While stopping at a rural railroad crossing a the small crowd was forming. This land barge was standing out.
My eyes are not trained to recognize American iron from times prior to the mid-eighties. It took me some google sleuthing to actually realize what populated my cellphone’s pixel bank.
I am inclined to speculate that Max, the manure baron, bought his Monaco new and never drove a whole lot of miles and thus the car never wore out. It became unfashionable but fashion may have never been an issue for this man. The trailer hitch, the mismatched front left hubcap and the rust hole at the lower sheet metal behind the rear wheel give me the impression of a practical minded character.
Is he a farmer giving his Sunday ride a work-out? A very moderate work-out I suppose. You don’t brake a sweat outrunning a 2.3 Lima powered Mazda pick up if you have at least a 383 cu.-in 2bbl V8 under the bonnet.
Evidently Max enjoyed his ride nailing the apex on the corner of Highway 17 and E26. And again he put some real estate between himself and his pursuer. This man drives with a purpose. We were both heading to Ames, IA and in a residential area he took a left and I went straight. I never had a chance to see the front of the car.
Did it sport the available Super Lightâ„¢ in the grille?
What exactly was it that let me guess correctly that this car is a late 60’s/ early 70’s Pentastar product? That fuselage shape, in particular the slope of the rear window and deck reminded me somehow of the early 70’s European Chrysler 160/180. Actually, I recall the late 70’s Chrysler-Simca 1609 best because I got a to ride in a brand new one while hitch-hiking and because Heinz (of COAL fame) owned one of them.
But back to the land of unlimited possibilities: you will find plenty of pictures of the 2 door hardtop fuselage bodies. But pillared sedans? Good luck! If it weren’t for the German website “fuselage.de” I would still be trying to identify this specimen. It appears I am a lucky curbivore to have caught one in the wild.
Pretty clean car given it’s age. I’d ride with pride in it. But then again I have no automotive shame.
I wished I could find one just like it, I would buy it. That was my first car
Sweet find. I always liked these, particularly the rear treatment.
Once again the combination of 4 doors and metallic medium olive-ish green paint is the key to CC survival in the wild.
A “Period Correct” combo.
Funny! But it was actually true that darker pigments made for longer lasting rust protection. I recall reading about that in “Auto Motor und Sport”, the German car buff magazine.
The 1969 Dodge 4-door sedans in El Strippo (Polara) trim were famous in their day and legendary now, as the fastest of the big-block Chrysler police cars. Tales abound with even higher numbers but it is generally agreed that a California Highway Patrol 1969 Dodge Polara with the 440 Magnum Pursuit engine was timed at 147mph by CHP’s Motor Transport Division. They would not admit it publicly but those in other agencies who purchased their cars on CHP’s order, followed their maintenance procedures and had access to their technical specifications and data, knew. Not until a Chevrolet B-body in the 1990s could a CHP car go faster (not even the vaunted 5-liter Ford Mustangs, apparently).
At lower, but still very high speeds, it was clear that the engine could easily outrun the car’s brakes. With manual steering they handled remarkably well (CHP didn’t get power steering until 1973). The tires were Goodyear racing tires, relabeled and sold only to law enforcement. An automatic cutout shut off the air conditioning compressor above a certain speed. The one on my 1978 Monaco Pursuit shut off above 75 mph and it had a longer rear axle ratio than the 1969; being privately owned, a retired CHP unit, I bypassed it.
Photos of 1969 Dodge 4-door sedans, therefore, are not all that rare!
Article about restoring one, in Hemmings:
https://www.hemmings.com/magazine/mus/2007/05/1969-Dodge-Polara-CHP/1451907.html
Thanks for adding this info.
I was specifically looking for of Monaco editions and not the Polara knowing how much the readership appreciates specific details.
My late, lamented LT1 9C1 Caprice would have probably seen 147mph with enough empty road, but an indicated 143 was the highest I ever saw. And that’s with a much more aerodynamic shape and modern fuel injection. “There’s no replacement for displacement.” With drum brakes…I’d be very afraid. After hauling the Caprice down from 130 one time there was serious brake fade even with four wheel discs.
