I'm looking for old restored and un-restored police and fire department cars But, I am still haunted by the specter of that old LeBaron and have this nagging fear that things will start going wrong at any moment. Original owners manual and all 1979 Chrysler emissions documentation, and repair slips. My dad put a factory rear anti sway bar on it, I replaced the rims with factory 7inch and cop sized tires instead of the smaller tires my dad had on it. Most disastrous of all was the 1980 Dodge St. Regis supplied to the California Highway Patrol. The Dodge St. Regis is an automobile that was marketed by Dodge from the 1979 to 1981 model years. 1979 dodge st regis for sale: photos, technical specifications, description And worse yet, that cover was made out of aluminum, which quickly corroded through, allowing coolant in the oil and oil in the coolant. "It sits lower to the ground, it is a car, and it is newer". 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. 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. 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. Dodge St. Regis - Dodge Wiki It has a newer battery. Coinciding with its usage in law enforcement, the St. Regis appeared on multiple 1980s police-based television series, including Sledge Hammer!, "The A-Team" and T.J. Hooker. Dodge (USA) Charger 7gen data and specifications catalogue New Product, And How To Assemble It: The Speedway Motors Sheet Metal Mock Up LS Engine! Only 34,434 St. Regis sedans were produced in 1979. Brand New. Sure is, just looked at the brochure and vinyl was optional, no mention of leather at all. Dodge Charger vs Chevrolet C/K 10 - CarGurus Menu. 4 Door Hardtop Pillared. the engine was a 318 V8, and unlike today's cop cars, these could only go but so fast. It's been off the road 25 years or so, I bought it never hearing it run turn over or anything, I just got . Illinois State Police 1979 Dodge St. Regis.avi - YouTube Aluminum bumpers, coated with a chrome-like substance that peeled right off when getting splattered with the chemicals for snow melting on the roads. 1979 Dodge St Regis Values - J.D. Power 1979 Dodge St. Regis: Prices, Reviews & Pictures - CarGurus I thought they looked cool (my best friends folks had bought a 69 Monaco). Some of the last police cars I had were the 1981 R bodies with the 318 four barrel. The extra $500 must for being in rust belt. All Rights Reserved. Because lower priced F-Body Dodge Aspens and Plymouth Volares were designated as the mid-size squad cars through 1980 - not M-bodies. Towards this I have a Motorola radio, lights, federal pa 200 siren and speaker, sl-20 flashlight, radar, and other items to come. State inspectors snipped the police lights, including the spot light, and the wiring for the hideaway headlight motor. Or not. That would kick in around 28-30 mph, causing a massive ping/detonation/lugging event alarming enough to make you let off the throttle. If I had the space, and it was local to me, I might be interested evenalas it isnt and I dont! They look aftermarket or home made. And as Brock Yates wrote in The Decline and Fall of the American Automobile Industry, the combination of options on these cars was sometimes a bit odd, to say the least. So, old perceptions die hard especially when large sums of money are involved. It had a 360 four-barrel and that good old never-breaking 727 Torqueflite transmission. Base Price $6,847. The domes on the Federal Signal Aerodynic lightbar are in excellent condition. But most of them had style. The higher rate springs and high effort power steering made for a pleasant driver. Select a 1979 Dodge St Regis Trim. 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. Pre-Owned. Its engine is a naturally aspirated petrol, 5.9 litre, overhead valve 90 degree V 8 cylinder with 2 valves per cylinder. I am the second owner of this 1979 Dodge St. Regis. By 1994 however the performance of the full sized enforcement class vehicle (Chevy Caprice and Ford Crown Victoria) was near to that of the pony cars, so the CHP now longer needed to buy Camaros and Mustangs.The 1994 Caprice with its LT1 engine was faster than a 93 Mustang, with faster quater mile times and higher top speed. 5.12 x 1.82 x 1.34 inches. It was subsequently established as a separate department with legislation signed by Governor Earl Warren in 1947. Seems really tacky. St Louis County Police dept. The Diplomat has been a long staple in American history mostly recognized as police cars throughout most Gateway Classic Cars Click for Phone O Fallon, IL 62269 (644 miles away) 2 27 1984 Dodge Diplomat mtm352: I was a career Trooper, and one of my favorites all around was my unmarked 1980 St. Regis. Possibly a change in 9.25 to 3.23 or 3.55. Police cars, unlike civilian ones, had the Lean Burn computer behind the glove box at first, then above the parking foot-brake. Pulled the miserable tired original seats and stored them. Site Index - The Old Car Manual Project You would think the full-sized cars would offer leather. Primed us for Iacoccas rescue package. The Gran Fury was purpose-designed as a cheaper version of the Chrysler Newport and was aimed at taxi, police and other fleet operators, with police cars utilising the 5.2-litre and 5.9-litre V8s. If these are civilian cars mocked up as CHP units, they could be any year off the lot, including 1979 models. Insanity! I have since occasionally wondered how these models would have done if they had been kept in production and the bugs worked out. Sometimes it would fire up again again sitting, sometimes not. The St. Regis today is an exceptionally rare sight and comes in two flavors: babied or absolutely and utterly trashed. Update: - edit some Textures - make own Dirttexture - edit Seatposition - add 3 new Lightbars - add Working Wipers - Sidemirror are now breakable and crash - Rambar are now breakable (both Side for his alone) - make good Mirrorreflection - add new Liverys By many accounts, the Diplomat that Moms LeBaron matured into became a very sturdy ride. 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. Sort By Sorting Order Results Per Page Early versions of this generation Malibu had six-window sides and fixed rear door window glass. They are supposed to be down in the bumpers? 