Well I have finally restarted working on my 8 year neglected 1971 Catalina Freeway Enforcer ex Police car. I bought it 10 years ago on a whim and I am attracted to odd Performance Pontiac's and a 455 powered 37,000 Mile Ex Police Chief's car qualifies IMO. I am attaching the 10 year old as bought pictures of the car, It has sat outside for the last 5 years so it does not look as good as it does in these pictures. Oddly equipped even for a Police car, 455 4bbl with 1970 D-port ram air exhaust manifolds, HD frame, Battery and Drivers Seat. Handling Package with 1 1/8" front Sway bar and 1" rear bar. Larger front Disc and rear drums sourced from the same year Cadillac. No Radio or Antenna, Manual Windows, and a Custom Cushion Steering Wheel, and full carpeting put over the standard Rubber Floor mat that Police cars and Taxi cabs used.   It even still has its original Engine, trans, and rear axle. HD TH400 and a 3,23 open rear axle.

I also uploaded  a picture of the "Certified Speedo" and the one Vintage Picture I have obtained of it in service taken on 10-21-1971 curiously the very day my wife was Born.

Below is a Link to a Local Youtuber that does some interesting video's He did a video on the car late last year. He even got most of the info correct!

If there is interest I will post more about the resto as it progresses.

 

 

That’s  so cool Jeff 👍

what’s your plans ? Refit it to look like it did in 71 ? As the cop car ? 

Thanks,

Yes the plan is to restore it as close as possible to its in service condition. so remove the aftermarket Vinyl top, add the correct roof light, fix the rust, and respray it. So far I have had the original 15"X6" wheels cleaned and powder coated, new tires mounted, the carb rebuilt, the gas tank cleaned and coated ( it was about 1/3 of the way filled with water at one time☹️) gas sender rebuilt, and found a NOS nose emblem & passenger side rear fender extension.

As for uses for it. besides local shows and the Woodward Dream Cruise Lights and Sirens Parade ( my really wants to drive it 90 mph lights and siren blaring on Woodward ave and not get a Ticket) And do a Bandit Run or 2 with it. I know it isn't a correct year car for the Movie but it should be fun.

Thanks for sharing Jeff!

A couple of things caught my attention. A heavy duty frame makes sense for a police car Did Pontiac do something different to reinforce the frame for police use or did they just take a Catalina/Bonneville convertible frame and use it under the car?

Hubcaps: You have dog dish hub caps when it’s on the trailer. Those are cool and seem police appropriate. However, the picture from ‘71 seems to show full size stock Pontiac hubcaps. Do you know which ones you should have to be correct? 
 

A one of 20 car is awesome to say the least! Any idea how many cop cars in total were made in ‘71?

Whaat RPO option codes were used to make an Enforcer?

Edited February 22, 20251 yr by Frosty

They just used the Convertible Boxed Frame for the HD Sedan Frame, just as you suspected. As for the hub caps the 71 Delux full wheel caps are correct, but I don't care for them, I will run it with the Late 71 early 73 Stainless Steel Dog dish's on it. Not the 78 aluminum caps on it on the trailer.

The only other options the car has is a power trunk release, and a rear window defogger ( the blower type not the electric grid type )

The GM Heritage center came up with this document showing the 1971 Pontiac Police car Production numbers. 120 Light Duty Enforcers, 138 Highway Enforcers, as 23 Freeway Enforcers. So it is 1 of 23 Freeway Enforcers, and 1 of 291 total Pontiac Police cars made in the 71 Model Year.

These are the cleaned and Powder coated rims and sway bars, lower control arms and a few other small parts. Before the new tires were mounted and all were dropped of at the Resto shop.

 

Edited February 22, 20251 yr by cammerjeff

Very cool information. Once you get the Enforcer done, perhaps we need to get together. I’ll bring my black and gold 3rd gen Trans Am.. We can have a Smokey and the Bandit moment.

Agree with the dawg dish caps.  What I seem to remember from back in the day. Know for a fact that Sylvan Lk PO PO had the dawg dish.  On a dare, snuck up commando style at the city hall, popped a hubcap and added a few acorns before reinstalling.    Not quite American Graffiti  cable to the rearend cool, but achieved legend status for awhile.  Do you know where the car was in service?

I do know what town it came from, but I agreed to let the restoration shop reveal that info on there site 1st, so I will decline to say it here, sorry. But I was happy to actually find a Shop that was exited to work on the car, even though they specialize in Mopars. They are Police car enthusiasts and have the know how I lack in what police equipment like lights and Siren, radio, and switch panels it may have had, Including the Lolly Pop  lights it would have had on the rear package tray.

