Dodge Durango SSV (Special Service Vehicle) 2021. It was subsequently established as a separate department with legislation signed by Governor Earl Warren in 1947. The LTD switched to the mid-size Fox body platform from 1982 and also gained a fuel-injected 302 V8, then was phased out from 1986 when the new aero-styled front-wheel drive Taurus arrived. They could have expanded the line and made several available models, having a base, mid and Brougham. I bought an estate out over the summer, this car was part of the deal, so I'll tell you all I know about the car. If you are going to go for the ultimate unloved unicorn, you go for the best. I did this to my St. Regis and ran a early 1990s AM/FM cassette and it blended right in. I experienced all three years of the R bodies, with a 1979 Newport, 1980 Gran Fury, and 1981 Gran Fury, two with the 360 pursuit and one with the 318 four barrel. lol. It was a 318 with a 2.45 gear and it was beyond sluggish, it struggled to move because the Lean Burn wasnt functioning properly. Always wanted to be a rally expert but never had the right car for the job? My clearest memory of these is the numerous pictures in the paper showing acres and acres of these things sitting unsold in rail yards all over north Michigan and southern Ontario.. It ran OK, nothing obviously wrong with it, but I realized I liked the looks of it more than I liked driving it. 1979 St Regis. GM Car Calibration Request; JEEP; UTV; GARAGE SALE DEALS. When you added in the income taxes he paid on the value of the Horizon (at the time, I recollect he was in the 70% marginal bracket) he said later he wished we had just declined the prize. The dash pad is crack-free. We are always looking for good bang shifty stories, projects, photos & videos. With the exception of a full-size Chrysler, the 440 was unavailable for public use, and even then, the civilian version was rated for 195 hp. Oh, and the car is luxurious enough to have cruise control, AC ( good chance of working or relatively easy fix ) and FM radio with more than one speaker, non cloth seats not falling apart. The thing that has to be remembered about these R-bodies is that they got a very small piece of the development pie compared to the Omnis and the upcoming K cars which result in things like noisy frameless windows, pieces of plastic partially covering the shock absorber front and rear bumpers. 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. Looking at that last photo, he wore what appears to be a denim-like leisure suit to prom. I was rewarded with a 1980 Aspen. Dodge, Plymouth, and Chrysler Police Cars 1979-1994 notes that the 360 powered St. Regis, Newport, and Gran Fury were the fastest and best performing police cars of the era. Volare Wagons, and Chevy Camaro Z28s on the road for an 18 month test. This car will take . They are supposed to be down in the bumpers? Its hardly perfect, but like anything else that is mechanically kept up, it has been and continues to be a faithful member of the family fleet outlasting much newer cars meant to replace it. I recall reading in a story of the early days of CNN, Ted Turner met Lee Iacocca. I think he paid the difference in the MSRP between the Horizon and LeBaron. We never had a noticeable increase in failed pursuits when we engaged with the 318. 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. Air regulations imposed by the California Air Resources Board (CARB) required detuning the California destined engines to 190 horsepower to meet emissions standards. 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. Looks great! 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. C $14.42. 1980 Dodge St Regis police car. The more basic S model was produced for fleets which had no vinyl roof, no chrome roof band, no hood ornament and bench seats. Ottawa :[Le droit],1913-jeudi 15 octobre 1981, Journaux, Ottawa :[Le droit],1913- Tyler purchased an ex-Illinois state police 1980 St. Regis with a 360 with a limited slip rear-end. Ill let the ad copy speak for itself.) The St. Regis is a motor car from Dodge, with rear wheel drive, a front positioned engine and a 4 door saloon (sedan) body style. The St. Regis today is an exceptionally rare sight and comes in two flavors: babied or absolutely and utterly trashed. I have a line on 5 other cars. A large number of Diplomats were also built by AMC during 1987 to 1989. . Dodge Intrepid Police 2004 Dodge Intrepid R/T 2000 Dodge Intrepid R/T 2001 Dodge Intrepid R/T 2002 . The original speedometer is included with the vehicle. Good ones are extremely hard to come by. After the lease went up, he ended up buying it and driving it for 2 more years before buying an 82 Audi 5000, itself a whole nother