gasoline (petrol) engine with displacement: 3682 cm3 / 224.7 cui, advertised power: 82 kW / 110 hp / 112 PS ( SAE net ), torque: 244 Nm / 180 lb-ft, more data: 1979 Dodge St. Regis 225-2 TorqueFlite (aut. It was closer to old headquarter of GM though. Options $0. I ran the power wire from the later harness over to the original factory power wire. 1979 Dodge LRT Express. My dad bought it in 1985, rebuilt the engine and the front suspension and drove it for ten years. It wasn't an MSP car originally, but it is a real police spec machine, originally hailing from Virginia. It was a compact-class model which was employed by police forces with either six-cylinder or 4.9-litre V8 engines. The Horizon had stick shift and no air conditioning, so he traded it on the LeBaron. Good Gravy: Ride On This GSXR600 Hill Climb Bike Running 100% Nitromethane! My grandpa had one as a police car. In contrast to both the Monaco and the Diplomat, the St. Regis was offered solely as a four-door sedan. A lovely book of photos and descriptions of police cars manufactured by Dodge, Plymouth and Chrysler during the years 1979-1984. 79 Dodge St Regis with 340 engine Hey, its time to sell my ride. Still a 360, but it couldn't handle the big tires and beating, and, being lighter, you felt every bump around. Your email address will not be published. Following its introduction, the Dodge St. Regis saw heavy use as a police car in the United States. Im 22 now, and that last photo is me when I was 15! My dad eased one in 1978 and it was junk with a capital J. 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. The California Highway Patrol tested the St. Regis: * After two miles I drove a later model Volare a few times for work and it steered much better, so I suspect it may have just been our cars particular set up. 1980 Dodge Police cars (Brochure). 2021. . 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. We are always looking for good bang shifty stories, projects, photos & videos. 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. The Ford LTD Crown Victoria was the main entry from the Blue Oval brand during the 1980s. 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. And I thought the general shape of the car was attractive, even if it seemed to owe a lot to Buick. 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. So they always occupied a small space in my automotive memory banks. Since I worked in the Chicago area, I needed both acceleration and top speed. The Dodge St. Regis introduced in 1979 was a re-skinned dinosaur based on the old large Chrysler B-body platform which underpinned the classic 1960s Dodge Charger muscle car. At the end of the 1970s, the Big Three were all moving towards smaller, lighter machines. 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. $9,495. 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. In Canada, we only got the Medallion version, the top trim. On Diplomat SE, the heavier steering improves the handling much, with smaller steering wheel. I believe 79 was when Lee Iacocca came in to clean house. While closer in exterior size to the Diplomat, the Intrepid nearly matches the St. Regis in interior room. But most of them had style. 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. I have a 79 St. Regis. This car brings back a lot of bad memories for me, sadly. 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. Takes all kinds, I guess. The St. Regis was created during some desperate times for Chrysler. "It sits lower to the ground, it is a car, and it is newer". It featured a unique retractable headlight cover, 5.2-litre and 5.9-litre V8s and a three-speed automatic transmission. It may be rare, but this looks like one of the crappiest built cars from that era. Andrew has a passion for worldwide cars of many types including classic muscle cars and sports coupes, big luxury barges and production sedans. . Compared to its 1977 Dodge Royal Monaco predecessor, the Dodge St. Regis shed 5.5 inches in length, 2.7 inches in width, 3 inches in wheelbase, and nearly 900 pounds of curb weight (dependent on powertrain). Im not even sure the oven was allowed to pre-heat. At the time I thought it was the best looking car Dodge ever produced. 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. In this case, it's a 360-powered St. Regis worked up to represent a Michigan State Police car. With 42,000 miles and a 360 V8, this chocolate bar is an unusually well-preserved car. Thats not leather, its vinyl. Im sure you know that was also the first year they had equipped the Torqueflite with a lock-up torque converter. The B-body platform was updated to replace the departed C-body cars. February 21, 2015 78 comments. 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. The California State Legislature originally established the California Highway Patrol as a branch of the Division of Motor Vehicles in the Department of Public Works, with legislation signed by Governor C. C. Young on August 14, 1929. The CHP also works with municipal and federal law enforcement agencies, providing assistance in investigations, patrol and other aspects of law enforcement. The name Ford Fairmont was a long-running nameplate in Australia, but in North America it was produced only from 1977 to 1983. Nor have I tried. (Jeff Hwang thought this might be of interest to you all. The police car version of the Belvedere sedan was a . 