NOT MINE 73 Dodge Polare Nevada Highway Patrol Police Pursuit

[TobiasM]

Fellow fcbo-family,

have not found this car discussed here...or did I miss something?

For the records: VIN was DK41U3D305166

Auction has ended meanwhile: sold for 5,401$.

Bargain or not? Show your opinion and take part in the poll!

Here is the link to the auction: 1973 Dodge Polara | eBay

Some sample-pics off the auction attached for you guys!

 

[Rustyrodknocker]

Ill throw in that I dont think it is a bargain. I'm just not bought in on the special order cars. I like them and I would like to have one. But when a fleet car in rough shape is worth more than a top of the line version of the same car it just does not add up.

Now the youtube kid called unskilled mechanic
That got that clean Fury for 2k at the mopar hoard auction? Yea man that was a smokin deal considering anybody could have bid.

Honestly, the value that these cars carry today is directly connected to the absence of value that they carried for 30 years. They were destroyed in mass. Between hollywood, derbies , crushers and just being left to rot into the ground.
They have rarity based on a previous lack of value.

If I had to buy a car, meaning just a car I would rather pay $5400 for this than any of the modern csrs in the same price range. There is that I guess.

 

[GregG48203]

special order cars

I have always liked police-spec cars because they have performance options in a more affordable package. The original appeal, to me, was to get a four-door Road Runner. Affordability was the reason that the Road Runner always outsold the GTX.

 

[commando1]

If I had a 100k sitting around for a rotisserie restoration, the purchase price, whatever it comes to, is merely chump change.

 

[Rustyrodknocker]

Well these are 18k cars. And restoration cost is the same as the 118k cars. Probably more since there is so much more support for B body platform cars. If you have big cash to spend on cars you are way better off to go buy the best example of a C body and throw the resto money at something else.

Pro resto guys tell you to start with the best car because the labor will far out pace the difference in cost.

But these are C body Chryslers. They are the most desirable brand by a long shot in the vehicle class. But the fact is the top level cars sell for what a roached out B or E body core sells for.
100k will not get you to the finish line unless you already own the car. That being said, all these 100k plus cars are not restored they are over restored. They just were not that nice new. Especially the mopars.

I think the the bargain would be to somehow convince yourself that you are a ford guy.

The price difference is mind numbing. You can still get super solid cars for 3.5k I'd estimate 3 to 1 at at all levels for the most part and their allover probably 10 to 1 on availability.

Big car ford guys must not all have 3 or 6 cars like c body guys.

 

[MrMoparCHP]

The price seams reasonable without further investigation.

Most any car the restoration cost will often exceed the value, c-bodies even more.
I basically broke even on my CHP restoration, had it been a shop resto it wouldn't have been even close.

Most people restoring c-bodies especially police cars are not in it for the money.


Alan

 

[TobiasM]

Gentlemen,

thanks for sharing your opinions!

Interesting to me: only 2 out of 8 poll-participants think this was a bargain!

I did not take part in my own poll, but to me this car was a bargain: it is a rare police-version that are famous to be very solid build, is even the most powerful engine you could get, is complete except minor things (e.g. spotlights, beacons, radio-stuff) and even wears nearly all of its original paint.

If one is in the market for a police-mopar, these are quite strong „arguments“.

Also NHP is a sought after agency, for me personally next behind CHP.

Luckily I did place a bid (over 5.000$) that was NOT as high as what I really would have been willing to pay...just in full intention to not buy a 2nd cop-car.

 

[Rustyrodknocker]

My opinion is definitely skewed to the conservative. I just can't jump on the train with the mopar rarity value thing.

I'm not sure where the mopar cop car falls in but I'm reminded of one of the Cold War Motors slogans, " It's rare and nobody cares!". Which is a very real thing. I have some friends that are Studebaker people mainly but have orphan cars of all types from Kaiser to Graham Essex and a bunch more, point being some have crazy low production numbers and they carry very low value in comparison. Because nobody cares.
Most car prople would rather have a camaro.

It's a crime but it is the market I guess. Some are probably so rare that people just dont know about them.

Here is an article that Magnante wrote about the Texas auction specifically the cop cars. It is going to be pretty rare to see this many mopar cop cars for sale and they went cheap surprisingly. Steve even speculates that if he would not have negotiated his prior to auction start he would have got it for less than half.
Either way its a good read and a neat story.
The Great Texas Mopar® Auction: That’s a Wrap – Police Car Parade

 

[MrMoparCHP]

I paid less for my CHP 1969 Polara, this car is in a little better shape.


Alan

 

[Rustyrodknocker]

I went back and looked at the pics and read the description in detail, it is better than I gave it credit for and would add that 5400 is a fair deal if the motor will run. Which is my biggest peeve ever. I dont know why its so normal to list cars that way . I don't say bargain because I would have to believe it is worth 7k plus to be a bargain.

If I bought it, I would do the usual **** that I do on all these cars to get them running. Then drop off the seats for plain blue vinyl and do my own single stage one color ebay paint job and it would be everything I want an old cop car to be. And that is just an old cop car.
That would cost 2k and then it would be a
7.5k ish car.

Hopefully we see it here.

 

[CBODY67]

Over the years, I've seen "restored" Crown Vics with law enforcement-type graphics and always suspected that even if they might be a real PI unit (never did learn to determine what was real, back then, on those particular cars), it was still a Ford Crown Vic with some HD options. Whereas, these Chrysler Corp "VIN-K" cars were the strongest things around (for their model year) back then. HD everything that needed to be HD, by observation. In some cases, very close to the HD Trailer Package with a few additions, it seems. So verifying that it's real is a major hurdle, to me, which it is certainly real.

In the performance world, Mopar cop cars are hallowed ground, to many. The meanest and baddest there were, back then. Which can make them worth saving. So they should be done by somebody committed to doing them right and complete (mechanically). They can also be a deep cash sinkhole, too. So the passion and love of them needs to be operable rather than doing them for "a fast buck", to me. Same passion and love as would be lavished on anything with a 426HEMI and low-production options!

Unfortunately, the NV sun was not kind to that car. But everything which might need replacing would also need replacing on a normal car, too, typically. Would take some extra labor and materials to get the body rust gone, though.

I hope that whomever bought this car does it justice!

CBODY67

 

[68PK21 440.6bbl]

have not found this car discussed here...or did I miss something?

I just posted up a bunch of pics for this car, could of swore I saw this one posted. I was lead to the auction by the FB cop car group, I searched 6 ways to Sunday for this thread and found nothing, but I put 1973 into the search engine


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