Slowmover wrote:
Grandparents used a '68 Dodge Polara A38 Police Pursuit. Actually a special-order fully-optioned Monaco with all HD/Police options. V8-440, T727B and 3.23 gears. 10-mpg towing or solo. The U.S, Canada and deep into Mexico with their 28' Streamline.
At the Michigan State Police trials, a later version (slightly detuned) ran a 14.0 at 107-mph with a couple of big old boys and representative trunk weight.
A friend (former CHP) said the A38s could cruise at 130-mph for hours. Maybe a Hemi Coronet or 427 'vette could lose one. The T-Rex of the open road.
"Drive like Gramps" . . yeah, right. That car was something.
Muscle cars were for little boys. Couldn't go anywhere or carry anything. It was a 300 Letter car or the later A38 that defined highway performance. Took another forty years to exceed them.
When they set out the small craft warnings, it was The Big Iron that headed out into the night. There's a whole continent out there to see and explore.
(That combined rig based on memory of how they packed, plus factory data, tells me it was in the range of 12,300 to 12,700 as to weight ).
.
They had the police package by the sounds of it. Better rad hoses, bigger rad, heavy duty/performance suspension/brakes/wheels/tires/ alternator, etc.
Many muscle cars back then had 3.73's , 3.90's, 4.10's...which with 3 speed automatics limited their top speed. Muscle cars were generally spec'd out to hit their top speed, just a bit past the 1/4 mile. Police cars (highway interceptors) were spec'd to be able to run at fast speeds (if the occasion demanded it) for long periods...thus they needed extra cooling, higher gears like 3.23...3.00, etc.
A police package car would be a very good driver's car, then or now. Hard to get new though, although used is easier.
I envy your grandparents'....that would of been a wonderful automobile. Do you know what happened to it ?
