Parked in front of my first house.
We all have our quirky automotive predilections. In a reflection of mine, seeing the words “heavy duty” applied to a sedan excite me more than does many other automotive possibilities. That’s just how the cookie has crumbled.
In the early days of my career, when I was free from any wife or child responsibility, my quirks and curiosity got the better of me.
Mine was black
My 1996 Thunderbird was accumulating mileage at a quick rate and I was in a position in which frequent overnight travel was the norm. Not wild about leaving my new black birdie parked at work for days on end, in late 1997 I began looking for a second car – well, third, as I still had my 1975 Thunderbird. Having two facets of Thunderbird covered, it was time for heavy-duty.
Back then, Trader Online was my go-to source for such things. I had spent many hours looking and daydreaming, so it was time to fish or cut bait. Wanting to partake from the Magical Marvelousness of Mopar, I started looking in earnest. As heavy-duty was my prime consideration, I knew that was a polite euphemism for a retired police cruiser.
Now, before we jump too far into this, I need to clarify. While I have had no ambition to work in law enforcement, my career has led me to working with them on occasion. However, it is their cars that fascinate me more than anything. With the advent of SUVs in police service, my interest in them has declined precipitously. Only a heavy-duty sedan gets the juices flowing.
How a manufacturer can take an ordinary sedan and transform it into something so different has always captivated my fancy. From what I had been reading at that time, Chrysler Corporation had really mastered the art of transforming their sedans. Why the manufacturers didn’t offer these more durable components across the line has always been my biggest question, but that’s a discussion for another day.
In my search I kept an eye out for the C-body examples but that was a real snipe hunt by the late 1990s. Were people realizing how these were the last of the biggies and snapping them up? Or were they simply that thin on the ground all along?
I really like the last of the B-bodies, but they were as hard to find as the C-bodies. In some regards these were better than the C-bodies as these had the same drivetrains in a smaller and lighter package.
The R-body, particularly the Dodge, is maligned but let’s acknowledge it was simply the best of a bad lot. The years of 1979 to 1981 were many things, but a poster child for anything being high performance it was not. I really dig the looks of the St. Regis; maybe it’s the covered headlights. Even in the late 1990s these were painfully scarce. This is what I really wanted, pokiness or not.
So that left me with the venerable M-body, which was not a bad thing. These were newer, more plentiful, and the prices were reasonable. That was just the ticket.
Yet I was shopping for a used police car. Doing so isn’t too far removed from shopping for a used mattress. Run hard, often treated harshly, and exposed to who knows what, buying a used police car is a real crapshoot. It’s almost like the old jokes about various professions – the three good ones in the barrel have their reputations besmirched by the rest.
But if you get a good one, it’s a thing to behold.
So it was with supreme optimism (or was it naiveté?) sometime in early 1998 I drove my 1996 Thunderbird, with my soon-to-be father-in-law Tim, to Lawton, Oklahoma, to conclude the purchase of a 1986 Plymouth Gran Fury. It had supposedly been an unmarked unit owned by the Comanche County Oklahoma Sheriff’s Department.
The sale had been postponed a bit. It seems there was also a person from Georgia who had been talking to the seller. The guy from Georgia was able to schedule a trip to Lawton sooner than I could, so I had lost out on the deal. A week or so later the seller called with a really strange sound in his voice. Apparently, I was now the sole interested party as the guy from Georgia had been killed in a car wreck on his way to Oklahoma.
Was that a sign? If so, of what? Regardless, I decided to go for it.
The trip from Jefferson City to Lawton was just over 500 miles, something Rand McNally had glossed over in his printed atlas. So we arrived much later than I had indicated we would.
The seller ran a fueling service at the airport and had obtained the Plymouth from Comanche County. Arriving there, the seller had obviously been a student of how presentation can seal the deal. There sat a strategically placed Plymouth, parked in the middle of an otherwise empty hanger with it giving me a left front three-quarter view, the front wheels turned at a slight angle to the left, with sunshine filtered through the skylight cascading over the car. That Plymouth almost looked angelic the way it was posed there, awaiting my forking over $1250 in cash.
I am not so easily swayed. As we looked at it, the seller asked if I wanted it. I responded by saying I needed to drive it first. So Tim and I did…around the hangers with a high speed blast on the runway.
It seems one ought not use the runway for such purposes, or so I was told. The seller was apoplectic as there was supposedly something about the Federal Aviation Administration shutting down the airport and some other such talk. Whatever. I told him the brake lights weren’t working correctly and if he’d get those fixed I would take the car for $1200.
In retrospect, I should have offered him $800 and said nothing about the brake lights. I think it would have worked; he seemed to want me out of his life for whatever reason.
