Chevy Citation (creative commons wikimedia)
Chevy Citation (creative commons wikimedia)
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If you're old enough to remember the American automotive industry in the very late 70's and especially the very early 80's you will recall it was not a stellar time for auto designers.

Did the Washington State Patrol actually use Chevy Citations as patrol cars?

The Dodge Aeries, Chrysler K car, and other boxy unattractive models were churned out by Detroit during that time.  The industry was trying to find its way from the muscle cars of the 70s into the 'fuel efficient' or more family-friendly cars of the early decade.

Like many models, Detroit offered a law enforcement option for many vehicles, some of which did not catch on well.

We've all seen Camaros, Dodge Challengers, Mustangs, and other high-performance cars used by the WSP and other agencies, but a Chevy Citation?

  The Citation was built between 1980 and 1985

Designed as the successor to the highly successful Nova muscle car, only one generation of the Citation was produced. It was a front-wheel drive car and had a 2.5-liter 4-cylinder engine, but a 2.8-liter- 6-cylinder charged-up option was used for the police version.  It had either a 3 or 4-speed transmission, depending upon what year it was. 1.6 million were built and were not exactly regarded as top-flight vehicles.

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The Facebook page FUGLY Emergency Vehicles, by way of Pinterest, shared this undated photo of a Citation sporting WSP colors and logos.

Citation in WSP colors (Pinterest, Facebook)
Citation in WSP colors (Pinterest, Facebook)
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Did some digging but have yet to find any record of how many of these were used by the WSP.

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Gallery Credit: Liz Barrett Foster

 

 

 

 

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