1972 Plymouth Fury 1 Pursuit restored as a DC Metropolitan Police Car

Copper1982

New Member
Joined
Jun 2, 2021
Messages
25
Reaction score
80
Location
Woodbridge, VA
Here is my 72 Plymouth Fury 1 Pursuit 440 (COVID Built restoration) as a DC Metropolitan Police Traffic Car. The vehicles restoration began in 2013 when a previous owner, Billy found one of those unpictured craigslist ads stating "1972 Plymouth Fury Police Car part or whole (Fountain, CO)" the car was weeks away from being demo derbied, and Billy convinced the young guy to sell it to him whole. The car was missing the engine and transmission as well as the rear end, but other than that it was pretty complete and the tan interior was in decent shape. Billy found an old radio license in the glove box and mailed a letter to the man Jim in Colorado. Jim was the 2nd owner, a young teen at the time, who bought it at the Colorado State Patrol Auction in 1975, and put a new 8 track player, speakers and police scanner (car still had the 8 track player). Jim advised he blew the 440 motor one night going down the back roads at a 140mph. Jim got the original motor rebuilt and the car was sold by his parents in the 80s or early 90s. (The cars history from this point was unclear till 2013.) Billy put a new rear end in it and sold it on our police car for sale Facebook page, to a friend Steve. Steve drove from norther Virginia to Billy in Tennessee and towed the car home. Billy gave Steve a correct HP 727 rebuilt transmission for the car. Steve then had a 71 440 motor build with over 9:1 Compression and got the car back on the road. I told steve if he ever sold the car to give me 1st dibs on it. I got the car with over 11k in the motor for a good friend deal! In January of 2020, I sent the car for restoration. The front fenders were pulled, and the whole body and trunk was stripped to bare metal. In 1972 DC Police had Spinnaker White with Brittney Blue Stripe Fury 1s, and tan interior. The engines were 318 or 360. The car was painted its original Spinnaker White with a Britney Blue Stripe and recently got all new tan Factory upholstery seats from SMS. I new the car was originally a 72 Colorado State Patrol Car with factory dual spot lights and dual red single beacons on the roof. The car still had the roof holes and spot lights, but I never could find the cars cruiser number. I was able to find a 2nd build sheet under the front bench seat, and one day when I pulled the drivers door card off, the sun hit the door card at just the right spot where I could see a large number "93" faded into the top of the door card. This was CSP cruiser #93. After the paint and body was completed, needed a correct lightbar for it. After 8 years of searching, I located an ultra rare (5 left known to exist) ESCO Synchro Twin Lightbar, which originally came from DC police, being hoarded away in a former officers garage. The lightbar was the my agencies first light bar and was unique in design because it has an externally mounted motor with dual drive shafts that spin the beacons opposite directions. Recently I had the cars vintage Motrac radio modified and converted with an amplifier to function as a shoulder mic compatible with our current hand held portable radios. Most the hard work is done, still to come is having the dash restored, finding correct H stamped 72 wheels, and cleaning up under the hood.

72 fury fort linclon cemetery 10.JPG


72 fury fort linclon cemetery 3.JPG


72 fury fort linclon cemetery 13.JPG


72 fury fort linclon cemetery 18.JPG


72 Plymouth Fury Restored console.jpg


72 fury fort linclon cemetery 43.JPG


capitol 429 fury traffic car.jpg


CSP 1972 Plymouth Fury 1.jpg


72 fury fort linclon cemetery 5.JPG


72 fury fort linclon cemetery 16.JPG
 
Good job saving it, it. Got a fresh start again.

I’ve got a silly question. If you found all this history why didn’t you put it back how it came, as Colorado CSP #93? This is the history, not a DC In town small block car.

Now it’s got an identity crisis.

your searching out the correct wheels, radio, light bar, etc, bit changing it all around.
 
Looks great, but I too, would've went back with CSP livery. That is its history. Plus, I'm from CO. I remember one or two encounters with these in the mid-'70s...LOL!
 
Last edited:
I believe if I correctly recall, he is a DC Police officer, so likely has more attraction to the DC Livery from the past.
 
What a wonderful car! Thank you for sharing it with us.

People can go around and around arguing if a police car has to be restored to it's original livery. I'm currently experiencing those thoughts about what's best to do with my St Regis. The bottom line is that 99% of police cars don't have a happy end, and yours certainly has.

Jeff
 
Why a DC Police Car? simple answer...... because its where I work and I have 0 interest in colorado.....small block police cars are almost impossible to find, no one saved them....people are more likely to hold onto the big block cars. I have no intention of ever selling it.
 
Why a DC Police Car? simple answer...... because its where I work and I have 0 interest in colorado.....small block police cars are almost impossible to find, no one saved them....people are more likely to hold onto the big block cars. I have no intention of ever selling it.

I bet most small block police cars were purchased by the taxi companies when sold at auction. The next step after taxi service is the scrapyard.

Jeff
 
Great restoration. We have a group of guys in NYC who have replicated NYPD cars from 1940-1996. It's great to see history represented and preserved.
 
Great restoration. We have a group of guys in NYC who have replicated NYPD cars from 1940-1996. It's great to see history represented and preserved.

I had big plans to do a 1973 NYPD Plymouth, but once I saw that it had been done, and done very well, I decided to scrap my plan. I also figured it would be close to impossible to track down the correct light bar.

73 Fury NYPD 3.JPG


Jeff
 
The thrill of the hunt.

Yes. I'm sure there are a few out there someplace. Just like the owner of this '72 found out, I've always figured that some retired NYPD officers or motor pool mechanics had a light bar squirreled away in their basements from whatever year they switched to the rectangular lamp light bars. NYC is a big, big city, and they had a lot of police cars.

There's been an add on facebook for over a year for a bunch of movie cars for sale on Staten Island, and two of them are Coronet police cars that appear to have the correct rotating lights. The light bars themselves look to be home made from square tubing and just bolted to the roofs. Anyway, I wasn't looking to spend $4000 just to get a couple rotators and flashers.

9696_n.jpg?_nc_cat=101&ccb=1-3&_nc_sid=843cd7&_nc_ohc=jw_w-ULEdtMAX9QDBME&_nc_ht=scontent-lga3-2.jpg


Jeff
 
Great looking car.

Thanks for posting, it gets me fired up to press on and get mine on the road.
 
Those cars in SI are LONG gone. We never used Coronets. The only years Dodge won the bid was 1960, 1962 and 1988 (Highway only, Plymouth for Precinct cars). Many of those light bars are "made up". There were 2 versions: 73-74 and 75-77. Very similar.
 
Back
Top