FBI/Law Enforcement Grand Nationals and GNXs

[GNBRETT]

Sorry if I committed someone to something that may be a lot of work for them.

About that GN in the pic:

1. What is that where the rear view mirror is? Is that a sticker on the back of the mirror or a light?

2. Is that a GN badge on the side?

3. Are the 3.8 SFI emblems missing from the hood? Or is it just hard to see?

4. Does it look like it is raised up a little in the front?

1. That was a blue flashing light in front of the rear view mirror vs. a stobe light. Today it was be an LED but that was 20+ years ago. They were outfitted wth wig-wags and other flashing lights in the rear deck as well. Some guys modified their own as well with a few more lights as long the the troop commander gave them the approval. That still goes on today because Connecticut is the only State Police department with unmarked crusiers. They come in a variety of colors and have no cages or markings on them because they use them off duty and can bring family members in them. Other SP agencies have take home cars as well but are all marked. Up until 2 years ago they didn't even have push bars. But the newest commisioner of the SP mandated that all crusiers be outfitted with push bars now. In the State Police they truly are "Push bars" to push disabled vehicles off the highway for safety purposes. In the cities we call them pursuit "Ram Bars"...

2. It was definately a GN. A friend of mine was assigned one back in the day. Can't tell you how jealous I was of him. They were used in the traffic division as mostly chase cars. Although I did here a few guys who were well liked by the brass had them assigned as their patrol unit. Rare tho.

3. It's hard to see in the pic if the 3.8 emblem was there but I would assume so. The rims were stock so I would see no reason to remove the hood emblems unless it was crashed and they replaced the hood and didn't replace the emblems.

4. The front looks normal but it may have had snow tires on it and raised it slightly.

 

[turbo39151]

Put me down for a few posters as well. I've finally found something else that I "need"!!

 

[87GN_ponykillr]

If the posters area made, I would like one or two also!

 

[ngc414]

I have a friend who owns a print shop, he also restores historical photos. He can duplicate almost anything if he has a digital image of the poster or pic. He usually just snaps a pic of it with his digital camera, and uses that to reconstruct the image. If someone can take a good close up pic of the poster with a good digital camera and forward it to me I can see what I can do.

 

[jsta6]

I was thinking that someone could just take it to a fed ex kinko's and have them scan it using their big scanners and then saving it as a file that can be mailed out to anyone interested.

 

[GNVenom]

Whoever has one of these, send it coiled in a tube to me...I can digitize it using my Nikon hi-res setup. Any wrinkles, tears, rips, ink marks are also OK, can be photoshopped out.
I'll then post a hi res jpeg of the image if that's acceptable to the photo owner.

 

[jsta6]

John is the man...

 

[$1987 GN$]

I'll then post a hi res jpeg of the image if that's acceptable to the photo owner.

Thanks John; sounds like a great idea.


Later AJ

 

[Calfed]

Just ran across this string and thought I would add my 2 cents

I was assigned one of those 1986 Turbo Regals as an FBI Agent back in the 80's.

What Turbofish 38 wrote is pretty much on the money. The FBI only bought the turbo Regals in 1986. None in 1987. They had the standard speedo, bench seats, and no speedometer certification logo. They weren't "under cover", because they did add headlight and brake light kill switches, single headlight kill switches, etc., but they were "covert", because they were mainly used for rolling surveillances. They also had radios and because we had some latitude to add equipment to our own vehicles, might have had overhead gun racks, or other accommodations for long guns.

As a side note--I had a fair amount of mechanical issues with mine, but it was the fastest car I had ever driven at the time.

 

[GNVenom]

I should add what I know about the chip they had used on those FBI cars back then. I had one sent to me by a guy that bought the car in 1989 or so.

The PROM sent to me was a stock, CMW code 86 chip, with no modifications to the governor top speed. There was some talk about the chip having the governor increased to over 125MPH, but I hadn't seen it. If in fact it were, I believe the FBI chip would have been hacked back in 86 and its program put out into the aftermarket as a modded performance chip. That didn't happen as far as I can remember. Now, the 87 GNX chip, that was a different story...

 

[Calfed]

That comports with my memory of things. Don't remember ever hitting the governor while I drove it--but I also don't remember ever going faster then 124 MPH's.

I also know that in general, the Bureau doesn't mess with those ECM's. Some of our cars are LE spec and as such will come with out the governor--but these were stock Buick T-Type SFI turbos.