Tim and I laughed about the runway thing for years.
The Plymouth had been sitting for a while but made it back to Jefferson City without a hiccup. Thinking back, I don’t remember if I even checked the oil. But it had a 318, so it’s not like oil really needed to enter into the equation.
The trip back got long but the old Plymouth ran better each mile of the way. From looking it over, the contention about the car being unmarked had merit. In the first few months I had it, it did need a starter and some u-joints. Otherwise, it was good to go with the green silicone radiator hoses, throttle lock, tilt wheel, and fabulously comfortable bucket seats.
In March of 1998 I was offered a job in Sikeston, Missouri, that would necessitate a move. I was also getting married that year.
So the primary reason for getting the Plymouth was now going away. Isn’t that the natural order of things?
Not mine, shown for illustrative purposes only
There was one flaw in the Plymouth slaw. It had a salvage title. Being young had its advantages as such never really bothered me at the time. However, the repairs weren’t quite 100%; one day I realized the Plymouth cornered as flat as a table top when going right; it leaned some when cornering to the left. But this never really bothered me as the Plymouth always ran great and was ultra-reliable. After the initial work, the only hiccup was my trying to rebuild its carburetor a few years later.
Any resultant problems were not the car’s fault.
While I have not owned a tremendous number of cars, I have driven many hundreds of them in my life. I even had a list of them at one point. What is safe to say is of the entire group, this Plymouth is among the top for its combination of driver comfort and visibility. Any blind spots in that car were minimal and one could see all four corners. It was fantastic.
However, as expected with most sedans from 1986, that Plymouth was no powerhouse but it did okay. It was among the M-body Gran Furys endowed with a Rochester Quadrajet carburetor (there was a Carter Thermoquad prior to 1985) and the much lower geared (relatively speaking) 2.94:1 rear axle. The two-barrel cars by 1986 had a 2.24:1 rear axle, which would have made for too much leisure. When shopping for the Plymouth, I refused to consider a two-barrel car due to the rear axle gearing.
The 318 was rated for 170 or 175 horsepower. Fast forward 28 years and I purchased a Volkswagen pumping 170 horsepower from 1.8 liters. Times do change.
Despite the horsepower rating, that 318 had lots of nice torque. Perhaps the best example of this happened during a snow storm in late 1999 or early 2000. Marie and I were living in our house in Cape Girardeau and we had an actual, honest-to-goodness seven inches of snow. My ’96 Thunderbird was stuck in the garage and would have been helpless anyway. Her ’96 Escort was losing traction going up the unplowed hill to the end of the street.
Just picture 7″ of snow on everything…
But the Plymouth was parked at the curb in front of the house. On a whim, I fired it up. Once in gear that Plymouth walked up the hill at idle speed through seven inches of snow and I was able to reach the cleared intersecting street. It was if that snow did not exist. Marie and I were amazed as we figured it would be the most helpless of the lot. Life is full of surprises.
Marie and I drove that Plymouth all over, with it being great for our various trips around town and slightly beyond. One of the more memorable was to a furniture store in the nearby town of Oak Ridge. Having heard about the store with its attractive prices and no sales tax, we went one Saturday morning.
As we pulled into the parking area in front of the store we were greeted by Sam, the owner. Just as I stopped I noticed Sam’s look of uncertainty – I figured it was the car. As we got out, he realized we were harmless, welcomed us to his store, and offered us both a beer. He said there were stocked refrigerators throughout the various buildings and to help ourselves. He also said to just come get him if we needed anything but warned us he had been busy that morning as he was only on his seventh beer by 10:30.
Looking back I have no memory of how many miles I put on the Plymouth although I suspect it was around 20,000 or better. Marie enjoyed driving it as much as I did.
The Plymouth got painted sometime after these pictures were taken as the paint was rather dull and unresponsive to treatment. The painting process involved my brother-in-law, a friend of his, and lots of beer. I wish I had pictures of the Plymouth post-paint as it absolutely sparkled.
When I got promoted in early 2001, a promotion that necessitated our moving from Cape Girardeau to St. Joseph, Missouri, I stored the Plymouth at my in-laws house north of St. Louis. The maid-of-honor from our wedding had just married and her new husband saw the Plymouth. He was interested, but his younger brother was more interested. Thus, I sold the Plymouth to the younger brother for $1200.
He loved that car, also, but made the mistake of parking it in a conspicuous place on his rural property. It seems some local hooligans vandalized the Plymouth quite heavily, breaking every bit of glass on the car, caved in the hood, roof, and trunk lid, and beat the dual spotlights with a ball bat such that it widened the holes in the A-pillar. With a heavy heart, he pulled the drivetrain and some other key pieces with the rest going to the salvage yard.
