push bar is integrated into the front bumper as well.  This also translates to better aerodynamics and eliminates the need to drill mounting holes and bolting up to the frame of the vehicle.

The life of this vehicle is projected to be 250,000 miles which should make it cost effective.

The manufacturer is claiming that it has thousands of pre-orders and will start fulfilling them in 2012 from its Indiana manufacturing facility.

This is quite a departure from the traditional source of police cruisers where a standard sedan is offered with heavy duty equipment such as a larger capacity alternator and bigger brakes that is then decked out in aftermarket lights, electronics, push bars, and other items.  While not specified by Carbon Motors, the price is expected to be similar to a fully accessorized police car.

So when can the Blues Brothers get their own pre-owned Carbon Motors E7?  Never.  Carbon Motors is going to sell to law enforcement exclusively and with the stipulation that these cars can never be sold to the public.  Sorry Jake.