This video comes to us from our colleagues at Motor Trend, and it’s from their exclusive online show called, “Roadkill” that’s featured on YouTube. It’s hosted by Mike Finnegan (Hot Rod Magazine author/contributor) and David Freiburger (editor-in-chief, Hot Rod Magazine). 

The premise of the show, far from showcasing cars and keeping them nice and pretty, is to find worthless, crappy cars that no one will miss, and proceed to drive them to pieces. By no means a serious, in-depth analysis show, Roadkill is meant purely for destructive pleasure. 

In this episode, Mike and David decide to face off Ford and Chevrolet in an intriguing and unique class: that of the police cruiser. All-American, V-8-powered, rear wheel drive, perp-popping police cars.

So Mike and David perused Craigslist and found a mid-90s Caprice 9C1 and an ’03 Crown Vic P71, respectively. Both were mainline police cruisers at some point–the Caprice from the late ’80s through the ’90s, and the Crown Vic from the ’80s to the present.

For the first event, the Caprice and Crown Vic face off in a small “drag race” in a mall parking lot in Santa Arcadia, CA. The Vic gets a good start both times but fails to outrun the Caprice’s overwhelming speed, giving the latter the straightaway advantage with its slightly higher horsepower.

The guys proceed to horse around by plowing through a trash can mountain. Mike loses his mounted searchlight, and Dave severely cracks his windshield.

Afterwards, the guys drift on wet asphalt and the Caprice pops its already worn-out rear driver tire, prompting David to go get new tires. Mike follows suit, upgrading to 17″ Blizzaks while Dave buys 15″ Mud Terrain BFGs.

The adventure continues as the boys head to the high desert very north of LA in search of Mike’s parents’ piece of worthless land, where they race off-road in a time trial. As funny as it is exciting, only one comes out the winner.

Does the Caprice commit a coup? Or can the Vic retain its Crown? Watch until the end to find out who wins!

Chevy vs. Ford – a rivalry that will never end.