Last I knew, the plan was to put the 318 in his older brother’s Dodge RamCharger.
While writing this I have realized just how unique the M-body was for Chrysler, particularly the Plymouth version. Part of me wanted to call it a 1986 Plymouth Valiant, but that would be wrong. But I will say Chrysler had perfected the justifiably maligned J-body by renaming it and using Plymouth Gran Fury, Dodge Diplomat, and Chrysler Fifth Avenue badging.
Sort of like a good bourbon, the M-body was aged to perfection.
(Author’s Note: The Young Marrieds aired on ABC from October 5, 1964, to March 25, 1966.)
While I was working as a mechanic, it was accepted wisdom that the longer any factory built a certain model, the better the quality. Yours would have been almost the last model built by Chrysler factories. After 10 years of making the same car, assembly must have been pretty well sorted. After your ’86, production was moved to AMC’s Kenosha factory for the remainder of the M-body run. Not many people thing about factory build history when buying a car. They should. It is an important quality variable.
That is a very good point.
Had I known life was going to be taking some of the turns it did, I would have kept the Plymouth longer.
Well said. I owned a 1984 Jeep XJ which was assembled in 1983, a scant 4 weeks after AMCs new plant had started production of that new model. It had horrible engineering deficiencies, a reminder never to buy a 1st year production of any auto.
When I first saw the lead photo, before reading the entry, two things popped into my mind.
First – That’s a steep grade. Looks like it would be hard to go up that hill in snow and ice and maybe even harder to stop going down hill.
Second – No sump pump and no emergency battery powered backup sump pump needed in this home. Run a drain from the right corner floor of the basement under ground to the street. Gravity works even when the electric power does not.
Is it fair to say that your ex-cop car’s 2.94:1 rear axle was not an open differential?
The one caveat of police cars is the back seat; regular marked cruisers were not known for comfortable or clean back seats. Unmarked cars probably had more normal interiors.
That was indeed a steep grade, with the driveway being even steeper. In my ’96 Thunderbird entry from two weeks ago, this driveway was my last hurdle to jump before the end of my journey during the ice storm I mentioned. Marie had fought the ice but it was a tough battle.
No sump pump there. In fact, I’m sitting in House #4 right now and it’s the first one to have a sump pump, retrofitted prior to our purchasing the place.
I’m not sure about the axle. Hopefully somebody will know.
The backseat in that Plymouth was pristine, looking as if it had never been sat in. The seats were a durable but attractive cloth, having a semi-corduroy pattern.
I am wondering if the steep grade contributed to the seemingly miraculous rear traction, by shifting a significant amount of weight to the back….
I found myself in the back seat of a marked M-body police car in 1986. It had a standard vinyl padded seat but the cage roll bar assembly consumed all back seat legroom, not comfortable at all, I wonder how they’d jam unwilling perps back there.
2 years ago I was welcomed into the back of a new Explorer patrol car. Much better. The hard plastic molded seats were only fair for comfort but the legroom was expansive, quite comfortable , I’d imagine for a short drive to the precinct.
Another outstanding COAL entry. I hope these are an enjoyable labour of love for you, as you are putting so much work and fine details into each installment. Your extra attention to detail is really enriching each story for us readers. Very much appreciated Jason, thank you!
Like you, I’ve found police cars appealing for various reasons. Besides their cool while practical appearance, the all-around heavy duty aspect was an advantage. My concern was always, the public thinking I (or the car I was driving) was law enforcement. As being associated with policing brings a whole new level of you, and your car, being more visible. And potentially drawing targeted attention from the public, you simply don’t want. Including public scorn. Part of me thinks the vandalism to your former Plymouth was exacerbated by its strong police or detective’s car-look. Few cars of the past forty years have such exterior design as strongly associated with policing as the post 1979 M-bodies. Even ex-cop car Aspens and Volares or 1970s LTDS for example, have more anonymity. As those cars were also extremely popular with the general population, as private cars. The plainer R-bodies had the same police association of course.
I remember thinking back in the 1980s, just for the privacy alone, I would probably drive a 1977-’79 M-body Diplomat or LeBaron, for their more conventional roofline. 🙂
Great work again!
Thank you. Writing these has been fun, cathartic, and has exhumed a lot of otherwise lost memories, not all of which I have covered. Most of this series was written during the evenings throughout the last week of June – I was alone that week!
No doubt the law enforcement association led to the Plymouth’s demise. That’s too bad. I never had an issue with driving it but I wasn’t being stupid, either.
