Not too far outside of the Washington beltway the gaping faux chrome brake cooling air intakes of a Chevy Trailblazer SS caught my eye. Being a fan of powerful automobiles (typically not American made...) I took a second look and noticed that it had government plates.
If you're not a car aficionado you probably wouldn't even think twice because it is just a Chevy Trailblazer and there's typically nothing too special about these vehicles. Let me tell you a little about the SS model:
The 2007 SS ran just a hair over $37,000 MSRP
It was fitted with a 395 horsepower 6.0 liter V8 motor derived from the Corvette
It has 20" chrome wheels
Performance front seats
0 - 60 time in about 5 seconds
Additional interior luxury appointments
You get the idea.
When I saw the plate stating:
USDA For Official Use Only
It got me thinking.
What kind of 'official use' does the USDA need 395 luxury appointed horsepower for? Could it be they were after the 20" chrome wheels for some classified official business? Perhaps they couldn't have anything that struggled to get into the sub-6-second range in a 0-60 run and the Corvette body styling just wasn't working for them. It's hard telling when you're dealing with official business...
Regardless of the need, I'm sure we can all rest confidently knowing that approximately $37,000 of our taxpayer dollars can officially run a sub 6 second 0 - 60 time for the USDA...
