After setting the automobile industry on its ear in the late 1957s with “Forward Look” styling that would soon be copied, Chrysler miscued big-time on the styling of the 1961 full-size Dodges and Plymouths. The reversed tailfins contributed to Dodge sales, specifically, dropping by more than half from the year before. This 1961 Polara looks rather ordinary and could be thought of as a sleeper, but its supposedly one of just 10 of the 4-door sedans built with sales code 356, a 383 cubic inch V8 with “Long Ram” induction manifolds, and twin carburetors. This unassuming hot rod is in Clinton Township, Michigan, and is available here on craigslist for $35,000 OBO. Barn Finder T.J. comes through again in the tips department!
For the 1961 model year, the Polara was Dodge’s sole “senior” model automobile (the Dart continued but on a shorter wheelbase). Styling guru Virgil Exner stubbed his toes by flipping the tailfins so they were taller as they flowed toward the rear window (instead of the other way round). Pundits said the overall effect made the rear of the autos “pucker” from various angles. The end result for Dodge was that sales dropped below that of the year the company was founded, 1914 as only 14,032 Polara’s were built, dropping Dodge from 6th to 9th on the Detroit sales charts.
Amid this misery, Dodge produced 10 Polara sedans with the 383 Long Ram Induction engine option, with overlapping intake manifolds and two air cleaners sitting atop two 4-barrel carburetors. We don’t know if they were all built with an automatic transmission as is the case with this Polara. The seller has documentation that will attest to the car’s rarity and states that only one of these vehicles is left in existence and the car here is it.
Unless this Dodge has a clone, this car appeared for sale on eBay in 2016 and the odometer reading was about the same, 92,500 miles. A surviving copy of the window sticker shows it was sold new by a California outlet known to be a high-performance car dealer, so perhaps they were the brains behind these 10 Dodges. The body is clean and rust-free, wearing a repaint from about 25 years ago.
We’re told the interior is original with “some patina” which sounds like another way of saying “it’s a little bit worn.” It’s adequate but doesn’t look as tidy as the exterior of this Dodge. But the muscle car is said to be mechanically stout, runs great, and needs nothing. As it should since the hot motor was rebuilt by a previous owner, so it’s not in survivor condition, though close in appearance. The “sleeper” image of this car is helped by steel rims, reproduction Goodyear tires, dog dish hubcaps, and police car brakes. Perhaps you should think of this ancient Polara as the great-grandfather of the Dodge Charger Hellcat. That would be a great compliment!
It’s got 2 doors too many but that amazing intake manifold takes most of the deterrent of the doors away. Was reading about the development of Mopar performance back in the day and sound was a tuning tool. These had to sing, although cold starts in cold weather wasn’t their forte. Nice unusual sedan that many gearheads will appreciate.
You forgot a couple of cliches.
“Twice the doors, half the price”
“to (sic) many doors”
They were funny back in about 1990. All reasonably-intact old cars should be respected these days, no matter how many doors. They’re disappearing all the time.
The cars that were so ugly, that they’re good looking today. Funny how that happens, eh?
What is the deal with that driver’s side seat back? High back driver’s side only?
And where did the pic of the window sticker come from?
I like oddball Chryslers, and I love this car. It needs a dashpad replacement/rebuild, front seat recovered (what is that seat anyways, odd for sure) and those will be expensive. More like 20k, not 35k. The ones I would really love to have are the two 66 four door Hemi Coronets that were built, one red, one white. Don Garlits owned both at one time I believe, in his museum. Those are oddballs, for sure
You must be young and never have seen an early 60s Mopar up close. The high back driver’s seat was the norm at Chryco during this period on all their full-size cars. Often paired w/their ‘square’ steering wheel!
Many years ago I was attending a W. P. Chrysler Club national meet, and one of the guest speakers [if my memory is right] was John Sansem [Sansom? Cant’ remember his exact last name], discussing Chysler product exterior & interior styling.
Someone asked about why they created the driver’s highback front seat, and the reply was that it was an attempt to keep the right hand & arm of young male drivers focused on the steering wheel, instead of wrapped around the young lady nestled up against him.
The answer garnered plenty of laughs, and I don’t know if it was said in jest or if he was serious. But considering it was the early 1960s, perhaps it was said in all seriousness.
The higher back for driver was referred to as “command seating” and “tower seating” for the driver. I’ve seen both terminology used. It was especially good on 2 doors: entering the rear seat from the passenger side 2/3 of seat folds forward (the lower section) providing incredibly easy access to rear seat. The easiest entry/exit engineered ever for 2 door rear seating!
The seat is correct was another oddity of early 60’s Chrysler products
I did not realize the 383 was available in 61 and I thought only 413 had those long ram dual 4 barrel intakes very cool for sure
Maybe the firm that built this car did
so at the behest of the California Highway Patrol as a prototype for a
better police interceptor. No matter
what the reason, I’ll bet it’s fast and
a blast to drive. It looks like the patrol car in the cult film “This Is Not
A Test” released in 1961. You can find the movie on YouTube if you care
to see it. Most unusual find.
Not a cop car prototype. CHP order approximately 1200 Polara Police Packages, they were jointly engineered by CHP and Chrysler. All units were equipped with a high-output 383 with a 413 camshaft and four-barrel Carter Carb
.
