[1] The Cadillac Gage Ranger began production in 1979 to meet a USAF Security Forces requirement for armored vehicles to use in base protection and patrols.

[4] In 1996, National Museum of the United States Air Force collections chief Scott Ferguson convinced his superiors that a 1980 Cadillac Gage Ranger on display at the museum had been requested by another military facility; however, this was in fact a lie Ferguson used to steal the Ranger, drive it off Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, and hide it in Middletown, Ohio.

Between 1997 and 1998, Ferguson drove the Ranger across Ohio state lines and displayed it at military conventions in Tennessee and Pennsylvania before selling it on the black market on July 11, 1999 for $18,000; it would ultimately be sold to the Cherokee County Sheriff's Office in North Carolina for $38,000.

[6][7] In 2010, Federal Defense Industries and Textron entered an agreement to allow FDI to provide authorized aftermarket parts, support, and assistance for servicing the Ranger.

[citation needed] Weapons are installed on a rotatable top-mounted gun turret that allows for the mounting of a general-purpose machine gun (typically excluded in law enforcement configurations), as well as firing ports for the vehicle's occupants to fire weapons and dispense devices such as smoke grenades with minimal risk.