It could work. Popular Cars for Sale. 1/43 1979-81 Dodge St Regis (BJ7UKP728) by rapidpro on Shapeways. Andrew has a passion for worldwide cars of many types including classic muscle cars and sports coupes, big luxury barges and production sedans. I forgot the St. Regis had available leather. HP exhaust manifolds from 1968-70. I remember Dabney Coleman driving one in the hilarious car chase in the movie Short Time, and wondering just how that thing held together. Besides that, thats pretty sweet ride. But most of them had style. 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. Dodge St. Regis Base 1979 Dodge St. Regis Base 1980 Dodge St. Regis Base 1981 Dodge Stealth Base 1991 Replacing the Monaco, the St. Regis was the largest Dodge sedan, positioned above the mid-size Diplomat and Aspen. It has a newer battery. The last photo is of the featured car (and me before I drove it to prom, sorry about that). 1968 Chevrolet Biscayne Chicago Police Car, California Highway Patrol 1973 Dodge Polara, Italys Carabinieri 505HP Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio, 1966 Ford Country Sedan Wagon Fire Chief Car, Ford Police Interceptor Utility (Explorer). Furthermore, CHP officers act as bailiffs for the California Supreme Court and California Court of Appeal, as well as providing security at buildings occupied by the State of California. If the radio in this car was anything like my 79 St. Regis its one of two things. The Dodge St. Regis is a full-size Dodge automobile built from 1979 to 1981. Its a decent engine with one fatal flaw. About the headlight doors: either the motor needs lubricating or the brushes are toast. 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. But you know, a funny thing happened. It was comfortable, handled superbly, and had lots of room. It was a silver 2 door with red leather guts and stayed nice for about 2 weeks. Id do it myself, its simple. I know the J-yards in Saskatoon circa 1991-ish were just lousy with them. The domes on the Federal Signal Aerodynic lightbar are in excellent condition. Twenty years later, at least two of my old compadres were still driving the old patrol units. Have you ever wondered what all those boxy American police sedans were from the 1980s in American movies and television shows? hampered performance as did the loss of the 360 four-barrel after their first year; in 1980 and 1981, they used a 318 four-barrel. What's in the box: 1-43 1979-81 Dodge St Regis. In addition to its highway patrol duties, the CHP also provides other services including protecting state buildings, state facilities, and state officials. No St. Regis, but the Sask Highway Traffic used them, the guys who enforce truck& commercial vehicle stuff, weigh scales etc.The cars were a kind of dark brass color, 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. Im from Saskatoon originally. My dad agreed with you. 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. 1978 Dodge LRT Express. And Im sure thats the last time I ever saw one. Goodyear GT+4 tires were installed at 58,500 miles. They had replaced 1977 Plymouth Fury sedans powered by the 440 Magnum, and 1978 Plymouth Volares with 360 4-barrel (my favorite squad of all for city use). The drivers power seat looks different than my standard non power seat. At least this Allpar article gives a good overview: http://www.allpar.com/cars/dodge/R-bodies.html. 2021. The rear tires are 80% Winter tires. The car was so gutless that they removed the mufflers and ran straight pipes out past the bumper. 4 Door Hardtop Pillared. 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 1979 Dodge St. Regis Michigan State Police Find this Pin and more on police by dan gordon. They could have expanded the line and made several available models, having a base, mid and Brougham. The Dodge St. Regis is an automobile that was marketed by Dodge from the 1979 to 1981 model years. If you compare them to GM offerings, there was much more flexibility in the GM line in comparison. Up to 1958, the California Highway Patrol would purchase vehicles 2 times a year, and many times it would be a different make. Worked great for a long time until the display died. The Dodge St. Regis is an automobile that was marketed by Dodge from the 1979 to 1981 model years. That is me. Said Lean Burn also failed repeatedly, leaving you stalled out without warning at random times. I wonder if anyones ever tried to fit one on. 360 4 Barrel 999 trans. Wow, we really do have some things in common, although I think your LeBaron experience was even worse than ours. Im sure you know that was also the first year they had equipped the Torqueflite with a lock-up torque converter. Driven one winter since new. After the Audi, he bought a Toyota Previa, which functioned beautifully, and never bought another non-Japanese car again. The automotive landscape and world at-large is shifting away from petrol cars and towards electrification and political correctness. Primed us for Iacoccas rescue package. 1700 isnt crazy for this one, though it seems more like maybe a $1200 car to me. The Chevrolet Celebrity was a mid-sized front-wheel drive sedan employed by police forces from 1982, and the biggest engines hadsix cylinders. 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. 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. 