In love with that manifold setup.
Personally, I like the back end of the Darts better. This is a very unique example, though.
Can anyone imagine today having to pay for a heater with defroster? Or $5 for antifreeze? What were they filled with, water?
LOL…..depended on the season. I think water was indeed run in the summer.
Urine after a trip to the cocktail lounge.
The good Ole ingrown toenail taillights. Interesting car , but what’s up with the passenger side seat?
That was if your wife was a dwarf. Sorry…..Little Person.
Late 57 for the “Forward Look”?
Taller driver seat was a common livery for Chrysler at this time.
I read, in ’61, Dodge and Plymouth offered these “high back” drivers seats as a precursor to high back bucket seats. Apparently, they figured the driver should be protected against whiplash, but nobody else.
Look at the RH sidebar on the window sticker, it’s referred to as a “High-Tower Driver’s Seat”. Interesting that the passenger side was not offered the same whiplash protection.
A very neat and unusual car. Likely the only one left. This would look fantastic parked next to my 64 Electra 4 door that runs a 425 with twin fours from the factory. It would also be a cool grudge match. If money was no object, this is exactly the oddball I like.
Sleeper? Sure, absolutely. Not one person would notice you as you stealthily weaved through traffic, before totally surprising someone at a stoplight, before blending right back into the background again. Yeah. That’s it.
A “Sleeper” normally refers to a car that has a lot more performance than you would expect just looking at the outside appearance. It could stick out like a sore thumb due to its age and rarity or it could blend in with everything else on the road. No one would suspect (Other than the BF readers) that this mild looking family 4 dr sedan from the early ’60s has a long ram 383 under the hood. “Blender” no, “Sleeper”, yes.
The long rams are a pretty wild looking setup, but I’ve heard that they run out of nuts at about 2800 rpm. The only set I’ve ever seen on a running motor was in a pickup, which would make sense.
Yup, long intake runners are great for torque, not so much for high HP or RPMs.
The conversion from 1961 dollars to today’s dollars is almost exactly a factor of 10. So it is easy to convert the option prices as seen on the window sticker to today’s dollars. So in today’s dollars: heater $740, power steering and brakes $1080 each, left-hand remote mirror $178, and (the most amazing to me) the Astrophonic Radio (cool name) $1050.
Kind of illustrates why my frugal parents’ 1960 Dodge was a stripper (automatic, heater, radio, power steering was all that I remember it having as options).
Just about everything on the option list would be standard on even the most basic commuter car today– excluding, of course, the big V8.
A different setup for sure. I see only one issue under the hood, needs a bigger battery….right. This car must have been hidden away for a while, looks like no rust. I am from Illinois, and when you pulled the Chrysler’s in the garage in winter, you could hear them rust.
If I’d have been a Dodge dealer in late 1960, I’d have cried as the first ’61s came off the truck. How in the world to sell these? How to stay profitable for the year?
This is from Chrysler’s worst days until the late ’70s, when the bailout was nigh.
As hideous as it is, I find it cool to see this one now, especially with that performance package.
I’m tired of the knee-jerk “too many doors” syndrome. These were the cars we saw on the street every day, and they’re about all gone — four door sedans and hardtops families relied upon. I think they look as cool as anything else.
In this one, you could rely on getting to and from the supermarket very quickly indeed if there was no traffic!
Oh wow…..this car denotes sadness. One can certainly see, how this heap was a flop !
A Polaris missile should have been used. lol
I think its cool. I’d love it if it was a 2dr but still a unique car
Having never seen one of these before I LOVE it! Those weird tailfins are cool as HELL with the phaser cannon taillights in perfect firing position. Maybe it’s ugly maybe its gorgeous. Either way it’s wonderful. What a ride!
In the late 1960s, my everyday car in high school was a 4 door sleeper; a 1957 Packard Clipper sedan, but under the hood was a Supercharged, solid lifters, Studebaker Golden Hawk 289 V8.
More than a few clueless guys would laugh when seeing my car for the first time, but the moment I raised the hood and exposed that big belt-driven centrifugal blower, a typical comment was; “What the hell is that — a supercharger?”
Several examples survive. The Forward Look bunch is pretty tight and cars like this are well documented. This package was often sold to persons that planned on pulling a camper trailer … hence the family sedan body. The 383 crossram was tricky to put into perfect tune, but delivered astounding liftoff at any speed. They could deliver amazing fuel economy, if babied. Seems counterintuitive, but I had them and drove them. My 60 DeSoto embarrassed a hotshot with a well built 396 Nova one time. The unibody was much lighter than the body size suggested, and they really moved out. That DeSoto is one car I wish I still had. Widdo Bwudder still had a 2 door Polara like the one featured here. All were rare cars in their day. Far rarer now.
Interesting car, looking at the build sheet it seems as it was ordered to be a sleeper ,plain white and dog dish hubcaps, but it does have a lot of interior options, as well as the engine
You have to admit, they had a lot of guts producing a car that featured these “reverse” tailfins.
When you put LSD in the water cooler …..
The original owner was a private citizen, not affiliated with the Police department. The original selling California dealer sold another duplicate of this one, civilian model as well.
I remember when these were new. I thought they looked so much better than the 59’s or the 60’s models.