1981 5.8 ho

[Brown_Muscle]

1981 would have been rated at 140HP actually. I know the police versions of the 351W "HO" would have gotten a different cam and valve springs, but I have no idea if they offered that package to civilians and labeled it High output VS a regular 351w without the cam and springs...

I can tell you putting just a decent exhaust on it helps with power. I made 170HP/270Tq at the wheels

[Mainemantom]

1981 would have been rated at 140HP actually. I know the police versions of the 351W "HO" would have gotten a different cam and valve springs, but I have no idea if they offered that package to civilians and labeled it High output VS a regular 351w without the cam and springs...

I can tell you putting just a decent exhaust on it helps with power. I made 170HP/270Tq at the wheels

Yes it could be ordered on a civilian car at that time. I was seriously considering ordering my 82 Mercury GM with the complete police package. I don't think it was labeled as a "HO 351", just the police package 351. I hated the 351 of those years.
If I had ordered the 2 dr. Merc as a full police package, It would be a very rare car now.

[Brown_Muscle]

Interesting, they let you order fleet package cars back then?

[Mainemantom]

In the 80s I special ordered my cars from a dealer in Minnesota. They were about $3,000 cheaper than CA. at that time. Now they are priced nationwide almost the same. Without researching, I dont remember what year Manufactures stopped allowing police package cars to be ordered, new by the public. I think it was 1990.
I know in the 90s I could get a police package car special ordered. It had to be piggy backed with a state,county or city order. The timeline for delivery could be months. Mostly toward the end of the year end run.
There is a way to buy a police package car "like new" Once in a while there will be a few damaged in shipment. Agencies will not take them damaged. In a round about way they are sold as used but they are fixed and like new. Depending upon the damage, they are a good deal. Hard to find though.

[sly]

If you knew the fleet manager at a dealership, you could still get your order tacked onto another fleet order and the dealer would split the singleton off for you while delivering the rest to the public service agency. Sometimes the fleet manager could just work the chain and get a car for you. I know someone that did that as recently as 2008 or so. It was a fleet truck though. (XL with the big engine or payload package that wasn't available to the public unless they got an XLT or higher trim.)

[gadget73]

That would probably be the truck I'd want. Basically all the utility options without the entertainment electronics and all the other BS that usually comes with it. My neighbor down the road has one of those, F250 with zero options but the towing and larger gas engine, he got it "new" for a screaming deal. The dealer basically ordered an extra, used it for running parts and crap for 6 months and sold it at a pretty nice discount. I forget what the numbers were exactly but he got it basically 10k off list price and it had a couple thousand miles on it.

[DerekTheGreat]

I like trucks like that.

Every time I see a late model regular cab short or long box truck I pretty much deduce it was a custom order. Everything else is the megaton compensator with four doors and enough bling & chrome for three vehicles..

[gadget73]

and a tiny bed too. My mom had one of those trucks, a 1500 with a smaller bed than an S10 is just wrong, and I don't have the long bed version either. Neighbor's truck is the standard bed length, 6' I think. The truck looks proportional.

[DerekTheGreat]

Oh yeah, how did I forget to mention the non-existent bed? First time I saw something like that was the Ford Sport-Trac. I laughed at it's useless maybe 3.5ft bed and thought no wonder it was a failure. Little did I know that pick-ups would be using that as the standard option some ten years later. 6' is almost useless, I mean I like my regular cab shortbox truck but Ashley's F150 with it's 8ft box is much more practical for work duties. I like a 3/4 or 1 ton regular cab longbox truck just as much as the regular cab shortbox stuff.

[VicCrownVic]

I don't know much about the Sport-Trac, but if it's like the Avalanche you fold the rear seat forward to gain more bed length.

[DerekTheGreat]

Sport-Trac looked to have the bed separated from the cab like a traditional truck. Think Explorer but with the rear utility space surgically modified to be a bed instead of all enclosed.

[sly]

Sport-Trak bed is also fiberglass sides... Not sure about the bed surface though.