story. Its no wonder you dont see these cars around. Your email address will not be published. Of course, my perception may be influenced by the fact that my parents were having a rather disastrous experience with my moms 1978 LeBaron and I may have just tuned out Chrysler news at that time. New Tri-Five Chevy Parts: Bolt-In Underdash Hydraulic Clutch System From American Powertrain, Not Stock Photographys John Jackson Takes Us On A Lone Star Throwdown Adventure, B&MS PRECISION SPORTSHIFTER WILL GIVE YOUR 2021-UP FORD BRONCOS 7-SPEED A SOLID SHIFTING FEEL, Lone Star Throwdown 2023: Is This The Baddest Truck Show Of The Year? I got a replacement motor last year and Im happy to see those doors working again. It was only produced from 1979 to 1981 and most of the 58,000+ cars produced went to fleet use. 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. GM actually did move to smaller, lighter machines, starting with the full-size cars and moving downwards from there. Coinciding with the 1979 fuel crisis, high interest rates and the uncertain future of the company forced Chrysler into a high proportion of fleet sales for its full-size sedans. In the winter of 1993, I was hunting for a replacement for my ruined 67 Sport Fury and looked at a couple of Magnums, both with actual leather. I dont know of any St. Regis having leather seats. It really needs at least a 4 bbl, mild cam, headers, and a 2.5 inch duals. Possibly a change in 9.25 to 3.23 or 3.55. Location. I remember Dabney Coleman driving one in the hilarious car chase in the movie Short Time, and wondering just how that thing held together. I have a 79 St. Regis. Chrome housing, clear lens. C $10.00. 1979 Dodge St Regis Police TJ Hooker R Body 1979 60,100 Automatic Davis, California, United States View 1979 Dodge Magnum XE ORIGINAL (Cordoba, St. Regis, 1978 Dodge Magnum GT) NO RESV 1979 V8 (360 CI) 52,000 Automatic Broad Brook, Connecticut, United States View 1979 Dodge Magnum XE ALL ORIGINAL (Cordoba, St. Regis, 1978 Dodge Magnum GT) 52K 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/. Being less comfortable sounds much better than the lebaron though. -WILL TRADE FOR- preferably 70s sedan, compact, truck, anything 70s. ** CHP testing reached the Chrysler numbers with a 445 pound load in the car but only after setting the shifts to factory spec and replacing the muffler with a straight pipe. (Jeff Hwang thought this might be of interest to you all. Get the best deals on Parts & Accessories for Dodge St. Regis when you shop the largest online selection at eBay.com. The Caprice was Chevrolets mainstay for this period and was very popular, staying in production until 1990. And stick/no a-c is the setup to have on the Horizon! The next up was the Dodge Aspen. It took years to find another working headlight door motor. That would kick in around 28-30 mph, causing a massive ping/detonation/lugging event alarming enough to make you let off the throttle. It was a very traditional full-size model based on the Panther platform built until 1991 when it morphed into the iconic aero-styled Crown Victoria. One of the more rare Chrysler cars to this day, as they were mostly used for cop cars back in the early 80s and most all of them were crushed. Because lower priced F-Body Dodge Aspens and Plymouth Volares were designated as the mid-size squad cars through 1980 - not M-bodies. Does anyone know why a car was named after a Saint? 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 Car have 3 Different Lightbars, all working Gamefeatures and other small working Parts. 1979 brought the CHP multiple vehicle test. 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. Like a lot of old Chrysler products they were driven for years and then simply became scrap. photo for more information. 1979 Dodge St. Regis 89000 miles, Special order car intended for SD Highway Patrol Comissioner but never delivered. I think a horizontal bar grille, as Dodge was introducing at the time, would have been a nice touch. 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. Twenty years later, at least two of my old compadres were still driving the old patrol units. Here we take a closer look at those conservatively-styled box-shaped sedans, which were designed to Serve and Protect, to see exactly what police car fleets consisted of back in this decade. Its been kept up mechanically and give me enough gas money, Id drive it coast to coast without worry. Only owned it for 27 years, lol. The young guy he bought it from drove it home for him, then bummed $5 for a cab home! Some continually blew transmissions. My brother took it over, and when he sold it in the fall of 83 it was in better shape at 5 years old than when it was brand new!. Original