New Paint Schemes for Atlas 1996 Ford Taurus

[cfritschle]

Looking at the top of page 24 in the Atlas 100th Anniversary - Volume 5 catalog, one finds three new “non-civilian” paint schemes for the 1996 Ford Taurus.  Seven previously released “civilian” paint schemes are also in the catalog.



While I saw an example of a 1996-99 Ford Taurus in a police paint scheme at Sea-Tac Airport in 2006, I was curious if the two police schemes announced in the catalog were prototypical.  The answer to that question turned out to be “yes and/or no” depending on how picky one is.

Here are a couple of articles with photos of the Ford Taurus Police Interceptor paint scheme:

https://themustangnews.com/2012-ford-taurus-police-interceptor-revealed/

https://www.motortrend.com/news/ford-taurus-police-car-now-available-with-2-0-liter-engine-246349/

And here is an article with a photo the Ford Taurus Police Demonstrator paint scheme.

https://code3garage.com/articles/1990-1995-ford-taurus-police-package/

While the police paint schemes for the Taurus are nice to have, I sure wish we could get an injection molded plastic N scale Ford Crown Victoria.  A late 1990s or early 2000s Crown Vic model would have hundreds of prototypical paint schemes!

[bbussey]

While the police paint schemes for the Taurus are nice to have, I sure wish we could get an injection molded plastic N scale Ford Crown Victoria.  A late 1990s or early 2000s Crown Vic model would have hundreds of prototypical paint schemes!

The 1980s Chevy Caprice also would have hundreds of schemes, if Rapido ever decides to release it in N.  I can paint my own and would be happy if they just released the model.

[wazzou]

Nothing would strike fear in the minds and hearts of a criminal quite like seeing a Ford Taurus in their rear view mirror. 

[DirtyD79]

That interceptor paint scheme looks a lot like the generic one I've seen on the 2010 and up Ford Explorer police vehicles and 2010 to 2019 Taurus cop cars. They got `em for us HO scale kings too. https://shop.atlasrr.com/c-549-h87.aspx

[basementcalling]

My parents had a 1985 dark blue Crown Victoria. On more than one occasion back in the 80s with Dad driving, he'd flash his headlights at the slower car in the left interstate lane to signal he wanted to pass, and they would pull all the way to the shoulder.

[ljudice]

You would think 2 more generic police schemes would make more sense - ie just black and white police with shield on the door and fender markings and a white sherrifs department with blue and gold stripes.

Lightbars would also be nice!

It amazes me that modern vehicles are still so rare in N. 

[daniel_leavitt2000]

This model always puzzled me. The first generation of the Taurus was much more popular, and I wonder why Atlas didn't decide to do that one.

I know the reason they didn't do a Crown Vic was that Busch had one in HO. Busch made many police schemes and even had light bars that were accurate for each scheme. I was able to pin down one of their Mass State Police cars for a trooper friend of mine. Even the car numbers and plates were correct for the model and year.

The 2013 Taurus not only looks nothing like the previous generation, but was an entire class size larger. These were HATED by officers because the interior was so cramped. The seats needed to be pushed forward to fit a cage. The center console was too wide to allow taller officers to bend their knees. The seats did not have the taper to avoid service belts and equipment to dig into an officer's back and sides. Likewise the seatbelt was too narrow to allow use with service belts. The car sat lower than the CV, which resulted in radiators, intercoolers and transmissions being shaved off when hitting a curb at speed. Trunk space was tight, resulting in a reduced equipment load. The Dodge Charger was better, but had MASSIVE reliability problems, resulting in weeks long repairs. The Explorer was better, but still had issues (especially the hybrid versions now). Chevy almost had a good product, until they canceled it after only a few years.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

This model always puzzled me. The first generation of the Taurus was much more popular, and I wonder why Atlas didn't decide to do that one.

I know the reason they didn't do a Crown Vic was that Busch had one in HO. Busch made many police schemes and even had light bars that were accurate for each scheme. I was able to pin down one of their Mass State Police cars for a trooper friend of mine. Even the car numbers and plates were correct for the model and year.

