Photo by Chris Durant
The Times-Standard |
The California Highway Patrol has added 73 new Chevy Camaros to their fleet of patrol cars, and motorists may have a hard time spotting them. The plain white car has no shotgun barrel in the windshield or push bumper on the front grill. On its roof is a low-profile light bar that looks a ski rack from a rear-view mirror and is undetectable beyond 375 feet.
The Special Marked Patrol Vehicles cost $25,500 apiece and can reach 160 mph with a 5.7-liter, 8-cylinder, 310-horsepower engine. The Garberville office was the first North Coast office to get one of the cars, according to a July 1 Eureka Times-Standard article. Sgt. Mike Clare said all offices of the highway patrol would receive a new Camaro when a fleet vacancy arises.
"These vehicles bring to the CHP a little bit of stealth capability,"said Assistant Chief Kevin Green, while unveiling seven of the new cars at the Redwood City substation on June 25.
The San Francisco Chronicle covered the event, and reported that within an hour truckers had spread the word about the vehicles over their CB radios. Officer Mike Wright, patrolling a five-mile stretch of the Bayshore Freeway in the stealth car, failed to write a single ticket. The CHP tried a similar tack in the 1980s with a fleet of speedy Ford Mustangs, and the word got out over the CB just about as quickly. |
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