With much of the police car market occupied by Chrysler in the sixties through late seventies, demand seemed to slowly begin switching to GM in the eighties, as some law enforcement agencies started to favor the Chevrolet Caprice. Ford gained ground in 1992 with the introduction of the Crown Victoria, which also proved popular with police agencies and for fleet use in general. However, the Plymouth Gran Fury and its Dodge cousin, the Diplomat, continued to serve officers well until 1989, when production ended for both models. This 1989 Plymouth Gran Fury here on Facebook Marketplace is said to have been an original squad car in Reno, Nevada, although it’s since made its way up to Mayville, Wisconsin. $18,500 puts you in the driver’s seat right now, but that amount may be a little steep, as this one’s already been listed for a year with no takers.
We’d like to thank reader Lothar… of the Hill People for his fun tip here! Plymouth kept downsizing the Gran Fury, with the final size reduction occurring in 1982 and lasting through the end of production. In 4-barrel form, the 318 was tuned slightly for law-enforcement M-Body vehicles, delivering 165 horsepower from 1982 through 1984, with a slight jump to 175 starting in 1985. While these numbers are a far cry from what many long-time law enforcement personnel were used to from a few years earlier, it was probably enough to help catch most criminals, provided the bad guys were driving something from around the same era. The seller states the carburetor has been rebuilt, and also mentions that a new gas tank and fuel sending unit have been installed.
Given the possibility that this Mopar may have seen some hard use in the past, the exterior appears to be in surprisingly good shape, although there’s no word on how much attention it’s received. The panels appear straight and I’m not seeing any signs of corrosion anywhere, and while the official police graphics have been removed, the seller reports that the replica set of Reno, NV magnets he had made will be included for car shows. The A-Pillar spotlights and lightbar on top are permanent fixtures, and the siren is also said to be operational.
While this was dubbed a mid-size sedan, there’s still quite a bit of room inside, with even the back seat looking fairly comfortable for the unfortunate passenger being transported downtown. There’s also plenty of radio equipment in the front, but whether it works or is only there for kicks remains a mystery. This one seems like a lot of fun to cruise around town in or take to Cars and Coffee, but $18.5k sounds a bit high for my pocketbook, although the seller doesn’t seem to be in a hurry to part ways with this 1989 Plymouth Gran Fury. What are your thoughts on this former police car, and how much would you be willing to spend here?
Don’t recall seeing the grill lights or red/blue high beams when I’d get one behind back in the day but then again it’s tough to remember what was on the plate at breakfast some mornings now too.
Great looking recast, would be a hit at the annual show in Ripon, Ca https://www.cityofripon.org/540/Emergency-Vehicle-Display-Show
but kind of pricey for that though it’s probably just a part of what they’ve got in to it.
Some would flip the air cleaner lid upside down in an effort to regain some of the power they thought it had! 😆
At the state vehicle auction back when this would have been turned over. The Highway Patrol Diplomats were seeing averages of $1,500 by mostly cab companies. The cab companies didn’t bid on the city of Reno cars. (Gee, I wonder why? lol) And needless to say they went for much lower prices. The 2500 HD GMC crew cabs (that I sold the NHP for their DOT enforcement vehicles) went for an average of $15,000.
I love that, great one, Mike!
Reno Sheriff’s department, Lt. Dangle reporting for duty
Love these cars. Stephens, you mentioned it’s cousin, the popular Diplomat. But there was a northern 🍁 kin also 🚨 the Caravelle.
The Diplomat was the last passenger car made in Kenosha.
My first car was a Caravelle, bought at a government auction. I was 15 when I bought it.
Mmmm-hmm, stand my ground,,( CB turned down, never heard about the Smokey on my tail) Tom Petty cranked up, oh, oh, paranoia, a police car in my mirrors,,quick, log book, log book, NO, not that one( in the door) steering with knees drawing a crooked line,,,pulling RR wagon drew a lot of attention from the cops. For as many outlaw loads that I hauled, I only sat in the back of these, maybe 2 times. A particular Skokie, Ill city cop had it in for me. Since I spent the majority of my time on interstates, I dealt with State Patrol mostly, and a different caliber than a city cop, and for good reason. I have the utmost respect for LEOs( except in my mirrors) but State Patrol I have the most. The atrocities they have to deal with made a mere truck inspection a piece of cake. Once, a very green rookie insisted I need brakes on all axles of my ’72 Pete. I was adamant in saying, if it didn’t have front brakes new, it didn’t need them. He stormed off to the scale house, comes walking back, “take it away driver”, the feeling was enormous. Another time, at a stop, a trooper asked me. is it true you truckers get all the chicks? I replied, how many donuts do you guys really eat? He let me go,, :)
No siree, no use for an old police car, fo’ sho’..