I remember reading an article by a Toronto Star photographer driving an ’89 Diplomat with police hub caps. He noted, the biggest difference in traffic, was cars consistently drove slower and more carefully around him. Especially on the freeways. What was comical and telling, was this was in the 2010s. The M-body was almost two decades out-of-service with Toronto police. The policing power of the M-body styling is obviously eternal. lol
That was my experience with owning a Crown Victoria as well. Mine was a 2007 civilian model that I bought new, but by then the vast majority of Crown Vics on the road were police cars.
People often asked me if other drivers would get out of my way, but more often than not, people would just slow down, especially on highways. It got a bit annoying on occasion, but funny nonetheless.
My city still has a Crown Vic in regular marked police duty – and they’ve been out of production for so long that I’ve wondered if folks still associate that shape with police cars.
Our local police service (Metropolitan Toronto) still has some Crown Victoria marked cars that appear occasionally. The City bought and stockpiled hundreds of them in the last few months of production as they got a great volume discount. I guess they haven’t worn them all out yet.
City of Concord, CA where I live still has Crown Vics on the road now and then.
I was always kind of bipolar about these. On one hand, I never saw the sense, as they sucked as much fuel as the larger Ford and GM offerings of the 80s but had nowhere near the room – which was important to me in the 90s, with 3 kids. On the other hand, I always had a secret longing for a civilian version, as those came with a really, really nice interior, and it would have fed my inner Mopar love. But one never came across my path – mainly because they were scarce as could be.
Your retired law enforcement example surely had the best powertrains one could get in these. Were they still running a 3 speed automatic by then? And I will admit that these always looked great with the big, big tires they put on them.
Yours would have probably kept a great shine had it not been painted silver – silver automotive paint has always weathered very poorly. This may be a spoiler alert for my COAL series, but there has not been a silver car in the entire bunch.
One last thing – From the time that front end went on a Diplomat, I cannot look at that front end treatment without being reminded of an early postwar Dodge.
These M-bodies kept a three-speed automatic to the end in 1989. In 1986, my father looked at a new Diplomat (in silver) and it was breathtakingly nice on the inside. But the gas-guzzler tax turned him off so he bought a white ’85 Crown Vic instead.
This Plymouth got about 12 to 14 mpg. Not good by any stretch but better than what sort of replaced it, to be covered in two weeks. Of course, my foot is heavier than most it seems, so it might have gotten better for someone else.
The front-end similarity to that post-war Dodge is eerie.
You mentioned a nameplate I have not seen in a while….St Regis…and an interesting story.
This certain town in the late 70’s had not been managed well, and with half the squads down, the new mayor ordered a spot buy of 2 Dodge 4 doors.
The local dealer just happened to have 2 St Regis on the lot, but were not the typical plain jane variety. These were upscale with red velour & vinyl top.
They were bought & integrated into their fleet. A few yrs later they were no longer needed, went up for auction and a friend bought both. They had done OK, but were tired. Not heathy 360s but anemic 318s with emissions…..but squads with vinyl tops ! At any rate, took most of the yr to sell the pair off. The A post lights were neat but hard to explain the black plugs that were in the maroon roof where the light bar went.
That’s definitely an interesting story. Two of the likely only about 53 nice St. Regis ever built still got yanked into service.
But it does happen. At work, given the ongoing need for vehicles and the dearth of base model vehicles being built, we have recently bought some rather nice units off dealer lots.
Excellent installment, Jason. I understand your fascination with “heavy duty” and I too have wondered about how come manufacturers don’t more routinely offer the upgraded police packages to the general public.
Here in MA, only recently have ex-state police Crown Vics started to become a rare sight. For a long time it was commonplace to see often somewhat ratty ex-police cars being driven around. There’s a guy here in my town who has 4 of them right now sitting in his driveway. I think they generally appeal to folks who like the image of a tough-looking car that promises to be fun to hoon around in. Hooning possibilities are somewhat limited though as most of those ex-state trooper cars have hundreds of thousands of miles on them.
State police and taxi companies seemed to be just about the only drivers of Crown Vics (around here at least) for most of the last dozen years or so of their existence, and thus you got used to assuming that any Crown Vic that wasn’t painted bright orange was a Trooper (often in an unmarked car). I once talked to a guy who drove one of those ex-police cars, and he said that he loved the car, but that when driving it on the highway he felt like he had a giant electromagnet embedded on his front end. Every time he got within a few car lengths of a car in front of him, the car in front would dramatically slow down…assuming of course that they suddenly had a cop on their tail.
The electromagnet phenomena didn’t happen to me in the Plymouth but…
Stay tuned.
I too have wondered about how come manufacturers don’t more routinely offer the upgraded police packages to the general public.
