Factory Built LS with a 4.6, manual, and big brakes..

Cool car. Probably a lot of fun to put through the paces. Which was probably done, like any R&D project. Anybody familiar with R&D would understand the feasibility studies, concept, prototype stuff that would take place before the effort was spent putting this thing together. The whole factory built argument is semantics (as mentioned by someone earlier). It didn't come off the assembly line like this, If Ford didn't do it themselves in their 'skunkworks' it would have most likely been shopped out to a third party contracted by Ford. No way anybody did this on their own in the backyard or garage. Most projects like this would be funded and supported (engineering, troubleshooting, sourcing, etc) by the parent company (Ford). my 2 cents

I agree. To me factory could mean "Factory Authorized" like Saleen, Shelby, or Rousch.
 
Not to the general public. You are correct. Police packages are not available either to the general public. Jacques Nasser had one that was super charged.

Funny how those intimately familiar with the LS had ho idea he had one. I guess it was his special car kept in a vault as no one I know (and I knew a few suits back in the day) had heard of it. It could also have never been driven on a public street, had it existed Pictures? McLaren couldn't get their supercharger to work and sold the car with the supercharger in the trunk. The VP of Marketing had a manual back then....
 
Funny how those intimately familiar with the LS had ho idea he had one. I guess it was his special car kept in a vault as no one I know (and I knew a few suits back in the day) had heard of it. It could also have never been driven on a public street, had it existed Pictures? McLaren couldn't get their supercharger to work and sold the car with the supercharger in the trunk. The VP of Marketing had a manual back then....

I couldn't resist posting this guys. I had to read it twice. We aren't the only ones discussing this. This is from another site.

Jim

Posted*August 29, 2012 at 7:04 PM

My boyfriend’s ex-boyfriend (talk about a tongue twister!) drove an LS-E V8 with a 5 speed manual shoved in it. He was a professional mechanic and always had something wacky to drive, usually purchased off a customer when said customer didn’t/couldn’t pay for a repair. Last I saw him, he had sold the frankenstein LS-E and picked an unrestored Rambler wagon as a daily driver.

Reply

silverkris

Posted*August 31, 2012 at 4:48 PM

Wow. Wondered what was wrong with the LS. A old Rambler for a DD? I guess their virtue was mechanical simplicity – which may appeal to a mechanic.

Jim

Posted*August 31, 2012 at 5:57 PM

I don’t think anything was wrong with it, but he did mention that the parts were absurdly priced, even through his suppliers. Somebody bought it off of him for a boatload of money, because it was a fully functioning, factory quality manual trans swap into a V8 LS. They were never available from the factory with a V8 and stick shift, as far as I know.
 
Yeah, police cars really aren't all that exciting. My LS will walk away from every cruiser I've been issued. Anything other than the newest of the new cruisers are really weak. Prior to the very recent examples of acceptable MPG and good power, most cruisers were spec'd for economy.

Crownvic Police interceptor? Woefully slow, stock. Add a trunk full of equipment, 100lbs worth of radios, computers, and radars and it only gets worse. But that reliability is legendary, and the interior space and truck space is epic.

After that I got an 08 Impala. Kill me now. That thing is even slower and FWD. It actually has a higher top end compared to the CV but above 120 it feels like it's going to take flight. It is also extremely small.

The newer batches of cruisers are really nice. The Taurus cruisers can be equipped with the same twin turbo models as the SHO variant, and it is extremely fast and AWD to boot. The chargers are next up and most are equipped with the V6, not the V8. Still, in the Michigan state police vehicle testing, the V8 couldn't get away from the V6 on a simulated city road course, only on some long oval type course is where the V8 begins to walk.

