1985 Michigan State Police Patrol Vehicle Test

What this file does not hold

The 1985 test book is not in the file. There are no test dates, no location, no drivers and no test sign-offs, and no individual acceleration runs. The 0–60 and 0–80 averages, quarter mile and distance to 110 mph are missing, as are the lap-by-lap or driver-by-driver road-course times. There are no brake stop speeds or distances, no ergonomics or communications items, and no EPA figures, engine outputs, axle ratios or test weights. Nothing names a car that failed to qualify or ran for information, and nothing says which dealer received the award. The 1986 test is on the next page.

What Michigan ordered

The specification, headed “Draft – 1984” on every page, asks for a 4-door sedan, “1985 Current New”, from Chevrolet (Impala), Dodge (Diplomat), Ford (Crown Victoria) or Plymouth (Gran Fury), engine size “at manufacturer’s option providing that the car will meet or exceed the vehicle performance requirements”. Each test car was to come with “One extra set of engine belts and four (4) wheels and tires”, already broken in and with its brakes burnished. The delivery date in this draft is left blank.

The equipment list largely repeats the September 1983 specification (four pages of which sit among the Jeep papers in this file). New or changed items include the anti-freeze to −20°F, the inside hood latch release, the roof plate’s stated purpose, spotlight fusing of 10 to 20 amps, the heavy-duty cloth upholstery and the fifteen-inch wheels; the draft also adds a predelivery-inspection entry, speaker locations and several “(Dealer installation permitted)” provisions. Among the items:

• an 80-amp alternator with 45 amps at idle;
• a 455 cold-cranking-amp battery;
• a limited-slip differential;
• Quartz-Halogen headlights;
• anti-freeze to −20°F;
• an inside hood latch release;
• power locks with “different key for each car”;
• paint to Dulux 93-032;
• the ⅛-inch steel roof plate, now “to hold roof skin in its normal position for the purpose of supporting the overhead emergency light”;
• a 60/40 split bench;
• a speedometer accurate to ±3 mph, reading to 120;
• Unity #225 spotlights with H7635 halogen lamps, fused “with 10 to 20 amp capacity”;
• a tilt wheel;
• Goodyear Eagle GT/HR radials;
• a 3- or 4-speed automatic with low-gear lockout;
• “heavy-duty cloth, or combination of heavy-duty cloth and vinyl (blue)” upholstery (“All vinyl not acceptable”);
• “Fifteen-inch heavy duty” wheels.

A closing note adds “No dealer advertising to be on vehicle.” Hand edits on the copy held replace the “Remote Control Rear Deck Lid Release” with “To be equipped with electrically operated remote control trunk release” and allow speedometer graduations of “1 or” 2 mph.

The Wakefield Jeep

Most of the 1985 file is not about sedans at all. It is the Uniform Services Division’s correspondence on a four-wheel-drive experiment, and it records no performance testing. In November 1983 Major Michael J. Anderson wrote that he had toured the Upper Peninsula posts: “I support the general concept of a utility type 4X4; however, I have concerns regarding its practicality in year-round operations and the resultant costs.” He asked for “one (1) four-wheel drive, four door, vehicle” for the Wakefield Post. The requisition is for an “AMC 4-Door Jeep Wagoneer” with a “2.8L V-6 Engine”, automatic “with Command Trac”, skid plates and a 3.73 axle. Before it arrived Anderson warned the post that “this vehicle is not designed as a pursuit type patrol vehicle; thus, sustained high speed driving shall be avoided”, and asked for a daily log.

The post commander, F/Lt Peter J. Buda, then reported almost every month on car 878 (the report of January 1986 is signed by an acting post commander). In September 1984, after a storm that “dropped up to 5 inches of slush”, the night patrol wrote: “Could not travel more than 30 MPH in patrol car because of slush. Also, on uphill grades car kept sliding sideways. Jeep was able to travel 45-50 MPH in 2 wheel drive with no sliding.” In October the Jeep went after a lost hunter. The trooper’s daily report reads: “WITHOUT 4 WHEEL VEHICLE, RESCUE WOULD HAVE BEEN NEARLY IMPOSSIBLE. 4 WHEEL DRIVE CROSSED TWO SMALL CREEKS AND TWO MUDDY HILLS. 4 WHEEL DRIVE EVEN HAD A LITTLE TROUBLE CLIMBING THE STEEPEST OF THE HILLS DUE TO WET CLAY BUT DID MAKE IT. PATROL CAR WOULD HAVE BEEN STUCK 2 MILES SHORT OF RESCUE SITE.” By November, Buda reported, “THE WORD HAS GOTTEN BACK TO THE POST THAT SEVERAL INDIVIDUALS FROM CERTAIN CIRCLES ARE VERY NERVOUS ABOUT THE TROOPS BEING ABLE TO “GET BACK IN” WHERE THEY HANG OUT, NOW THAT THERE’S A JEEP AT THE POST.” In January 1985 the temperature fell “to 40 degrees below zero” with no problems. A memo of 6 July 1985 put the Jeep at 22,465 miles with “no major mechanical problems”, and “The vehicle’s maintenance record is better than most of the Plymouth Patrol Cars at the Post.”

The district commander, Captain James Fries, was against it: “Four wheel drive vehicles are not practical for general patrol purposes”, and “paying $6,900.00 more over 60,000 miles than we do for our blue cars is significant.” Anderson asked for two more three weeks later, for Calumet and Negaunee. In May 1987 Sgt. David Storer wrote that “We now have three upper peninsula posts equipped with four-wheel drive patrol vehicles and, to date, they have performed satisfactorily.” In the same memo he noted that the patrol car “actually has more horsepower than the Jeep Wagoneer”. Major James Daust then asked the Motor Transport Division to buy one for Houghton Lake Post, to tow its 2,400-pound diving boat and trailer. Near the end of the Jeep papers come two state truck specifications for 1987 models, before three closing memos. They list the Blazer and Jimmy, Bronco and Bronco II, Ramcharger, Jeep Cherokee and a Jeep “Model 15”, but they do not say which was bought. Four-wheel-drive vehicles first appear in the Michigan test results held here in the 1992 book.