In times past, they did. One could order all kinds of HD options-suspension, cooling, brakes, etc., and many of these components found their way into the higher performance versions, or towing packages. Or they could be ordered a la carte.
The reason they weren’t standard is because most folks wouldn’t have liked the harsher suspension, and they didn’t sit in 100 degree traffic idling for hours or such. Standard components were tested in the conditions that the overwhelming percentage of buyers used them in.
As to durability, that didn’t really change for the most part. HD components still wore out; most at the same rate as regular ones. Water pumps, shocks, brakes, ball joints, etc., not much difference just because the springs and shocks are firmer.
Police cars are designed for the conditions they are used in.
As to taxis and longevity, there’s a reason you’ll see huge numbers of Toyotas in NYC and such; there’s no optional HD components available and they are certainly not needed.
The vandals that brought down your former Fury with senseless destruction makes me, well, furious. I’ll just never understand just stupidly breaking things, especially those that belong to other people.
Buying an ex-cop car is just so gangsta. I love it, Jason. And I’m with you on the St. Regis, which I also like. I honestly can’t remember at what point in my life I saw one on the street… or even at a show.
Another great entry and puzzle piece placed into the picture of Jason’s car ownership.
Agreed. I understand theft, but not vandalism.
I have seen St Regis examples, as well as other R bodies. Lovely looking cars, but that’s just me.
I don’t understand vandalism either.
In the 90s I came outside to find my super-clean ’84 Regal (gray/silver, no vinyl top) missing from the driveway. Cops found it a couple of days later abandoned in a parking lot.
The decent Kenwood stereo and rear speakers were missing. It had a clunking sound from the front end. Half a tank of gas was missing.
I assume it had an interesting couple of days.
There were many Camel cigarette butts on the front (previously immaculate) seats.
And many intentional cigarette burns in them.
So while I wasn’t happy, I at least understood the joyriding. I understood taking the stereo and speakers. (They had even taken the time to remove them in a proper way)
But the ruining of the seats is what pissed me off. The car would never get new seats, and I’d have to see the burns and be reminded of them every day.
So I sold the car to a local dealer that same day.
They replaced the column (those GMs really were easy to steal I guess) and I replaced it with a Celebrity from the same lot.
To this day I’ve never had a car that looked more “me” but at least it’s hasty replacement ended up being a reliable car.
One of my favorite photos is of my then-2-year-old son helping to wash it in the driveway. He is all full of suds from head to toe and is having fun.
Not sure he did the most quality wash though. 😀
The M-body had been in production since the 1976 model year Plymouth Volaré and Dodge Aspen if one accepts that Chrysler renamed the F-body into the M-body.
Thinking back to the FrankenBuick with Chevrolet doors, a 1989 Chrysler Fufth Avenue could have been “retrofitted” with the doors from a 1976 low trim level 4-door Volaré.
I probably drove the Dodge St. Regis, in a black-and-white version, for more miles than anyone else who reads CC. While it was very comfortable…my department’s 1990s had very nice bucket seats in a blue fabric… and it handled very well, its 318 engine was true to its reputation as a dog. I preferred our older cars, Plymouth Fury with the 440 and Plymouth Volaré with the 360. But the rumors that the 1990 St. Regis could not get to 90 mph were just urban legend. Their top speed wasn’t the blistering 140 of the CHP’s 1969 Dodge, but they could top 100 and beyond.
I also owned a retired patrol car of my own, a 1978 Dodge Monaco that I bought ftom the California Highway Patrol. This CHP car did not have a prisoner cage, and its bucket seats were the same as Chrysler put into the St. Regis. Of course it could top 100 easily. Car and Driver named it the “Fastest American Sedan,” a scant few mph less on top speed than the ” Fastest European Sedan,” the Mercedes 600.
The 1990s Dodges may have been decent pursuit vehicles, but I remember a conversation with a CHP officer with his new Dodge Diplomat, as he sat in the shade under a tree at a San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium autocross event, in the early 1980s.
He was complaining about his new ride, fitted with the 318 V8, and he said that he could hardly get it to 90 mph. He said the bad guys had figured it out, and just drove away if they were being pursued by a new CHP Diplomat. The mechanics were trying all sorts of tricks to try to get more power out of them, but nothing was working very well.
He said that the 360 V8 engine fitted in the prior batch of Dodges was not available any more, and the new order of cruisers was delivered with the 318, and something was going to need to be done about it. It sounds like something was done about it, over time.
That would explain the CHP 5.0 Mustang pursuit cars of the 80s
In high altitude eastern California the CHP 318 Diplomats were not fitted with light bars to reduce frontal area and high speed drag. This made them hard to spot in your mirrors if you liked cruising down 395 at a suitable speed on your sport touring bike. I feel like this may have been around the time CHP started using radar.
