[1]Images: eBay
What happens to old cars when they lose their usefulness? They may end up on the used car lot. Or they’re junked. And then the likes of us may resuscitate them and make them new again, either in their original incarnation or something new.
Some cars are less likely to be given second chances, which is why this 1967 Police Interceptor Ford Custom four-door sedan on eBay [2] is all the more special.
When you ordered a vehicle for police duty, there were several packages from which to choose. Old police catalogs are difficult to come by, but Ford’s 1973 Police Cars and Emergency Vehicles [3] brochure [4] gives us an idea on how Ford packaged these vehicle. For a variety of duties with economy and durability in mind, police departments would have been interested in the Sentinel. Stepping up from there was the Guardian, Cruiser, and Interceptor. This ’67 is the top-line Interceptor, which was a maximum duty vehicle capable of sustained high-speed driving.
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That's 360 horsepower powering Deputy Dearborn!
[7]Included in the Interceptor package was the P-code 428 Police Interceptor motor rated at 360 horsepower and 459 ft.-lbs. of torque, heavy-duty C-6 automatic transmission, and 2.80 open rear.
The PI motor received an aluminum intake, unlike the pedestrian 345-horsepower Thunderbird 428 V-8. The only street car available to the public to include the PI motor was the 1967 Shelby GT-500.
This particular example was bought by the Arizona Highway Patrol and in service through 1972. Looking at the Marti Report, you will notice it’s a low-line Custom four-door sedan., of which there were 8,627 built with the police package.
It starts to get juicy when you notice 1,048 were built with the 428 PI motor/auto combo. Considering the seats are cloth and vinyl, I suspect this was a car that originally wasn’t in full police regalia, especially considering that it has air conditioning – an unusual option for a pursuit vehicle.
Cop cars have very low survival rates, which makes this vehicle a stand-out. There are Ford products that could out-accelerate this Custom, but it’s doubtful they would be able to outrun it.