TheFearlessFury
Active Member
Wow those are some nice cars, Any difference between the police 440 and the normal one?
just wondering, any police package fuselage plymouths on here? NJSP?
- Thread starter A38E86D32
- Start date
Fury Pursuit
Senior Member
You mean the engine? Yes they are different,...not significant,...but different.
Most people are not aware but there are three versions of the 440: The Commando, The Pursuit Commando, and The Super Commando. Respectively rated at: 350 HP, 360 HP and 375 HP.
Last edited:
TheFearlessFury
Active Member
Neat, does that make ex-police fury's more sought after?
Awesome
i wish my 71' still had the original U code engine. A 72' chrysler imperial 440 resides in it now. I guess it was the only replacement my dad could find at the time...Fury Pursuit
Senior Member
It seems today they are sought after and appreciated.
30 years ago,....not so much. Remember,...most of the retired police cars eventually ended up in wrecking yards....the first thing to be pulled was the engine and transmission.
So, finding a numbers matching original Police Fleet vehicle isn't an easy thing to do. Actually,....it's really fricking difficult.
Which makes "Billy Fury's" collection of '70 Squad Cars quite something!!!
Check out Allan's fine work on his rare CHP Polara....... www.mrmopar.com
Fury Pursuit
Senior Member
Awesome
I think you are ok with your engine. Although I would try and get a correct year and assembly date coded engine.
Most collectors view retired police cars the same as retired race cars; the original engines were attrition items. They "blew", broke, exploded and were pulled eventually,...same as race cars.
Not having an original engine in your "squad" or Police Fleet only hurts the "value" by 10% to 15% in my opinion. As about 75% of them don't have their original engines.
At least that my take,..........
72Fury
Senior Member
I actually found the first owner of mine. He blew the engine up running 130-140 mph for some distance. It was rebuilt, he sold the car and somewhere along the way it was pulled apart, engine sold, and pushed behind a house. Luckily not scrapped. I found a 72 440 and the closest on the trans I could find was a 1970 hp 727 out of a Charger. I also have a 72 727, but it's not the hp version. Obviously not a plus but I don't know how it really affects the value. I think the police car market is not that defined, at least in comparison to something like the Cuda market. I don't think anyone really buys old police cars thinking they will make money on them anyways.
not a debate point in here anywhere for me..i'm with ya Fury Pursuit. like a few others here, you seem to know you police cars very well
one observation to add. WHICH engine an ex-cop car had originally may effect the "value" a bit more measurably. let me explain why this MAY be true.
the "hot" engines .. big blocks generally ("440", '428", "429", "454"displacements from the various manufacturers) .. had/have a "value" premium over the lower displacement/performance engines in the era when many "classes" of police cars were offered.
similar logic says the absence of the top-dog powertrains does reduce the "value" MORE, as a percentage of price, versus a car originally equipped with a less powerful engine option that also does NOT have its original engine.
the competition with the NON-police car market also puts an additional "premium" on the hot engines shared between the civi and police cars. of the ex-police cars that left service WITH their original, "numbers-matching" engines intact - a rarity, did NOT wind up keeping them for this reason - the competition with civi car restorations. et. al.
in the end, the valuation differential as a percentage? wouldn't hazard a guess. just observing that, in general, the valuation effects MAY be more significant with the top-of-the-line "pursuit/interceptor" class vehicles with/without original powertrain.
Last edited:
the top two photos was a car i owned .. those are the auction pictures. tire size I used was 225/75-15 Eagle GT+4 radials. Original tires back then for the 72's I think were H78-15's (non radial of course).
Fratzog
Old Man with a Hat
Just lurking on this thread because I know next to nothing about cop cars and want to learn a bit. What is a hp version of a 727? That is new to me.
72Fury
Senior Member
Quite a few differences. Valve body, clutch packs, etc. A scary number if you look at the parts book. Think of a trans setup for a muscle car, compared to the smooth lazy shifts of a luxury car.
Dad said the original trans in my 71' would make the tires squak and belch blue smoke everytime it shifted, haha not sure if he exaggerated lol
I have to see if my 71'still has the original trans.
Also i think the fender tag denotes the HD trans as "D32", i believe the standard 727 is another code...
Fratzog
Old Man with a Hat
I always wondered what the difference was between D32, D34 and D36.
Pete Kaczmarski
Senior Member
My '70 Fury III ex squad will squak the tires under hard acceleration going into third gear.
there was a thread last year where somebody went through ALL of this (actually several people contributed) diferences in the option codes and the actual content..perhaps someone who contributed/knows exactly which thread can call it up?
Nice!
never tried this on my original UN-rebuilt powertrains but they ARE snappy shiftin' rigs compared to civi cars. its like they have shift kits, OR the design equivalent?
on my rebuilt powertrains (1968 and 1971 440-HP/U Code Mopars) after the break in period ... oh my goodness. yep, tire squawks each shift under hard acceleration - crisp, snappy.
oh, and 0-60 mph for 4000+ lb cars - no, not race car fast of course, but imagine a 300+ lb NFL offensive lineman able to run 40 yd dash in 4.7 seconds (that's REALLY FAST for somebody that size AND who can probably bench press 225 lbs 40 times in a row).
then the 60-120 mph wide-open throttle "sprint" like its nothing - the noise, the rush, and all the power you need and can feel in the "seat of your pants".
at 120 mph, that stable, "glued to the road" feeling (relatively speaking, for the era) and like you have another 50 mph to give it (you don't -- but you still feel the "pull" even at that speed).
AND they were built to do it ALL DAY long if they had do..the brakes, the fluid cooling, the durability of the parts, etc.
wonderful old iron.
Last edited:
Similar threads
