I find many ex-cop cars in junkyards, as you'd expect, mostly Ford Crown Victoria Police Interceptors with the occasional Chevy Caprice, Dodge Charger or crunched SUV mixed in here and there. Today, we're going to look at Dearborn's not-so-successful replacement for the Crown Vic P71, an ex- Tulsa PD prowler now residing at a boneyard in Englewood, Colorado.
Way back in 2009, this publication reported (I'd say we reported, but I didn't begin working here until 2010) that Ford would be discontinuing the good ol' Crown Vic Police Interceptor in 2011. This turned out to be the case, and the world wondered what its replacement would be.
But before we get to the story of today's Junkyard Find, I need to provide a photograph of an ex-law enforcement Chrysler product in a car graveyard, because all the modern cop Chargers I see in junkyards nowadays are just too trashed to be worth documenting. Here's an ex- elroy 1974 Dodge Monaco at Speedway Auto Wrecking in Dacono, Colorado.
It's disappointing that I don't find many 20th-century ex-police Mopars in Colorado junkyards because Front Range police departments drove some fine Chrysler-built machines during the previous century, e.g., this Lakewood Police Plymouth Fury.
I have real affection for the P71, since I owned an ex-San Joaquin County parole officer's unmarked car (no spotlight, no urine scent inside, only one antenna hole!) from 2004 through 2010. It wasn't fast and it liked to eat power window regulators, but it was roomy, handled well for its size and had air conditioning that could get the interior temperature down to about 37 degrees Fahrenheit while parked in the sun on a 110-degree Central Valley day.
In early 2010, this publication announced the news that the new Police Interceptor would be a Taurus and would be called the Police Interceptor Sedan (which allowed Ford to keep using the badges that had gone on P71s for years). However, the last model year for the "real" Taurus had been 2007 ( for fleet sales only), which meant that the new PI would be on a Volvo-derived FWD/AWD platform.
We covered the debut of the new police Ford sedan, naturally. Derek Kreindler reviewed the new Police Interceptor Sedan at a Ford press event in 2012, followed by an on-the-job review by lawman David Hester a year later. Both writers felt that the car offered good power and fuel economy but was too cramped inside for both gear-laden cops and backseat perps.
Ford Introduced the Explorer-based Police Interceptor Utility at the same time, and that truck's larger interior volume made it a stronger seller to law enforcement fleets.
The Police Interceptor Sedan was built for the 2013 through 2019 model years, after which it (and the entire Taurus line) got the axe. All of the Police Interceptor Sedans were built at Chicago Assembly.
I wish today's JF subject had been at the Aurora U-Pull-&-Pay last winter, when I photographed Chicago Assembly-built Fords with a Chicago-built/Rambler-branded film camera while drinking Chicago's most notorious booze during a blizzard.
Though I wouldn't have felt like moving all these tires out of the car during a blizzard.
Government agencies perform varying levels of marking erasure when they prepare their used vehicles for sale to the public. It looks like Tulsa peeled their decals off this car and called it a day.
It appears that it was still working for Tulsa in 2021.
After this car's service with the Tulsa PD, it ended up in the hands of a person who shopped for stickers at Cutninja.
Anime- and manga-inspired stickers are commonplace on junkyard cars. Below the BEWARE OF THE DOG sticker is one representing the "Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan" eyes of Sasake Uchiha, for example.
Then there is this lenticular motion sticker depicting Lucy Heartfilia from the anime "Fairy Tail."
Oh wait, it's Ezra Scarlet from this angle.
You get the idea. Google Image Search is useful for identifying junkyard car decals.
I can usually puzzle out metal band names in this style, but this one has me stumped. Vouchsafe? Vomitface?
In the end, this car succumbed to an ordinary fender-bender.
The keys are in it.
The engine is gone, but the VIN says it was a Cyclone 3.7-liter V6 rated at 305 horsepower and 279 pound-feet of torque. That engine was available only in AWD-equipped Police Interceptor sedans. The transmission was a six-speed automatic.
This car was much quicker than a stock P71 Police Interceptor.
You'll find one in every car. You'll see.
2013 Ford Police Interceptor sedan in Colorado junkyard.
2013 Ford Police Interceptor sedan in Colorado junkyard.
2013 Ford Police Interceptor sedan in Colorado junkyard.
2013 Ford Police Interceptor sedan in Colorado junkyard.
2013 Ford Police Interceptor sedan in Colorado junkyard.
2013 Ford Police Interceptor sedan in Colorado junkyard.
2013 Ford Police Interceptor sedan in Colorado junkyard.
2013 Ford Police Interceptor sedan in Colorado junkyard.
2013 Ford Police Interceptor sedan in Colorado junkyard.
2013 Ford Police Interceptor sedan in Colorado junkyard.
2013 Ford Police Interceptor sedan in Colorado junkyard.
2013 Ford Police Interceptor sedan in Colorado junkyard.
2013 Ford Police Interceptor sedan in Colorado junkyard.
2013 Ford Police Interceptor sedan in Colorado junkyard.
2013 Ford Police Interceptor sedan in Colorado junkyard.
2013 Ford Police Interceptor sedan in Colorado junkyard.
2013 Ford Police Interceptor sedan in Colorado junkyard.
2013 Ford Police Interceptor sedan in Colorado junkyard.
2013 Ford Police Interceptor sedan in Colorado junkyard.
2013 Ford Police Interceptor sedan in Colorado junkyard.
2013 Ford Police Interceptor sedan in Colorado junkyard.
2013 Ford Police Interceptor sedan in Colorado junkyard.
2013 Ford Police Interceptor sedan in Colorado junkyard.
[Photos: Author, Ford]
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