The CHP didn’t start using radar on freeways and most highways until 1999. Starting in 1988, they did start using radar on certain rural roads and unincorporated built-up areas.
As to light bars, those were not used universally at all by the CHP. Back in the 70s and such, most of the CHP cars had no roof top light(s) of any kind, using red “spotlights” on the front and side of the windshields, or even inside the windshield.
I believe that light bars were only started to be used in large metro areas, but outside of that not. Even into the 80s, and early 90s, that was the case. The Fox Mustangs for instance did not have light bars, and they were plenty fast. And the Mustangs were very much used in metro areas (ask me how I know).
Very much enjoyed your article and look forward to the next one.
Thank you. Tune again next week, same time, same channel.
One of my last roommates in college had an ex-CHP Dodge Diplomat repainted a metallic light blue, still equipped with the dogdishes and the pushbar that they all had back then when “official”. That was quite a different car than most of what students were running around town in the CA Central Coast with back then. And a huge amount of fun for a bunch of 19-22 year olds in the late 80s and early 90s.
Former law enforcement vehicles used to (at least seem to) be a way of getting a well built car on the cheap, over the last maybe 15 years there seems to be more of a bifurcation of the types buying them with many (most?) being a bit extreme and trying to live some sort of weird fantasy life as opposed to the ones you’d often see running around town for the more normal reasons making it a far less desirable conveyance (at least for me).
Although I did for a while a long time ago think it’d be “interesting” to drive a 1990 Crown Vic with personalized plates “BD LTNT”… I guess that’s the dark humor in me. Thankfully those thoughts passed without any action. Your writings do fill in lots of little blanks that even our actual conversations haven’t covered, thanks! (especially timeline related)
It’s a bit early here, and I’m generally not good with these contractions, so could you please reveal to me what “BD LTNT” means?
I’m thinking it’s a reference to the movie Bad Lieutenant, probably wouldn’t get past most of the DMVs that make you state a reason/meaning for your personalized plate.
I figured it was a popular culture reference. I’m clueless in that regard.
Yes, Bad Lieutenant, and no, I was not and am not under any impression that Harvey Keitel’s character had any redeeming qualities and was or became deeply flawed.
It wasn’t a particularly mainstream movie, the vast majority of the public would not have understood the reference either.
Bifurcation…that is / was a concern of mine even at that time. I just appreciate them for being stout, rugged, and cheap. In current times I see a fair number of Chargers on their second career as either stout, rugged, and cheap transportation or as the basis of something getting the big rim treatment.
In regard to the former, the cathedral here in town has routinely had an immaculate police package Charger with handicapped plates parked out front. I finally saw the driver – a lady well into her 70s (if not 80s) on a walker, and climbing into her dark blue 350 or so horsepower Charger.
Regarding timelines…it does get confusing, particularly since this is my second time living in Jefferson City. Plus the overlap of start times between each installment doesn’t always help so I’m glad this is providing some unmurkification.
I agree, the R-body St. Regis or Gran Fury was the most desirable one to have. But very hard to find, and not cheap. Of the leading police vehicles of the 80s, the R-body Gran Fury was also arguably the best looking. And certainly the best conversation piece. Unfortunately, the LTD was the most common OPP squad in my part of Ontario. The Gran Fury more common in Southern Ontario.
This particular fully restored Gran Fury was selling for $18,000 (Cdn.) as recently as 2021.
This one was apparently purchased new in 1981, equipped with the 360cid 4bbl engine. Helping rationalize the stiff price.
The first buyer killed in a car accident on his way………you buyin that?
If you lie, may as well lie big!
There’s no telling how accurate or not that was. But it wasn’t like this event had any direct outcome on me and it didn’t lead me to paying more than I otherwise would have.
Cool car! As a kid who grew up watching the Blues Brothers, I too have a thing for police package vehicles. I didn’t know the Mopar police package included green silicone hoses.
My fling with an old cop car involved a 1994 Caprice 9C1. After it was badly damaged in Hurricane Katrina, I swapped most of the police spec equipment over to my 1994 Fleetwood…including the green silicone hoses. They do seem to be “lifetime” equipment as even with more than 25 years and 250k miles in two vehicles, they seem to be holding up well. There are a couple of oozy spots through the inner jacket near the hose clamps (seems to be a common issue) but they’ve been like that for close to 10 years now with no real changes. I’m trying to see how long they last and so far, so good.
