Pity the poor consumer who had to choose a car to buy in 1965; with so many choices from so many brands, it’s a wonder that anybody bought anything! The Chrysler camp offered refreshed intermediates such as the Coronet and Satellite; compacts such as the Valiant, Barracuda, and Dart; and full-size options such as the Fury, Newport, and Polara. A secretary from Sidney, Nebraska, decided on this Polara and 59 years later, it’s up for sale on eBay.
The Polara’s standard engine was the durable and popular 383 Mopar big block, but somewhere along the way a 361 found its way under the hood of this convertible. Although the 361 was not available in the ’65 Polara, the basic architecture was the same as the 383, and the real world output was probably similar. Regardless of the displacement, the seller says that it “runs great and sounds great.” It has power steering, power brakes, and air conditioning, but no comment is made regarding the latter’s refrigerating status. The seller is replacing the leaking original radiator with an aluminum unit, but will throw in the original in case the new owner would prefer to recore it.
The interior looks appropriate for a fun driver. Some wires are hanging down from the dashboard, but there’s nothing here that couldn’t be rectified with some elbow grease. The seller says that the carpet and weatherstripping are all new, as is the paint.
As paint jobs go, this one appears to be driver-quality, as some red overspray has found its way underneath the car onto the leaf springs and shackles, as it so often does. There might be some wet-sanding remnants on the lower quarters, as well, but none of this is too off-putting or surprising to me as a man who is more than happy with cars in this price and condition range. One thing the seller mentions is that the undercarriage is undercoated, and that scares many discerning buyers away. A fresh red paint job and new undercoating could be hiding any number of automotive land mines, but if the price is right and one keeps one’s expectations realistic, it’s not the end of the world. The undercarriage pictures provided by the seller don’t show any areas of great concern, in my opinion.
It seems that quite a few bidders agree with me. With several days to go, 44 people have currently bid this Polara up to $10,100, and that’s a pretty good value for a ’60s convertible with a V8 under the hood. While a Polara might not have been your first choice in 1965, sometimes a car will come up that’s the right car at the right time, and maybe that time is now for you.
Cheerful cruiser. Drive and enjoy.
This is a driver, but I would check it out thoroughly. The blue overspray in the engine bay makes me think that someone is slapping paint over anything without any prep, which makes me nervous about how well the body was prepped. I am also curious as to what is going on with the underside of the quarter panel – is that a homemade patch panel?
That dashboard makes Dolly Parton look petite.
I believe at the time the ’65 Polara/Monaco dash panel was one of the largest, most intricate die cast parts made; I recall a small article in one of my dad’s trade magazines stating something to this effect; it stuck with me because of the visual of the bare panel, the fact it was a Dodge (my favorite brand) and that the plant was in my hometown.
Nice car, but for some reason I’ve always been turned off by red converts with white tops – prefer black.
An actual secretary car.
i had one of these when i was about 20 back in early 90s. found it behind a barn and paid $300bucks bearing in rear axle was shot and smoked all the way home, fixed it and drove it on and off for years lotsa fun😀
it ended up in mike halls “field of dreams” from rust brothers tv show i actually saw it when i was watching the show!
Pushing up past 10g’s so must be going overseas.
I had a cream-white ’65 Dodge Polara 2 dr hardtop with bucket seats and a beautiful console with the torqueflite tranny shifter between them, along with PS, PB, AC, AM/FM radio with 4 speakers – a 383 4 brl and high ratio rear end. It’s big easily visible at a glance dash gauges were also a delight. That was one gorgeous car in and out and was very quick on its feet. It’s too bad this red ’65 convertible has a bench seat in it Seems like a real downer to me – I mean; if you’re going to make it a convertible, why not go with Dodge’s very luxurious bucket seats to top it off? Anyway, this one looks clean and appears in good shape for its age. I hope whoever gives it a new home lets us know if it is as good as it looks or just a lot of makeup to get it sold.
I have a friend who did a very nice restoration on a very similar car. I tried to talk him out of it, saying he would have way more than its worth when it is finished. He didn’t listen and it came out great he has too much money in it and he is going to will it to his daughter, and they are both happy. So what do I know?