DARK BLUE CHEVY II

  When I made Detective--about the time Sherlock Holmes did--at the NPD you wore a certain "uniform."  Business attire, it was called. A suit, or sport coat with white shirt and tie.  And you drove a stripped down Chevy, or Dodge, or Plymouth. Fords, back then, never seemed to win the car bid. It had blackwall tires and, with its yellow City tag, looked just like the low-bid unmarked police car it was.

  Used to make me wonder why I just didn't wear a uniform and drive a marked car. Everyone knew who you were anyway. So I lobbied to make some changes. Finally, Chief Sam Bass gave in and allowed me to put out bids on something a little different. 

  Something different, turned out to be a dark blue Chevy II with white wall tires and a healthy 327 engine. Fitted with an out-of-state tag no one suspected who we were.  (The other part of "we" was Mike Grimm)

  Getting the car ordered required a little extra work. Casey Ingram, the local Chevrolet dealer, didn't want to order it. Said he didn't think it would be safe. Casey was like that. If some young person, with a lotta money, walked in and ordered a souped up Corvette, Casey would run them off if he thought they were irresponsible and might get killed in the car. We finally got Casey to give in by ordering the heavy duty suspension, available for police cars, that he insisted on. 

  Getting the uniform part relaxed took a while longer but I finally got that changed too so that we could wear sport shirts, untucked, to cover the gun and badge.

  The little Chevy with the big motor would put about 7 G's on you when you accelerated. It was the fastest cop car in the county, except for maybe cars built by CCSO Deputy Charlie Sanders. Charlie was an ex-NASCAR driver and built police car engines, usually 427 Chevy's. And they would clock!

  Howsumever, the NPD had a practice that the "Hoot Owl" shift, who crept around most of the night at low speed, would "blow out" their cars each morning before turning them over to the Day shift. That meant give it a healthy run to blow out the carbon buildup. This was done on the road that later became part of the Golden Gate Parkway, between Goodlette and Airport Road. You had to be careful doing the blow out because the last quarter of the road was gravel, and made stopping an exciting proposition.

  Many mornings we had unsanctioned drag races on this road, pitting one police car against another. Needless to say, the little Chevy II would blow the doors off any regular Impala and Plymouth Fury police car. 

  We kept the little car beyond normal trade in time, but eventually had to give it up. 
  I still miss it.