Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Outfitted with an "old gum-machine red light," antique siren, original Motorola police radio and whip antenna on the rear fender

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Date: Tue, 24 Jun 2003 06:04:31 -0400

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Sheriff's new patrol car is oldie

By Alicia A. Caldwell |

Sentinel Staff Writer

Posted June 22, 2003

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PHOTOS

Don't call him Sheriff Andy. (BARBARA V. PEREZ/ORLANDO SENTINEL)

Jun 22, 2003

DELAND --

Volusia County Sheriff Ben Johnson would "prefer you not" compare him with the folksy, fictional Sheriff Andy Taylor of Mayberry, R.F.D.

And it's a sure bet that Johnson wouldn't welcome comparisons of his deputies to the well-meaning but befuddled Deputy Barney Fife.

But the plain-spoken sheriff does have at least one thing in common with his television counterpart: a 1962 Ford Galaxie 500 patrol car nearly identical to the ones driven in The Andy Griffith Show.

Johnson said he had wanted a classic patrol car for the department long before John MacConnell, a legal adviser for the Sheriff's Office, found the Mayberry replica on eBay a few weeks ago.

Outfitted with an "old gum-machine red light," antique siren, original Motorola police radio and whip antenna on the rear fender, the car fit the bill of what the sheriff was looking for, and Johnson gave the OK to buy it sight unseen.

Minnesota car restorer Jeff Pallum said he stopped the online auction after receiving the Sheriff's Office's $6,500 bid -- $1,000 less than he had hoped to snag -- because he had a guaranteed sale and thought "it would be kind of cool to sell a cop car to a cop."

The car was hauled to Daytona Beach about two weeks ago and now sits in a DeLand auto shop, awaiting repair work the sheriff called minor. Johnson said he also plans to repaint the four-door cruiser green and white -- it's black and white now -- to more closely resemble a Volusia County patrol car.

When all is said and done, the car, which Johnson described as a "public-relations tool," will cost the agency about $10,000. Johnson said Volusia County taxpayers shouldn't be concerned because the money was from the department's federal drug-forfeiture fund.

"It's bought out of drug money," Johnson said.

"It's a legitimate expenditure. This is not a tax."

The Sheriff's Office plans to take the car to schools and drive it in parades and other public events, Johnson said. He thinks it will be a great way to get children's attention.

"It's something that nowadays most people can relate to, if not from seeing it themselves, then from seeing it on TV," Johnson said.

Though no tax money was used, at least one county official questioned the purchase.

"Ten thousand dollars is all it takes for some programs to stay afloat for a whole year," County Council member Joe Jaynes said. "I think that money might have been better served going right into something else."

Bill Long, another County Council member, said although the council has no say in how Johnson spends forfeiture money, he thinks it was "kind of a neat idea."

"I think it's a cool-looking car, and young people are going to find it interesting," said Long, a onetime deputy.

As for why Pallum turned the car into a replica of Sheriff Taylor's, he said he just couldn't think of what else to do with a 1962 Ford Galaxie.

"Basically it has no value as a collector's car so we thought, 'Hey, let's make it into a police car,' " he said from Minnesota.

This was Pallum's first Mayberry replica but won't be his last, he said. Making Mayberry squad cars has become something of a cottage industry.

Don Maddox, who runs Don Maddox Classic Cars in Springdale, Ark., said he has been making the replica cruisers for a few years because "everybody knows Barney and Andy."

Maddox said he has sold about 15 replicas to aficionados around the country and tries to have at least one Mayberry patrol car in stock and running to show off to local schoolchildren or at other events in his area. Among his buyers have been used-car dealers looking for an eye-catching car to post on their lot and fans of the show who crave a piece of Mayberry.

"Everybody has more fun with these than they do with a $100,000 car," Maddox joked. "I don't know if I've ever sold one to a guy who wasn't just tickled to death by it."

The iconic squad car has even become the center of car races. This weekend, Brent, Ala., was to host the third annual Mayberry Squad Car Nationals, which includes drag racing and a timed obstacle course.

Maddox attributes the replicas' popularity to the always-relevant messages from the long-running show that idealized small-town life with so little crime to fight that the sheriff didn't carry a gun.

"I think it's just a great concept," Maddox said. "I think if more people lived by the Mayberry story line -- I know it's a TV show -- they would be better off."

Alicia A. Caldwell can be reached at [email-masked] or 386-851-7924.

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