79 Dodge St Regis with 340 engine Hey, its time to sell my ride. I bought from him and have owned it 20 years and drove it as recently as yesterday. Its north Michigan afterall, every town has an odd car, sometimes for odd use too. Some of the last police cars I had were the 1981 R bodies with the 318 four barrel. My son has one sitting behind my shop that he got from an estate a couple years back. There is no in-between. Since I worked in the Chicago area, I needed both acceleration and top speed. 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. Andrew was a contributing writer at Performance Drive. This car runs and drive's beautifully and needs nothing to enjoy. This car will take . Replace your dim and dated standard sealed beams with our full LED headlights and get an upgrade in. 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 dont know of any St. Regis having leather seats. Definitely not police issue. We live in South Carolina, so rust is not really an issue. Something that drives everyday. It was very fatiguing to herd that thing on the open road for any length of time. 2022 Ram 1500; 2022 Ford F-150; . GM Car Calibration Request; JEEP; UTV; GARAGE SALE DEALS. I thought, most of the St. Regis were used on T.J. Hooker. The St. Regis today is an exceptionally rare sight and comes in two flavors: babied or absolutely and utterly trashed. . The headlight doors open and close. I thought they looked cool (my best friends folks had bought a 69 Monaco). Mr_Brown99 writes: Bad on gas. 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. Front Seats Ranked 2002 Ford Focus ZX3 better. The Dodge St. Regis is a very rare car. Last, but not least, the 1980-83 Dodge Mirada/Chrysler Cordoba. In Canada, we only got the Medallion version, the top trim. Nor have I tried. Needs a L F manual window regulator; and the headliner re glued. My BIL had one of these, an 80 model he bought in fall of 1991. Video: YouTuber thrashes Ferrari F8, to provoke lawsuit? Positioned above the Coronet, but sharing the same chassis, were the Dodge Royal and Dodge Custom Royal. Ottawa :[Le droit],1913-jeudi 15 octobre 1981, Journaux, Ottawa :[Le droit],1913- Police cars, unlike civilian ones, had the Lean Burn computer behind the glove box at first, then above the parking foot-brake. Gateway Classic Cars of Tulsa is proud to present this slick 1978 Dodge Diplomat Coupe. Thank you all for the wonderful comments, and this is just so crazy to see my ad all these years later! I still cant get past the way Dodge partially wrapped chrome bumpers with plastic, leaving exposed plastic edges. The Dodge St. Regis was based on the rear wheel drive Chrysler R-body platform. The Chevrolet Impala was a cheaper, trimmed down version of the B-body full-size Caprice and came with V8 engines of 5.0-litre and 5.7-litre capacities. The neat clear-lens headlight covers are gone (most police departments ditched them) but everything else about this begs for a road trip. 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. Chrome housing, clear lens. Good Lord! 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. "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. Ever. 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. I liked the compact size but they were tight on space inside. In this case, it's a 360-powered St. Regis worked up to represent a Michigan State Police 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. Its not in as good of shape as this one is. 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. In deference to fuel economy standards, the 400 and 440 big-block V8s were deleted from the engine lineup. This baby did it very well. . the engine was a 318 V8, and unlike today's cop cars, these could only go but so fast. Or not. Bought from the original owner, an old veteran, who purchased it right out of the showroom in the local Chrysler/AMC dealership. 1980's. 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. Sweet looking car. But at Chrysler, things were a bit more convoluted. It has neither. Remember, this is just before Chrysler nearly slips under the waveswhat quality control? 4WD. For that matter, both the Chevy and Ford both got more development money than the Dodge and got it sooner. 1-3. . 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 Location. State inspectors snipped the police lights, including the spot light, and the wiring for the hideaway headlight motor. It was downsized and shed up to 450 kg in the process, and was styled to look bigger than it was. Ive never actually seen one up close and in person. I hope the featured car goes to a good home. There are some quirks like any car of this age. Even after it warmed up it would sputter and bog down on tip-in from idle. This is a HEAVILY OPTIONED CAR with Power Seat, Power Window, A/C, P/S, AM/FM radio, Tilt Steering Column, Cornering Lights, Cruise Control. 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. MOPAR BIG BLOCK, NICE 1981 DODGE ST. REGIS IN GREAT SHAPE RUNS AND DRIVES, ULTRA RARE 1976 Dodge Charger Sport-360 V8-Edelbrock Carb-Hooker Headers, 1966 Dodge Coronet Police Car Sedan 1966 Police Car Used Automatic. Im apt to think that he means that the analog dial is stuck & turning the tuning knob has no effect. Details. 