Personally I think the caprice looks the best, but it's the slowest and doesn't offer the greatest economy, and is mid range for space. It's been the least well received by departments but some departments have purchased them based on nostalgia from the fourth generation caprice from the early 90's. Considering that police cruiser in 1991-1996 had a 5.7 V8, it was wildly powerful compared to other cars on the road.
The Caprice with the 6.0L actually has a higher top speed than the Taurus and V8 Charger, and the caprice actually has a decent amount of space. Here In NJ since ford stopped making the Crown Vic's, I see the NJ State Police starting to use a lot of the Caprice's and Tahoe's. The Caprice also has more Cubic Ft of interior space than the Charger and Taurus.
 
Bathroom reading material at work. A lot more pictures in the magazine though lol

http://www.hendonpub.com/police_fleet_manager/articles/2013/1112/2014_michigan_state_police_tests

"With the overall results so similar, it won’t be performance that will be the deciding factor among any of these patrol vehicles. All the 350 hp (+) V8 or V6 sedans perform the same. All the 300 hp-ish V6 sedans perform the same. Instead, the decisions will be based on front seat room, rear seat room, trunk-cargo space, fuel economy, and bid price."

^truth.
 
whats the opinion on the Explorer vs the Tahoe?
my local PD bought several Tahoes a couple years ago, but i see mostly Explorers now. are the Tahoes unpopular for some reason?
 
whats the opinion on the Explorer vs the Tahoe?
my local PD bought several Tahoes a couple years ago, but i see mostly Explorers now. are the Tahoes unpopular for some reason?

Probably fuel economy, the new Explorer is a glorified Taurus, it's built on basically the same chassis.
 
whats the opinion on the Explorer vs the Tahoe?
my local PD bought several Tahoes a couple years ago, but i see mostly Explorers now. are the Tahoes unpopular for some reason?
I don't know if they are unpopular, but I herd GM did a really good job of stiffening the chassis and the police models handle a lot better than the civilian models, I test drove both civilian versions of the two, and ended up getting the Tahoe and I love it, then again I'm not doing +100 chasing speeders every day. LOL
 
There was a police department by me that had a Vette cruiser and a supped up 94 Caprice, it was all black with flames and had big slicks on the back, that thing was pretty cool!
 
I hate the explorer. It just feels like an entirely too big car, because, thats what it is. The seat position, combined with the high beltline makes me feel like a 4 year old in a car seat, the ergonomics suck too. It gets good gas mileage and hauls enough stuff and it shares parts with the taurus which makes economical sense, and that is why it is popular. In a perfect world and I got to pick, I'd choose the tahoe hands down.

Charleston WV PD has a sweet car too.
IMG_5319.jpg

IMG_5319.jpg
 
I hate the explorer. It just feels like an entirely too big car, because, thats what it is. The seat position, combined with the high beltline makes me feel like a 4 year old in a car seat, the ergonomics suck too. It gets good gas mileage and hauls enough stuff and it shares parts with the taurus which makes economical sense, and that is why it is popular. In a perfect world and I got to pick, I'd choose the tahoe hands down.

Charleston WV PD has a sweet car too.
View attachment 828465336
I thought the same thing when I test drove the Explorer, it being an all black interior really didn't help either, I thought it was slow and sluggish too, between the great looks of the Tahoe and the way it drove I fell in love, for such a heavy vehicle it hauls ass, and it sounds so beautiful when you accelerate, mine was equipped with the factory towing package, and whilst I have yet to tow anything with it I think it will handle well, I've towed with a Yukon and a Suburban before and they handled well. I test drove the Expedition and that was nice but also sluggish, the Tahoe was a lot more well equipped and had a much better true 4X4 system.
 
Yeah, police cars really aren't all that exciting. My LS will walk away from every cruiser I've been issued. Anything other than the newest of the new cruisers are really weak. Prior to the very recent examples of acceptable MPG and good power, most cruisers were spec'd for economy.

Crownvic Police interceptor? Woefully slow, stock. Add a trunk full of equipment, 100lbs worth of radios, computers, and radars and it only gets worse. But that reliability is legendary, and the interior space and truck space is epic.

