The 1970s and 1980s Dodge Diplomat was an evolution of the troubled Aspen and Plymouth Volare. Along with the Plymouth Gran Fury, it became a popular choice for police cars on the street and in the movies/television. With black paint and a matching vinyl roof, the seller’s 1987 Diplomat SE looks like a sleeper, but it’s not with a 318 cubic inch V8. In great overall condition, this potential survivor is available in Fremont, California, and here on eBay, where the current bid of $5,100 has not triggered the seller’s reserve.
Diplomats were on the assembly line from 1977 to 1989 across two generations. While coupe and wagon body styles were offered for a time, most Diplomats were built as 4-door sedans. Besides the Gran Fury, the Chrysler Fifth Avenue used the same shell and equipment in the second half of the Diplomat’s run. It would be Dodge’s last carbureted automobile for 16 years and the final rear-wheel-drive product except for the Viper hot rod. Going forward, fuel injection and front-wheel drive were the Chrysler order of the day.
Likely repainted, the seller’s ’87 Diplomat presents well with just a few scratches at 139,500 miles. The grey interior looks brand new despite the fact that the car has had seven owners over the past 39 years. It uses Chrysler’s venerable 318 cubic inch V8, so it’s no speed demon and only moderate on the consumption of gasoline. The brakes are new, and we’re told it’s a solid driver. Photos show it with black wheels, black tires, and poverty hub caps, along with wire wheel covers and whitewalls. To me, the former combination is best.
If you’re a fan of old school, this car is as old school as it gets, at least engineering-wise. Its cloth seats and factory air conditioning aren’t rare, but the factory combo of AM/FM stereo, cassette player, and CD player may be. All this car needs to finish off the former cop car look is the big cowcatcher bumper bar to push other cars out of the way with. This ’87 Diplomat restates that black is again beautiful!
Beautiful vehicle, but they ruined it with those police style wheels.
When I was a teenager I got to ride in the back of a similar looking one in the 1980s.
I was just wondering this morning why we never see any 2-door Diplomats or Lebarons with bigger engines dropped in them. They were sharp looking cars and similar to the Volare and Aspen which are frequently seen hot rodded.
Keep the cop wheels, cop tires, and cop hub caps. Leave the ridiculous white walls and candy *** wire wheel covers in the garage.
This Diplomat SE was actually supposed to be a resurrection of the Chrysler Newport. The resurrected Newport was to debut for the 1984 model year but the last minute was canceled and given to Dodge. The grill is actually a 5th Avenue grille with a crossbar attached to it. And if you look at the 1984 owners manual for the 5th Avenue it actually says 5th Avenue and Newport.
That front clip looks to be a Chrysler 5th Ave, and I don’t remember these having the divided front grill like that either. I could be wrong, I think 1987 was one of the early years of this Diplomat/Gran Fury/5th Ave style and they were virtually unchanged through 1989.
The base Diplomat wore the same front end from the 1980 refresh until the discontinuation in 1989. Plymouth got a badge engineered version of the Diplomat in 1982 when the R Body Grand Fury was dropped. The Diplomat SE came out in 1984 after Chrysler changed plans to offer a resurrected Newport hence the Chrysler like grille with the horizontal crossbar.
In Canada the M body Plymouth was called the Caravelle and spanned both body styles ‘78 – ‘89. To confuse the matter, the name Caravelle was applied to a K-car variant as well.
(In the States it was a Gran Fury not Grand)
The Diplomat and 5th Ave appears to have similar front ends but the 5th Ave is a little more dressed up.
Used to have an ‘81 5th Ave modified when I was a teen in the late ‘80s. Weiand dual plane intake, Holley 600cfm carb, no muffler but a “Y” pipe and side exit exhaust, driving lights, full length add a leaf helper springs.
Didn’t know what to do with the Lean Burn computer and I wanted to take off the original anir filter housing for an aftermarket air filter so I just wrapped it in a towel and let it sit on top of the driver side valve cover. I later switched the Holley to a Rochester Quadrajet for better off the line performance. Still had the highway gears so could do 55mph in 1st gear, like a Ferrari Testarossa! 😂
And off course Holley and Weiand stickers for an extra 5hp! 😂
It looks more cohesive with the whitewalls and fake wires, the cop wheels clash with the vinyl top and pinstripes.
This was the last full size car to be made in Kenosha. These, like the Crown Vic and the Chevy were some of the last holdouts to the RWD platform, a market that was disappearing fast. Anyone that bought these was their refusal to accept what was coming in denial, RWD for the masses was history. They were good cars, save for that spaghetti bowl under the hood, the likes of which we’ll never see again. Tis’ no cop car,( and not really being promoted as one) the rear inside door handles are the key, cop cars didn’t have any, ask me how I know. Aside from the Crown Vic, this was the 2nd most cop car I was stopped by.
Oh, by the by, I read those “Dragnet” magnetic red lights are illegal to have on a passenger car. It’s illegal to impersonate an officer in any way.
Lovely looking car. I remember cars like the Dodge Diplomat back in the 1980s. I remember some of them being used as police cars, some used as taxi cabs. I’ve always liked both cars.
I got involved with designing high beams that didn’t show red or blue until “lit up”! Even got paid for it! Our company worked with several law enforcement agencies with special lighting setups. Because no one wanted to address the actual safety aspect of high speed pursuit night driving. In most cases, the police car actually had worse lighting at night than regular vehicles because of the way they used their flashing headlights. The officers were really grateful for what we did for them. As they were having to pay for the upgrade out of their own pockets. As the states would not spend the money for safer patrol units.
Wow, that is really cool, Wayne!!!
I could go with any of the 3 choices shown for the wheel cap/cover/none application. Once again, the vehicle would look so much better with its bench type bumpers tucked in. The front end looks really good to me. I have never given thoughts to these previously.
Remember these well… saw them often hiding along the freeways up and down from NY to FLA. 🚨
Never had one of these fancy looking Dodge Diplomats but drove several of the Gran Furys. Likely the same drivetrain set-up and minimal power output, weren’t exactly “lightning bolts” as far as “high-speed chases” either. They were “ruggedly tough” if you had to use it to batter some fleeing felon off the roadway, that is IF you could ever catch up to the absconding perpetrator’s vehicle. Weren’t “bullet-proof” either. LOL. That Diplomat is a good looking car though.