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. Oh my gosh this is my CL post. 1979 Dodge Diplomat Station Wagon - Million Mile Dodge / The Green Machine. The first example of downsizing of the full-size Chrysler sedan line, the R-body is an evolution of the B-body intermediate chassis. Im 22 now, and that last photo is me when I was 15! He could probably have bought a new Omni with what he paid to fix the Audi. By 1989 it was very outdated with its three-speed auto and carburetted engines but was the first Chrysler model to feature an air bag and tilt-adjust steering wheel. The Impala was phased out in 1986 when the Caprice 9C1 police pack replaced it, but would come back in the future. The leather wouldnt have held up that well. 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 was only produced from 1979 to 1981 and most of the 58,000+ cars produced went to fleet use. And worse yet, that cover was made out of aluminum, which quickly corroded through, allowing coolant in the oil and oil in the coolant. 1979 Dodge Diplomat (Brochure). (ABC Comedic, sarcastic Version of Miami Vice in the same time period). The Celebrity replaced the Malibu mentioned above and presented more efficient packaging with better interior space and fuel economy, a configuration which was becoming more and more popular with private customers rather than traditional large rear-wheel drive models. Perhaps push bumpers and prisoner partion screen (great for grandchildren or wife). 1978 Dodge Van Color Chart . Ive only seen them on the road as they drive by or Ive followed one on I-5 or I-405 freeway. By the 1960s, the name was transferred to Dodge's mid-size entry. with no issues. She is Catholic, however. As with most police cars, the suspension is stiff, and you feel any bumps; there is absolutely no body roll. 1979 Dodge Challenger (Brochure). I had one in a 70 Challenger. The seats were a direct bolt on to the St. Regis seat tracks and even the headrests swapped over to the seats. Towards this I have a Motorola radio, lights, federal pa 200 siren and speaker, sl-20 flashlight, radar, and other items to come. They should change the breather sticker to Lean Burn of Death. Many of these 1979-1981 police cars were sold with the 318 V8; others had a 360 engine with four-barrel Carter Thermoquad carburetor. The car would go both fast and handle. After the September 11, 2001 attacks the CHP became responsible for securing and patrolling a number of potential terrorist targets in California. Which is why I have always wanted one. [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. 1980 Dodge Power wagons (Brochure). The R-body replaced both the C-body and old B-body cars, killing two birds with one stone; unfortunately, Chrysler's dire financial situation turned worse, leading to Chrysler filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and chairman Ricardo resigning in February 1979 (he would be replaced by Lee Iaccoca, who was recently let go by Ford; Iaccoca would later 1978 Dodge Diplomat 4,804 mi $ 16,500 or $272/mo Gateway Classic Cars of Tulsa is proud to present this slick 1978 Dodge Diplomat Coupe. 1980 Dodge Aspen (Canadian brochure). Didnt know they retracted, since they were clear to begin with. Aluminum bumpers, coated with a chrome-like substance that peeled right off when getting splattered with the chemicals for snow melting on the roads. Volare has feather like steering also makes it less comfortable to drive on interstate at 70, but its still possible. From 1989 it received throttle body fuel injection and came with a 5.0-litre or 5.7-litre V8. I could say more about this but I wont. Why? Despite being an introductory model, nearly 30% of St. Regis production was dedicated for police/law enforcement use. Model T Manual 1924 Chevrolet owner's manual (Canada) 1934 Studebaker Dictator Owner's Manual . (includes original 1979 License plate that came with the car when I purchased it). To be fair so did most of the others. 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. Brakes coming totally unset from the factory! There is a good chance that the following car may be an ex-prop from the show - it matches the main photo and the last thumbnail with . BTW that is some of the best looking vinyl I have ever seen it fooled me! The leather was cracked and looked horrible. 1979 DODGE ST. REGIS: Dodge dumped its really big Royal Monacos after 1977, leaving only mid-size Monacos for 1978. It was a strong rival to Chrysler and Ford models thanks to its then-new aerodynamic design, weight efficiency and resulting good fuel economy. Undercoating must have good protection despite its limit. The owner brought it to my place of business to let me see it and drive it. The reason I know this is because Ive got a 79 St. Regis. $9,495. There is a small piece of trim missing near the drivers door, unnoticed until close to car. Or, at least, thats how the story goes. 5.12 x 1.82 x 1.34 inches. The retracting headlight covers were a nuisance, too. Broad Brook, Connecticut, United States. 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. 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). There are only handful of St Regis around, and fewer of them is in heavily salted Michigan. 1979 St Regis. The car starts up and runs nicely. 