Michigan test archive
1987 Michigan State Police Patrol Vehicle Test
The year the bar went up: a ten-second Caprice, two 139-mph Mustangs — and the quarter second that ended the Diplomat’s bid.
Eleven years into the program, Michigan rewrote the entry exam. The qualification bar that had stood through the early eighties — 60 mph in 14.5 seconds, 100 in 48.5 — was tightened to 12.9 and 42.3, the 0–80 requirement cut from 26.0 to 23.0 seconds, and the top-speed rule tightened: 110 mph within two miles, where three had been allowed. The first casualty was the Dodge Diplomat. Its 0–80 average came in at 23.25 seconds — a quarter second over the line — and the book records the consequence in one dry sentence: the car “failed to meet our established minimum acceleration requirements, and was consequently eliminated from our bid process.” Michigan kept testing it anyway, for the agencies whose needs differed. Two of its four runs actually beat the bar; the average didn’t.
Eleven cars ran on 13 September 1986 — straight-line work at Chrysler’s proving grounds between 50 and 67 °F, dynamics on the 1.635-mile Michigan International Speedway course, now at least fifteen laps per car with the fastest twelve averaged. The preface carries its own news: Ford had promised a police-package Taurus for this test and withdrew it before testing — “we have been told it will be available for the 1988 model year.” And after the 1986 report flagged early rear-wheel lockup on all four big sedans, Chrysler and Ford arrived with the problem fixed, Chevrolet nearly so.
The scoring system changed too: the weighted-Z statistics of the early books gave way to a simpler deviation-from-best method, and the category weights were overhauled. Fuel economy — worth 25% of the score in 1983 — fell to 10 points. Dynamics rose to 30, acceleration and top speed to 20 each. The fuel-crisis priorities were officially over.
The competing cars — and the one that didn’t qualify
| Car | Engine | 0–60 (s) | ¼-mile (s @ mph) | 0–100 (s) | Top speed (mph) | Miles to 100 mph | Dynamics (s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chevrolet Caprice | 350-4BBL | 10.32 | 17.85 @ 77.75 | 34.62 | 118.0 | 0.67 | 88.32 |
| Ford Crown Victoria | 351-VV | 12.02 | 18.93 @ 76.25 | 39.30 | 115.2 | 0.73 | 88.59 |
| Plymouth Gran Fury | 318-4BBL | 12.39 | 19.18 @ 75.0 | 38.64 | 117.5 | 0.72 | 89.77 |
| Dodge Diplomat † | 318-4BBL | 12.72 | 19.35 @ 73.5 | 40.53 | 116.9 | 0.76 | 89.95 |
Gold row: winner on total weighted score. The Caprice’s numbers were from another era: quicker to 60 and to 100 than any sedan in the books held before it, the fastest top speed of the competing sedans, and fastest around the pursuit course — a 180-horsepower 350 through GM’s 700R4 overdrive. One asterisk: the Canadian-market Caprice, run for information beside it, was quicker and faster still — 9.49 to 60, 29.06 to 100, 121.7 mph.
Tested but not competing
| Car | Engine | 0–60 (s) | ¼-mile (s @ mph) | 0–100 (s) | Top speed (mph) | Dynamics (s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ford Mustang (5-speed) | 302-PFI | 7.64 | 16.00 @ 89.75 | 20.42 | 139.6 | 82.02 |
| Ford Mustang (automatic) | 302-PFI | 8.16 | 16.33 @ 86.75 | 21.73 | 139.1 | 83.78 |
| Ford Crown Victoria | 302-PFI | 11.85 | 18.55 @ 74.0 | 43.47 | 109.2 | — |
| Plymouth Gran Fury | 318-2BBL | 14.65 | 20.63 @ 71.75 | 52.44 | 113.3 | — |
| Chevrolet Caprice (V6) | 262-TBI | 13.94 | 19.90 @ 71.0 | 59.22 | 106.0 | — |
| Chevrolet Caprice (Canadian) | 350-4BBL | 9.49 | 17.40 @ 80.75 | 29.06 | 121.7 | — |
| Plymouth Reliant | 153-TBI | 15.04 | 20.38 @ 68.5 | — | 100.4 | 92.90 |
The 5-speed Mustang’s 7.64-second 0–60 and 82.02-second lap average are the fastest figures in the program’s published books to that point — more than six seconds a lap quicker than the best sedan. The Reliant never reached 100 mph during its timed runs; on the continued run it finally touched 100.4 after 4.44 miles.
