Smuggling vehicle

[icharianchem]

So SWIM recently inhiereted a 97 Crown Victoria LX. Ex Cop car, administrative interior. The engine is currently rated @ 250 HP, with a heavy duty transmission, oil and trans fluid precoolers, a heavy duty radiator, a dummy light and kevlar lined front doors. The idea is to modify the vehicle for running acid and weed from the west coast and moonshine from North Carolina. For SWIM's proposed modifications he will gut the interior of the car, replace the dash with a custom aluminum dash to lose weight and un-wanted instrumentation, replace the bucket seats with a lighter aluminum based seats and 5 point racing harness's, and replace the back seat with a back set from a Jeep wrangler. The Jeep seat loses me weight and flips down giving me access to the trunk where, by law, I have to keep my weapons (get it?) Im the trunk i plan to have an auxillary fuel cell and for extended drives. I would like to install natural looking panels inside the spare wheel well but I'm open to other suggestions for location. For instrumentation, the drivers dash will have a speedometer, a Sunn tachometer, oil temp and fuel levels. Across the center console will run a coolant temperature gauge, oil and fuel preassure and an auxillary battery meter. A police scanner and CB radio will also feature as well as the standard AM/FM, 10CD, tape, Idock and a GPS blocker. The Valentine Radar detection system has impressed me. I plan for a Kill switch attached to the steering column and a series of switches on the side of the center column (to the right of the drivers knee) controlling, A) a kill switch for the running lights, a switch that flips up the license plate (swim found such a product), and the use of the auxillary fuel cell and battery. Other thoughts included a cold air intake and a floor mount gas pedal. Slight window tints and a wider rearview mirror.

Any suggestions or modifications to the plan? We want to keep everything looking as stock on the outside.

[Th0r]

Don't keep weapons anywhere that a Cop could easily find them. Remember what happened to McVeigh, he wouldn't of fucked up had he not had an unlicensed weapon on him. If you're busted all the Pig has to do is bring your car in, conduct a thorough search of your car and you're in for it.

I've got a lot more to add, but frankly I don't have the time.

[Mr.A]

This is BEAUTIFUL. I've never heard of such an ideal smuggling vehicle. Only suggestion I would have to add is that is the tinted windows a nessessicity? You plan to keep the outside of the vehicle looking stock, I assume because you don't want to draw attention. Tinted windows, draw attention to police.

This is nice.

[icharianchem]

yeah the whole reason for the seat/ trunk thing is so that it is legal for me to have access to the weapon (Velco'd to the back of the seat, but still "in the trunk") without having to apply for a concealed weapons license which I am pretty sure is void across state lines anyways. However the weapon may be forgone seeing as how the idea is to not have to deal with the police at all. Same thought for the window tints however I dislike the idea of anyone being able to see in. I wasnt thinking limo style tints, just a little extra fog to have to see through.

Any ideas on A) where to locate smuggling compartments(bearing in mind accessibility and visibility from the in/out side) and B) causing problems for the camera located on police windshields?
any questions?

Oh and sorry for the incoherence of my initial post. I was high as hell when i typed it up.

[thief]

Hmm... maybe keep the stock steering wheel and replace the airbag with dope.

[icharianchem]

Had not thought of that, that space in the steering wheel would be perfect for hiding the vials. I do however need compartments to hold lets say about 5 lbs of pot (2.27 kg) or a case of moonshine. A space approximately the size of a case of soda. Im not sure the vehichle has that much black space any where. My thoughts on this were to a) create a false floor in the trunk &/or build a compartment off the back off the wheel well or b) create usable black space in the dash. Removing and or modifying the door panels strikes me as obvious. I dunno you tell me.

[Mr.A]

Er, I don't know too much about vehicles. I once had a friend who hid green in his ventalation in his car. The vent on the dash would pop off and a simly string would be tied to some form of contraband and led down into it. I don't know if he had to modify anything for that to work or not though. I just happened to remember seeing that and thinking, "that could be useful someday.":paranoid:

I have thought about how you shouldn't turn your heat on while using this method. Should be obvious as to why. Hope this helps.

[redjoker]

Old school muscles cars with a roll cage make the best smuggling vehicles other than motorcycles.

[thief]

Keep the headlining inside the car and just pack that with shit to. Later just rip it open and take out the stuff. Or if you didnt ditch the stock seats you could put stuff in there and after rip em open, after replace with second hand ones form the scrap yard and start over again. I know you said you wanted bucket seats etc but like you also said... there is not a lot of hidden spaces in the car. Inside the doors is good to but it might hinder with the windows i.e always open or closed depending on how big the item is. Inside the bumpers front and rear, but reall theses places are all know by drug enforcement officers. The extra fuel cell is a great idea BUT it will take up a bit of space, but IMO... worth it. More time on the move.

