A special waiver was acquired to remove the anti-smog equipment to restore some performance, but departments such as the California Highway Patrol dropped it for the Ford Mustang instead. In the books survey, officers wrote that the 360 powered 1980 St. Regis was the best Mopar police car of all time. Naming was equally odd: the Plymouth Gran Fury name was taken from that brands largest car, while the Chrysler Newport was based on that brands (former) smallest car and the Dodge St. Regis name was new. There were quality control issues, like spring shackles that were not torqued to specs which brought anxious moments in cornering or hard acceleration. Although I was then and am still a total car nut, I dont recall these big Chryslers making any kind of a splash at the time. I had the St Regis taken away since one of the commanders saw it and wanted it for himself. The box he put on the car in 1985 finally failed about two weeks ago. This car should be seen and driven to fully appreciate it. Oh my gosh this is my CL post. It was in a church parking lot and I took the picture through the fence from the next door Sports Authority. One of very few Mopars that I have had zero contact with. 1979 Dodge St. Regis Michigan State Police Find this Pin and more on police by dan gordon. The test led to the purchase of Ford Mustangs in 1982, for use as traffic enforcement cars. That car is long gone and sold away, but I originally coveted a St. Regis because my favorite show at the time was Sledge Hammer. The Ford LTD was built on the companys new downsized but still large Panther platform and featured 4.9-litre and 5.8-litre V8 engines, with the optional 351 being restricted for police operators only from 1981. The Chevrolet Celebrity was a mid-sized front-wheel drive sedan employed by police forces from 1982, and the biggest engines hadsix cylinders. (includes original 1979 License plate that came with the car when I purchased it). The St. Regis was based on Chrysler's rear wheel drive R-body platform, itself based on a modified version of the circa 1971 B-body design that provided the underpinnings for such cars as the Dodge Charger and the Chrysler Cordoba. In the fall of 80, a wheel bearing failed, causing the front wheel to part company with the rest of the heap. 3) Horsepower/Torque Curve characteristic dimensions: outside length: 5593 mm / 220.2 in, width: 1958 mm / 77.1 in, wheelbase: 3010 mm / 118.5 in Always wanted to be a rally expert but never had the right car for the job? Up to 1958, the California Highway Patrol would purchase vehicles 2 times a year, and many times it would be a different make. Skip to content. The Impala was found to rival other models well with good performance, decent interior trim and a large boot. May consider other trades of equal value as well. 1980 Dodge St Regis police car. Remember, this is just before Chrysler nearly slips under the waveswhat quality control? It was only produced from 1979 to 1981 and most of the 58,000+ cars produced went to fleet use. In Canada, we only got the Medallion version, the top trim. 1979 Dodge St. Regis brochure 1979 Ford LTD - Australia 1979 Ford pickups 1979 Lincoln-Mercury 1979 Newport 1979 New Yorker 1979 Chevrolet 1979 Plymouth Horizon 1979 Pontiac. The interior of the St. Regis got beat up pretty easily and the frameless door glass got kind of loose but I dont remember having the glass fall out. American Brands: AMC, Jeep and All Others, Tractors, Lawn Mowers, Off-Road Equipment, Runway Classic Video: The Mighty Convair 880 Takes Off Again, http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2006/12/chrysler-bank-on-it/, http://www.allpar.com/cars/dodge/R-bodies.html. Michael Simonson wrote that 19,000 police St. Regis models were made in 1979, 6,000 in 1980, and 2,000 in 1981; most were ordinary police cars rather than special interceptors, and many were destroyed in movies. A Number of Police Departments weren't happy with the Dodge St. Regis Police Car. The "St. Regis" name first saw use as an uplevel trim package on the 1956 New Yorker hardtop coupe and again on the 197478 Chrysler New Yorker Brougham coupe. This was 1979 and Chrysler still had dial radio with pushbutton Cadillac had digital soundsytems on all models back then. Had one ,115 mph top end but handled great, took a tremendous beating and hung together quite well.. My buddy had an ex Town of Avon Gran Fury, it was pretty beat when he got it. Worked great for a long time until the display died. 1978 Dodge Challenger. But, my aunt drove her late-1980s Omni for 289,000 miles and would have bought another one if they had still been in production. I recall reading a quote from a Chrysler engineer once saying that the transverse torsion bar suspension was mandated for marketing reasons and there really was no way to model what it was doing in the computer or elsewhere. What a nightmare.. My current ride is a 2007 Toyota Avalon with 135K and still humming along. Even the grille pattern looks more Buick than Dodge. 