Don't Try Running From California Highway Patrol's New Camaro

California Highway Patrol’s last Chevrolet Camaro SS 1LE joins the fleet with a 6.2-liter V8 and 455 horsepower on tap.

Photo by: California Highway Patrol

By: Brian Potter

Sep 30, at 1:30pm ET

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The California Highway Patrol has finally put its last Chevrolet Camaro patrol car into service, nearly three years after the automaker ended production of the sixth-generation model. The black-and-white SS 1LE appeared this week on the CHP Fleet Operations Instagram account with full decals, push bar, and patrol lighting installed.

This car arrives at the end of a long run that started in 1979, when the agency tested its first Camaro Z28 as a high-speed pursuit option alongside its sedans. Over the years, the Camaro rotated in and out of the fleet as a specialty unit, and this SS 1LE closes that chapter with a 6.2-liter V8 rated at 455 horsepower and 455 lb-ft of torque.

CHP's Final Camaro Enters Service

Last Chevy Camaro SS 1LE Police Car For CHP

Photo by: California Highway Patrol

Chevrolet built its last sixth-generation Camaro on December 13, 2023, closing out a nameplate CHP had relied on for patrol duty since the late 1970s. This car is the tail end of that supply.

CHP had not identified which division would get the car. The agency patrols about 105,000 miles of California highways, so the unit that receives it will determine how hard the car gets worked.

CHP's Camaro fleet goes back further than most people realize, with the Z28 kicking off a run that included cars in 1991 and 2002 alongside plenty of Mustangs on other state fleets. The agency now describes this SS 1LE as "the final CHP Camaro" and says it will roll out next week as the last of its kind to join the fleet.

Chevrolet has only teased a return with the rumored next-generation Camaro, and even that stays unconfirmed for now.

CHP's Camaro Was Made To Catch Speeders

The SS 1LE badge means this is not a base V8 Camaro wearing a light bar. It is the track-tuned suspension package, built for the kind of high-speed stability a pursuit car needs on a freeway chase.

Independent testing has put the car's top speed at around 175 mph, a figure that lines up with what the 1LE hardware is built to sustain. The livery adds a roof-mounted light bar, grille and side-skirt lighting, plus red and blue flashers.

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One detail ties the car to CHP history more than its drivetrain does: a whip antenna mounted like the ones on Camaros from the 1970s. It is a styling callback on a car that otherwise runs modern electronics and a digital dash.

CHP's Camaro run sits alongside other performance nameplates the agency has cycled through over the decades, and the departure leaves Dodge and Ford muscle cars to fill whatever gap opens up. Chevrolet, meanwhile, keeps building V8 performance elsewhere, including the Camaro's NASCAR variant that continues to race under the nameplate.