Oh and the Caprice 9C1 had a similar AC compressor shutoff feature, except it activated at full throttle instead of any particular speed. Seeing as you normally couldn’t use full throttle for more than maybe 10-15 seconds without going to jail, the feature was perfectly acceptable.
If I remember correctly, in 82 when CHP first tested the 2bbl 302 Mustang it topped out at 125mph. And I think the SSI CHP Mustangs in 86 or so were capable of 143. But I could be off a bit, these are memories of books I have at home but haven’t read in awhile.
I’d take that 147 mph with a dash of salt. First, it’s not been verified, right? That alone throws doubt on it.
Keep in mind that the 440 six pack engine was rated at 330 net hp (I can’t find a net hp rating for the 440-375, but we can assume it was a bit less. The real issue are the atrocious aerodynamics of the Polara. If someone could find the total aero drag of it (CD and frontal area) than a calculator could tell us if some 325 net hp could push this huge brick that fast. Color me skeptical.
G. Poon’s statement prompted me to look through some books when I arrived home.
Here’s what I found:
Page 100 of “Dodge, Plymouth, and Chrsyler Police Cars, 1956 to 1978” by Ed Sanow makes the claim of 147 mph.
Page 101 states “…It was timed at Chrysler’s Chelsea proving grounds at 147 mph. Chelsea is a 4.1 mile banked oval. To this day the Michigan State Police still conduct acceleration and top-speed tests on this same track.”
The book also references a article from the July 1969 issue of Super Stock magazine, where they tested a California Highway Patrol spec ’69 Polara. It was equipped with a 375 horsepower (net) 440 Magnum and had 11″ disc brakes up front.
There is no mention of who clocked the 147 mph speed. Chrysler? Super Stock? Likely not California as suggested earlier given the location.
What Super Stock (seemingly) found (as seen on Page 102 of the same book) is the Polara did 0 – 60 in 6.3 seconds and the quarter mile in 14.2 seconds at 99 mph.
The same section of Page 102 refers to the Super Stock article while also repeating the 147 mph top speed.
A while back I wrote an article about two ’69 Dodges I found outside of South Bend, Indiana. The article referenced the 147 mph speed but I am glad I put a closer eye to it. It is unclear who clocked this speed and what level of verification was used.
In short, I’m confused from what I found!!!
It was equipped with a 375 horsepower (net) 440 Magnum
Well, no; the rating was 375 gross hp. Which is as you know utterly irrelevant, as that’s the hp as measured on a dyno with open exhaust, no alternator, fan, PS pump, etc., and with timing advanced as high as the engine would tolerate, not factory specs. It has no direct relationship as to the output as installed in the car.
But realistically, if these cars could really hit 147 mph, then maybe there were either some mods, or they were really underrated. According to Chrysler, the 440-six pak, rated gross at 385 hp, actually made 330 net hp. My point is that it takes a given amount of net hp to push a car to a given speed. If one knows the aerodynamic drag, the amount of hp required can be calculated.
But just from looking at this big brick, it would seem to me that it would take more than some 325-330 net hp. But I could be wrong.
But I still doubt it. And the fact there is no actual verification back to a source document, makes me suspicious. It may be an exaggeration, or possibly a specially-modified car. because it simply seems to me that it would take more than 325-330 net hp to make it go that fast.
Also, if it had the 3.23 rear axle, the engine would have to be turning a bit more than 6,000 rpm at 147. These engines made max hp at about 4800, maybe 5000 hp. So there’s two issues: one, I doubt a 440 could/would spin 6000+ rpm, and two, if it did, it would be well past its power peak.
Does anyone know what axle ratio was supposedly used? It’s hard to imagine it being lower (numerically) than the std. 3.23.