1979 Dodge St. Regis. I thought they looked great, and kind of reminded me of certain TV shows set in the US Southwest, where this color of patrol car was often seen. (The siren and light bar have been disconnected per EBay policy.) Back then I saw the RCMP use 79 Newports & 80 Gran Furies in service on the prairies. Only owned it for 27 years, lol. CLICK the I'm looking for old restored and un-restored police and fire department cars #hellcat #superchargedv8 #ram1500trx #700hp, New Subaru Outback XT turbo has arrived in Austral, Gee these can take a beating. ( but I dont think many people thought of searching for St Regis in cars anyway ) and I regret for not saving the photos one year ago, but it popped up again few days earlier. The CHP tried some marked Camaros in 1992, and used a few 1993 and 1994 (and 2001 and 2002) Camaros for truck enforcement. The domes on the Federal Signal Aerodynic lightbar are in excellent condition. My mechanical skills at the time were far from what they are now so the issue was never solved and the car remained in my possession for a couple more years. 1979. $26,900. What a nightmare.. My current ride is a 2007 Toyota Avalon with 135K and still humming along. The second gas crisis came in 1979, the car was bigger than the B-body GM or the new-for-1979 Panther platform over at Ford, the styling echoed the Buick LeSabre just a little too much, the old suspension design showed through, the big-block cop cars had gone so fleet sales wound up going to hell, and then there was the quality control issues. I did test drive a used one sometime in the mid-1980s. Replacement motors are very thin on the ground. I havent seen this kind of car in years, I always felt they should have sold better than they did, I absolutely love the blue leather seats in this car, I always thought the Dodge St. Regis was the best looking of the R-body cars, how many of these cars were produced in the 1980 and 1981 model years? I bought from him and have owned it 20 years and drove it as recently as yesterday. It was delivered with missing emblems, loose bolts, etc and it got worse from there. It was maintained meticulously throughout the years, and everything from changing the oil to simply replacing a spark plug has been professionally done and documented by the local Midas. It was very fatiguing to herd that thing on the open road for any length of time. I have 253k and still rolling. Insanity! Those plastic piston brake cylinders were a nightmare until fleet figured that out (swelled up and stuck). The Chevrolet Malibu was a mid-size model which replaced the ever-popular Nova. Then, there were the perpetual front end alignment problems. Never buy a used cop car. Wow, we really do have some things in common, although I think your LeBaron experience was even worse than ours. Free shipping on many items | Browse your favorite brands | affordable prices. And worse yet, that cover was made out of aluminum, which quickly corroded through, allowing coolant in the oil and oil in the coolant. This car should be seen and driven to fully appreciate it. I had the St Regis taken away since one of the commanders saw it and wanted it for himself. Edit options. Rear defrost. The rims are all Chrysler snowflake rims, but the back two are from a 79 Lebaron and the front ones are for this car specifically. Im apt to think that he means that the analog dial is stuck & turning the tuning knob has no effect. Summernats is MktoForms2.loadForm("//app-sn05.marketo.com", "979-LYJ-350", 1596); 707hp. Has the trusty Chrysler 318 V8. I wonder if anyones ever tried to fit one on. The skimpy 7 1/4 rear end wore out prematurely. Gene Poon: The last car I drove on duty was the California-spec 1980 Dodge St. Regis with the 318 4-barrel. I had front end problems that no one could fix, the transmission slipped, and the car used a quart of oil every 500 miles. Dad bought a 1985 Audi 5000 demonstrator in late 1985 to replace the beloved Buick and that thing made the LeBaron look good. I wonder if they were actually any more comfortable? 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. & AFIR the headlight covers were in place and working. Youd think someone at Chrysler would have known better than to repeat that past mistake. 1977 Dodge Royal Monaco Chicago IL Police photographed Aug 2007: 1973 Plymouth Fury I Delaware State Police . We were not alone in these issues. . About Dezo's Garage. Im surprised that any St. Regis survived. Like a 47 Chevy, an 80s LTD for pizza delivery, a Chevrolet Nova from 80s for delivery too. 1979 Dodge Omni. Only 34,434 St. Regis sedans were produced in 1979. shepherdsville kentucky. 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 recall reading in a story of the early days of CNN, Ted Turner met Lee Iacocca. If you compare them to GM offerings, there was much more flexibility in the GM line in comparison. It was the replacement for the Maverick which in turn was the replacement for the Falcon. The current bid is just over half that amount and this car is located in equally-beautiful Boise, Idaho. The Dodge St. Regis is an automobile that was marketed by Dodge from the 1979 to 1981 model years. 