Welcome to copcar dot com's "copcar of the month". Each month our Copcar of the Month Committee will select a different make and model of police car that was used during various eras of police car history. We will continue to do this as a monthly feature until we are quite bored with it or we run out of ideas. It is our intent to dive deep into the archives to bring you as many "days-gone-by" makes and models as we can. Each month will feature 4 to 5 photos of the selected vehicle make and model.

December 1999

For December 1999, the Committee has decided on the Dodge Ram Charger. Long before Tahoes and Expeditions, the Ram Charger was a first choice for agencies needing a utility or four-wheel drive vehicle for weather or terrain consideration. Often equipped with an engine (alright, so we are not Ed Sanow and we don't have vast knowledge of what was available), we think that these vehicles were "stock, off the shelf" and not police packages. We could be wrong, though. If so, I'm sure we'll hear about it from those who consider minutia important. :)

California Highway Patrol's 4-wheel drive Ram Charger sported a massive winch and a custom bumper. This unit's primary use was the enforcement of off-road speed limits.



Illinois State Police equipped this Ram Charger with a battering ram of its own. Obviously for use as a "fast attack tank" on local freeways.



Chester Township, Pennsylvannia, Police drove this fancied-up Ram Charger complete with shiny chrome wheels.



This Brown County, Wisconsin, Sheriff's Ram Charger was found parked on the day of summer in Green Bay, ready to return to snow duty on a moments notice, which would be the next day.



Tennessee Highway Patrol Special Operations, K-9 Explosives Detection. What looks to be a winch on the front really isn't. It's a retractable dog chain for reeling the K-9 back to the truck once he picks up the bomb.



Do not adjust your TV set, this isn't a fire truck. Ridley Township, Pennsylvannia, Police are known for their red copcars and this plain-jane, bottom of the options barrel 2-wheel drive Ram Charger is no exception. (hey, bottom of the options barrel is a good thing, not like those copcars with all the fancy-shmancy mom & pop chrome doo-dads).


I know what you are thinking: "Wait a minute, he said 4 or 5 photos..... and he was already showing 6". Well, our Committee got so excited about this project, they sent our crack staff back to the archives. They dug deep. The searched high and low. They pulled out all the stops. That's what a crack staff does, you know. Anyway, they came up with two more. When I griped at them, they said "hey, dump two others". I couldn't, so here are the additionals. In the meanwhile, sorry about the length of time in having to wait for all these pictures to download.....



Even with the "grampa" running boards, this Northbrook., IL Ram Charger looked pretty sharp. It was used to transport personnel up the steep driveway from the sally port.



Sometimes I think I run this joint. And sometimes I am told I don't. The Committee came up with this Illinois DOT vehicle and said, "hey, if it squats like a police car, squawks like a police car and bleeds like a police car then, it must be a police car". This vehicle does (or did) stuff like push stalled cars off the overpasses on Chicagoland's Tollways. So, it stays.