paint, top and in . It was the replacement for the Maverick which in turn was the replacement for the Falcon. Besides that, thats pretty sweet ride. The underlying platform dates all the way back to 1926 and had a number of major revisions over the decades up to 1991. The idle needs to be re-adjusted (Ill do that myself more than likely, before its purchased) and the suspension bar that holds up the rear trunk needs to be replaced. It was probably easier to do this in my car because it was originally a single speaker AM radio and I ran the speaker wiring from the back and put in some front speakers in the factory holes and hooked everything up to the later harness. Various party buddies employed numerous bubble gum and bobby pin repairs before we finally drove it to the wrecker at the direction of the police. L-code 360, white with blue interior. It has been in California all its life and is rust free. Plastic over part of the chrome bumpers, body panels that do not line up right, rust on the body, wrinkles in the vinyl top, missing trim, broken interior door handles, the door panels and dash look very cheaply made, things dont line up, the dash design looks like a patchwork off pieces from different jigsaw puzzles. Top Rated Seller . At 58,461 miles, he front brake pads were replaced, otors turned and wheel bearings repacked. He has been writing about cars for several years with a string of published books to his name. It has a newer battery. Pulled the miserable tired original seats and stored them. Details. Those plastic piston brake cylinders were a nightmare until fleet figured that out (swelled up and stuck). Most disastrous of all was the 1980 Dodge St. Regis supplied to the California Highway Patrol. 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. shepherdsville kentucky. Especially if it was known to have a lot of build quality problems on delivery. 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. These cars are a great deal for St Regis shoppers. So perhaps I might point out that there is no St. Sedona, but there is a St Regis, and she can drive the car named after him. Worked great for a long time until the display died. Edit options. Im not even sure the oven was allowed to pre-heat. 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. This car runs and drive's beautifully and needs nothing to enjoy. Brands New Products . Switch to inches. The digital clock lights, ut does not reset. Money couldnt have been an issue, Im sure it wouldnt have broken the bank to source a decent Electronic unit. If you had a variable-venturi Crown Victoria, you could guess whether it would come off at idle speed or tear out the rear end with wide open power. Model T Manual 1924 Chevrolet owner's manual (Canada) 1934 Studebaker Dictator Owner's Manual . If these are civilian cars mocked up as CHP units, they could be any year off the lot, including 1979 models. 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. Deriving its name from a 1950s Chrysler trim package, the St. Regis was the first example of downsizing of the full-size Dodge sedan line. My clearest memory of these is the numerous pictures in the paper showing acres and acres of these things sitting unsold in rail yards all over north Michigan and southern Ontario. Never buy a used cop car. To further distinguish the model line from its Plymouth Gran Fury, Chrysler Newport, and Chrysler New Yorker counterparts, the front fascia was styled with transparent retractable headlamp covers (introduced on the 1978 Dodge Magnum). At least this Allpar article gives a good overview: http://www.allpar.com/cars/dodge/R-bodies.html. If GM marketing had their way, using Pontiac in comparison, there was a Catalina, Bonneville, Bonneville Brougham, all sharing the same basic body and dashboard. The seats were a direct bolt on to the St. Regis seat tracks and even the headrests swapped over to the seats. The headlight doors open and close. If the radio in this car was anything like my 79 St. Regis its one of two things. police car fan 2012-09-05 18:16-- Last edit: 2014-03-24 14:42:15: police car fan 2013-11-07 20:50. The longest fresh water beach in the world couldnt hide a beater imperial. After the Audi, he bought a Toyota Previa, which functioned beautifully, and never bought another non-Japanese car again. Included with the purchase of the car is more seat fabric, set of tail lights, wo headlight bulbs, n Aerodynic light bar to be used for parts, ll service records, he chassis and electrical service manuals, agnetic strips to cover the police' decal on the door when the car is being moved, pair of period correct California exempt' plates (one real, ne plastic), opies of literature related to the car, ash parts, he original AM radio and antenna, he original speedometer, he original hub caps, wo additional LCPD' door seals and a jacket with LCPD patches and sergeant stripes. Most of those wound up being wrecked on TV shows and movies. The R body was always an odd project: a expensive new car that was only slightly larger than the established compact cars, and slightly smaller than the existing midsized cars. because the CHP had to petition the CARB (Ca. 