Identification
How to Identify a Genuine Police Package Car
Here is the thing that makes this hard, and it is not what most people expect. A police package was running gear — an option code applied to an ordinary body. In the 1950s especially, nothing about the outside of the car identified it at all.
Which means the black-and-white paint, the pillar spotlight and the roof beacon are decoration, not evidence. All three can be added to any car in a weekend, and they are, constantly and often perfectly honestly.
That is also why so many tribute cars circulate without anybody intending to deceive. A carefully built tribute, described as a tribute, is a legitimate and enjoyable thing to own — many of the best-known police cars at shows are tributes and their owners say so. The problem is never the car. It is only ever the description.
Assume unproven until documented
Police cars were consumed rather than preserved. A department bought a car to work it, ran it until it failed, and sold what was left into whatever came next: taxi service, a small-town fleet, a demolition derby, or a wrecker who wanted the driveline. Survival rates are poor across the board and worst for the desirable years, because a 440 Magnum was worth more in a Charger than the whole car was worth as a Polara.
So the sensible default is that any claimed police car is unproven until documented. That is not cynicism about sellers. It is the state of the record.
The one question worth asking first: what does the provenance actually rest on? Not what the car has — what the claim rests on. If the answer is the paint, it rests on nothing.
What is actually checkable
Three things, and they are not equally strong.
1. The tag
Every American manufacturer that sold police cars recorded the package as an option code on the car’s identification tag. This is the strongest evidence available short of factory paperwork, because it was stamped at the point of manufacture rather than added afterwards.
On Chrysler products the tag sits on the top of the left inner fender, held by two screws, and the package code appears in the body of the tag. The code most people know is A38, Chrysler’s Police Pursuit Package. Codes are era-specific: A38 does not run the whole way through, the certified speedometer carries its own separate code, and the equivalent codes for General Motors and Ford follow different conventions again.
| Manufacturer | Package | Best-known code |
|---|---|---|
| Chrysler — Dodge, Plymouth | Police Pursuit Package | A38 |
| General Motors — Chevrolet | Police package | 9C1 |
| Ford | Special Service Package | SSP |
A car offered as “a police package car” with no code attached is not necessarily a fake. It is undocumented, and undocumented is precisely what you are paying a premium to avoid.
2. The VIN
Some manufacturers encoded police use in the vehicle identification number itself, using a specific character in a specific position. Where that convention exists it is useful, but it cuts both ways: it can support a claim and it can quietly undermine one, and it varies by maker and by era.
Treat the VIN as evidence rather than proof, in both directions. Documentation settles it; nothing else does.
3. The hardware, and the scars
The package itself was suspension, brakes, cooling, charging and instrumentation — things built in at the factory and awkward to replicate. The certified speedometer is often the most telling survivor, because it was specified as an ordered option for a legal reason: an officer had to swear to what it read under oath. It was evidence, not equipment.
Then look for what removal left behind:
- Drilled holes in the front fenders or A-pillars where spotlights were mounted
- Roof holes, usually filled, from a light bar or antennas
- Mounting holes and wiring runs in the transmission tunnel and under the dash
- Heavier or spliced wiring than the civilian loom, often added by a department garage rather than the factory
Restorers have found genuine cars exactly this way. One surviving example of the 1955 Buick built exclusively for the California Highway Patrol was spotted in a field by the drilled spotlight holes still in its fenders.
The tell that belongs to the car itself
Beyond the general principles, most genuinely rare police cars carry one quirk that comes from how they were built rather than how they were equipped. These are the details that end an argument.
The Buick is the clean example. Because those CHP cars were assembled from a cheaper body with a more expensive front end, they wear four of Buick’s chrome portholes on each side rather than the three found on virtually every other two-door post sedan of that year. That is not a modification anyone would think to make. It is a manufacturing consequence, and it is the fingerprint of a genuine car.
Nearly every significant police model has an equivalent mismatch between the parts the factory used and the parts the civilian version got. Knowing which one applies to the car in front of you is the difference between an opinion and an identification.
