Road Warriors

The 4^th Gen Camaro’s final year of production saw law enforcement duty on Florida’s highways and byways.

By Steve Perry   Photography by Steve Perry and Colin Date

Owned by Mack Elrod #23853658, Bella Vista, AR and Steve Perry #10039809, Bentonville, AR

The sight of blue lights on Florida Interstates in the mid 2000s possibly preceded the grille of a black & tan B4C Camaro in your rear view mirror. With the end of the Camaro era looming in 2002, the Florida Highway Patrol (FHP) decided to purchase 200 B4C Camaros (28% of the 708 Chevrolet produced that year)– more than any other state.

Florida previously used the Mustang as a highway pursuit vehicle, and from 1983 until 1993 had placed over 1600 units in service during that time. It had been nine years since troopers had a pursuit vehicle that could challenge some of the factory hot rods coming out of Detroit. The B4C (RPO code for police package) was basically a de-badged Z/28 with a few factory modifications that supported law enforcement needs. They came with the beefier 1LE rear control arms, body color roof panel and Eagle RSA speed rated tires. No modifications were required to the already potent LS1 350 cubic-inch motor or transmission offered in the Z/28.