2002 Chevrolet Tahoe CHP
This Tahoe was delivered to the California Highway Patrol on 08/20/2002 for $37,000. During the next few months, she was fully equipped and put into service on 01/23/2003 as unit #C2395F, license plate 1137346. She was assigned to the Sonoma office, working in more rural areas where her 4 wheel drive and winch were put to use. After nine years and 177,000 miles, she was retired on 01/04/2012, stripped of emergency equipment and spray painted, then sold at auction several months later. As a civilian now, she stayed in northern California as a ranch truck until I saw her for sale online in October 2019.
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She had not lived the easiest life, in service or afterwards. The paint clear coat was coming off, the interior was filthy, she was lifted on big tires and had awful purple window tint. The fuel pump had problems, and she actually wasn't running when I came to buy her. Still, you could see her for exactly what she was, with the decals still visible on the doors, spotlight cutouts, CB antenna mount, winch, massive bumper and CHP specific push bars. Needless to say, I bought her immediately.
Then the real work began! I scoured the internet for reference pictures, joined CHP related discussion groups online, and even found a CHP officer to talk to that used to drive a similar Tahoe on-duty. Over the next year, I gathered and tracked down hard to find parts, and realized what a challenging restoration I had chosen for myself! CHP uses many unique pieces of equipment and they are very careful when disposing of things, making used parts harder to come by. On top of that, this generation Tahoe was very rare for CHP use, so information on them is scarce.
In February 2020, I had her repainted black & white, installed new headlights/turn signals/tail lights, lowered it back to normal ride height, and put the correct wheels back on. In May, reproduction decals were installed, and she was at a local upfitters waiting to have her emergency equipment re-installed. Unfortunately, that fell through, and the chances of this project getting completed under my care are fading...
In February 2020, I had her repainted black & white, installed new headlights/turn signals/tail lights, lowered it back to normal ride height, and put the correct wheels back on. In May, reproduction decals were installed, and she was at a local upfitters waiting to have her emergency equipment re-installed. Unfortunately, that fell through, and the chances of this project getting completed under my care are fading...