1979 Dodge St. Regis. In this case, its a 360-powered St. Regis worked up to represent a Michigan State Police car. L-code 360, white with blue interior. Generally, it did all these things after lurching just far enough into traffic that people would be bearing down on you. Pursuit Police Vehicle (2012-2014) Cars belonging to Dodge Charger 7th-gen. The rear tires are 80% Winter tires. The car runs fine and yard drives but will need fully serviced and probably the brakes gone through and of course new tires before it could be considered roadworthy. It's been off the road 25 years or so, I bought it never hearing it run turn over or anything, I just got . Needs a L F manual window regulator; and the headliner re glued. Im afraid it went beyond the rail yardsChryslers infamous sales bank occupied the Michigan State Fairgrounds, and anywhere else that unsold inventory could be stashed. The highly boosted steering had no feel and our particular car had very little sense of straight ahead. It has been in California all its life and is rust free. The back seat was surprisingly roomy and compared well to Dads oh-so-broughamy 1980 Buick Limited, which was a beloved family vehicle. The front suspension continued to offer Chryslers signature longitudinal front torsion bars, called Torsion-Aire, and anti-sway bar with a solid rear differential connected to leaf springs. The main problem with the LeBaron for us was that it just would not run right. The California Highway Patrol is the largest state police agency in the United States, with more than 10,700 employees, 7,500 of whom are sworn officers, according to FBI data. Used by a wide variety of Chrysler model lines, the B-body architecture underpinned model lines ranging from the Dodge Coronet and Plymouth Belvedere to the Dodge Charger and Chrysler Cordoba. Both the Chevy Caprice and Ford LTD of the time looked a lot better. It would be the last full-size Plymouth model ever built. Especially if it was known to have a lot of build quality problems on delivery. As a result, you were apt to see anything, LTDs and Royal Monacos in the mid 70s, & later on, Panthers, B-bodies, M-bodies, pickups sometimes. This was all new body style for 1979-81 Pure stinginess to carry that awful climate/stereo from the last body style into this one. Rough rider since it is older and it handles OK. Great in snow, and mud since it is 4 wheel drive. 1979 Dodge St.Regis Minnesota State Patrol Car Minnesota State Patrol 50th Anniversary car Website for MN State Patrol cars: home.comcast.net/~sgtsletten/site/?/page/MSP_Cars_1981-1990/ Thousands of car pictures at the link below: www.flickr.com/photos/greggjerdingen/collections/72157631. I could say more about this but I wont. Thank you all for the wonderful comments, and this is just so crazy to see my ad all these years later! It was downsized and shed up to 450 kg in the process, and was styled to look bigger than it was. We'll give you credit for the submission (of course) and what is cooler than showing all your gang that you have a story on Bang Shift? Powered by a 318-cubic inch V8, that car was so slow that the agency feared it stood no chance of keeping up with the old muscle cars still on the highways. The seats were a direct bolt on to the St. Regis seat tracks and even the headrests swapped over to the seats. Its not a perfect car as I would have done some things differently design wise, especially around the windows, window regulators, wiper linkage attachments and door seals. Ill let the ad copy speak for itself.) He pulled the engine to put in a 53 Willys and sold the car before he finished it. I will include two cans of R12 refrigerant with the purchase of the car. 1978 Dodge LRT Express. Check with your state to see how replica police cars can be operated on roadways. Overall the look is not bad, but it has a cheap look. It was not a high speed pursuit car, but it was no slouch either. 360 4 Barrel 999 trans. This just looks like the car company ran out of good ideas and let the car get junky. 1979. Ugh, I cant stand that archaic looking climate control system and push button stereo Those buttons always stuck froze in very cold weather in my 77 Newport. My dad eased one in 1978 and it was junk with a capital J. A new grille for its final year heralded the merger of the Fifth Avenue and New Yorker names in 1982, in the more successful luxury version of the M-body Dodge Diplomat. 397. It looks pretty good for 36 years and 100,000 miles. Just seemed like a neat feature to my younger self. HP exhaust manifolds from 1968-70. The Dodge St. Regis is a very rare car. Coinciding with efforts to expedite the retirement of the St. Regis from patrol service, the CHP adopted the 'Ford Mustang Severe Service Package' police pursuit vehicle (PPV) in 1982. That year the CHP put a limited number of Ford Fairmonts, Chevy Malibus, Plymouth Volare Wagons, and Chevy Camaro Z28's on the road for an 18 month test. Surprisingly, a similar glut of inventory occurred approximately 10 years ago, near the end of Daimler-Benz ownership of Chrysler: http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2006/12/chrysler-bank-on-it/. They disappear underneath the headlights. The featured car is in better shape cosmetically than mine and if I had room for it would be all over it, but since my car has been in the family for 30 years will put in the sweat equity it would take to get it back to where we had it looking years ago. I used to own a 79 St. Regis back in the late 80s. Base . I had one in a 70 Challenger. (I guess thats the lean in Lean Burn.) Police officers also gave it better ergonomic ratings. Today's Rare Ride is for sale in Pennsylvania. I purchased the car in 2004, ith 58,194 original miles, rom the son of the elderly woman who originally purchased the car in Northern California. It was very fatiguing to herd that thing on the open road for any length of time. Despite being an introductory model, nearly 30% of St. Regis production was dedicated for police/law enforcement use. Sweet looking car. Its not as heavily optioned as this one, but it currently has 253,000 miles on it. Im not a fan of the power window controls. All