RCMP 135th Anniversary CV

I know I've been away for awhile but here is two photos of the K Division RCMP 135th Anniversary CVs. Sorry it took so long. I had planned to make it a slow release but time is at a premium for me. Six of each colour are now in service within Alberta.

So I was travelling through Red Deer, that’s in Alberta, Canada for those of you South of the border. Had a beer with a friend and was walking out of the bar and saw this white camaro sitting there. Not a common colour up here for them so I took a closer look. Next I noticed the roll bar which was a giveaway. Thought, hey, this is my car. Checked out a couple things and sure enough, it was my old 96 B4C. While looking at it the owner came out, Yes, Rob, it’s still Tyler Hansen. Talked a bit and enjoyed the moment. Tyler, who’s now a member of the group may be interested in selling it. 1996 RCMP B4C. Was a fully marked unit when is service. I’ll leave the rest to Tyler if he so chooses. I’m presuming Tyler will see any interest here in the group but if not, just send me your e-mail and I’ll pass it on to him. If I had the money, I’d grab it up and hide it away. John R 91 RCMP SSP 02 B4C

Commuter cars

So, after spending hours looking at Toyotas, I’ve finally made the big step to the commuter car market. The very first car I’ve owned that didn’t have a V8. No, it wasn’t a Toyota. It wasn’t even from the last decade. Found myself a nice 1992 LX 2.3 Litre manual. Hoping it shows an improvement over my Tahoe. I drive about 80 kilometers round trip each day and I kept telling my wife that the gas was killing me. She didn’t want to get into payments again. Well, I got the LX so cheap that there are no payments. It even came with a bunch of benefits. Hope those of you left out there won’t mind the story. Thought it was pretty good: I was driving home with my three kids, and their two cousins, when I saw this four banger LX driving in front of me. I commented on how cool it looked as someone had taken old GT wheels (the ones with fins) and put them on the LX. They had big and little tires on that gave it a kicked in the ass look. It made the car look like a V8. It was also that cool Calypso Green. Anyway, I’ve been looking for a black interior for my SSP (yes, I keep all the original parts). I said to my son, “I wonder what the chances are that it has a black interior?”. Well, guess what? It was black. There was an older man driving it and he had the windows down. I pulled up beside him and yelled “Nice car”. He yelled back “You want to buy it” and that was it. We pulled over, I took it for a test drive, and a short time later he was leaving with a cheque. The guy had come to Edmonton to retrieve the car from the Edmonton Police Service seizure compound. He had the receipt for $1086.00 in storage and towing. He told me that an employee of his had been arrested in the car. I now believe him after cleaning it out. There were about a million roaches between the seats. Not in bad shape overall and my fourteen year old son is really excited because he knows he’ll be able to drive this one. My wife didn’t even get mad. She said it was “kinda cool” which I take as a good sign. Hope to get it running good for winter and maybe get a few years of use out of it. Not sure how the mileage will pan out but it’s a great looking car regardless. Even if it’s crap, I figure I paid less than I would’ve for the black interior alone. Will put up a couple photos once I get home again. I have the complete photos of the RCMP 135th anniversary Crown Vics and will try to post them asap. It's been made public so how much shit can I get? Take care.

135th Anniversary Crown Victoria in Historical B&W

Lots of neat stuff to tell but very little time. See the Yahoo Group for more information and a new spy photo. Wanted to tell you though, that I will not be able to give you full photos of the car until K Division has done their press release. When that's done, you'll see much more over at the Yahoo Group. Until I get more time to write, take care.

RCMP 135th Anniversary CV

Ok, a couple more to wet the appetite.

RCMP 135th Anniversary Spy Photos

My Yahoo Group contains this similar article: I'm putting up a folder showing some new Crown Victoria's that Alberta (K Division) RCMP are putting into service to celebrate the135th anniversary of the Force. These are hot off the presses and this is likely the first place anyone will see them. This project comes straight from the hearts of K Division's finest but I won't be surprised to see it copied elsewhere. The CVs are painted in historical colour schemes. There will be six black and white and six blue and white cars. They will use historical decals, as can be seen in this "spy photo". I will add to the folder in the following days. These CVs will sport some old emergency equipment but also have modern plain wrapper clear strobes in all the standard places. I saw the one in the photo today and it now has a red bubble light in the middle of the roof and a right fender "stop police" light. The "stop police" light faces out and rearwards so that when the police vehicle pulls up beside the perpetrator's car they will see the red flashing "stop police" in their eyes (anyone remember that old style of light? Don't worry, I should have pictures soon). The "stop police" spot light flashes alternately from the top half to the bottom half. It's cool. These cars will be used for their service life and then retired. They have all the modern equipment that a normal plain wrapper has including the digital camera systems. Stay tuned. Yes, I have seen this car up close. Yes, you will see more of these cars...if you stay tuned.

To Paper

Sent all my SSP/B4C digital photos to Costco. Having them put to paper b/c I'm so fed up with losing digital information. Good for shows as well - all in a binder. Speaking of shows, this Thursday (May 15th, 2008) my car is to appear at a recruiting show for the RCMP. In St.Albert, Alberta in case any one is interested in attending. Got the B4C on the road Saturday. Drove it to work yesterday and today. Man, is it quick. Later...

