eBay Find: A Bizarre and Wickedly Cool 1966 Ford Custom Cop Car

[admin]

We have to thank BangShift reader Zombie289 for the tip on this really bizarre but totally cool 1966 Ford Custom. The seller claims that the car is an ex-Virginia state police cruiser and that it seems to be equipped with all the cop car stuff like heavy duty brakes, spartan interior with rubber floor mats, [...]

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[1966galaxieregistry]

Brian,
This is an interesting vehicle and the 3rd of its kind in the 1966 Ford Full-Size Registry. Two of these cars were listed on ebay and the warranty tag codes were provided with the DSO code showing they were special order vehicles. As most Ford followers are aware, a six digit DSO code in the ‘60’s designates a special order vehicle, which usually means the car was ordered with an option, color, interior or drive train not normally offered for that model year. In these cases, it appears to be the Mercury “M” code engine backed by the three on the tree transmission. I was told that even the Mercury line of vehicles for 1966 did not offer this engine-tranny combination. However, in 1966, Ford did offer its 390 4-bbl coupled to a heavy duty 3 on the tree.

Until January of 2014, I was somewhat skeptical of the ebay seller’s claims that they were ex Virginia State Police vehicles since there was no documentation available. That was when I was able to purchase a 1966 Ford owner’s manual and on the inside front cover, in the “Owners Name” field, was stamped: Commonwealth of Virginia Department of State Police. The VIN on this car is 6N53M160500. Included with the manual was an original 1967 Virginia Vehicle Registration card with matching VIN and showing the same ownership. This 3rd vehicle removed all doubt of the original 2 vehicle’s claims that such vehicles existed.

Also in the manual was the selling dealership, Richmond Motor Company, Inc. in Richmond, VA. A quick cross reference from my 1963 Ford Dealer data library gave me their address at the time and the dealership is currently in the same location today, but under new ownership. Through the assistance of the current owner, I was fortunate to have been connected to the owner of the dealership in 1966 and spoke to him where he confirmed that they were one of the dealerships in 1966 who won the bidding to be the distributer of these cars. At 88 years old and with somewhat failing memory, he mentioned that normally fleet sales were batched in 50 or 100 lots but was unable to remember exactly how many his dealership provided.

The Richmond dealer vehicle does have a bit of history which I was able to determine from the owners manual service records. The sale date is shown as 5/19/66 and its 18,000 mile service (18,606 logged miles)was performed on 11/19/66. An average of 3,000 miles per month and which was the average until its 5/11/67 service with 36,800 miles. A daily average around 105 miles. The 2 dealerships who performed the services were either 50 miles North or South of Richmond along the I-95 corridor.

These 3 police cars were built at Ford’s Norfolk assembly plant which is where I presume all of them were built. In speaking with retired Norfolk assembly plant employees, the Mercury engines would have been shipped to Norfolk and staged for the assembly of these M code cars. I would think that there were other engine tranny combos for the fleet but I have yet to see any other vehicles show up.

There are so many questions unanswered and if anyone else has information regarding the Ford 1966 VA State Police vehicles, please share your knowledge.