Hi all,
Superb site, tripped over it a few days ago whilst conducting my research.
And it is part of that research that i could use a hand with. Let me explain.

I am a 37 year old Brit author currently working on a very detailed account of the North Hollywood Shootout, I'm sure you are all familiar with it. And i am sure you can see how I ended up here.
Whilst the page for '44 minutes' is sound in info regarding that film (good work by the way), i am looking for somebody to help me identify the vehicles at the original event, as a Brit I am pretty clueless when it comes to American brands and years of manufacture.

I currently have a website up about this event (more for myself being able to get the info laid out in the correct pattern) but I am giving anybody who helps out on this project a chance to champion their own site or charity through a link. Also they will be named in the 'thank you page' when the finished book finally goes to print (looking at about another 18-24 months at the minute).

So does anybody fancy a challenge?

Hello there. What vehicles do you want to know about exactly? Are you also looking for information on the literally hundreds of vehicles that were present throughout the shootout or just the major vehicles?

Obviously the main ones that come to mind are the Chevrolet Celebrity, the (Dodge?) truck at the end, and the various LAPD cruisers.

This page has soom stock captures from the shootout, mostly of law enforcement vehicles that were at the scene:
http://www.imcdb.org/movie.php?id=203835

If you can be more specific on this then it would help.

I am looking to identify the line of vehicles along the north wall of the bank (plus one or two others in the north lot), several specific police vehicles, the year of the Chevy Celebrity, the vehicles that Matasareanu encountered on his final journey along Archwood street.
Should i start posting links to the pics here?

Hmm curious, i never knew they used footage from that event in other films, something i think i shall look at.

IMFDB's page on the movie has a few tidbits related to the actual event as well.

Yes, you can just post the pictures. It's an interesting event and I'd be glad to help.

Superb. Thanks for your help guys, it really is appreciated.

The first album to deal with is here... http://s197.photobucket.com/albums/aa52/lmindham/Archwood/

Excuse the quality but we are dealing with stills culled from 12 year old helicopter footage, i know the image quality is less than great.
If it makes it any easier then the original video can be downloaded from my website on this event at http://northhollywoodshootout.weebly.com/ hit the downloads page and go for the 'raw helicopter footage', it might help id purposes.

BlackIce, i have found that site before, a good site if you are interested in the film itself, and a good mock up of the snub nosed M16 used in the final firefight (its actually a Bushmaster XM15-ES2 'Dissapator' A1 variant)

I'll help with the LAPD vehicles.

Picture 6 and 9: The slick-top SWAT vehicle that took out the last bank robber was a 1995-1996 Chevrolet Caprice 9C1. Although I'm not 100% sure if the LAPD used 1996 Caprices, 1995-1996 is still a good year range.

Picture 7: To the bottom is a 1995-1996 Chevrolet Caprice 9C1. At the top is a 1996 Ford Crown Victoria [P71].

Picture 8: Same as picture 7.

The LAPD vehicles that were deployed to the scene were mainly 1994-1996 Caprices and 1996 Ford Crown Victorias. Additionally, the LAPD SWAT team deployed one or perhaps both of their V-100 Armored Personnel Carriers.

Superb work Ford fella.
I will delete the pictures as the vehicles are identified to save reposts etc.
All told there are probably another 10 pictures as well as the ones published that have vehicles i would like to identify.

Most people who have had even a cursory glance at this event will know the Chevy was a 'Celebrity', what i am struggling with is which model it is, from my research it appears there was 2 engine sizes, the models only apparently differed externally by the size of the wheel hubs. Anyone help with this or identify which model this celebrity was?

I don't know about the Celebrity. It certainly does not look too modified. You can see how much the weapons/ammo in the trunk are weighing down the vehicle.

I dug up some Celebrity information, but it isn't helpful. There were 4 engines (2.5L I4, 2.8L V6, 3.1L V6, 4.3L V6 Diesel), 3 trim levels (Custom, CL, and Classic), and an 'option group' (Eurosport, which it appears this one doesn't have). Trim level is on the rear of the trunk lid on the right hand side. Sometimes engine size is indicated by a badge in front of the front wheels.
Those wheels appear not to be stock.
Attempting helpfulness: (I have a lot of vague guesses on other vehicles, but these I'm at least 75% sure of):
picture 1: The van looks like a Ford Econoline.
4, 5, 10: truck is a '67-'72 Chevrolet or GMC C/K (only difference is the grill and tailgate). The white wagon is a GM A-body, either another Celebrity, or Buick Century, Oldsmobile Cutlass Ciera, or Pontiac 6000.
black sedan is maybe an 1985–1988 Nissan Maxima. The raw helicopter footage helped with that, since they zoom in at the end.
Finally, an easy one; the car in the driveway is an '82 or '83 Toyota Celica Supra.

Hi guys, sorry for the delay, i have been tied up with interviewing one of the bank customers.

Ford_guy: the lean on the Chevy is actually from Matasareanu's 283lb carcass sitting in the passenger seat, by this point Phillips was having a high old time with his H&K91 but Emil had been shot in the right leg, the dye packs had popped and ruined the money (they actually knew this about 10 minutes earlier, why they waited around nobody knows)so Emil dived in the passenger side and kept urging Phillips to get in and drive.

BlackIce: You, like Ford_guy, certainly know your stuff, i would have been searching for weeks to nail these models.
It appears that the Chevy has been completely stripped of badges, maybe a ploy by the gunmen.
As i understand it (Wikipedia im afraid) the Celebrity of that era and shape came in only 2 engine sizes, apparently the only physical way to tell without lifting the hood is the wheel hubs, here im guessing 4 or 5 stud patterns based on the engine size, does that sound feasible? the wheels appear to be aftermarket options as i havnt seen this type on any others i have looked at.

Instead of linking to a photobucket album il put up the pics one by one here and see if we can get any yay or nays on the ID front.

Appreciate the help guys, really moves things along for me.

Ok off we go again, firstly 3 important vehicles from the North Lot of the BOA. (The Chevy with the trunk open is a given, its the 3 along the wall i would like to pin down)


Secondly, some better pictures of Bill Marr's truck. Unfortunately i cannot source a good picture of the front grille, i do have one but the quality is so dark that i dont think it worth posting, hopeefully we can peg this thing from these two.

The gold SUV in the middle is a 1990-1994 Ford Explorer

I wish I could help with Bill Mars Truck, I want to say 63-70 Jeep Gladiator, but hopefully someone more knowledgeable about the J-trucks will chime in

Thank you t0nka

Actually, that's a 1991-1994 Ford Explorer XLT. Don't forget that 1991 was the first model year for the Explorer.

yeah that was a typo on my part, glad you caught it f_g

I have been told that its a Jeep M715 'Kaiser', I've had a quick look at some other pics of this model and I'm still unsure.