The Fast and the Fury-less.

[Brian Coltrane]

Darned if somebody didn't bust us on a patrol car misquote in our FAQ's. We're gonna update those as soon as we can. Meantime, here is the info Maxim provided, regarding make n' models used for Hazzard County patrol cars.

HazzardNet FAQ:

"Rosco, Enos and Cletus's patrol cars -- The cars that were used from the third season on were late 70's Plymouth Fury's ('78 and '79's like above). The first couple of seasons had AMC's, mid 70's Fury's and Dodge Monaco's were used as well."

Correction as supplied by Maxim:

There was no 1979 Fury. The body style for Fury's like in that picture (B-bodies) were from '75 to '78. The Dodge Monaco's had that body style from '77 to '78. The Dodge Coronets had that style from '71 to '76.

In 1980 there was an R-body Gran Fury. Like in 1979; 1981 was "Furyless". In 1982 we got the boxy M-body Gran Fury's that I am sure you are familiar with; its Dodge twin was the Diplomat. Those continued until 1989 and were the last Mopar RWD cars (not counting Vipers) as well as the last of the Mopar "squad cars".

We couldn't have said it better, Maxim. ( and we didn't! ) Thanks for the detail!

Brian

[MaximRecoil]

Like in 1979; 1981 was "Furyless".

Small correction on what I typed. They actually made that R-body Dodge St. Regis twin Gran Fury for 2 years, '80 and '81; rather than just in 1980 like I was thinking before I had the discussion on the other thread with Jeff - http://mywebpages.comcast.net/Plyfury/81gf.htm

Anyway, the rest of it is correct according to allpar.com and various other sources I have since checked to make sure my memory wasn't failing me, lol.

[Jeff Kleb]

While I just found out about the "absence" of the '79 Fury, I do know that a St. Regis was made for the '79, '80 and '81 model years. I am not sure about the '80, but I believe I have a photo of a 1981 Gran Fury that was used by the VA State Police. If I can find it, I will post it here.

Lots of good info here! Great site!!!!

P.S. A way to tell the '77 and '78 Monaco/Fury cars from the '75 to '76 models is by either the headlamps or tail lights. On the older ones, they'll have all-red tail lights and single, round headlamps. The '77 and '78 cars will have red & amber tail lights and square, quad-style headlamps.

[MaximRecoil]

I just came across this on a Sledge Hammer! forum while looking for information about these cars:

An interesting note on the 1979-81 St Regis: apparently they were so bad as police cars (top speed 95mph without a light bar), police departments couldn't get rid of them fast enough. Most of them seemed to end up at movie studios. If you watch early 80s action shows (like the A-Team). you'll see TONS of old St. Regis'es and Plymouth Fury's get trashed. I seriously doubt there are many left out there. I did see a Plymouth version on the streets a couple years ago though..so depending on where you live you may be able to find one.

I wonder how accurate that is? I know that they were ill-fated but if they had a 360 4v they couldn't have been that bad. I realize that it was in the prime of the bogged down emissions era but still...

[Jeff Kleb]

If you want to talk about a "bogged-down" police car, check out the LTD from the '79 to '87 body style. They had that 351 (5.8L) V-8 with the variable venturi 2-barrel carburetor. Those cars would not stay tuned and were horrible on gas mileage. The overdrive transmisson that came in the '83 to '87 model helped a bit, though.

Chevy's 350-powered Impala was probably top dog, performance-wise, but I think Chrysler still sold a heck of a lot of Diplomats (usually 318-powered) in that era.

My personal favorite was the '77 & '78 Monaco with the last of the big-block 440 Interceptors. Mopar went downhill from there, huh?

[Jeff Kleb]

Check out some of the old Mopars available on this site. Cool pictures and lost of information.

http://members.fortunecity.com/copcarsite/rbody.html

http://members.fortunecity.com/copcarsite/rbody2.html

[MaximRecoil]

Good site. I like this picture:

I had forgotten how big those cars were. I checked and the wheelbase was 118.5" on all of the R-bodies. That's nearly as big as a C-body (shortest wheelbase on the C-bodies was 119" all the way up to 124"). No wonder they didn't do so great with a late 70's/early 80's era 360.

[Jeff Kleb]

Oh, back to the Gran Fury thing. There was not one for '79 (but you can find the Chrysler Newport in old cop car pictures), but they did make them (at least a few of them) in 1980.

I found a photo of an '80 Gran Fury that was used by the VA State Police. It is exactly like a St. Regis shown in the previous post, but with a different front end. Of course, we all know they did make a Gran Fury in '81.

Big cars they were! When I lived in PA and they had them in the early '80s, they filled up my rear-view mirror. The Chevy Malibus that the state purchased in 1983 looked downright puny in comparison - although they were much faster with that 350 in such a small car.

[Mopar Duke Fan]

I have a buddy who was a cop. He said the big block mopars were always the best cop cars. Always the fastest and always handled pretty good.

Even in the '80s when they were just 318s he said he still prefered the mopar over the chevy. The Fords were always dogs though. And if you can get an old 318 car or 350 car, They are supposed to be much faster then the new 4.6 L Crown Vics. I guess the crown vics top out about 90 mph, while the older v8s will hit 110 pretty easy.

Thats what he and a few others I know said anyway.

[Jeff Kleb]

The Crown Vic police package ('99 through '01, anyway) is good for about 120 to 125 mph -- mostly depending upon the type of light bar in use. These cars have 215 to 225 net horsepower (varies by state) and the automatic transmission has an overdrive fouth gear that helps a bit.

2003 through 2005 Crown Vics have the same 4.6 engine, but the horsepower was bumped up to 250. '03 models have rack-and-pinion steering, better brakes and some other suspension tweaks lacking on earlier cars. The seats are nicer and the headrests now protect officers of varying heights.

The 351-2v Fords ('79 to '90 or so) were only good for about 175 to 190 horsepower, as the engine just could not breathe properly. They almost would have been better off with the civilian 5.0 EFI under the hood.

[Mopar Duke Fan]

yea, I was talking about the mid '90s Vics.... I don't know about the new ones. They had a 4.6 in them too, but they weren't much over 200 hp if I remember correct.