Rights Reserved. Your parents experience with a 78 LeBaron mirrored mine. And the 318 is not my favorite Mopar engine. The wiring in the tilt wheel shorted out, leaving us with no cruise or horn. However the 2nd space in my garage is zealously guarded by Mrs JPC. My favorite kind of Craigslist car ad: by someone who knows what the heck hes writing about. We live in South Carolina, so rust is not really an issue. A second oil crisis hit in 1979, and while Chrysler's new front-drive Omnirizons sold strongly, the company was sinking around them. (Ford Explorer Police Interceptor Utility). We were best friends in high school; hard to believe that 35 years later we are not even on speaking terms. I know the J-yards in Saskatoon circa 1991-ish were just lousy with them. 0. Top Cars for Sale Locations. The Diplomats, conversely, were only available in base trim. I have a Pioneer in it now because it has a USB port and Im running almost all my music off a thumb drive now. The Dodge St. Regis was based on the rear wheel drive Chrysler R-body platform. 1-3. . DECODED AS POLICE, Rare 1977 Dodge Monaco CHP Police big block 440 Magnum Police Pursuit Cruiser, 1973 DODGE POLARA POLICE CAR, THE REAL DEAL, TEXAS POLICE PKG. For 1979, the 360 was available to cops in all fifty states, with a rating of 195 horsepower for everyone but those in California. My original seats are in storage while Im actually driving around in bucket seats salvaged from a 1985 Dodge Omni that had low back buckets with adjustable headrests. Of course I later learned that the Monacos performed far better than the St. Regis. Wow, what a rare find, Paul But where are those cool headlight covers? So, old perceptions die hard especially when large sums of money are involved. Brands New Products . A console from my deceased 67 Sport Fury is between the seats. It came with a 318ci (5.2 litres) or 360ci V8 (5.9 litres) V8 mated to a three-speed automatic, and its odd, narrow grille was the result of being forced to re-use the bonnet from the Chrysler LeBaron. Ive only seen them on the road as they drive by or Ive followed one on I-5 or I-405 freeway. As 70s interiors go, thats not too bad. Prices shown are the prices you can expect to pay for a 1979 Dodge St Regis 4 Door Hardtop Pillared across different levels of condition. Because lower priced F-Body Dodge Aspens and Plymouth Volares were designated as the mid-size squad cars through 1980 - not M-bodies. As Chrysler needed to expedite a downsized replacement for the 1974-1977 C-body to market (in response to the 1973 oil crisis), the R-body was developed from existing underpinnings at minimal costs. The headlight doors open and close. The CHP gradually assumed increased responsibility beyond the enforcement of the State Vehicle Act and eventually merged with the smaller California State Police in 1995. Cars used by California Highway Patrol 1929 to present. All repairs are documented. Volare has feather like steering also makes it less comfortable to drive on interstate at 70, but its still possible. . Just bought my 1980 dodge st.regis with a 360 v8 engine. Brakes coming totally unset from the factory! Even so, the original unit in the St Regis has FM radio that I really hope for ( AM only in North Michigan doesnt return many channels ). . Rwcar4 Police Car Photos Classic Police Cars. 1968 Dodge Monaco with a 383 cubic inch motor. The car was almost impossible to drive at 30 mph unless you dropped the transmission into second and held it until you got to 35 or so. Wow, we really do have some things in common, although I think your LeBaron experience was even worse than ours. . photo for more information. $26,900. While closer in exterior size to the Diplomat, the Intrepid nearly matches the St. Regis in interior room. A rebranded version of the Eagle Premier (adapted from the Renault 25), the 1990 Monaco was the first version produced with front-wheel drive, slotted above the Dodge Dynasty in size. Based on the photo and the ad copy, Id say that young man is CC material. However, no factory 360 M-body cop cars were ever produced. Sharing its platform with the successful Fox-based Mustang, the Fairmont was the last of the compact rear-wheel drive sedans from Ford during this time. This car runs and drive's beautifully and needs nothing to enjoy. It came with a 4.9-litre V8 and a larger 5.8-litre unit (restricted for police use only), with electronic fuel injection later arriving for the 4.9while a carburetted 5.8was still fitted through to 1991. 1986 Chevrolet C/K 10. Between the warranty work, the money we put into it after (including paint touch-up and a great deal on an 8 3/4 Sure Grip off a wrecked 80 Volare Road Runner with 3000 miles on it, it actually became a decently running reliable car. Being less comfortable sounds much better than the lebaron though. ( I came across a excellent looking Fox Continental in a Ford-Lincoln dealership in North Michigan last month, and it reveals the problem when I opened the door ). Im sure you know that was also the first year they had equipped the Torqueflite with a lock-up torque converter. I have since occasionally wondered how these models would have done if they had been kept in production and the bugs worked out. WRT to the RCMP, being Federal, they were very careful to spread the business around. The R represented the best all-around balance as far as speed, power, braking and cornering were concerned. 1979 Dodge St Regis TV Hooker replica photographed Oct 2014: 1932 Ford Coupe Hot Rod Troy MI Police photographed Aug 2015: 1932 Ford Coupe Hot Rod Troy MI Police