1992 Police Pursuit Tires

Was going through my cars files again. Came across RCMP Admin policy on "1992 Police Pursuit Tires". It recommends "Goodyear Eagle GT+4 'V' Rated" tires for the Mustang. I believe this is what came from the factory. Size: P215/65R15. Product code: 104-210-486. Unit price: $88.00. Not sure what equivalents would go for now. Any ideas?

KHHF1078

Ok, I'm going to start with my car, it's file.

File folder is red in colour and labelled with a red sticker reading "KH10/78". Next to the sticker, written in black ink, is the RCMP "PC Code" "KHHF1078". I'm told that all the Mustangs began with KHHF and the Camaros with KHHC. Why, can't tell you? The first number designates the year, in this case 1991. The 93 Mustangs, I can confirm, all start with "3", at least the files I have. My car was purchased at Healy Ford in Edmonton, but at the time, Healy Ford was on Jasper Avenue. Total price on the invoice, $13,737.10 big Canadian dollars. Of course, the good old Liberal government stole an additional $961.59 in GST. The invoice lists it as a "5.0 L" with "Block Heater, Air Conditioner, 135 AMP ALT," and drum roll please, "Special Service Pkg". So there you have it. It's official. The only reason I say this is because some people, or persons, said the 93's weren't actually SSPs but just standard LXs. I should be able to confirm that in the next few files...at least I hope so. Apparently my car was received on "91 Mar 28". Salesman, Ed Solkowski, sorry Ed. Next post, what happened once it went into RCMP hands.

RCMP Lumina with Recaro Seats

Here's a few quick photos of that Lumina I was talking about. Recaro Seats from the factory.

Wow!

I'm so excited. Brought home those files today and started going through them, putting all the paper work into order by date. Vehicle Identification Numbers, colours, other options, what the post garage did to prepare the vehicles for police duty, how much they cost, and I'll let you know a secret, soon to be revealed in more detail as I go through each file in depth, they did experiment with performance modifications! Have the test results to show it! In time.... John R

Post Garage Archives

Spent 2 1/2 hours today sorting through old dusty boxes at the Post Garage, thanks D & W. The boxes were torn and weathered but they contained secrets, great secrets. Found eight different service files for SSP Mustangs out of Edmonton and two service files for B4C Camaros. As I go through these gems I will keep you posted. So excited... Further, well discussing how ugly an old Lumina was, sitting in the lot infront of the Post Garage, I'm told they had Recarro Seats from the factory. "They even have 'Recarro" stitched into the seat backs". "Those are the seats you should get for your car"...good point. So good in fact, that I wanted to look at them. Then I found out there were about twenty of these Luminas purchased by the RCMP K Division, Edmonton - all white. Problem was, that when they went to install the shields, there was just a few inches between the rear seat and the cage, not enough for someones feet, unless you were a size 2. So, out came the factory seats, and big dollars were spent to buy fiberglass rear seats - blue ones too boot (matched the interior colour). Oops, that cost the tax payers a little more than expected. Well, the cars were used for a little while but with the implementation of the firearms registry, they were all tossed over to the Canadian firearms verification people (keep them in the Federal Family). They were "tossed" because they were the early front wheel drives and I'm told, by an excellent, proven reliable, source, they were mechanically weak and repair costly. Anyway, these little tidbits resulted in me getting the key, yes, one key system (was it like the SSPs? - not sure. Anyone?) the round key only, and taking a closer look. Took a few photographs too and when I get them off the camera, I'll see to posting them. Now I'm thinking, maybe I should buy one of these cars? I'll have to check the net to see if there are people interested in these short lived police packages. Really, it was a neat little car upon inspection, though still terribly ugly in my opinion. Will have to drive one and see what I think then. All around, a neat day, and worth the 2 1/2 hours. Oh yeah, rumour has it the Traffic Services in Northern Alberta will be putting out a few black and white, and blue and white, RCMP traffic cars for the 135th anniversary. The original b&w and b&w cars (hey, I could have just typed b&w one time and caught both colour combinations). Supposedly, they have realized they will have to do a press release about it b/c nobody will expect to see those colours anymore. They will be modern cars with old style lights and graphics on them. Tied to recruiting needs as well. Saw one of the fender lights demonstrated today. Its a small red light that reads "stop police" and flashes alternately top to bottom. You know, one on each fender, facing forward. It will be neat to see what happens with all this. I'm a little worried because this will reinvigorate the blue & white colour, and therefore, draw attention to my SSP. Attention, likely, from the law. As Ontario Provincial Police has gone back to black and white cars, and many other organizations I'm told, will the RCMP go back to blue & white police cars? Supposedly, the b&w cars will only be a temporary thing. I'm told the cars that will be converted will be used cars, already in service, that "only have about one year left in them". Also...I know this is a lot of typing for a blog that has seen little if any action...we talked about how they put the radar antennas in the light bars of the PCs for a little while because of the cancer scare. You know, the one where the guy supposedly left the handheld radar between his legs and radiated his nads (can anyone verify this story?). Guess policy came out that required the antennas to be mounted on the exterior of the vehicle. Nother bit of info I wasn't aware of. Guess the early radar antennas were quite hard to do this with as they were so big. Well, I should get to bed. It's after midnight. Maybe this is the start of a much bigger blog. See you soon...and with more goodies... John R