We have to thank BangShifter Brad Berglund for tipping us off to this sweet 1988 Plymouth Gran Fury cop car that is for sale in the Wisconsin Dells. The car is rust free, dent free, and even the interior looks like it has held up well. These are the kind of forgotten third player in the 1980s cop car world with the Fords and Chevrolets garnering most of the headlines. We were hoping that this car had the 360 4bbl engine but alas, it has the more economical 318 2bbl combo that probably wouldn’t win a high speed chase against a Honda Civic. That can easily be fixed though and it would be cool to build a stroker motor out of the original block.
We’re going to guess that this was a detectives car as it does not have any of the stuff you’d want to have in the patrol car like something to keep the bad guys in the back seat, something to stop the really bad guys like a shotgun, no signs of the big radio that can be found in many of the cars, and the seats are not worn enough for it to have been entered and exited a million and a half times over the course of its life.
Call us crazy but we like these cars and with the right engine combo and maybe some 275 radials wrapped around those rear wheels it could be a hell of a lot of fun, especially with the kids in the back seat.
Click here to see the listing for this 1988 Plymouth Gran Fury cop car
A cop car with a lowly 318 on a 2bbl?
I presume it was never used for pursuit duties – but drop in a 442 and tune up the suspension and brakes then fit some better tyres on widened original steel wheels. Then you’d be maybe able to catch muggers fleeing on bicycles which is something this car would have struggled to do with that lil’ 318!
Back around 1980 we had some sheriff deputies arounding aroun Indy with 6 popper Fairmonts . But of course they’d tell you you can’t out run the radio ……( wink wink )
Gotta love those “442’s”…lol!
You can’t even see the engine! I don’t miss the days of miles of those rubber lines!
I miss those days dearly.
I really enjoyed a 400 ci GM engine cranking out a mega-powerhouse 115 horsepower.
Polyester wide-collar everything,disco gelding of men,what a mess.
In that era Gran Fury / Diplomat Pursuit, the 318 2bbl was the only engine available.
Wrong, there was a 318 4-barrel available also.
i had a 88 Diplomat SE that was an ex-police fleet vehicle that was used for drug busts. was ordered by the mt. pleasant police department for that purpose.
was not a police package car but still a police car as it did go out on regular patrols. it was a pretty good car
I stripped down an 89 gran fury HP car as a donor for my 66 Dart. To my surprise the 318 had a flat tappet cam, .020″ higher compression height on the pistons, and factory 360 heads (larger combustion chambers and valves) this was a factory quadrapuke carb. according to dippy.org this was the standard. The 318 2 barrel engines were roller cams from 85-on, and had the closed chamber heads. To my surprise the “smogger” 318 isn’t a slouch. The ol dart scoots pretty good, and still gets 21 MPG at 65.
When I was a kid in late 80s my dad bought a decommissioned local sherriff’s car on the cheap,it was a brown 81? Dodge diplomat with a 318 with a Thermoquad. It had the vomit & blood resistant smooth vinyl seats and rear door levers didn’t work… When I got it as a hand me down in 89 or so it was still in decent condition but mechanically tierd. I ended up scrapping it but I did Rob the intake off it for another dodge project, the intake was surprisingly a aluminum med rise spread bore unit, I was surprised. But as Elwood would say it had cop engine cop suspension and cop tires! It motivated decent and carved the corners good to, and she would turn em! And it sounded twice as fast making all that air noise when I flipped the air cleaner lid over on that spread bore…Remember I was 17!
If u had money to burn it would be cool to drop a blueprint 408 LA stroker engine in it with many a 100+ squirt of go gas,mount up some good quality chubby normal tires like the aforementioned 275s in the arrival and a good but quiet exhaust and go smoke sum so called “muscle cars”. Ultimate sleeper!
No photos of the trunk or undercarriage.
It would be great with a ’78 Trans-Am Firebird decal on the hood.
Aw,it’s gonna be great.
The AHB came optional with a 318-2 and 318-4..the latter having 360 heads. There wasn’t a 360 in the M body police cars from the factory. At least..there wasn’t supposed to be.
I’ve got an 86 Diplomat with the factory 4bbl. It was faster, torquier, and all around more fun than the built 350 I had in my Olds as my first car. And this was with over 190k on the clock.
Now it’s got magnum heads, rebuilt 318, and will beat the pants off of a lot of stuff around here..and there’s more to come.
Mctaggart has seen it stationary, I’m hoping to get him up here to hear it run next time..haha
This car is NOT a police package car at all. It is nothing but a civilian car with police wheels added. Nothing special at all. Where do they find the authors of these articles?
…and 360’s were never available in this era Mopar cop cars.
…”officially”. While there has always been the claim of 1980-81 360 cars (which would have been feasible, since the Mirada/Cordoba got them as well), the likelihood that the M-bodies left the factory with 360s is slim to nil. But that doesn’t mean some unofficial deals weren’t made. Rumor is that Florida still has a sleeper Gran Fury unmarked that found plenty of use.