[Mr.A]

Old school muscles cars with a roll cage make the best smuggling vehicles other than motorcycles.

Agreed. Motorcycles are probably the safest. Assuming your a master motorcyclist.

The extra fuel cell does sound like a good idea for a larger smuggling vehicle like a car. Would add a good amount of weight though. Weight of your vehicle comes into play for smugglers usually.

[redjoker]

Some state troopers have almost a 6th sense when it comes to detecting smugglers. Certainly not all of them do but some of them, having years of experience and hours and hours to think about it, just get a gut feeling when someone drives by them and their trunk is sagging under the weight of 300lbs of weed. So definitely get some quality suspension and shocks in the crown vic.

[thief]

make the best smuggling vehicles other than motorcycles.

How is that possibile?? Where can you hide stuff in a bike? Sure you can hide small amounts but is it worth your while? If your going to smuggle stuff isnt it wiser to use a car since the profit will be larger. The amount of stuff in the bike wouldnt cover the fuel you spent to get it across.

[redjoker]

How is that possibile?? Where can you hide stuff in a bike? Sure you can hide small amounts but is it worth your while? If your going to smuggle stuff isnt it wiser to use a car since the profit will be larger. The amount of stuff in the bike wouldnt cover the fuel you spent to get it across.

Take note of the biker gangs that move meth, coke, and heroin around in large quantities. Bikes are very fuel efficient, fucking quick, and able to get through heavy traffic. If you're needing to move 50 lbs of dope a motorcycle is your best bet. Hiding it isn't a priority on a bike. You stuff it in the saddle bags, drive careful, look mean, and hope the lights don't start flashing.

[thief]

Take note of the biker gangs that move meth, coke, and heroin around in large quantities. Bikes are very fuel efficient, fucking quick, and able to get through heavy traffic. If you're needing to move 50 lbs of dope a motorcycle is your best bet. Hiding it isn't a priority on a bike. You stuff it in the saddle bags, drive careful, look mean, and hope the lights don't start flashing.

Key word there in regard to large amounts - Gangs. By your post I gather you will be alone. Thing to keep in mind also like you said, "hope the lights dont start flashing" because if they do your fucked I reckon... if they start flashing when your in the car, they are hidden soooo as long as the permits and reg are all in order for the car I dont think he is gonna start stripping the car for drugs. The bike all he needs to do is ask you to open the saddle bags.

[redjoker]

Key word there in regard to large amounts - Gangs. By your post I gather you will be alone. Thing to keep in mind also like you said, "hope the lights dont start flashing" because if they do your fucked I reckon... if they start flashing when your in the car, they are hidden soooo as long as the permits and reg are all in order for the car I dont think he is gonna start stripping the car for drugs. The bike all he needs to do is ask you to open the saddle bags.

You don't have to open the saddle bags unless they call in a drug dog or have a warrant. In either case you'll want to do your job and run like a motherfucker. When you need to run, you'll be glad you're on a bike.

Obviously a car can carry more weight, but I doubt he'll be running more than a motorcycle can handle.

[icharianchem]

Ideally speaking the weight loss of the seat/ dash and a little creative drilling should take care of the weight gain problem. Take care of the ounces and you lose the pounds. Actually to be perfectly honest I can probably just keep the moonshine out in the trunk. Its not so obviously illegal. We'll see about the weed.

Another thought: small nitrous boost? Worth the cost? Worth the space? Dangerous due to being shot @? Would it make that much difference in a chase? Are the Crown Vic engine walls thick enough?

[thief]

Have you ever been in a car that uses Nitro? Its not like F & F.

Hmm... with a car that heavy you would need at least a 100bhp shot or wet OR dry to give you some good gains. You will need to upgrade your head gasket and get a knock sensor installed to make sure your motor block stays in the game.

[icharianchem]

thats why i asked. all my other cars have been naturally aspirated

[icharianchem]

are there any ways to make a CB radio antenna less conspicuous? And is the dummy light to easily identifiable?

[thief]

This might help... http://autospeed.com/cms/A_108416/article.html But keep in mind you will have a shorter range with this item.
What is a "dummy light"? like a fake tail light or front beam? If so that will draw attention from cops for having a tail light out etc...

[thief]

Well icharianchem... is it set in motion yet??? :smokin:

[icharianchem]

Hahaha naw bro. We'll yes its running but not its not "fully functional". Also a dummy light is the spotlight that is attached to the front pillar. I do plan on having a running lights killswitch so the po po cant tell my every move by my lights should i have to get evasive.

Right now i doing mock ups for the dash, but you'll understand if I dont post pics yeah?

[thief]

but you'll understand if I dont post pics yeah?