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. We were not alone in these issues. The main problem with the LeBaron for us was that it just would not run right. Something that drives everyday. I always suspected that might have been a feature rather than a bug. dimanche 15 novembre 1981, Journaux, Chicoutimi :[diteur non identifi],1964-2017 For much of the show's run, Shatner drove an equally forgettable . In the future Ill be equipping it with period correct equipment as a Chiefs Car. Im not a fan of the power window controls. 1/43 1979-81 Dodge St Regis (BJ7UKP728) by rapidpro on Shapeways. So, old perceptions die hard especially when large sums of money are involved. The CHP tried some marked Camaros in 1992, and used a few 1993 and 1994 (and 2001 and 2002) Camaros for truck enforcement. Thats the only connection I can think of. "TJ Hooker" (1979 Dodge St. Regis): The post-"'Star Trek' the TV series" and pre-"'Star Trek' the Motion Picture" years saw William Shatner in a relatively forgettable cop show that starred perhaps the least believable cop of all time, Heather Locklear. CNN got the prestige of a major car companys commercials running on their then-new channel and company cars for their reporters, Chrysler cleared out some of the sales bank and got a platform to advertise the coming K-cars. BTW that is some of the best looking vinyl I have ever seen it fooled me! I have a 1979 Chrysler Newport, 318 LA small block 2bbl, TF A 904, AC, PS, PB, AM FM, cruise control (works well), base interior. Software; Manufacturing; Industries . 1970-1979 Dodge car pdf sales brochures, catalogs and electronic media. The wipers need a near impossible to find nylon bushing, a c compressor clutch is bad. The rpm lock, when engaged, keeps the motor running at a desired rpm, to power the lights or for the air conditioning on those hot sunny highway days. 1979 Dodge Diplomat. I bought my first Chrysler product, a 2014 Durango, about a year ago and it has been a delightful and flawless vehicle for 25,000 miles. I had one in a 70 Challenger. It's been off the road 25 years or so, I bought it never hearing it run turn over or anything, I just got . Only 34,434 St. Regis sedans were produced in 1979. Even a highly reputable repair shop in my city could not rectify the problem. The car was very comfy on long distances with its wide pillowy seats that were like a sofa. He was amazed the box when that long and he thought the original owner was crazy for putting points on a car he was still making payments on. But word did get out that the officers positively loathed these things! My dad eased one in 1978 and it was junk with a capital J. 1979 Dodge Ram Charger. 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. I remember seeing the odd St. Regis around when I was younger; I really liked the clear headlamp covers. You really wanted the intersection to be very, very clear before you started to make a left turn. The Chevrolet Celebrity was a mid-sized front-wheel drive sedan employed by police forces from 1982, and the biggest engines hadsix cylinders. Henry Ford II would only go kicking and screaming, and only after he saw the success of GMads from the later 1970s showcased the full-size girth of cars like the LTD II, Thunderbird and LTD. While shifting to an intermediate chassis allowed the St. Regis a smaller exterior footprint over the 1974-1977 Monaco, it remained far larger than its Ford LTD and Chevrolet Caprice competitors (at 220.2 inches long, an inch shorter than a Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham). No wonder the Japanese turned the tide around 1982-83 with the Marysville, Ohio made(1st year made in US) Honda Accord and debut year, 1983 Toyota Camry. Replacing the Monaco, the St. Regis was the largest Dodge sedan, positioned above the mid-size Diplomat and Aspen. The retracting headlight covers were a nuisance, too. For reasons we never diagnosed it couldnt get out of its own way, but handled like a go cart..fun car, and new enough that people got out of your way in a hurryor slowed down to a miserable fear soaked pace.. Where are the blinkers? The 225 Slant-6 inline-6 was now the standard engine with optional 318 and 360 V8s; a three-speed automatic was paired to all three engines. Hope it goes to an owner who keeps it up and keeps it original! 