 

[G NASTY]

our new NYPD impala's have a "survaliance mode" button that disables the daytime running lights, head lights, and reverse lights. kind of useless on a big white/blue car with huge lights on the roof.

 

[GNBRETT]

our new NYPD impala's have a "survaliance mode" button that disables the daytime running lights, head lights, and reverse lights. kind of useless on a big white/blue car with huge lights on the roof.

Lol.... I could never really see the point in having any marked police units. I wished all of our units were soft. Criminals as well as civilians committing MV violations would be much more mindful if they didn't know if the regular looking car behind them was a cop car or an obvious police car.

IMO it is just counter productive to have any unit obviously displayed as the car I should "Not" screw up around. It takes the drug dealers/criminals a week to figure out a new designed police car and what it's headlights look like. After they figure out what the headlights look like your beat from 1/4 mile away every time.

 

[TrooperT]

I've owned several CT State police GN's & T's over the years & was a CTSP fleet certified mechanic for many years. The GN's & T's all had certified speedo's (digital & regular), full size spare tire mounted in the stock location, 225/60/15 Goodyear Eagle VR Gatorback tires (same tires used on the pursuit mustangs) & a chip with the speed limiter raised. Otherwise the cars were identical to civilian cars. Most cars were 1 driver cars but some did end up in the fleet pool near the end of there service life (around 100k miles) & many were used in undercover work through the mid 90's. I got my last 1 (Rosewood T) from the state around 1997. Rumor has it that a few cars did recieve minor mods at the troopers expense (chips, K&N's, raised Fuel presure via crushed regulator etc...). They were durable & reliable while in service with performance that has yet to be matched.

Any chance this is your old T? Phil.

 

[buickman69]

There have been a lot of stories over the years and I know there was a police option code. I am also aware of a few departments that had undercover GNs and Ts, but what is the final concensus or proof of FBI GNXs (I doubt it) or fleet type GNs for the FBI as in this article? My understanding is that there was never anything special from Buick directly, just whatever the department or agency did to the car. This article claims it was marked GN and numbered for the FBI. I am also aware of the 145 mph speedometer, but I have never thought it was available from the factory, just aftermarket. Thanks

WOW!!
I never come here any more, I happen to drop in and here is a story that hits close to home.

Buddy Mitchell was a friend of mine. He told me about this story/book being produced before he died. He was a fine fella and I have fond and fun memories hanging out with him.

Buddy bought the car from Troy Fuller around mid to late '92.
Here you'll see the car during the car show during the GS Nationals in '92 when the car show area was down the staging lanes at Beech Bend.

In this photo, the car still belonged to Troy and Buddy was present with him at the Nationals. I met Buddy through Troy.
Buddy was a service tech at a local Honda stealership.

Dennis Kirban is also a friend of mine. I told Dennis the story on the car, and set the 2 of them up as Dennis checked his car out 1 day at this Nationals around '94-'95

In this photo, Buddy is the guy in the dark gray T shirt wearing ball cap. Obviously Kirban is wearing his trademark 5 gallon hat.

Our friend Don Wall is on the other side of them wearing the dark tinted glasses.

Dennis didn't think much about it at the time and wrote it off as just a pin stripe, after market speedo and number.

However I always thought it was possible.. but how could it ever be proven.

Buddy sold that car I wanna say around '96 and regreted it for years to come.
He said it sat in some old ladies basement for several years then was sold and he lost track of it.

He was trying to trace the car down before he died, as he was telling me about this book.

Buddy was a good man and missed by a lot of people.

 

[4timesT]

The simplest way to deactivate the DRL on older GM models was to just press the parking brake down one notch. Didn't affect the brakes but it did turn the DRL off.

If you've ever driven a stock TR at 145 MPH, as I did back in the day next to a Vette on a parkway, you'll realize the true purpose of the speed limiter. The a$$ of the car lifts up and the car starts getting very squirrelly. Due to the car's aerodynamics and especially the stock shocks not being strong enough, the a$$ lifts and starts taking downforce from the rear tires. A little scary at that speed.

 

[batmansbuick]

Put me down for one poster if we can get these made. I work for a digital print shop as well if help is needed.

 

[supervpp]

Please include me in the Posters

I will take a few of them.

Thanks!

 

[BuckeyeTroop]

Getting this to the top..............Still interested.

 

[ngc414]

If someone could post a good digital photo of the poster, I can get some made.