After that I got an 08 Impala. Kill me now. That thing is even slower and FWD. It actually has a higher top end compared to the CV but above 120 it feels like it's going to take flight. It is also extremely small.

The newer batches of cruisers are really nice. The Taurus cruisers can be equipped with the same twin turbo models as the SHO variant, and it is extremely fast and AWD to boot. The chargers are next up and most are equipped with the V6, not the V8. Still, in the Michigan state police vehicle testing, the V8 couldn't get away from the V6 on a simulated city road course, only on some long oval type course is where the V8 begins to walk.

Personally I think the caprice looks the best, but it's the slowest and doesn't offer the greatest economy, and is mid range for space. It's been the least well received by departments but some departments have purchased them based on nostalgia from the fourth generation caprice from the early 90's. Considering that police cruiser in 1991-1996 had a 5.7 V8, it was wildly powerful compared to other cars on the road.

Chris, you know its all about driver training. That's why when I talk crap about how my LS beat this car or that car, I know some of those cars would do much better if it were a better driver in that car. I've had some of them stop and ask what's up. It's all in fun.
 
I hate the explorer. It just feels like an entirely too big car, because, thats what it is. The seat position, combined with the high beltline makes me feel like a 4 year old in a car seat, the ergonomics suck too. It gets good gas mileage and hauls enough stuff and it shares parts with the taurus which makes economical sense, and that is why it is popular. In a perfect world and I got to pick, I'd choose the tahoe hands down.

Charleston WV PD has a sweet car too.
View attachment 828465336

Chris,that's cool. I remember last year they had some sort of law enforcement symposium here and there were cars from all over Florida. I saw a Deputy driving a Challenger R/T and I think it was from Broward. I thought I've seen a new Camaros out there somewhere too.
 
it really depends on what your doing in it, the tahoe is really a truck and the interceptor utility(explorer) is a tall car...

one of them is a hell of a lot tougher than the other, one of them gets a little better gas millage and has a smoother ride than the other.

if your partner riding shotgun is a dog or you're just transporting prisoners, the explorer will probably do fine. if you ever gonna to need to leave the road, get physical with other cars, or have very crappy roads, you're probably gonna want to be in a tahoe.



If I had a choice of what I could be driving, I would take an interceptor sedan with an ecoboost (not that sissy I-4 garbage either) and ballistic door panels!
 
if you ever gonna to need to leave the road, get physical with other cars, or have very crappy roads, you're probably gonna want to be in a tahoe.

This reminds me of a Ford promotional video I saw a while back comparing the Tahoe to the Explorer. One of the tests was to show how the Explorer was "superior" off road. They had a clearly 2wd Tahoe in deep sand with some guy just flooring it going nowhere. Then of course the showed the awd Explorer and Taurus gently take off in the sand. :Bang
 
This reminds me of a Ford promotional video I saw a while back comparing the Tahoe to the Explorer. One of the tests was to show how the Explorer was "superior" off road. They had a clearly 2wd Tahoe in deep sand with some guying just flooring it going nowhere. Then of course the showed the awd Explorer and Taurus gently take off in the sand. :Bang
I saw that video as well, They forgot to mention that 4X4 was offered with the Tahoe as well, any smart person and good driver (which police usually are) aren't going to floor a heavy RWD V8 vehicle in deep sand! heres videos of Tahoe and Caprice PPV versions. I think that new 3.6L Twin Turbo V6 in the CTS V Sport putting out 420HP would be very competitive to the Eco boost V6. By the way it seems this is just a V6 Caprice.
[video=youtube;t2fIex-Yens]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2fIex-Yens[/video][video=youtube;gpuOxXkIOl0]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gpuOxXkIOl0[/video]
 
By the way I have a 4X4 Tahoe and drive on the beach a lot, and one time left it in 2 wheel drive and never got stuck once!
 

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