Have several good friends through the years regale the rest of us with tales of the road and all had good road stories..
One of the most memorable though was from Jerry, a Texas boy. He was hauling the mail so to speak with an empty flatbed behind when he was stopped by a Texas troop. When he was told “you give me an original story why you’re doing 14 over and I’ll let you go..” immediately came back with “ well, my boss screwed up and gave me a trailer that’s geared 5 MPH taller than my truck and I was just trying to stay ahead of it”
Jerry said the trooper began laughing so hard that all he could do is wave him on..
So your saying you cheated on the weight of the load? That might have been profitable, but not good for the roads, nor safe for anyone on them.
Literally everyone did it, to the point that when electronic logs became mandatory there was a sudden trucking shortage.
That and by that time Silicon Valley had already put everyone on notice that they were working on autonomous trucks, and the trucking companies had long since stopped paying for training. Few will go into debt to train for a job the robots are already coming for.
Nlpnt, autonomous semis are still a long way off. I live in the Bay Area, Waymo taxis, aren’t allowed in every county and only recently were allowed to go to the San Jose international airport. Google/Alphabet owns them, but Apple, Microsoft, Amazon and General Motors are each independently working on them. You hardly ever see a Waymo with a passenger, it appears they are just logging miles and logging data, all of the others have human drivers in the drivers seat. Occasionally you will see a Tesla semi, once every couple of months, they have a unique look so the stand out, but they always have a human driver too.
Eventually autonomous cars and Trucks will be common, but that will probably take a couple of decades, I think they will replace Uber and Lyft drivers well before commercial trucks.
Steve R
Hi zippo, I can understand your concern, I worked around that mindset most of my life, mostly from folks that don’t understand how trucking works. To be clear, I didn’t drive a truck to make money, and sometimes, situations arose where to do the job and get paid at all, one had to,,,um, bend the rules, so to say. most times it was over on “comic book”driving time. OBRs( on board recorders) took care of that. Other times I was just doing what the boss told me to do, it was then MY job to get it back safely, and I did. The roads are poorly engineered in the first place, and just the cost of a modern society.
The “safety” concern you mention, is very real, but years ago, we had sub-par equipment, unreasonable deadlines, and if we did haul something overweight, usually over on an axle, not gross weight, we knew all about the dangers, and heeded caution accordingly. We don’t have that today. Trucks are rolling apartments that give a false feel, and inexperience is the real killer. As soon as trucking had to be “taught”, I knew the kiss of death. Years ago, the job attracted farmers losing their shirt, and knew full well how to handle a heavy load. Just don’t have that, and all I can say, is when traveling, STAY AWAY FROM TRUCKS!! Do what you have to do, speed up or slow down ( most trucks are governed at 63mph) but don’t hang with a truck, please. AND, above all, watch that rear view mirror in a stop, just in case.
He was towing an EMPTY FLATBED!
Love that one! I see it’s from Wisconsin so maybe a couple pounds of the Wisconsin Cheese as a go with! I loved my 1984 Diplomat, hated to let it go but the front suspension was totally messed up when I bought is and it could not be properly aligned.
Saw quite a few Waymos in SF today. I find them quite unattractive with those whirling gizmos all over them. Another tech answer to a question nobody asked (e.g AI, 6000 meaningless adjustments and color changes).