” There are a couple of oozy spots through the inner jacket near the hose clamps (seems to be a common issue)”
Gates power grip clamps are specifically designed to address that issue. They are formed out of a thermoplastic that shrinks down and evenly grips around the circumference of the hose. I use them on all my cars.
https://www.gates.com/gb/en/fluid-power/engine-hose/hose-clamps-and-couplings.p.7405-000000-000000.html
Wow, that’s pretty cool. I had not heard of such a thing. I’ll check them out.
Your test-drive-on-the-runway is the most amusing test-drive story I’ve ever heard.
I too have a predilection for heavy-duty sedans, which is partly why I bought a Crown Victoria back in 2007. It fulfilled a lifetime of longing for me. There was a time I got close to buying a used police car though. In the early 90s, I was having some sort of problem with my ’81 Audi, and I took it a shop owned by a cousin of my dad’s… Cousin Sam said his mechanics could fix anything cheap.
In addition to the garage, Sam also operated a small cab company, and when I was there, he had recently gotten a shipment of retired police cruisers that he’d bought at auction. One was an ’86 Crown Vic that had been a Virginia state police cruiser (still painted in the blue/gray color scheme). It had relatively low mileage for such a car, and seemed in good condition. Sam said he’d sell it to me for what he paid for it. That was a tempting offer. I ultimately decided to forego the Crown Vic (Sam’s mechanic did indeed fix my car for cheap)… but I often thought about how much I’d have liked that car.
There is certainly something appealing about big, heavy duty cars, isn’t there?
You likely would have liked that ’86, particularly if it had a 351. That said, I suspect it would have used a touch more fuel than did your Audi.
What a cool story. Loved it.
I too ended up owning an M body in all white with blue cloth interior. At the time I was still working at a dealership and people from the town I lived in came in looking for a car. I happened to know that they owned a retired Dodge Diplomat police car. They owned a body shop, so I knew the car had been totally restored to exact factory (police spec) condition and the car was a head turner. They only made a few performance enhancements to the car. I ended up selling them a used Chrysler LeBaron convertible and was able to convince them to trade in the Diplomat since it just sat there. Yes, I ended up buying it from the dealership!
Now, I was working in sales at that time, but was looking to follow my brother’s footsteps and was trying to get into the local police department. I was already working security part-time at a lake resort. I enjoyed driving the Diplomat to and from the resort and it certainly caused people to “slow down” as the car was a 1988 and this was in 1994. In that area, there were still a small number of these in service. I was very careful to not attempt to make others think I was a police officer though. A year later I was hired at the sheriff’s department and (stupidly) decided to sell the Diplomat and buy a new 1996 Mustang in red with the V6. Although the Diplomat was not a super powerful car, with the modifications it was better than the Mustang was. I wish I still had that Diplomat!
A funny performance story: In the 1979 or 1980 years, my brother who was a deputy ended up with a new M body cruiser. I don’t know the engine that one had, but he said it was the biggest dog he’d ever driven. On one section of the 4 lane highway, there was a hill about 2 miles long. If he started at 55 MPH at the bottom and put the pedal to the floor, the car was going slower than 55 at the top of the hill. Thankfully those days were short lived.
The slant six was available on these at the time your brother got the new M-body. Can’t imagine one being purchased for anything other than urban use, but stranger things have happened.
Now that you say it, I do believe his had the slant 6. The sheriff for our county at that time was cheap and he had to answer to the county board about budgets too. Of course this was also a time where my brother, working close to 50 hours per week, was making around 10 grand a year. They didn’t even have a wage that was above poverty levels. Sad.
That is exactly the car that was for sale at Meanee garage pale blue ex police 318 auto, 440 can come with for the asking price, Ive seen underneath it massive sway bars etc its said to corner flat and be quite controllable when it lets go, How ever it was out of my then price range the fuel bill would have killed me and it wasnt complied to be registerable here but it did sound like a good car and you just confirmed it. its possibly still there he has all kinds of gems hidden away and a large pile of Jeep Cherokees outside as parts cars replacing the Jags and Rovers that once stood outside.
I remember these from the L.A.P.D., good rigs but that damned lean burn system gave endless troubles .
I don’t recall seeing any as radio cars, all were metro units .
I took like police / taxi cars .
