Erik Smith Posted January 5, 2014 Posted January 5, 2014 (edited) In 1975, the Washington State Legislature wanted to explore methods to reduce government costs, and with skyrocketing fuel prices, they encouraged the Washington State Patrol to explore more fuel efficient vehicles. The WSP contacted the “Big Three” and started a short term project evaluation with 8 vehicles - four from Chevrolet and four from Ford. Chevrolet offered the WSP four 1975 Vegas, each outfitted slightly different, to test the cars ability to reduce fuel usage but still be able to be used in the harsh conditions - and test the cars’ pursuit ability. The Vegas were given WSP state exempt plates numbers 900-903 (the plate number usually indicates general rank - the lower the number, the higher the rank). Number 900 was outfitted with the standard 140 c.i. 4 cylinder Chevy engine mated to a three speed manual transmission. Cars 901 and 902 were equipped with the 140 4 and automatic trannsmissions and outfitted with the upgraded GT suspension. Car 903 had the GT suspension upgrade but also ran the 122 c.i., dual overhead cam Cosworth engine. All four cars were tested for a short time period in 1975 but their overall performance was underwhelming and the fuel savings negligible. The project was aborted for both Ford and Chevroloet in the fall of 1975 and all cars were destroyed. This car is number plate number 900. It started life as a canary yellow promo that had seen some “play days”. I pulled it apart, cleaned it up, repainted (three times - that yellow plastic is nasty), added some basic police gear (radio from AMT Galaxie, light and light bar from Johan Fury, and made an antenna from guitar string). Decals were made on my inkjet printer. Wheels are from Revell 1965 Chevy truck. Tires are GoodYears from the parts bin. This is actually all made up - the car is a WSP "phantom" - as far as I know, there were never any Vegas in any state patrol line up…i'd be cool with being proved wrong! The project was inspired by Chuck Most's Regal police car - and the fact this promo has been staring at me for months... Edited January 5, 2014 by Erik Smith
Agent G Posted January 5, 2014 Posted January 5, 2014 That's cool. Using the entire lightbar is a good idea. The roof wouldn't support a rotator on that beast! You're about 3-4 years ahead of yourself using a '75 model, It's not as "phantom" as you might think. Issues like that arose around '79-'81 all across the country. I have no knowledge of the WSP but I saw a small city PD just across the Missouri River use Chevrolet Citations for marked cars for about a year. We laughed and laughed at those guys, then we got Celebritys. Poop. G
mikemodeler Posted January 5, 2014 Posted January 5, 2014 Nice story Erik and very nice save on that promo. I remember in the early 80's the city of Highwood Illinois had a Peugeot 505 sedan for a police car. Talk about a POS ! That car didn't last long and not sure why they would have used it as they also had some Dodge Diplomats.
PappyD340 Posted January 6, 2014 Posted January 6, 2014 Shoot, you had me going there, very convincing story, OH well you did a super NICE job on the vega, looks great!!
TooOld Posted January 6, 2014 Posted January 6, 2014 I'm glad I read everything because I was about to say some really bad things about your states government ! Overall it looks really nice ! I have a soft spot for Vegas as I owned a '73 GT brand new .
Porscheman Posted January 6, 2014 Posted January 6, 2014 I thought it was true too. Great idea and presentation. Are you doing a Pinto???
bbowser Posted January 6, 2014 Posted January 6, 2014 Great backstory, entirely plausible in those days. Cool model, even though kids on bikes could have probably outrun it
Erik Smith Posted January 6, 2014 Author Posted January 6, 2014 I thought it was true too. Great idea and presentation. Are you doing a Pinto??? Haha - maybe a Chevette K-9 unit!
Speedfreak Posted January 6, 2014 Posted January 6, 2014 Haha - maybe a Chevette K-9 unit! That cracked me up Erik! Great car! Great story too.
W-409 Posted January 6, 2014 Posted January 6, 2014 Nice to see a Vega being built! You did a great job, too, it looks just like it could have been. Great paint job and nicely detailed...Especially the tail lights look very realistic to me.
peekay Posted January 6, 2014 Posted January 6, 2014 Very nice and I agree with Niko - the tail lights look great.
jefropas Posted January 6, 2014 Posted January 6, 2014 Very cool build, my department bought a K-car station wagon for patrol...what a dog...only lasted a year on patrol. The paint looks great! Jeff
Bob Ellis Posted January 6, 2014 Posted January 6, 2014 Wow, a cop car with a top speed of 80 mph, maybe. Your model is fantastic. Great illustration of good intentions gone bad.
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