1975-1979 Chevrolet Nova 9C1 . piraf23, tim boone and 16 more people faved this In each year a good proportion (30% or more) were for fleet (Police and other law enforcement . The automatic transmission has been serviced and a third row has been added to the radiator. 1979 Dodge Trucks. The St. Regis trademark. So, if you took your eyes off the road for even a moment, you could find yourself halfway in the adjacent lane. It was only produced from 1979 to 1981 and most of the 58,000+ cars produced went to fleet use. Your email address will not be published. Sometimes it would fire up again again sitting, sometimes not. The agency is responsible for law enforcement on all public roads in the state. 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 only other thing was the headliner started coming down after the car was 20 years old. Its so fortunate the car is equipped with FM too ( I bought a parts radio from ebay for my volare as I cant stand the AM radio in remote north Michigan countryside ) and more than one speaker is a big plus on St Regis. The Fab Forums Fox Body Project: Doing A Factory Mini Tub Build Part 3. Never buy a used cop car. . https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hed87QNchpw. Once you did manage to get it started, it would stall and stall. 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. That year the CHP put a limited number of Ford Fairmonts, Chevy Malibus, Plymouth And I thought the general shape of the car was attractive, even if it seemed to owe a lot to Buick. This car brings back a lot of bad memories for me, sadly. Of course I later learned that the Monacos performed far better than the St. Regis. A person could probably write a whole book on it. We had only one car that would almost hit one hundred, we had another that would hit eighty five. 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. 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. At the end of the 1970s, the Big Three were all moving towards smaller, lighter machines. He couldnt believe when he bought the car that someone put points in it. Options $0. And the 318 is not my favorite Mopar engine. 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. -WILL TRADE FOR- preferably 70s sedan, compact, truck, anything 70s. These cars are a great deal for St Regis shoppers. It has buckets from a 1985 Omni that were a direct bolt on to the original seat tracks. 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. Saw one of these, white over white, on my drive home the other day. Especially if it was known to have a lot of build quality problems on delivery. All this wears the cars slap out before they finally get rid of them. 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. 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 car is offered for sale locally, nd I reserve the right to end the auction early. I believe 79 was when Lee Iacocca came in to clean house. 1979. At the time I thought it was the best looking car Dodge ever produced. Although it is not a police package car, have cloned it to represent the police department from the 1980s TV show "TJ Hooker"that starred William Shatner and Heather Locklear. The underlying platform dates all the way back to 1926 and had a number of major revisions over the decades up to 1991. "It sits lower to the ground, it is a car, and it is newer". I know the seats werent leather too. Select a vehicle trim below to get a valuation. I am the second owner of this 1979 Dodge St. Regis. 1978 Dodge Omni. 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. The CHP tried some marked Camaros in 1992, and used a few 1993 and 1994 (and 2001 and 2002) Camaros for truck enforcement. It featured a unique retractable headlight cover, 5.2-litre and 5.9-litre V8s and a three-speed automatic transmission. 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. 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. 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 was always impressed with the ride quality and handling, even with the police suspension and police pack components. By the time I sold my St. Regis it had 110k on the clock and still ran great. 1979 Dodge Diplomat. This gorgeous full-sized survivor is listed on eBay with an almost laughably-low buy it now price of $4,250! 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 dash pad is crack-free. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. He has been writing about cars for several years with a string of published books to his name. 1968 Dodge Monaco with a 383 cubic inch motor. The car was very comfy on long distances with its wide pillowy seats that were like a sofa. For much of the show's run, Shatner drove an equally forgettable . 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 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. It ran OK, nothing obviously wrong with it, but I realized I liked the looks of it more than I liked driving it. Alternatively (and preferably for my 17 year old self) you could just gun it enough to delay the upshift. Lol. Handling Ranked 2002 Ford Focus ZX3 better. 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. 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. Weve made a few changes to it over the years to make it more comfortable and fun to drive. 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. 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.