In this sun drenched landscape, awash in sexy restored "65 Mustangs and surfer woodies, Jerry Crawford of Orange cruises to his own beat- in a pair of cherry Chevrolet Caprices.

Crawford, 47, an Orange County sheriff deputy, knows his blue/green 1994 and black 1996 highway behemoths aren't the sleek, chromed dream machines of most Southern California drivers.

"But their comfortable and dependable, and that's what counts," he says. "So people can make fun of them all they want."

The ultimate Detroit muscle car, the Caprice was an oddity of styling, an example of function driving form- right out of the showroom, as it turned out. But more than five years after General Motors Corp. ended production of the model- citing slumping sales as drivers sought sportier wheels- Caprice owners now fuel a multimillion-dollar aftermarket industry that keeps the big sedans humming.

"Beauty is in the eye of the beholder," says Emilio Corral, general manager of Woundries Chevrolet in Alhambra, where service technicians have refurbished dozens of Caprices, including a number of police cars for the city of Long Beach. The Caprice may be short on looks, but it's fans say it is long on performance- in fact nearly 18 feet, it's just plain long. With 39 inches of headroom, a 4 ½ foot bench seat and 3 ½ feet of legroom, it's front seat compares favorable with first-class airline seating. Even the backseat has a roomy 39 inches in which to stretch out the legs. It's 260 horsepower, 350 cubic-inch Chevy V-8 LT1 power plant can whisk the 2-ton car from zero to 100 mph in less than 25 seconds. And despite it's 113.9-inch wheelbase and 62-inch-wide track, the car's high performance steering and suspension give it remarkably nimble cornering abilities. Not surprisingly, the Caprice is beloved by law enforcement agencies as the last great rear-wheel-drive GM V-8.

Bruce Wiley, General Motors' program manager for law enforcement and specialty vehicles, says the Caprice at it's peak commanded 60% of the police vehicle market. GM's current police cruiser, a front-wheel-drive V-6 Chevy Impala, has a mere 15% market share, while most sales now are going to Ford's Interceptor, a muscled-up Crown Victoria.

L.A. County Sheriff Sgt. Larry J. Jowdy says Ford has made strides in improving the performance of the Interceptor in the last five years, but many officers still favor the Caprice's authoritative acceleration and steering over even the factory fresh Fords.

The Caprice is "outstanding in pursuits, with great high-speed cornering capabilities," says Capt. Jim Domenoe of the Riverside County Sheriff's Department. "It's spacious and comfortable for the officers who have to spend eight hours in the car out in the field."

Lt. Allan J. Harrington, a Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department fleet commander, points out that the Caprice interior is so roomy that the air bags don't damage the computer terminals when they deploy, as happens in smaller cars. Sgt. Jowdy likes the Caprice's 20 cubic-foot trunk, which has plenty of room to haul ladders, body armor and specialized weapons.

Arcadia Police Chief David Hinig says his officers recently voted for a refurbished Caprice- rather than a brand new Ford- as their favorite service vehicle. Arcadia and many other Southern California police agencies shuttle their old Caprices to a light-industrial strip in Upland, where George Bates Automotive has cornered the lion's share of the business of rejuvenating the aging cars. The independent repair shop charges $10,000 to $15,000 for a complete overhaul.

Bates, a former GM dealership technician, leads visitors on a tour of battle-worn Caprices as they roll in for service after an average of 96,000 miles. He opens doors to interiors, which at times reek of bodily wastes in back and fast-food grease and coffee spills in front. The doors are battered-missing armrests, gaping with kicked-in panels, sagging with hurried collision repairs.

"The trouble with a front-end car is that if you run the front end into something, it's pffft!" Bates says, snapping his fingers. "You lose the engine, transaxel, raidator. It's not worth fixing. But the body-on-frame Caprice is worth saving, Bates says because even a bent frame can be replaced. It's a $1,100 part that can be changed with the removal of just nine bolts.

Despite their heavy use- police cars often run practically around the clock, day after day- only four of the more than 400 Caprices Bates has taken in have been too far gone to be overhauled. He says the Caprice rejuvenation business emerged nearly four years ago as models in service started to show wear and law enforcement officials realized they would no longer be able to buy new ones.

Bates overhauled a handful of test cars before winning a multimillion-dollar contract to refurbish Caprices for Los Angeles County- and his business was off and running. Orders now roll in from as far away as Arizona and Nevada, and he has about 15 employees refurbishing about one car every business day. The overhaul includes swapping in a new engine, transmission and differential, installing all new coolant and safety systems and replacing worn parts such as armrests, light bars or shotgun locks. Bates sends the cars out for new interiors and paint jobs.

The work pleases agency bean counters. Arcadia Chief Hinig says he budgets $24,000 for new patrol vehicles but plans to wring 2 ½ more years of service from a refurbished Caprice. Overhauled and back in duty, says L.A. County Sheriff Sgt. Jowdy, the big-body Chevys handle almost the same as new models when run through the department's high-performance test center at the Fairplex in Pomona.

L.A. County's $3.8-million contract with Bates expires in October, Jowdy says, but county executives are considering putting another phase of refurbishing work up for bid, spurred by patrol officers' favor for the car.

"The Caprice is the last factory hot rod," says Howard Keith, a former race driver and coordinator at Bates' facility. "It was kind of a magical car," says Chris Horn, vice-president for consumer affairs at the Specialty Equipment Market Assn., The aftermarket trade group based in Diamond Bar. "Especially the last year- the '96- they got everything right- they put in the floor shift, they went back to analog gauges. It's too bad they killed it."

Jerry Crawford doesn't pamper his shiny '94 and '96 models, regularly using them to take his adult sons and their friends on weekend outings to the desert or north to June Lake. He says the long drives in the Caprices are comfortable for four to six adults, with all their luggage.