The codes, the tags and the tells are in the book
This page covers the method. The Golden Age covers the data: where each manufacturer put the tag and which line the code sits on, how the codes changed by year, what the certified speedometer was recorded as separately, and the VIN conventions that support or undermine a claim.
It also lists twenty-one things commonly printed wrong about these cars — including several this channel itself had published — openly, at the back, with sources.
See the ebookDating the equipment
Equipment is where honest restorations quietly go wrong, because a part that looks right for the era may be a decade too young.
One example worth carrying in your head: a Federal Signal badge on a car restored to 1969 specification is a later part. The company was Federal Sign & Signal until 1975. The badge is correct for the marque and wrong for the year, and that kind of mismatch is exactly what a knowledgeable buyer checks first.
Light bars, beacons and sirens all have datable sequences of their own, and getting them right is the difference between a well-presented car and a genuinely correct one.
What proves nothing
- Black-and-white paint. A weekend’s work.
- A light bar or spotlight. Widely available, frequently added.
- Door decals or a department name. Reproduced and sold openly.
- A big engine. The same engines were sold to the public. A 440 in a Mopar means somebody ordered a 440.
- “It came from an auction.” Possibly true, and irrelevant without documentation.
- A previous owner’s word. Usually honestly given. Still not evidence.
One myth worth killing while we are here. The phrase “pursuit rated” appears constantly in listings and certifies nothing. The Michigan State Police, whose annual evaluation is the most respected police vehicle test in the world, states in its own test book that there is no sanctioning body and no specific performance criteria behind the term, and that “pursuit capable” would be more accurate. Nobody has the authority to award it.
Where the value actually sits
Three things, in this order.
- Documentation. A well-documented ordinary police car is worth more, and is far easier to sell, than an undocumented desirable one. The paperwork is the asset.
- Correct equipment. Period-correct lighting and interior fittings are increasingly hard to source, and are the first thing a knowledgeable buyer inspects.
- Originality of the driveline. Restorable bodies are common. Correct, unmolested police-specification mechanicals are not.
Note what is not on that list: paint, livery, and the light on the roof. They are what sells the photograph. They are not what holds the value.
Red flags
- A seller who cannot or will not photograph the identification tag
- A code quoted that did not exist in that model year
- Police equipment fitted, but none of the underlying package hardware
- A repaint covering the areas where mounting holes would be
- Documentation that begins with the current owner and goes no further back
- A price that assumes authentication the seller has not actually provided
Frequently asked questions
How can I tell if a car was really a police car?
Start with the identification tag and the option code recorded on it, then check the VIN convention for that manufacturer and era. After that, look for factory police package hardware that is difficult to add, such as the certified speedometer and heavy-duty cooling and charging equipment, and for the physical scars left by removed equipment: drilled spotlight holes, filled roof holes, and wiring runs for radios and switch panels.
Why can’t you tell from the outside?
Because a police package was running gear, not bodywork. It was an option code applied to an ordinary body, and in the 1950s especially nothing about the exterior identified it. Livery, spotlights and beacons can be added to any car and prove nothing.
What is a police package option code?
The internal code a manufacturer used to identify the police package on the build order and the car’s identification tag. Chrysler’s best-known is A38 for the Police Pursuit Package, General Motors used 9C1 for the Chevrolet police package, and Ford used SSP for the Special Service Package. Codes are era-specific and there are many more than these three.
Does “pursuit rated” mean anything?
No. The Michigan State Police, which runs the most respected police vehicle evaluation in the world, states in its own test book that there is no sanctioning body and no specific performance criteria behind the term. It certifies nothing.
Is a tribute car worth owning?
Yes, provided it is described as one. A carefully built tribute is a legitimate and enjoyable thing to own, and many well-known police cars at shows are tributes whose owners say so openly. The difficulty arises only when a car is sold as a genuine agency vehicle without documentation, because the buyer inherits that problem at resale.
What makes one police car worth more than another?
Documentation first, then period-correct equipment, then originality of the driveline. A well-documented ordinary police car is worth more and sells more easily than an undocumented desirable one. Restorable bodies are common; correct police-specification mechanicals are not.