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. I could say more about this but I wont. A second oil crisis hit in 1979, and while Chrysler's new front-drive Omnirizons sold strongly, the company was sinking around them. Pulled the miserable tired original seats and stored them. He couldnt believe when he bought the car that someone put points in it. It wasnt an MSP car originally, but it is a real police spec machine, originally hailing from Virginia. Competing against the downsized General Motors B-body chassis and the all-new Ford Panther chassis, the R-body is the longest-wheelbase of the three. I liked the compact size but they were tight on space inside. 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. lol. Primed us for Iacoccas rescue package. GM Car Calibration Request; JEEP; UTV; GARAGE SALE DEALS. Not sure if I even drove it around the block, or just in the parking lot. on average and handled pretty well. 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. 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 . because the CHP had to petition the CARB (Ca. A/C, Cruise, PWR seat, windows, Special handling package, 3 tag car. Its very hard to tell the rust problem though, as the thick chrome trims cover up the door seals and rocker panel, where is most suspicious to rust. In California, the St. Regis was fitted with a 190 hp four-bbl 360 V8. A gorgeous 1979 Illinois State Police Dodge St. Regis I made from Taigo's car on NFS Addons. The agency is responsible for law enforcement on all public roads in the state. I had one in a 70 Challenger. The test led to the purchase of Ford Mustangs in 1982, for use as traffic enforcement cars. The car is offered for sale locally, nd I reserve the right to end the auction early. But at Chrysler, things were a bit more convoluted. Mr_Brown99 writes: Bad on gas. 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 C $14.42. Handling Ranked 2002 Ford Focus ZX3 better. 1979 Dodge Trucks. The carpet was removed and a heavy duty rubber floor was installed, he headliner was replaced, he sun visors recovered and the seats were reupholstered in a cloth that was nearly identical to that used in the police cars. Its been one of the most reliable cars Ive had (thanks to my dads rebuild) so far and because were down a vehicle in the family fleet it got put back into daily driving service again. As 70s interiors go, thats not too bad. The headlight doors open and close. 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. Based on the photo and the ad copy, Id say that young man is CC material. The leather wouldnt have held up that well. Just like this restored 80 model now residing in Edmonton. Has the trusty Chrysler 318 V8. The department usually kept their cars three years, but the St. Regis were so bad, they replaced them after only two. 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. 1979 Dodge Car Lineup. It would be the last full-size Plymouth model ever built. Yes, Gran Furies were more numerous back then for RCMP highway patrol. It was based on the old trusted B-body platform and was the fastest police sedan in the quarter mile and was fastest through circuit testing when compared to rival models. Man! Dodge St. Regis 1979, 4x6" (165mm) Rectangular Chrome LED Headlights with DRL by Lumen, 1 Pair. The St. Regis trademark. Of course we cant forget visual proof of why the St. Regis population dwindled rapidly in the Eighties.. Goodyear GT+4 tires were installed at 58,500 miles. Tool Review: Is This Hand Tool The Budget Solution For LARGE WIRE CRIMPING? 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. The Dodge St. Regis introduced in 1979 was a re-skinned dinosaur based on the old large Chrysler B-body platform which underpinned the classic 1960s Dodge Charger muscle car. Ours was also a 318 with the super tall gearing. 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. V8 (360 CI) Automatic. 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. Broad Brook, Connecticut, United States. Ive never actually seen one up close and in person. 1980 Dodge Aspen (Canadian brochure). Im sure its simpler than I think. 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. Original paint, top and in . Which is why I have always wanted one. It really needs at least a 4 bbl, mild cam, headers, and a 2.5 inch duals. The reason I know this is because Ive got a 79 St. Regis. 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. 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 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/. Dont know if Ive previously mentioned that like others, Ive seen rather few of these going all the way back to when they first came out. I only got to ride in one of these once, in the mid-1980s when I was in graduate school. The Dodge St. Regis is a very rare car. to feature. 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. Havent seen one in many, many years though. In place of redesigning the full-size C-body, Chrysler developed the R-body as an update of the intermediate B-body (last released in 1971, dating to 1962). The automatic transmission has been serviced and a third row has been added to the radiator. 