The 2013 Taurus not only looks nothing like the previous generation, but was an entire class size larger. These were HATED by officers because the interior was so cramped. The seats needed to be pushed forward to fit a cage. The center console was too wide to allow taller officers to bend their knees. The seats did not have the taper to avoid service belts and equipment to dig into an officer's back and sides. Likewise the seatbelt was too narrow to allow use with service belts. The car sat lower than the CV, which resulted in radiators, intercoolers and transmissions being shaved off when hitting a curb at speed. Trunk space was tight, resulting in a reduced equipment load. The Dodge Charger was better, but had MASSIVE reliability problems, resulting in weeks long repairs. The Explorer was better, but still had issues (especially the hybrid versions now). Chevy almost had a good product, until they canceled it after only a few years.

So what's the current best option out there? Are we shortly going to see police Volvos like in Europe? lol

[cfritschle]

Lightbars would also be nice!

I am hoping Atlas is saving the clear lightbars that are part of the Ford crew cab and service trucks windows tooling that they acquired from RPS.  The RPS tooling yielded 1 lightbar for every 6 window inserts (3 regular cab windows and 3 crew cab windows).

[Cory Rothlisberger]

So what's the current best option out there? Are we shortly going to see police Volvos like in Europe? lol

You'll get your Volvo after I get my VW Polizei cars!

[ljudice]

The up and coming euro cop car is the electric Hyundai Kona...


There are several German police vehicles on sale at DM-Toys or Modelbahn-Lippe.  Sadly nothing in the attractive Austrian scheme...

[DirtyD79]

This model always puzzled me. The first generation of the Taurus was much more popular, and I wonder why Atlas didn't decide to do that one.

I know the reason they didn't do a Crown Vic was that Busch had one in HO. Busch made many police schemes and even had light bars that were accurate for each scheme. I was able to pin down one of their Mass State Police cars for a trooper friend of mine. Even the car numbers and plates were correct for the model and year.

The 2013 Taurus not only looks nothing like the previous generation, but was an entire class size larger. These were HATED by officers because the interior was so cramped. The seats needed to be pushed forward to fit a cage. The center console was too wide to allow taller officers to bend their knees. The seats did not have the taper to avoid service belts and equipment to dig into an officer's back and sides. Likewise the seatbelt was too narrow to allow use with service belts. The car sat lower than the CV, which resulted in radiators, intercoolers and transmissions being shaved off when hitting a curb at speed. Trunk space was tight, resulting in a reduced equipment load. The Dodge Charger was better, but had MASSIVE reliability problems, resulting in weeks long repairs. The Explorer was better, but still had issues (especially the hybrid versions now). Chevy almost had a good product, until they canceled it after only a few years.

Civilian here but those 90s and 2000s Ford Crown Vics and Mercury Grand Marquis were some of the best cars ever built. I've owned both. I'm a big man and I don't do small cars. lol On the downside though you gotta beat the demolition derby guys for the cheap ones.

[daniel_leavitt2000]

So what's the current best option out there? Are we shortly going to see police Volvos like in Europe? lol

Nothing currently. Ford is pushing the Mach E GT hard, but it is too small. We have a test mule waiting to go into service, so I don't have first hand experience with it yet. Our agency uses a mix of police rated vehicles and lower end cars without radios, lights and equipment. I'll often get the BZ4X because no one wants a Duracell. I can make it as far west as Agawam and as far east as Hyannis, but anything more than that and I need a gas powered car.

The Explorer Hybrid has had LOTS of electrical issues. And a lot of State Police workers are actually asking for older, non hybrid models.

I think you'll start to see a lot more Tahoe/Expedition size vehicles in the years to come. They still have a ladder chassis and good ground clearance. They hold a lot. Their duty cycle is supposedly 10 years unlike the Explorer at 5-8. With pursuits and dangerous driving being de-emphasized, the road handling characteristics become less of an issue.