Sure. I was thinking... I know you said stock outside but what about mat black or half mat black paint? Doesnt give off a shine like normal paint... better for night time. Blends into the darkness better.

>>> Mat paint http://img260.imageshack.us/img260/1198/001qg8.jpg

>>> Half mat http://pds2.exblog.jp/pds/1/200705/24/51/f0136251_1821339.jpg

[icharianchem]

The car is already a dark blue, which believe it or not blends better into the night than black. But mat-dark blue might be something...

[thief]

Yeah its true for clothes I knew that because of the darkness effects on the eyes... navy clothes make the person well hidden and so the natural progression from there would be indeed Mat Navy. Sounds cool. :love: :drive:

[crazy white guy]

cwg is one of my faves to watch also. I feel as tho he would have some thing pertinent to add to my smugglin car thread but alas...

Hah. I think I'll post after hearing that

So The cars I have experience with that are the similar size and shape of that are the 1993 and 2002 grand am, the 2001 malibu, a 86 subaru sedan and one thats a bit off but still worth mention, a 1998 dodge caravan.

The Sedans are pretty easy. If you have the right tools, you can take out all of the aesthetic-ware from the inside and put in about 4oz's , ounce by ounce in every door. In the back near the wheel wells towards the front, there is a decent sized compartment in most vehicles that will hold 8-14 ounces. if you can remove the body panels of the cars and have an angle grinder, you can cut out pieces of the body of the car and stash weed there between the plastic inside and the body of the car. Each door can fit about 1kg and up to 2.5kg if I estimate right for that car.

Then theres the seats, if your a decent seamstress, you can take apart the seats and re-upholster them with a hard shell under a layer of foam to give the seats a believable softness. This will give you the height of the seat minus about two inches plus however much extra you can add underneath in either a shallow triangular prism shape or shallow trapezoid. This will give the allusion that your fabric is sagging when really its a hidden compartment.

Inside the trunk you can do the same thing. You can replace the felt(or whathaveyou) after removing the internals and then putting back a piece of 1/4inch plywood to give it the same look and rigidity. You can remove the spare tire compartment completely and just put a spare tire in the trunk. This can give you a 60cm x 100cm x120cm space.

Vans you can do all of the same things, but double all the values listed above. The compartment in front of the wheel wells will be a pretty massive space.

Make sure that all the material of the vehicles walls will compromise the integrity of the structure. Avoid any structural areas. A good rule is 3-5 inches from any meeting of metal-metal. This keeps the integrity of the car with giving you as much space as possible for drugs.

Cant think of anything else right now.

[Æhµ]

matte black car, blacked out windows, ex-cop car with spotlight still attached, large CB antenna, it all just screams "come arrest me". Ex-cop cars become cop magnets, because there's a certain breed out there that likes to be cops impersonators (not that I'm accusing the OP of this). Check out www.crownvic.net forums or the Emergency Vehicle Owners and Operators Association www.evooa.org, to see what I mean. These guys all want to be cops and love driving old cop cars around like bullshit authority figures. You DON'T want to look like any of these flaming assholes. Drug smuggling is done by stealth, you need a car that is so far off the cop's radar they don't profile it or give it a second glance. Any car can be modded for speed, a Taurus with a 5.0 liter is stealthy and can outrace most cop cars. A mustang 5.0, while fast, is another cop magnet. A CV PI with a 4.6 L can only make 130MPH - if - it is in top condition. You should know the CV has a limiter keeping the top speed at 130. Then the CV has all that weight. But the worst situation with a CV PI (police interceptor) is that cops want to check it out to make sure you removed all those cop goodies, like lights and sirens, because they see too many of those cop-wannabe assholes in ex-cop cars.

[icharianchem]

yeah dude a car like that might attract attention, but Im pretty sure a navy blue CV with light tints and a dummy light (that you can hardly see it from behind) is hardly the same. All crown vics are not cop cars. There are five within three blocks of my house. Pretty non descript and easy to confuse with almost every other slightly oversized sedan (i.e. the marauder)

[Æhµ]

yeah, low key is the point. Blacked-out Ninja cars should not be your first choice for riding dirty. Don't do what I see too many "stealth-mode" drivers do, and that is to black out or obscure the license plate with a smoked plastic cover or removing/dimming/non-white license plate light, that is the number-one guaranteed-to-get-you pulled-over cause if ever a cop gets behind you in traffic. At far as a getaway car is concerned, I think you would need "no-flat" tires, but i have no idea how those would hold up against spike strips.

[thief]

Good idea about the run flat tires. Again like you said... spike strip might just be enough to make shit of them. I guess you could do without matt paint but a kill switch for all lights would near the top of things you need. Any more progres made??