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? They could hit one hundred five mph. 1979 DODGE ST. REGIS: Dodge dumped its really big Royal Monacos after 1977, leaving only mid-size Monacos for 1978. I don't know if it runs or not, it looks all complete, has the . The extra $500 must for being in rust belt. Volare has feather like steering also makes it less comfortable to drive on interstate at 70, but its still possible. 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. Dodge St. Regis sedan: 1979: Dodge St. Regis sedan: 1978: Dodge Monaco sedan: 1977: Dodge Monaco sedan: 1976: Dodge Coronet sedan: 1975 . Lol. The headlight doors have been manually cranked open. The 360 has been beefed up to a proper level and the car barks out through headers into Flowmasters. The Plymouth Gran Fury was initially built using Chryslers larger R-body platform until its switch to the mid-size M-body in 1982, something a lot of ongoing larger Chrysler nameplates did. Both being wheeler-dealers they made a trade of cars for ad time. For 1979, Dodge dumped he Monaco line altogether and unveiled this mid-size sedan called St. Regis. Volare Wagons, and Chevy Camaro Z28s on the road for an 18 month test. Gets rid of a lot of headaches. Despite being an introductory model, nearly 30% of St. Regis production was dedicated for police/law enforcement use. 1978 Dodge Trucks. Being in my 20th year of St. Regis ownership, after my dad owning first for 10 years, I dont think the St. Regis was the worst looking of the 70s cars or that it was designed to fall apart. Sure is, just looked at the brochure and vinyl was optional, no mention of leather at all. Wow, what a rare find, Paul But where are those cool headlight covers? It was downsized and shed up to 450 kg in the process, and was styled to look bigger than it was. Poor quality, especially on the interior was common. 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. Dodge would not market a rear-wheel drive sedan until the 2006 Dodge Charger. 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). Being less comfortable sounds much better than the lebaron though. The test led to the purchase of Ford Mustangs in 1982, for use as traffic enforcement cars. St Louis County Police dept. 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. 1979 brought the CHP multiple vehicle test. The CHP uses other types of vehicles for special units, such as truck enforcement, or for use in areas where cars can go, like off road or mountain areas. 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. Notify me of follow-up comments by email. Curtis Redgap: The R bodies weren't that bad! Hope it goes to an owner who keeps it up and keeps it original! They look aftermarket or home made. It was in a church parking lot and I took the picture through the fence from the next door Sports Authority. There is a small chip on the plastic of the right rear taillight (not the lens). 1979 Dodge Magnum XE ORIGINAL (Cordoba, St. Regis, 1978 Dodge Magnum GT) NO RESV, 1979 Dodge Magnum XE ALL ORIGINAL (Cordoba, St. Regis, 1978 Dodge Magnum GT) 52K, 1979 Dodge Magnum XE ALL ORIGINAL (Cordoba, St. Regis, 1978 Dodge Magnum GT), 1963 DODGE POLICE CAR, ORIGINAL AMARILLO TEXAS POLICE UNIT. Since these units werent built to dealer orders, it was almost as though the factory workers were being told to simply grab whichever parts were in the bins, and to just slap them on. 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. I forgot the St. Regis had available leather. Looking at that last photo, he wore what appears to be a denim-like leisure suit to prom. The risks you take when buying a used fleet vehicle. I was thinking the same thing, jerseyfred like the universal power window kits you saw in JC Whitney catalogs from the 80s. I bet that car is rare with leather interior. The reason Dad ever bought the LeBaron in the first place was that Mom had won a new Plymouth Horizon that was given away as part of the grand opening of a new shopping mall. [citation needed] For 1979, Chrysler withdrew Plymouth entirely from the full-size segment (making the Volare the largest Plymouth that year); for 1980, a R-body Gran Fury was reinstated, nearly exclusively for fleet sales. Sometimes it would fire up again again sitting, sometimes not. We had chunks of the black painted stripes just fall off the car. By 1980, restrictive anti-emissions regulations meant that it was a dog to drive, with many police officers complaining about its poor performance. In the fall of 80, a wheel bearing failed, causing the front wheel to part company with the rest of the heap. Base . These were usually driven by police chiefs and fire chiefs. There is a small piece of trim missing near the drivers door, unnoticed until close to car. The wipers need a near impossible to find nylon bushing, a c compressor clutch is bad. Funny the Aspen was actually better. 1979 Dodge St. Regis Michigan State Police Find this Pin and more on police by dan gordon.

Jetblue Uniform Policy, Caloptima Transportation Services Phone Number, The Wilds Characters Zodiac Signs, Articles OTHER