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. It was downsized and shed up to 450 kg in the process, and was styled to look bigger than it was. I bought a lean burn 81 imperial as a gag for beer runs at the cottage 20 plus years ago . Required fields are marked *. Ram 1500 Classic. The current bid is just over half that amount and this car is located in equally-beautiful Boise, Idaho. Click below to find your next car. Historic Drag Video: Ultra-Rare Footage Of Art Arfons Green Monster And The Dud Jet Dragster, Great Read: The Man Who Would Be Greyhound: A 1986 Sports Illustrated Profile Of Big Daddy Don Garlits. T.J. Hooker s vehicle of choice after season 2. Towards this I have a Motorola radio, lights, federal pa 200 siren and speaker, sl-20 flashlight, radar, and other items to come. It always seemed to me that most full sized Chrysler products from the 70s besides the Imperials and New Yorkers were not usually heavily optioned, yet many of the GM full sized cars were. 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. The car would go both fast and handle. Id totally jump on it if it were a Newport. It appears to be in very good condition for an R-body. 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. Mileage: 33,430 . My car had its original Lean Burn ditched by the original owner, when my dad got it, he found it had been converted to points and he converted it to standard electronic ignition. For 1993, Dodge introduced its first Chrysler-developed full-size sedan with front-wheel drive, the Dodge Intrepid. 1979. In this form it was almost identical to the Dodge Diplomat except for badging. Top Cars for Sale Locations. 1979 Dodge St Regis Police TJ Hooker R Body Year: 1979 Mileage: 60,100 Location: Davis, California, United States 1979 Dodge Magnum XE ORIGINAL (Cordoba, St. Regis, 1978 Dodge Magnum GT) NO RESV Year: 1979 Mileage: 52,000 Location: Broad Brook, Connecticut, United States 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. The Dodge St. Regis is a very rare car. I was always impressed with the ride quality and handling, even with the police suspension and police pack components. It recently passed the rigorous California biennial smog inspection, s it has done since I have owned the car. Door handles coming off, seams tearing loose, dashes cracking in 2 years, the pad and horn switches falling out of the steering wheels, mirrors falling off, mechanical digital clocks failing, dash switches and knobs breaking, especially on the climate control and push button radios, headliners falling down, sunvisors breaking, etc. And I thought the general shape of the car was attractive, even if it seemed to owe a lot to Buick. Those St. Regis very rarely, come up for sale, if ever. I own this car now, the lean burn has been all redone and works properly, it has a brand new alternator, and no the needle is not stuck on the radio, the needle moves with the knob but only 1 AM station comes in. Its engine is a naturally aspirated petrol, 5.9 litre, overhead valve 90 degree V 8 cylinder with 2 valves per cylinder. Dad bought a 1985 Audi 5000 demonstrator in late 1985 to replace the beloved Buick and that thing made the LeBaron look good. The owner brought it to my place of business to let me see it and drive it. What a nightmare.. My current ride is a 2007 Toyota Avalon with 135K and still humming along. Police cars, unlike civilian ones, had the Lean Burn computer behind the glove box at first, then above the parking foot-brake. Sweet looking car. 1979. But my dad, who passed away in 2007, actively avoided Chrysler products for the rest of his life. There are only handful of St Regis around, and fewer of them is in heavily salted Michigan. I always thought the St. Regis was a good looking car. Gene Poon: The last car I drove on duty was the California-spec 1980 Dodge St. Regis with the 318 4-barrel. For the record, there were 360 M-bodies built through 1979. 1980 Dodge Power wagons (Brochure). Let's check out this unbelievable 40,000-mile survivor. Man! 1986 Chevrolet C/K 10. It has neither. Even the grille pattern looks more Buick than Dodge. The agency is responsible for law enforcement on all public roads in the state. It would be the last full-size Plymouth model ever built. Alternators (Leece-Neville) that were well out of alignment to the crank pulley. Dodge St. Regis sedan: 1979: Dodge St. Regis sedan: 1978: Dodge Monaco sedan: 1977: Dodge Monaco sedan: 1976: Dodge Coronet sedan: 1975 . 2021. Im sure you know that was also the first year they had equipped the Torqueflite with a lock-up torque converter. 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.