I have a question. I know you said you are putting it back to its original livery. Does the State of Michigan have any restrictions on former police cars?Espedially when it comes to using the lights and siren?

I spoke to them about it, they said the only real restrictions are 

(1) in Michigan you can not have a Blue rotating Light,  - No problem it had a Red rotating Light similar to the Michigan State Police

(2) The light and siren can not be active or in use when driving. - I was told that pulling fuses was the standard way to ensure compliance. But any special occasions such as parades or car shows they can be active.

Then they made the following suggestions, cover the light with a padded cover that either velcro's or zip ties on when driving on public roads, and having magnetic "out of service" or "no longer in service" signs made up and put over the door shields and on the rear of the trunk lid.

They said that seeing as it does not resemble a current Police model, or one that has been in use in the last 20+ years they were not concerned with it being used to impersonate a Police car. It also helped that it would not be painted in the markings of a Michigan based Police force. 

Edited February 23, 20251 yr by cammerjeff

That's good information. I suspected there was something that they might limit. However, you've done your homework alright. Thanks for sharing. That was insightful.

Jeff, you so have to keep us up to date with the build please !!

i have a mate here in nz who has a state trooper mopar, it came into nz complete with all its jewlery and is worth a lot of money !!!

its a very cool car ... 

I will try to keep this tread up to date, The Shop is supposed to get it up on the lift this week and start pulling out the fuel lines to have them replicated by Inline Tube, that is only about 10 miles from the shop doing the work.  At the moment there is a 74 Ex California Highway Patrol car on the lift. I have also talked to them about having the lower part of the car Dry Ice Blasted to get the 50 years of scale and rust off the bottom, with the tank and lines removed I would think that would be a good time to have it done.

Besides the CHIP cruiser on the lift, they have a 1974ish ex Michigan State Police Fury, the Red Ford wagon on the lift is a Customers Old Fire Chiefs car from Chicago, and they also have mid 90's Caprice & the white car in the background is a late 80's Caprice, both ex Cruisers but I don't remember the history on those 2.

Edited February 25, 20251 yr by cammerjeff

Getting rid of the scale underneath the car sounds like money well spent to me. Any idea the cost difference between traditional sand blasting, soda blasting, and the dry ice blasting?

Its probably about the same, but with the dry ice blasting you do not have to clean out any of the soda or sand that gets blown everywhere so nothing to clean up or clean out other than the scale & old paint the you are removing.

They have a friend that just purchased the equipment and is setting up a company to do dry ice blasting. So it may be a win win. Help the guy out, and the shop gets some experience with the process. I do not know if he has a portable unit or if the car will have to be transported to him though.

This sounds like quite an opportunity you have here Jeff. I definitely would like to know more about this. I would think the biggest variable cost might in determining the right amount of dry ice needed to do a particular size job.

Apparently they drove it into position on the Lift today, so some progress. The 455 does sound good, even without the tail pipes installed.

Edited February 26, 20251 yr by cammerjeff

Very cool Jeff! Thanks for sharing.

Nice Checker cab up on the lift!!

Rick

Checker - A fine product built by the Checker Motors Corporation in Kalamazoo Michigan until 1982. Probably an A11 or A12 model. The very last Checker built is on permanent display at the Gilmore Collection in nearby Hickory Corners (NE of KZoo). 

That Checker is actually a Wagon, with a roof rack. I don't know much more about it though. I really like this shop as they own weirder cars than I do. Almost makes my taste seem main stram 🤣

The only Checker wagons I know of were all Marathons. Marathons could be had as either sedans or wagons.

Well the shop is getting ready to pull the engine to clean and paint it and the engine compartment, As the engine only has around 36k miles on it, and the only leak I am aware of is the drivers side valve cover, I think what we used to refer to as a "Flint" engine rebuild will be enough at this point. They are also going to remove and replace all the fuel hard and soft lines. And find and fix the transmission leak. I attached the latest video they sent me yesturday, it looks like the exhaust and drive shaft are out, And they said they should have the engine on a stand today.

The shop shared a couple of more videos the engine is out! And on a stand. I have to drop off the couple of rattle cans of the correct 1971 to early 1973 Pontiac Light Blue engine paint to them this afternoon, so they can perform what we used to refer to as a "Flint" engine rebuild. That is cleaning, degreasing, and repainting the engine. So some Progress!

As a Flint native, I'm not sure how I feel about that term "Flint rebuild". We built bad ass Buicks and killer small block Chevys back in the day  What are you trying to say there Jeff?  as 

Is this the same thing as what Derek Bieri calls a Cragislist Rebuild?

Edited March 18, 20251 yr by Frosty