Unlike Americans, our Australian friends appreciate a fast, comfortable sedan. In the USA it takes something more interesting to draw attention to a sedan, such as its former use as a police interceptor. This 1965 Dodge Polara in Tehachapi, California is offered as a retired California Highway Patrol (CHP) car with a listing here on eBay, and a Buy It Now price of $9000.
This angle highlights the family resemblance between these cars and my 1966 Dodge Coronet. As they do today, Dodge supplied many departments with squad cars in the ’60s, and this would have been one of the fastest.
This picture suggests the car originally wore a tan or gold color, and the monochrome paint you see here probably came in a small cans labeled “Shake well before using.” Though offered as a parts car with no title, this is a running, driving car, and fairly complete. Establishing its provenance as a retired CHP car would be paramount for prospective new owners; otherwise it’s just a used car.
According to AllPar.com “The Dodge Polara pursuit, with a 413, managed the quarter mile in 15 seconds flat, with a top speed of 129 mph. That quarter-mile time would keep pace with the 2018 Mazda6, but I’m sure it would be much more entertaining to the senses in the Polara. Do you see a retired public servant worthy of an all-stock restoration or a big old car with a big old motor?
I’d make vinyl graphics for the doors that say “Car Show Patrol” and have fun cruising the cruise ins.
Why? There are books on history of the highway patrol vehicles in the states just bring this old cow back to how she was when new, get the correct paint, correct graphics, i have a 60ties era power amplifier and motorola radio that would be perfect, get the roof lights/siren.
Make it the way it was!
And unless you try to pull people over or use the siren in traffic nothing i described is illegal. You can even wear a vintage uniform if uou like. It takes an action to “impersonate a pace officer”
Color me extremely doubtful.
Flat black? Perhaps CHP did flat black but if so, they’re the only ones I’ve ever seen.
Non matching colors in the doors and door frames?
Rattle can “accents” and what looks like color that matches the front door frame in the engine compartment?
This car would require some serious provenance IMHO.
Most Mopar cop cars have it on that fender tag…think it’s PO….Then the body and series numbers….
It looks to me like the driver door has been replaces with a beige one. The build sheet reads “CAL HWY PTL DISK BRKES” across the bottom. Cool.
Hi Steve. The door replaced was my first thought, but you can see the same color on the passenger’s door jam in that same picture. Still one site (link below) decodes on the bottom row of the body tag, under “BDY “the “9” under “D” indicates Police, and the Build Sheet matches the body tag which matches the VIN plate so it may be legit. http://www.1962to1965mopar.ornocar.org/ml-osterling65fendertag.html Regardless it’s a cool car in my opinion, but I’d prefer it less fiddled-with.
Might’ve been a cop car, I doubt it was CHP.
Likely a smaller department that ordered whatever the stringent CHP tests said was best, in their own color.
I don’t see enough equipment holes (a-pillar spotlights?) for a real Chippiecar.
And, on CHP cars only the front doors were painted white.
Broderick Crawford told me.
I don’t see the tan anywhere but the DD.
For the asking price the seller needs to resolve any issues with the title. Selling a car with only a bill of sale in California potentially exposes the buyer to an expensive and time consuming can of worms.
The late-60’s early-70’s Polara are the hot ticket. Those are the cars that made the CHP’s reputation. This model year, not so much. With the problems this car has, it seems significantly overpriced.
Steve R
To put it mildly…….
If I bought something like this, it would be for the 413/727 to put in something else. With the current issues California DMV is having, it might be months to find out who the last owner of record is.
CHP has a restored 66 that they tote around to car shows in NorCal. It’s quite nice, but I can’t seem to find much info on it online to share.
I see no tan on door jambs.
Both front doors are from a tan car.
No police car would be tan.
Otherwise nice ride. Love to have it.
Price is silly
Awesome looking car! I’ve always loved Mopar cars of the mid to late 60s. Assuming all the parts are there, I would think that restoration could be done, or even a restomod. One could restore it to original, showroom condition, and use it for parades, etc. or other fun things. :)
Mine always got looks in town and at the car shows too.It was a fun car.Bruce.
I even got a friendly cop at 1 car show who said I will give you a shot that will make you think I am mad.Good people at car shows.Bruce.
The first thing to check would be the VIN tag on the door frame – if the first digit is not stamped in rather than raised ( stamped from behind ) it is a fake. All police vehicles registered in California in this era had this stamp.
If it is, in fact an original CHP car, they were sold off at 75K miles at auction, and both private citizens and dealers would usually repaint them for everyday use- a dealer would probably have the door jambs repainted to get a better price when selling the vehicle. The current seller or his predecessor may have done a cheap black & white repaint hoping for more money. The CHP kept their cars clean and polished – I never saw one with dull paint unless it was due to weather that day.
As a pursuit vehicle, the original engine would have been sourced from Chrysler Marine Division and factory blueprinted – whether this is the original engine or not would make a difference in its value. I’ve seen lots of ex CHP cars go well over 175k with no engine work, although I’d imagine this one is probably pretty tired.
Mine is a ’70 Fury III ex-Washington State Patrol car and I love it.
White steering wheel, 15 inch wheels (14’s were stock) with fleet hubcaps, very rare disc brakes with the correct Imperial style brake booster, 999 paint code… it is a police car for sure. CHP, not sure.
Neat car, fast for the times that’s for sure, but I like the ’69 Polara pursuit special the CHP used. I’ve seen the numbers on those big squads and they are no joke: 0-60 in 6 seconds, 14 second quarter mile at 99 miles an hour with a top speed of 140. For a car that big those numbers tell me they had more than just a run of the mill 440 Magnum. 1970 would have been even faster, but politics got in the way thanks to governor Ronald Reagan.
Notice the license plate which was issued around 1967 so this car only served as a cop car for only 2 years?
That is hard to believe.
An original detectives car maybe?
There is no shot of the certified speedometer.
Back in the 70’s my sister had a boyfriend with one of these. It was a coupe painted flat black, pretty much a rat rod. I always liked this year with the dumbbell grille.
At least they got the steering wheel right all California Highway Patrol Cars had a white steering wheel cool car