The Police car that could have been!! After 1977, both Dodge (Royal Monaco) and Plymouth (Gran Fury) saw their full-size C-Body Police cars go bye, and they had to settle for the smaller B-Body's for 1978. After 1978, they were gone too. I know my PD scrambled to find a replacement and settled on the Ford LTD 2 in 1979. What a nightmare they were. For 1980, we went to the "new LTD - Crown Vic" seeing bids had to be in before the new 1980 Gran Fury was available. It wasn't until the M-body 1982 Plymouth Gran Furys that we went back to Plymouth.
The 1979 R-Body Police cars could have been a hit but, Chrysler waited too long between the C-Body in 1977 to the R-Body's in 1979/80 to bring back the full-sized Police car. Yes, that 2 year absence did make a difference. The size was perfect, the look was great, the ride was great. The 360 V8, four-barrel carburetor was enough power to be a cop car. Chrysler did make mistakes, that kept this vehicle from long production and use by law enforcement. First was failure to offer the Plymouth version in 1979 when first introduced. Plymouth was a big name in Law Enforcement, and it wasn't there! Most departments did not think running a "luxury Chrysler" as a Police car was a good idea. What would the tax-paying public think of their cops driving Chryslers. Most PDs who ran Plymouths, didn't mix them up with Dodges, and visa-versa, so the Dodge St. Regis was out. So, in 1980, Plymouth was back with a new Police car. For some, like my PD it was too late to go back. The Plymouth did okay in sales, but it was too late. Another issue that lost a lot of PD sales was the options in power-trans. Instead of making the 360 V8 4B carb standard for these big boys, they gave them cheaper options. PD's on fixed budgets were buying 318 V8 cars with 2B carbs. No way in heck would this work and it didn't!! CHP purchased many Dodge St. Regis's from 79-81. Their later models with the 318's could not get out of their way. Many of these CHP Dodges were retired very early and sold to Hollywood. You can see many of them in TV Cop shows from the 80's, like TJ Hooker, final season of CHiP's, MacGruder and Loud, Hunter, to mention a few. Not only did CHP have issues, so did many other PDs. If I remember correctly, the 1981 versions of all three, the 360 V8 was no longer available, only the 318 V8.
Had Chrysler continued the 360 V8, corrected some of the minor flaws, this R-Body Police car may have had the longevity of the Ford panther platform LTD/CV.
moparinsiders.com
