Michigan test archive
1979 Michigan State Police Patrol Vehicle Test
A title page, the test method, three schedules and two maps: what survives here of the test run in October 1978, which by the programme’s pattern was of the 1979 models. No results.
Between the 1978 and 1980 books, the file held here contains nine pages from the next test. Its title page reads: “State Police Patrol Vehicle Evaluation and Purchasing Program / October 28, 1978 / Chrysler Proving Grounds / Chelsea, Michigan / October 31, 1978 / Michigan International Speedway / Brooklyn, Michigan”, prepared by the Michigan State Police Executive Division’s Policy Development & Evaluation Section, October 1978. The pages do not state the model year; tested in October 1978, these were the cars for 1979.
Five cars are named on the test schedules: a Chevrolet, a Chrysler, a Dodge, a Ford LTD II and a Ford LTD. The schedules give no models, engines or prices beyond those labels, and the file holds no results of any kind, so this page has no results table and no winner.
The method
The three method pages are, word for word, the 1978 book’s, down to the misspelt heading “ACCELERATION AND TOP SPEED TESTNG”. Only the brake page is shorter: the 1978 book followed it with the deceleration-rate formula and a worked example, and this one does not.
| Test | Share of score | Method, as printed |
|---|---|---|
| Vehicle dynamics | 25% | “a road racing type course containing hills, curves, and corners and is 1.82 miles in length”; “at least 12 timed laps, using at least three separate drivers”; lap times averaged |
| Acceleration | 10% | timed acceleration to 100 mph; “a fifth wheel in conjunction with an electronic digital speed meter and an electronic multi-function timer” |
| Top speed | 15% | highest speed within 15 miles of a standing start; “The approximate distance required to reach 110 mph will be noted” |
| Braking | 10% | “the highest average deceleration rate attainable by each vehicle on two 60 – 0 mph impending skid stops” |
The cars and the order they ran
| Schedule label | Acceleration and top speed: order, team | Braking: order | Road course: sessions (driver) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chevrolet | 1, Richter and Floate | 1 | 1 (Richter), 6 (Baker), 11 (Floate), 16 (Price) |
| Chrysler | 3, Richter and Floate | 2 | 2 (Baker), 7 (Floate), 12 (Price), 17 (Richter) |
| Dodge | 4, Baker and Price | 3 | 3 (Floate), 8 (Price), 13 (Richter), 18 (Baker) |
| Ford (LTD II) | 2, Baker and Price | 4 | 5 (Richter), 10 (Baker), 15 (Floate), 20 (Price) |
| Ford (LTD) | 5, Richter and Floate | 5 | 4 (Price), 9 (Richter), 14 (Baker), 19 (Floate) |
The acceleration teams were Richter and Floate (Chevrolet, Chrysler, Ford LTD) and Baker and Price (Ford LTD II, Dodge). The brake schedule ends: “*Driver for all tests is Sgt. Miller Richter”. On the road course Richter, Baker, Floate and Price drove in rotation, Richter taking the first session in the Chevrolet. The schedules give surnames only, apart from Sgt. Miller Richter. In 1978 the road-course drivers had been Richter, Baker, Floate and Van Den Berg; here Price takes the fourth place.
The field is not the 1978 one. That test had a Buick, Chevrolet, Dodge, Ford LTD II, Plymouth and Pontiac; these schedules have no Buick, Plymouth or Pontiac, and add a Chrysler and a Ford LTD alongside the LTD II.
The maps
The two maps are the 1978 book’s courses. The Chrysler Corporation Chelsea Proving Grounds map (PDF p.78) appears to be a different printing: it labels a “SKID-TRACTION FACILITY” and “EXTERIOR NOISE TESTING”, which are not labelled on the 1978 map (whose lower edge may be cut off in that scan). The Michigan International Speedway map (p.80), “Penske Speedway Inc. D.B.A. Michigan International Speedway”, is the same as in 1978: “Arrows indicate Michigan State Police Road Test Course and Direction of Travel”, 1.82 miles.
What this file does not hold
No results at all: no acceleration times, no quarter mile, no top speeds, no distance to 110 mph, no lap times, no brake stops or deceleration rates, no ergonomics or communications scores, no fuel figures, no hardware descriptions, no weighted scores, no bid prices and no adjusted bids. There is no preface, so nothing says which car won, which was bought, or whether any was eliminated. The specification, with the qualification times, is not here either.
The full report for the 1979 cars has not been found. If you hold a copy, the corrections page says how to get in touch.
What 1979 settled
Only the outline. The test ran on 28 October 1978 at Chelsea and 31 October at Michigan International Speedway, and the three method pages that survive are the 1978 book’s, word for word, with five cars on the schedules and a Chrysler and a Ford LTD among them. The figures that would show how they did are not in this file.