Also, Chrysler’s factory specs give a 128 mph top speed with the 350 hp 440 for the ’69 Polara. The jump from 128 to 147 is a lot bigger as one might assume, as the increase in drag is drastic at those speeds. there’s no way an extra 25 hp can account for such a big jump in top speed.
Sorry; not buying it without some verification. This may be an urban legend that has been repeated without ever being verified.
Putting net instead of gross is my bad. That’s what happens while typing with the wife talking to me!
I don’t disagree a bit with your thought process. And, from what I could tell it was a 3.23 axle; I had had engine speed cross my mind earlier.
The lack of explanation on who and how this claimed speed was measured gets me more than anything. That, and I used it previously!
Maybe there was a ringer with higher gearing. But still explanation are thin and I do share your skepticism.
Eureka! Sort of.
Here’s a report of one from Cars Magazine, from 1969, found on a C-body website.
Of note: The rear axle is 3:31:1 in the text (but 3:23:1 in the chart seen in the article); the 0-60 is 1.5 seconds slower than what I attributed earlier to Super Stock magazine; the quarter mile is both slower and at a lower speed here.
Yep, the 147 mph has too many unanswered questions. And, Cars estimated a top speed of 130 mph.
http://www.forcbodiesonly.com/mopar-forum/threads/chp-road-test-pardon-if-repeat.23460/
Automobile-catalog.com estimates the coefficient of drag to be 0.5; again, this makes the 147 suspicious.
I knew there had to be something out there about it.
Thanks for that. It restores my faith in Physics 101. 🙂
Seriously, there was no way a stock version of this car was going to achieve those kind of acceleration numbers and top end, due to the physics involved.
When it comes to old cars, there’s a number of myths out there that have been regurgitated too often just waiting to be popped.
I just asked someone who has deep knowledge of the cars and is in the process of doing a 100% correct restoration of an original 1969 CHP Polara patrol car. If I could figure out how to embed a short video of the first time out of the garage, under it’s own power, I would post it.
tbm: you mean this one? Just copy and paste the url.
Yes, and there are two more of them with the car now out on the road and one of the siren. I did copy and paste but just got what I copied and not the video.
Last one currently. Hopefully have an answer from him in 24 hours.
Ah ha copied the share link rather than the web address.
Have an answer. He saw 1969 CHP test data using three different drivers and they could only hit 138 mph in 3 miles from a standing start. He is checking with his engine builder who “ran the numbers, red line, rear end ratio and tire size and came up with a absolute top speed” which he forgot at the moment. Is going to check.
Digging around, I found an engine speed calculator. For tires, I used a Cooper 225/70R15 with a diameter of 27.28″. Gearing is 3.23:1.
Here’s the calculator:
http://www.crawlpedia.com/rpm_gear_calculator.htm
Knowing tire size would likely differ, and be a big factor, I took a stab at this. Results are pretty interesting. I could get an engine speed of under 5,000 rpm at 147 mph, but the gearing had to be 2.73:1, higher (lower numerically) than what was offered – I think!
At any rate, your friend has one sharp Dodge!
This morning he said the tire diameter was 28.2″.
His process started in August 2013 here:
The restoration work is unbelievable in detail as it was going to be only the second true CHP patrol car restored accurately.
http://www.forcbodiesonly.com/mopar-forum/threads/mrmopars-1969-california-highway-patrol-restoration.7791/
From Alan
“We are talking CHP here, the options are endless of what other departments may have done. The myths and legends surrounding the “CHP” 1969 Polara are unbelievable. The 149.6 by Chrysler at their testing facility I believe, that is 5757 RPM in a car specifically tuned by them. Production out of the box cars at 135 RPM at 5195, anything else it starts getting real fuzzy.”
“The math doesn’t lie, these are the numbers without changing the rear gear or tires.
