William Boyett who was best-known for playing law and order Sgt. MacDonald on Adam-12 (1968) plays a car thief. This was his second and final appearance on CHiPs, with the prior appearance being in The Great 5K Star Race and Boulder Wrap Party: Part 2 (1980), where he played a CalTrans supervisor.
The story portrays Hogan (played by William Boyett) as a kind of loser. To further this point he drives an old Ford Edsel car, which is one of the automotive industry's biggest flops.
An advertisement for Neighbors (released December 18, 1981) starring John Belushi is visible when DeWayne steals the Datsun. Also Christmas decorations are visible as the Datsun is driven away and when Grossman witnesses the car chase at the beginning of the episode indicating that filming probably took place at the end of 1981.
The first car we see in the opening sequence is a Ford Edsel with its iconic vertical portion of the front grille.
Edsel was a make, not a model. There were four models of Edsel - Citation, Corsair, Pacer, and Ranger.