-Nate
An office car pool? Or FBI agents going to a conference. Chrysler had us guessing. 🙂
Remove the passenger side spotlight and add a set of Sentia push bars and your Gran Fury would’ve been a twin to my old 1983 Dodge Diplomat Ex-King County (Washington) Police unmarked car. I bought it from an ad in the Auto Trader in 1989 from the first civilian owner. He had crunched it up, necessitating a replacement header panel, sourced from a yard that had a bunch of Seattle PD Gran Furies being parted out (I had a white header panel with the Gran Fury grille attached to the silver Dippy for a long time). My (now ex first) wife hated the car-she had visions of me in some yuppie-mobile instead. Nope-not me! Performance was okay-it definitely could’ve used better rear gears. About a year after I got it, the 727 Torqueflite decided to hemorrhage ATF out the front seal and die a slipping death. At the time, we were broke (ex-wife’s credit card spending habits having wreaked havoc with finances), and I had to park it until I sourced a replacement Torqueflite on the cheap. After several months, I hit the jackpot-I found an A999 (wide ratio) unit out of a wrecked 1989 Dip ex-cop car with only 4,000 miles for $125. Once it and the proper driveshaft were paid for and picked up, I had it swapped in and was back on the road. The A999 had a lower first and second gear, so my ThermoQuad-equipped 318 was far livelier upon take off. It was a fun daily driver-It was a reasonably reliable car (after troubleshooting the Electronic Spark Control set up-bad distributor pick ups tend to wreak havoc with the system–in retrospect, I should’ve converted to the MP hipo electronic ignition kit….but I digress)
The paint (Radiant Silver) was still shiny. The interior (blue cloth) was decent (except for he driver’s seat bottom cushion listing to the left-some extra padding and putting my wallet in my left-rear pocket evened things out). Aside from the drill holes to mount the radio stack and the divider the rubber floor mat was in excellent shape.
Gas mileage? Just like Jason…12 to 14 mpg.
People still thought it was an in-service cop car. Nobody would pass me on I-5. The other drivers would get a panicked look and start going under the speed limit. I once dropped a battery on my toe at work and breaking it, necessitating a trip to the local Doc-in-the-Box. We were short staffed at the store, so I got to drive myself there, broken big toe in my right foot pressing the gas pedal down and hurting like hell. Of course everybody around me decided to go ten under this time. I’m yelling “Get outta my way-I’m NOT a cop! OUCHOUCHOWWWW!”
Still no movement.
Okay-this is war!
Up and on goes the spot light…
I hit the hazards….
I turn on the headlights and start flicking the high beams on and off…..
With the heel of my right foot, I punch it…
The ThermoQuad (of course with the air cleaner lid flipped) roars to life……
I hit the horn and traffic magically parts….
(*all that for a broken toe)
The last six months I started to have nickel-and-dime problems with it. I had problems with replacing the oil cooler line that replaces one of the fuel pump bolts (broke 3 of them). The ESC was giving me fits. (ex-)Wife decrees that I have to get a different car. I relent. I get it fixed and running enough to trade it in on a used 1992 Plymouth Sundance America from the local Chrysler/Plymouth dealer. (I did strip the push bars and spotlight off before the final Drive to the Dealer).
The Sundance? Another story for another time (*and one of the many contributing factors to Ex-Wife #1 being, well, ex-wife #1)
I still miss the Diplomat-someday, I’ll find a replacement (but I’ll still keep my 2020 Dodge Challenger GT).
I just about bought an M body as a young newlywed, although yours was much cooler. Love the cop wheels and vented dog dishes on those.
When we were considering a move to Tucson a Le Baron came available from my Uncle at a nearly free price. It would have towed a trailer of stuff to AZ but alas my green card application was rejected so it never came to pass.
I like your list of cars that you drove. Does Egyptian drivers ed really teach you to drive in Egypt? (Whey oh whey oh, ay oh whey oh) Drive like an Egyptian.
You reminded me…when I bought the Plymouth it had full wheel covers. I bought the dog dishes from somebody and the vented wheels were on it when purchased.
Egyptian was the name of the school I attended from kindergarten through 12th grade. We were the only high school in the US to have a pharaoh as a mascot.
A week before my high school graduation in 1989 my girlfriend totaled my 80 Datsun 210 almost killing herself in the process.The replacement was an 82 Diplomat ex police car, all white with blue cloth interior, a spot light, and a 318 that I paid $1200 for (must’ve been the going rate). At the time there were still quite a few of these in service around our area so it was always amusing to hit the brakes after a car going the opposite direction passed by. It was a pretty good car and held up to my 18 year old thrashing but after about a year I got bored with it and sold it to a friend that needed a car for 500 bucks so I could buy another friend’s 77 T bird. I’ve said it before, but it always amazes me how many cars show up on here that I’ve either owned or had some connection with but I guess that comes with age and owning close to 50 vehicles.
$1200 does seem to be the going rate as I sold this Plymouth for as much as I bought it, giving me what was arguably a free car.
I loved this vintage Gran Fury…especially in heavy-duty police form. You want to see them in action, this is still the best car chase scene in my book!
Gotta love how shooting into the _front_ of the cop cars makes the _sides_ full of bullet holes…..
-Nate