Complete acceleration data — every 10-mph increment
| 0 to… | Caprice 350 | Crown Vic 351 | Gran Fury 318-4 | Diplomat 318-4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20 mph | 2.15 | 2.69 | 3.11 | 2.93 |
| 30 mph | 3.43 | 4.42 | 4.78 | 4.76 |
| 40 mph | 5.20 | 6.40 | 6.56 | 6.68 |
| 50 mph | 7.59 | 8.82 | 9.33 | 9.50 |
| 60 mph | 10.32 | 12.02 | 12.39 | 12.72 |
| 70 mph | 13.84 | 15.79 | 15.99 | 16.77 |
| 80 mph | 18.79 | 20.86 | 22.09 | 23.25 |
| 90 mph | 25.30 | 28.25 | 29.70 | 30.64 |
| 100 mph | 34.62 | 39.30 | 38.64 | 40.53 |
| 0 to… | Mustang 5-spd | Mustang auto | Crown Vic 302 | Gran Fury 318-2 | Caprice 262 | Caprice 350 (Cdn) | Reliant 153 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20 mph | 1.84 | 2.05 | 2.24 | 3.48 | 2.78 | 2.10 | 3.14 |
| 30 mph | 3.00 | 3.33 | 3.80 | 5.76 | 4.50 | 3.43 | 5.07 |
| 40 mph | 4.22 | 4.74 | 5.94 | 8.14 | 6.86 | 5.14 | 7.52 |
| 50 mph | 5.92 | 6.19 | 8.55 | 10.84 | 10.13 | 7.14 | 10.84 |
| 60 mph | 7.64 | 8.16 | 11.85 | 14.65 | 13.94 | 9.49 | 15.04 |
| 70 mph | 10.33 | 10.45 | 15.83 | 19.48 | 19.17 | 12.53 | 21.25 |
| 80 mph | 12.85 | 13.16 | 21.50 | 25.73 | 27.27 | 16.72 | 31.31 |
| 90 mph | 15.95 | 17.44 | 29.78 | 34.88 | 38.57 | 21.68 | 47.84 |
| 100 mph | 20.42 | 21.73 | 43.47 | 52.44 | 59.22 | 29.06 | — |
The 5-speed Mustang needed just 0.37 miles to reach 100 mph and 0.52 to reach 110. Its 89.75 mph quarter-mile trap speed is the highest in the published series to that point.
Brakes, fuel economy, ergonomics
| Car | 60–0 Phase I (ft) | 60–0 Phase II (ft) | Avg decel (ft/s²) | EPA city (mpg) | Ergonomics (pts) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plymouth Gran Fury 318-4 | 139.6 | 140.3 | 27.44 | 12.7 | 199.90 |
| Dodge Diplomat 318-4 | 146.2 | 140.2 | 27.24 | 12.7 | 199.90 |
| Chevrolet Caprice 350 | 150.8 | 150.7 | 26.12 | 13.9* | 215.30 |
| Ford Crown Victoria 351 | 147.5 | 157.1 | 25.66 | 12.9* | 193.20 |
| Plymouth Reliant 153 | 150.9 | 164.4 | 24.88 | 21.2 | 179.90 |
| Ford Mustang (5-speed) | 169.8 | 157.7 | 23.99 | 16.4* | 175.40 |
| Ford Mustang (automatic) | 169.1 | 172.3 | 23.14 | 17.6 |
A quiet revolution hides in this table: deceleration rates that hovered around 24 ft/s² in 1983 now reached 27.44 — the M-bodies, of all cars, stopping shortest, on the new Goodyear Eagle GT/HR radials. The Mustangs’ new brake package resisted fade on the track, the preface notes, but locked the rears early on the skid stops — hence the low averages. And the ergonomics sheet quantifies why radio installers dreaded the Mustang: dash accessibility 3.0, engine 1.3, trunk 1.0 out of ten.