RPM Ratio Tire MPH
1539 3.23 28.2 40
1924 3.23 28.2 50
2309 3.23 28.2 60
2694 3.23 28.2 70
3079 3.23 28.2 80
3464 3.23 28.2 90
3849 3.23 28.2 100
4233 3.23 28.2 110
4618 3.23 28.2 120
5003 3.23 28.2 130
5388 3.23 28.2 140
5773 3.23 28.2 150
6158 3.23 28.2 160
6542 3.23 28.2 170
I imagine you would need a goodly dose of brave pills, and an awful lot of talent, to pilot one of these at 147mph.
Or the foolishness supplement and complete ignorance.
Yes, a 440 Magnum in a C body is a fast car. And at triple digits (indicated) the front sheet metal starts dancing about, the rear view mirror vibrates to uselessness and the fuel gauge falls. But the scariest part is how the back lifts and seems to want to steer the car.
And when you’ve had enough and get it back under control it overheats despite factory 4 core A/C radiator…at least that’s how it worked out for me.
That was with the 3.23 axle, 2.75 was available if you want to get serious. The once was enough.
Ahh, the Avacado Green that graced cars and appliances in the late 1960’s and early 1970s US of A! Now if we could find a contrasting Harvest Gold or the poopy brown, we would have the trifecta.
When we bought our 50’s ranch in 1988 it had the matching appliances in the kitchen.
I had a ’73 Polara wagon in that poop brown way, WAY back when. Yea, I’m old 😀 !
I’ve always found 1969 to be the best year for the “fuselage” styling in terms of appearance.
Agreed. ’70 big Dodges weren’t too shabby either. The only Fuselage I’m not that keen on is the ’72 Fury with its in-your-face split bumper/grille.
Our neighbors had a 1972 Dodge Polara four-door sedan when I was younger. I always thought that it was one of the least attractive new cars from that era. It didn’t help that they never washed it.
The contemporary Plymouth Fury was acceptable, but not nearly as handsome as its full-size Ford and Chevrolet competition.
I agree with you on the styling. The Polaras always seemed to sit low in the back, the trunk looked out of proportion and some of the styling lines added nothing to enhance styling.
The ’69 Polara is also my favorite looking fuselage mopar.
I love ’67-’70 Mopars the way I love ’57-’60 Mopars, in all their forms and manifestations!
I have one from each of these eras…
Those are really nice, Don. Looks like a 1959 2-door and a 1969 convertible.
Correct!
Other than the ultra-low production Imperial, you found the hardest one of the Mopar fuseys to find. One of these got away from me a few years ago, a gold low mile sedan with a beautiful interior. The problem was that it had a broken windshield and a dent in the decklid (from a blowing trampoline that danced over the car in a recent windstorm), and the owner and I could not come to a price that worked.
This is the same color as the 69 Fury that a buddy tried to buy. Again, it got away.
Chrysler probably sold more of those metallic olive green cars than anyone back then, it seemed that every third car they built was painted that color. In fact, they had several versions of that color during those years, and even some similar colors in the same year that are not all that far apart. I never cared much for them at the time, but like them better now.
I have to agree the olive green colour was very popular back in the day. The Polara must not have been a big seller as I just don’t know see any survivors in my area. There is a former RCMP Polara wagon sitting in a west Edmonton storage lot. Been there for years and probably rotting from the bottom up.
What a catch, Wolfgang! The third picture reminds me of a still from a 70’s detective show.
I wonder if this color is the factory “Amber Sherwood”…
Or possibly Sherwood Metallic?
I’m going with Chrysler code DT7557 called Ivy Green (Plymouth) Jade Green (Chrysler) or Dark Green (Dodge). It was a 68-71 color on various models, and was the darkest green Dodge offered in 1969.
Paintref.com is a great resource to look this stuff up. Chrysler had so many shades of olivie-ish metallic greens it is hard to keep them all straight.
I think you’re right – having grown up riding in Sherwood metallic Mopars, this is a darker hue. I’ll have to look at the paint chips, but it felt like Chrysler changed their colors in ’73 – less blends, more pure greens golds and browns.
