The BUSTang: Hottest D.A.R.E. car in the country
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If you're young enough to have lived through this country's War on Drugs while attending grade school, you no doubt remember annual visits from your local police department to intimidate convince you not to do drugs. In order not to frighten children by showing up in a Crown Vic with a dash-mounted shotgun, most officers arrived in a D.A.R.E. (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) car, usually a vehicle acquired through a drug bust or paid for with confiscated drug money, or so they told my class. A lot of D.A.R.E. vehicles were late model pony cars like the Chevy Camaro and Ford Mustang, presumably because drug dealers were way into Detroit iron and the flashier the car, the easier it was to keep the attention of kids hopped up on sugar and caffeine. ModdedMustangs brought us back to those innocent times with an article on the BUSTang, a custom 2006 Ford Mustang used by the Franklin County Sheriff's Office in Florida. The vehicle was purchased in December of 2005 and students in Franklin County's 5th grade D.A.R.E. program were enlisted to plan its mod list. Though an in-dash ice-cream dispenser and roof-mounted skateboard rack were nixed, the BUSTang did get a 2,000-watt stereo with eight speakers, 200 LED lights, a DVD system with two monitors, an aftermarket rear wing, new hood, wheels, and, of course, the requisite light bar. Many sponsors helped make the project happen including Steeda, though it likely wouldn't have been possible without the generous contribution of incarcerated drug offenders in the form of seized drug money. How good is the BUSTang in the hallmark of D.A.R.E. cars? It took first place out of 60 cars at this year's national D.A.R.E. conference.
[Source: ModdedMustangs]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
salguod 12:24PM (10/13/2006)
Our local DARE car is a late 80's Chevy Astro. Cool paint, but it's an Astro.
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auto specifications 12:10PM (10/13/2006)
Really hot car !
My next profession will be police driver
http://www.auto-specifications.com/
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Joe 12:37PM (10/13/2006)
I can top the Astro. The police in my area have a Scion xB. I definitely did a double-take the first time I saw that thing drive by me.
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Ken 12:44PM (10/13/2006)
Can't wait until we stop wasting money on absurd stuff like this.
"the BUSTang did get a 2,000-watt stereo with eight speakers, 200 LED lights, a DVD system with two monitors"
This is just dumb.
End the war on drugs.
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DPC car videos 12:55PM (10/13/2006)
looks like a drift car :)
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Scott Eaton 4:54PM (10/13/2006)
I'm with #4. Waste. Of. Money.
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jm 1:29PM (10/13/2006)
Looks like whoever designed it was on some drugs themselves.
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Adam 1:24PM (10/13/2006)
Yeah, thats a little nicer than the D.A.R.E. Cherokee and S-10 Blazer I remember when I was growing up. They weren't even 4 wheel drive.
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Chris 1:24PM (10/13/2006)
Can I have my tax dollars back? Please?
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WolfgangNC 1:44PM (10/13/2006)
4 & 7, I can't agree more, and this is coming from a huge Mustang fan. Why doesn't that town spend it on making unmarked interceptor 'stangs and actually use the money where it can be useful. DARE, is in need of a new strategy if they are going to get anywhere now.
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Dana 1:44PM (10/13/2006)
"BUSTang"? Come on.
Although, I guess I shouldn't expect cops to come up with anything more intelligent.
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Ferguson McSqueege 1:51PM (10/13/2006)
Haha...what a ricer wing.
One of the nearby DARE units had a classic 50s Chevy...a Nomad, I believe.
And yes, I'd rather our tax dollars were spent on more important things, like better enforcement or protective gear. Not on DVD screens for the perps in the back.
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Ohio John 2:49PM (10/13/2006)
Studies have shown that the D.A.R.E. program does not work. Even though they finance the program with confiscated drug money, it could be used more effectively.
Typical Florida politics. (Almost as wasteful as Ohio.)
