May we count on your assistance?”Ĭhevrolet for years had offered police packages for their cars, but Chevrolet’s police packages were never as comprehensive as Ford and Chrysler’s. Christy ended the letter by saying, “Due to the current energy crisis and the wide interest of government agencies and the public at large in energy saving alternatives, we feel that this program will have wide-spread impact and value for all concerned. Any carburetion could be used but there needed to be a balance of economy and performance. His guidelines were that the car must be a 4-door sedan with a wheelbase of 96″ – 112”, have a six cylinder or V8 engine with a maximum displacement of 350 cubic inches, an automatic transmission, front disc brakes and air conditioning. He told Williams that Motor Trend was working in conjunction with the LASD to test the feasibility of using compact cars for law enforcement functions. Christy ended up drafting a letter to Jim Williams of Chevrolet Motor Divisions Public Relations Department in January of 1974. They agreed that it was time to move to smaller patrol cars. John Christy, LASD Lieutenant Bill Kirley and some GM engineers met and discussed the future of police cars. Consequentially, Christy acted as a consultant with the LASD to help design a vehicle test procedure that would identify the best police car to meet needs of LASD. He believed that a smaller more fuel efficient police car was a much better choice for police work. He was also a big proponent of finding more fuel efficient and cost effective police cars, which he argued would save the taxpayers millions of dollars. John Christy, Executive Editor of Motor Trend Magazine was a Specialist Reserve Deputy with the LASD. The Los Angeles Sherriff’s Department (LASD) with its massive fleet of gas guzzling police cars was one organization that started to look at more fuel efficient options. The 1973 OPEC oil embargo had a big short-term impact on auto sales, but it also had some fleet managers starting to think about more fuel efficient options. This same front suspension was likewise the basis of the much lauded downsized B-body cars introduced in 1977. This is why these A-bodies handled so much better than there much loved predecessors despite their extra weight and girth. Along with the F-bodies and X-bodies, this same basic suspension geometry and control arm design was also used in GM Colonnade intermediates. The 1975 model year may have been one of the worst years ever for horsepower per cubic inch at Chevrolet, but at least the new Nova handled well to compensate for its lack of power. For the 1975 model year the Nova was heavily revamped, and was updated to use the new subframe that Camaro had been using since 1970.
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