Hardware: horsepower, axle ratios, test weights
| Car | HP (SAE net) | Axle ratio | Test weight (lb) | Transmission |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ford Mustang 302-PFI (5-speed) | 225 | 3.08 | 3,198 | 5-speed manual w/ OD |
| Ford Mustang 302-PFI (auto) | 225 | 2.73 | 3,270 | 4-sp auto w/ OD (AOD) |
| Chevrolet Caprice 350-4BBL | 180 | 3.08 | 3,948 | 4-sp auto w/ OD (700R4) |
| Ford Crown Victoria 351-VV | 180 | 2.73 | 4,079 | 4-sp auto w/ OD (AOD) |
| Dodge Diplomat 318-4BBL | 175 | 2.94 | 3,885 | 3-sp auto (A999) |
| Plymouth Gran Fury 318-4BBL | 175 | 2.94 | 3,924 | 3-sp auto (A999) |
| Ford Crown Victoria 302-PFI | 160 | 3.08 | 4,051 | 4-sp auto w/ OD (AOD) |
| Chevrolet Caprice 262-TBI | 140 | 3.08 | 3,803 | 4-sp auto w/ OD (700R4) |
| Plymouth Gran Fury 318-2BBL | 140 | 2.26‡ | 3,895 | 3-sp auto (A727) |
| Plymouth Reliant 153-TBI | 100 | 3.22 | 2,712 | 3-sp auto (A949) |
‡ The book disagrees with itself: the hardware summary prints 2.26:1 for the 2-barrel Gran Fury’s axle, its Appendix A sheet 2.25:1 — to be settled against a physical copy. Horsepower had climbed across the board: the Mopar 318s to 175, the Chevrolet 350 and Ford 351 to 180, and the port-injected Mustangs to 225 — up fifty from the 175 of the carbureted car Michigan published in 1983. Fuel injection now ran through half the field.
The scoring — a new method, and a rout
The old weighted-Z statistics were retired. From 1987 each category’s best car scores zero, every other car is charged the percentage by which it trails the best, multiplied by the category weight — 30 points dynamics, 20 acceleration, 20 top speed, 10 brakes, 10 ergonomics, 10 fuel — and the lowest total wins. The bid adjustment became 1% of the lowest bid received, multiplied by each car’s total and added to its price. Read the totals below and the year explains itself: the Caprice scored best in five of the six categories and was charged points only for its brakes.
| Car | Dynamics (s) | 0–100 (s) | Brakes (ft/s²) | Top speed (mph) | Ergonomics (pts) | EPA city (mpg) | Total weighted score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chevrolet Caprice 350 | 88.32 | 34.62 | 26.12 | 118.0 | 215.3 | 13.9 | 0.480 |
| Plymouth Gran Fury 318-4 | 89.77 | 38.64 | 27.44 | 117.5 | 199.9 | 12.7 | 4.460 |
| Ford Crown Victoria 351 | 88.59 | 39.30 | 25.66 | 115.2 | 193.2 | 12.9 | 5.670 |
| Dodge Diplomat 318-4 † | 89.95 | 40.53 | 27.24 | 116.9 | 199.9 | 12.7 | disqualified |
What Michigan ordered
The September 1986 specification (Mich. 3905-0010) shows the program’s electrical appetite growing: a 100-amp minimum alternator (up from 80), a 500 cold-cranking-amp battery (up from 455), and the Unity #225 spotlights now fitted with H7635 halogen spotlamps. Tires became Goodyear Eagle GT/HR radials — kept, the preface notes in answer to many inquiries, at 35 psi cold for both testing and patrol service. Fifteen-inch heavy-duty wheels, black, with hub caps.
Carried forward: the ⅛-inch welded roof plate, drilled and pre-wired for the beacon; the limited-slip differential; maximum cooling with anti-freeze protection to −35 °F; tilt steering wheel; certified ±3 mph speedometer reading to at least 120; power locks keyed alike per car; front and rear plate brackets; inside hood release; intermittent wipers; heavy-duty blue cloth (all-vinyl still not acceptable); paint to Dulux 93-032 — and a closing line collectors will enjoy: no dealer advertising to be on vehicles. See how to identify a genuine police package car and the police package option codes guide.
What 1987 settled
The program grew teeth. A qualification bar written for the malaise era was rewritten for the injection era, and the Diplomat — 175 horsepower, three-speed automatic, the same basic car since 1977 — became its first casualty, by a quarter of a second, while still being one of the shortest-stopping sedans Michigan had ever tested. The M-body would soldier on with other agencies, but in East Lansing the verdict was in.
Meanwhile the Caprice showed what the new standard was for: 60 mph in 10.32 seconds, 100 in 34.62, best score in five categories of six. And out at the edge of the field, two port-injected Mustangs ran 139 mph and lapped the pursuit course six seconds faster than anything with four doors — the fastest police-test numbers Michigan had ever printed.