[icharianchem]

i got rid of the seats and door panels. Im putting leather covered aluminum in place of the old interior panels and have started drilling doors. I think im gonna go through a shit tonne of bits like this. Ive also been entertaining the idea of some sort of spike strip , concealed in the bumper that could be released from the front, but thats a little ambitious so for now im focusing on the basics. I also got some toggle switches from the speed shop so its time to think about the wiring

[lcnostra]

Stealth is much more important than speed. You want to blend in and look as inconspicuous as possible. Though I can't help much with the mechanical details, I know a thing or two about radios.

If you're looking to use a scanner in your car, it's legal to own but illegal to operate while driving in most states. I use a handheld in my car, with a glass-mount antenna a lot like the one in the link for the CB install. It looks just like one of those old car phone antennas, so nobody suspects a thing. Alternatively, you can get a BNC adapter that will allow you to use your car's existing radio antenna. I like my handheld because I can easily disconnect the antenna adapter and stow it under my seat/in the glove box. That way, I've got the portability and size of a handheld with the range of a base scanner. I don't use mine to do anything illegal; I'm just a radio enthusiast who thinks the law barring scanners in vehicles is stupid. I recommend a Radio Shack scanner with the 'Signal Stalker' feature, which will automatically pick up nearby frequency ranges. That way, you don't need to program every town and state pd.

I'm curious....what do you need a CB radio for? Those are hardly useful anymore. I suppose you could listen to the truckers, who always alert each other of where the cops are posting. However, if you're transporting something illegal, you shouldn't be speeding anyway.

Stay away from tints, tuned exhausts, and bumper stickers. You want to drive like an old woman would -- nothing to hide, nothing to show off. I'd also highly discourage any radar jamming equipment, as this will almost guarantee closer inspection of your car.

If you absolutely think you'll be in a situation that requires "running," rig up a toggle switch to the brakelight wire. That way you can cut the circuit and brake without activating the lights.

[MrKant]

If you want to be truly out of the radar, get a Toyata Prius.
Stuff all the shit in the trunk.
Very full efficient, spacious, and for a hybrid it's got some power behind it.

That car is the epitome of under the radar.

[Th0r]

http://www.dailymotion.com/relevance/search/never+get+busted/video/x30t9b_barry-cooper-never-get-busted-again_politics

Partially relevant.

[thief]

get a Toyata Prius. it's got some power behind it.

Wait... did you just say Prius and power in the same sentence??? :werd:

[need2knowbases]

This has been a really interesting read. My question is, if someone DID get pulled over, how likely is it that the car will be searched? As long as there is nothing obvious that the driver is doing to attract extra attention, it should just be a simple "license and insurance please", five minutes, "have a nice day" kind of thing, right? Or, is that just wishful thinking? I would think as long as the driver didn't do anything stupid, they would be OK.

edit -- Also, the only thing I can think to add is about the radar detector, I know some states make them illegal if I remember correctly...so I would think that you could cover your ass by residing in a state that doesn't have laws against them.

[icharianchem]

would it be a worthwhile endevour to remove the badges (or better yet retro fit a variety of badges magnetic style to fuck with the cops reporting a modle) or would it attract attention?

[Æhµ]

Also, the only thing I can think to add is about the radar detector, I know some states make them illegal if I remember correctly

If you're "riding dirty" then don't bother with the radar detector, just keep your ass under the speed limit. Same with police scanners. Most states don't make them illegal to own, but they are illegal to have in your car. Cars with "antenna farms" on them are another cop magnet.

Ultimately the thing that can be your undoing has nothing to do with your vehicle. Simple police profiling is all it takes to get pulled over. If they think you fit the profile of a smuggler they can come up with any means to search your vehicle.

True scenario:

COP (after pulling over a suspicious vehicle): "You seem a little nervous. Mind if I search your car just to be sure you don't have any drugs or weapons?"

DOPER: "No, I'd rather you didn't..."

COP: "Well that's okay, but I'm going to call in a K9 unit. If he hits on your car I will have probable cause to detain you and search your vehicle. You sure you don't have anything you want to tell me about?"

Once you get profiled and pulled over there isn't a damn thing you can do to keep the cops out of your car. So be sure you have a serious hiding spot for your contraband. Don't let the cops call the dogs in, let them search it voluntarily - so long as you have a good concealed stash you should be okay. To me the best spots are compartments mounted beneath the vehicle along the frame painted with undercoating to match the rest of the grime and grit of the frame.


would it be a worthwhile endevour to remove the badges (or better yet retro fit a variety of badges magnetic style to fuck with the cops reporting a modle) or would it attract attention?

Get rid of them. If you get pulled over with those on your car it'll start an inquisition.

[icharianchem]

i meant the manufacturer badges (i.e. ford, mercury ect.)