desertbob93535@yahoo.com

The California Highway Patrol had a fleet of '69 Mercs with 428s. A
couple of longtime Chippies I've known remembered them well as being
VERY fast for a cruiser. They were well known for overheating on
desert beats and never passing a Standard station. There may have been
some expansion units procured during the '70 model year, but I never
saw them; all the CHP Mercs I saw were '69s. The previous fleet was
'67 Olds Delmonts with the 425. They were known for "best air
conditioning" and little else. The contract went to Chrysler in '71
and stayed there for many years, until the '80s, when the M-body
Chryslers were so slow that anyone with a performance car would simply
pull away from a pursuing units. This problem was answered by a fleet
of 302 equipped Mustangs with 5 speeds, but the CHP found out (much to
their embarassment) that about half their officers couldn't drive a
stick. This caused much laughter among Californians when the story
broke in the L.A. Times. The next order of Mustangs, as well as some
'92 Camaros, were all automatics, and the "big car" contract has been
for Crown Vickies ever since. With the Crown Vickie going away, it's
unsure what they'll buy next, since the CHP has been vehemently
anti-FWD, simply because all their officers were trained in RWD
vehicles.

I owned an ex-CHP unit myself...a 1954 Olds Super 88. In those days,
about the only thing that could get away from them would be a '55
Corvette or a Cadillac.