Bought my ’69 Polara convertible as a retirement present to myself in 2005…it is made for summer cruising! It does have the Super-lite option with chrome grill surround (dress-up package) as well as 383 2bbl, torqueflite, speed control, and road wheels.
Drool…
But I have to say the green sedan is also pretty drool-worthy.
Wow that is a gorgeous convertible! Id love to see some More photos of it. I’ve been hoping to run across a solid 69-71 full size Mopar convertible some day.
This picture is from the April 2008 edition of Collectible Automobile…a few pics of my car were included in their article about 1969-73 Dodge Polaras.
A buddy of mine had a very similar 1970 Plymouth Fury II sedan in that color that he bought at a Washington state surplus auction. It was 318 powered and gave very acceptable performance – it surprised me how relaxed it seemed at freeway speeds. The car had around 100k miles when he bought it, and he put on 50 or 60k more without any significant problems.
The ’69 Mopar full size cars were notable with their one year only left hand ignition. I remember it well from my ’69 Polara 2 dr hardtop, white with a green vinyl roof and matching green interior.
Not really very relevant, but will mention it anyway, I had a 1977 Cordoba with a 360 and very mild mods. It would do an indicated 120, so 147 seems realistic.
I will jump on the possible bandwagon also. In my younger days I took a ’60 Imperial well over the speedo pegging out at 120. My friend in the ’63 Imperial behind me was showing the same. Rated at 340 Hp and 2.93 axle ratio. Your mileage may vary.
My 76 Grand Marquis tripped one of those side of road radars at 122 mph back in 02. But I had been on it for 8 miles. But the car was solid. No lift, no weaving, nothing.
One of my favorite things about Mopars of this vintage was the fender mounted turn signal indicators. Put on your turn signal and five feet out in front of you the fender mounted light would flash. It was impossible to drive these cars not knowing that your signal didn’t cancel.
I agree these were cool…I had a ’72 Polara and ’73 Swinger that had them. My ’69 Polara does not have this option, but I purchased a set on eBay…now I can’t decide whether to install them or keep the car original.
Our Highway Patrol, County Sheriff and City Police all used Plymouth or Dodge patrol cars in the late 60s. As high school kids with ink still wet on our driver license, we quickly learned to spot the distinctive headlight/amber park light combinations that advertised a MoPar in your mirror at night. Failure to learn this critical teenage driving skill jeopardized many a probationary license.
Can somebody explain what that off center third eye ‘Superlight ‘did? Was it a high beam, or something?
From the pedia of wiki: “The 1969 Dodge Polara models offered the Super-Lite option, which placed a quartz auxiliary “turnpike beam” headlamp in the driver side grille.”
If I understand it right it was brighter than the low beams but still pointing low(ish) as to not blind oncoming traffic.
Per your request…see below!
I wonder what the story is behind the mismatched door moldings? Maybe they lost it with the front left cap 🙂
Nice find–fuselages of any stripe are *way* thin on the ground these days. The only one I’ve seen in the past 5? years was a Dodge as well, a really nicely kept ’72 or ’73 Monaco 4-door hardtop with the hidden lamps. Metallic brown with brown vinyl roof. Wish I could have gotten a photo!
A great find. The people who lived up the street from my grandmother bought a brand-new 1969 Monaco hardtop sedan. It was painted a lighter shade of metallic green, and had a black vinyl roof. They used it to pull their trailer. They had that car until the early 1980s, by which point it was definitely looking shabby. The fact that it was never garaged hardly helped.
A few years ago a local used-car dealer had a gold Monaco four-door hardtop with a white vinyl roof on the lot. The car was in great shape. It was there for about a week, and then it was gone.
Not a 1969 model, but one guy posted a cool video of a 1970 Monaco 2-door hardtop with CCR (Creedance Clearwater Revival) music.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_tykjE7cEOY
And more fuselage oddities, the Australian Dodge Phoenix, a Plymouth who was “Plodge-ized” Down Under. https://www.flickr.com/photos/42220226@N07/13211175825