Being sight impaired myself, I just
can’t wait for them to get the kinks ironed out of driverless cars
and put them on sale for guys like me. Just imagine what a boon it
will be for folks with sight conditions to be able to take THEMSELVES anywhere they need to go WITHOUT having to rely on a sighted person to take time out of their day to take you somewhere. I can tell you first hand, it really bites! Sure, we’ve got Uber and Lyft here, but how do you know the person driving the car isn’t gonna screw you over once you reach your destination? After being robbed by a Haitian Uber driver in ’21, never again! Having one of those
self driving cars would be a big deal for me. I could go down to the smoke shop and then stop at
my store and make a pest of myself by going down there to check on the kids to make sure
they’re doing things the right way.
Yessir, I can’t wait to be the first on my block with a robot vehicle.
Will I see it in my lifetime? Dunno
but I can dream can’t I?
Biggest issue you’ll have then is finding it after you’ve walked away from it, and getting back out of the ones you got in lol.
And yes, I have seen a prototype of a driverless semi truck up on
YouTube not long ago. And like the UAVs Uncle Sam uses today, the “driver” sits in a comfortable
office and drives the thing by remote control. The operator drives for 8 hours and then hands it over to another “driver” when the first guy”s shift is through. In
theory, the wheels never stop turning and the load gets there on
time. Not very romantic I’ll grant you, but it’s coming whether we like it or not.
“It’s 106 miles to Chicago. We’ve got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it’s dark, and we’re wearing sunglasses.” “Hit it!” Sorry, I just couldn’t resist! 🤣
Fix the cigarette lighter, oh, I see the new Oldsmobiles are in,,,
boy that sure is some really bad wiring going at the battery. surprised it has not gone up in flames.
I was born and raised if SF CA. but moved a few hours North. When I go back to SF every few months there are more and more Waymos! They are freakin’ EVERYWHERE now! Mostly unoccupied.
There are a lot less lately. Waymo has been permitted for use in several large cities recently, I think Austin, Las Vegas, San Diego and somewhere in Arizona, they seem to have transferred a significant portion of their fleet to fill those needs.
Steve R
Lotta cute stories here, but I can’t believe that someone hasn’t mention the fact that, in my humble opinion, the ask for this thing is right out of crazy town.
The 82-84 had 360 heads and an 850 cfm Thermoquad on them, and were surprisingly corkey from a 30 roll. The 85 up still had 360 heads but got a much smaller Q-Jet carb, they still run alright but if you flipped the lid over you could tell the difference between the sound of that bigger carb and could hear then half a mile away.
…and they ran exactly the same. The reason that the ’84 was SLIGHTLY quicker, off the line, was that it had the last year Thermoquad carb (Carter went bankrupt that year) and the first year A-999 transmission (not the previously used A-727 that was durable but heavier and not as efficient). That combo was the best. The top speed was still the same, though. The difference was so miniscule that it was barely noticeable.
Virginia Tech in Christianburg,VA is working on
self-driving trucks.There’s a Volvo truck plant in Pulaski.
& they’re working together on this.
I’d be more than a little concerned if I saw a self-
driving Gasoline tanker coming towards me with no driver
in the cab.
I would be too. But, I think it will be awhile before fuel tanker trucks because who is going to connect hoses and pump the fuel into the tanks at the stations? You going to trust that to a robot? Or the kid behind the counter selling soda and cigarettes?
Spent sometime behind the wheel of one of these – some of it on the Chrysler Proving Grounds. Some of those first ones couldn’t get out of their own way. Our small town sheriff’s department had a 77 LTD II Ford – horrible car and I still have back aches even thinking of it. 400 cid and it couldn’t get out of its own way plus you never knew where it was going to take you on the highway. These cars had a problem with headlamp switches catching fire. I was assisting another deputy when my headlights started flashing on and off. Not wig-wags, just on and off. Then one night it did the magic trick – they went off permanently. Came home that night on the spotlight. We had an old Chevrolet – 454, pass anything on the highway except a gas station. No radio but still had the emergency lights. Brought that back to the office and got the Chief Deputy’s Plymouth. Thought I had died and gone to heaven. Lots of power, great handling and best of all – comfortable seats. I wanted to keep that one but he was bigger than me!
Lovely car. I’ve always loved police cruisers. They’re generally more rugged and more built for heavy duty use.
You want it comfortable, and you want it safe, but you also want it to be rugged and built to withstand just about anything life throws at it. You also want to be able to have it serviced and maintained.