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. Its a decent engine with one fatal flaw. The car would go both fast and handle. These sites include nuclear power plants, government buildings, and key infrastructure sites. The first example of downsizing of the full-size Chrysler sedan line, the R-body is an evolution of the B-body intermediate chassis. The car was so gutless that they removed the mufflers and ran straight pipes out past the bumper. Lol. 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? Youd think someone at Chrysler would have known better than to repeat that past mistake. 2022 Ram 1500; 2022 Ford F-150; . The Dodge St. Regis is a full-size Dodge automobile built from 1979 to 1981. Mr_Brown99 writes: Bad on gas. 136,000. When I turn off the lights, the doors now make a satisfying thunk as they close. A console from my deceased 67 Sport Fury is between the seats. He has been writing about cars for several years with a string of published books to his name. Nor have I tried. 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. But at Chrysler, things were a bit more convoluted. 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. It had the 360 4 bbl and the rare open road package. The department usually kept their cars three years, but the St. Regis were so bad, they replaced them after only two. If they had been rolling in cash, the R-bodies would have turned out much differently. One of my fellow students, who was not known for his good judgment, had a rather battered one and six of us crammed into it to go somewhere local. Based on the photo and the ad copy, Id say that young man is CC material. This was a new car the year I graduated from high school (and, although I didnt wear it to prom, my otherwise similar leisure suit was a lovely brown polyester double knit with contrasting stitching. (includes original 1979 License plate that came with the car when I purchased it). Switch to inches. The headlight doors open and close. He pulled the engine to put in a 53 Willys and sold the car before he finished it. 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 drivers power seat looks different than my standard non power seat. Those St. Regis very rarely, come up for sale, if ever. My BIL had one of these, an 80 model he bought in fall of 1991. My dad eased one in 1978 and it was junk with a capital J. 8,700 Original Miles: 1980 Chrysler Newport | Barn Finds I thought, most of the St. Regis were used on T.J. Hooker. I bet that car is rare with leather interior. "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. 1968 Dodge Monaco with a 383 cubic inch motor. Thats not leather, its vinyl. The 360 has been beefed up to a proper level and the car barks out through headers into Flowmasters. Cars used by California Highway Patrol 1929 to present. Required fields are marked *. I was thinking the same thing, jerseyfred like the universal power window kits you saw in JC Whitney catalogs from the 80s. 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 had one in a 70 Challenger. For 1993, Dodge introduced its first Chrysler-developed full-size sedan with front-wheel drive, the Dodge Intrepid. Alternatively (and preferably for my 17 year old self) you could just gun it enough to delay the upshift. Model WC WC-12 1979 Dodge St. Regis For Sale. 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. The Lynn Townsend era had seen many, many screwups in managementthe Sales Banks, the 1974 C-bodies that couldnt have come at a worse time, a strict no small Chrysler policy that blew up in their faces when the Cordoba (yes, it was a small Chrysler compared to a New Yorker) proved to be a sales blowout that the company had desperately needed, and of course the problematic quality control gripes had eroded Chryslers reputation. Gateway Classic Cars of Tulsa is proud to present this slick 1978 Dodge Diplomat Coupe. 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. A/C, Cruise, PWR seat, windows, Special handling package, 3 tag car. police car fan 2012-09-05 18:16-- Last edit: 2014-03-24 14:42:15: police car fan 2013-11-07 20:50. All windows roll up and down with the hand cranks. its not close to stock and would make a cool ride if your OK with 4 doors. 1979 Dodge St. Regis. The pin that held the shift lever departed, causing it come off in my dads hand. I could say more about this but I wont. The retracting headlight covers were a nuisance, too. Unfortunately for Chrysler, their luck just straight-up sucked. The headlight doors have been manually cranked open. My dad agreed with you. Im sure you know that was also the first year they had equipped the Torqueflite with a lock-up torque converter. Copyright 2023 BangShift LLC. . Police officers also gave it better ergonomic ratings. 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. But.this..Chrysler pioneered breakerless ignition, to convert a Chrysler product to points, thats like peeing on Walter Ps Chryslers Grave! The seats were a direct bolt on to the St. Regis seat tracks and even the headrests swapped over to the seats. Here's the deal, I'm listing this for a friend who's dad just passed away, there having to clean the property up and get some stuff gone, I told him I would help him sell it has he's not a Mopar guy . 1980 Dodge St Regis (Canadian brochure). Now, it looks like a Chrysler Newport, without the distinctive covers. The car is offered for sale locally, nd I reserve the right to end the auction early. Those St. Regis also wore out tires because they would not hold alignment (drastic negative camber), and three of them blew out their heater cores. 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. 1980 Dodge Police cars (Brochure). He never even got it on the road, as he didnt even had a drivers license yet! ** 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. Dodge Intrepid Police 2004 Dodge Intrepid R/T 2000 Dodge Intrepid R/T 2001 Dodge Intrepid R/T 2002 . Generally, it did all these things after lurching just far enough into traffic that people would be bearing down on you.