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Sasha 3:46PM (10/13/2006)
Long live the death of the American republic...the "war on drugs" has been the largest expansion of government power in any of our lifetimes, before the present period. It has had demonstratably no effect on drug usage, except to make hard drugs easier to acquire for teenagers than alcohol is. From a psychological viewpoint, the WOD makes drugs more appealing to youth: when youth are in the stage of rebellion, and want to define their individuality and show their independence, the very illegality of drugs makes them attractive.
FOR A LARGE SEGMENT OF TEENAGERS, THE WAR ON DRUGS MAKES THEM MORE LIKELY TO TRY DRUGS.
It has eroded a number of the bill of rights, especially the fifth, which states that we cannot be "be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process". In drug cases, cars and houses are regularly taken before any verdict is reached, even if the offender is not the homeowner.
Drugs illegality makes them more expensive and drives their sale underground, thus creating MORE STREET CRIME, MORE ORGANIZED CRIME, and a scourge of street gangs who would not exist and would not be shooting at each other if they did not have the PROFIT motive provided by the illegality of drugs.
And lastly, what is the role of criminal justice except to protect our persons and property against violation by others? That is the primary role of government. So how can the government possibly justify depriving you of your property and freedom when you have interfered on nobody's? If you commit a crime to pay for drugs, you should be charged for that. It is IMMORAL for the government to go after crimes that have no clear victim. Under a fair view of personal rights, it would be ILLEGAL for the government to do so.
LAWS can never overcome the PROFIT MOTIVE. Any conservative who supports the war on drugs is grievously deluded. The war on drugs is a cancer on America, depriving us of tens of billions of dollars of taxpayer dollars a year and liberty, and providing us with nothing (least of all a reduction in drug usage). In a way, it's the ultimate LIBERAL boondogle - except that most liberals have the common sense to recognize that it simply does not work. Yet why does it still exist? Why do so few politicians have the spine to denounce this destructive, dangerous, and counterproductive program?
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sideswiper 3:36PM (10/20/2006)
Our DARE car was a PT Cruiser. Or at least it was. They were one of the first people to have one too. Good paintjob...black and red. Except for the red white and blue flames...
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cheezedog420 6:39PM (10/13/2006)
Im ashamed to be a American right now...
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That One Person 6:45PM (10/13/2006)
#4 and #7...I agree with you. Give me my money back.
DARE is such a waste of time. I remember the lectures the officers would give us. They would literraly explain how to buy drugs and how to light up a bong...it was sad!
And I love how studies show that DARE doesnt actually work. That makes me chuckle.
#14...while I dont exactly look at the whole situation like that, I do have to agree. Its funny watching the news or reading the paper and how many shootings there are a day because of drugs. The local police departments always talk about how they are cracking down on crap like this. Yet, a friend of mine lived two houses down from a crack house almost all her life and the police never showed up once in those 20 years...
You know what, I think the government should have a War On Education. If a War On Drugs makes drugs so popular, maybe a War On Education will make kids go to school more often and actually learn something. Its a good idea!!!!
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That One Person 6:46PM (10/13/2006)
oops I meant #13
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Eddie 1:25AM (10/19/2006)
I am happy that most of the people responding to this crock are of the same mind that I am. It is a horrible waste of money and I am not surprised.
The egos of these morons have to be constantly messaged, that is the reason they are police in the first place, so they can push people around and make themselves feel big.
75% of all interaction with the public by police is them findig a way to whittle money from regular everyday people that work 60 hours a week trying to make a living and doing the best they can. But they are always on the lookout for someone that crosses over the technicality that can get them more money to do stupid things with it like this.
If they want people to look up to them, they need to quit bullying them in to doing it. Our judicial system is now just a big way of making money, nothing to do with morals or right and wrong. Pull over and hand us your wallet. They are nothing but highway bandits.
Oh sure, they will let a cute girl go with a warning for doing 75 in a 35, but if I get pulled over for doing 66 in a 55 on freakin 4 lane highway with no construction or rain or ttraffic, you can bet your a$$ I am getting a ticket.
I also agree that the war on drugs is a farce. A lot of intelligent things were said here, good to know that some people are awake in this nation and are still looking around.
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2007 Mustang Boss 3:12PM (10/14/2006)
Sounds like a big waste of tax payer dollars to me.
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