(first posted 7/27/2015) Throughout the 1970s, financial thunder clouds were constantly dumping over the Chrysler Corporation. From the poorly timed introduction and sales disappointment of their new 1974 full-sized line to their increasing dependence on the aging A-bodies to its less than stellar replacement, there was a nearly unending rain on Chrysler’s continually diminishing parade of products. During the height of this stormy weather there was a long reverberating clap of thunder called the Dodge St. Regis.
In concept the R-body St. Regis wasn’t a bad car. As a replacement for the 1978 Monaco, it succeeded in being both bigger and lighter, a rarely seen combination for those times. Tipping the scales at 3,600 pounds, the weight reduction of the St. Regis was palpable as it was 200 pounds lighter than the B-body Monaco.
This new Dodge was also 500 to 600 pounds lighter than the last of the “full-size” Dodges, the C-body 1977 Royal Monaco (1975 Monaco shown). Upon its introduction in 1979, the St. Regis was the biggest Dodge available, having a wheelbase of 118.5″, a mere 2.5″ longer than the new for 1977 General Motors B-body quadruplets.
Therein lies the first criticism of the St. Regis.
When the new C-body Dodge Monaco was introduced for 1974, its resemblance to the 1972 Buick LeSabre were considerably more than minor; when the R-body bowed, similar comparisons were made between the St. Regis and the 1977 Buick LeSabre, seen here.
While there are certainly some visual similarities to the 1977 LeSabre, which could be debated as being either cribbing or simply the general style of the times, the St. Regis did have some quite obvious styling themes Chrysler had been using. In addition to the frameless door glass found on various two-door models such as the Cordoba and Diplomat, there was also the face similar to the 1978 and 1979 Dodge Magnum.
Covered headlights were very much a 1970s styling element, but few had the clear lens covers of the Magnum and St. Regis.
Dodge appeared to be creating a familial face for their product; perhaps someone in Highland Park was having a fit of optimism.
The similarities between the Magnum and St. Regis extended beyond their frontal appearance. This contributed to the second criticism of the St. Regis.
Under its skin, the St. Regis looked an awful lot like the familiar Chrysler B-body, still utilizing the torsion bar front suspension first used in 1957. Nothing about the chassis itself was truly revolutionary or unique. Given GM’s success in manipulating the Colonnade frame into use for its much ballyhooed downsized B-bodies, did Chrysler really behave in such a taboo manner? Not really.
It wasn’t like Chrysler was overwhelmed with resources allowing something breathtakingly original. They needed a replacement for their large car line, and created a slightly larger successor to the Monaco. Yet, in what was becoming a Chrysler tradition, their timing was atrocious.
Everybody has their dirty little secrets. In the case of Chrysler, they had their poorly conceived Sales Bank. Instigated during the reign of chairman Lynn Townsend, the concept was to not idle factories and place cars into the Sales Bank, encouraging dealers into buying pre-built cars already on hand.
The downsides were many. Cars were taking up a lot of space, they were aging from weather exposure, and the use of rebates to clear out inventory all conspired against Chrysler’s already fragile bottom line.
Sales of the new R-body St. Regis started off respectable, selling nearly 35,000 units for 1979, slightly more than the four-door versions of the 1978 Monaco.
However, Chrysler (mis)management and geopolitical events would never again allow the St. Regis to see such volumes. In June, the 1979 Energy Crisis hit, prompted by the Iranian Revolution. This, combined with high interest rates, would drive sales of the St. Regis down by half for 1980 and down another two-thirds for 1981. St. Regis sales were a mere 5,388 that final year.
The primary purchaser of those few cars has helped cultivate the third leg in the mixed legacy of the St. Regis.
The largest engine available in the 1979 St. Regis was the 5.9 liter, 360 cubic inch V8. This also applied to law enforcement as the fabled 440 cubic inch V8 was now history. For 1979, the 360 was available to cops in all fifty states, with a rating of 195 horsepower for everyone but those in California. Air regulations imposed by the California Air Resources Board (CARB) required detuning the California destined engines to 190 horsepower to meet emissions standards.
Testing by the Michigan State Police found the St. Regis to have a top speed of 122.9 mph, a velocity far greater than any full-sized offering from Ford or GM. While top speed was quite close to the 124 mph Car & Driver recorded for a 6.6 liter Pontiac Trans Am, it was 10 mph slower on the top end than a 440 powered 1978 Plymouth Fury (Monaco’s twin) also tested by Car & Driver. The 1978 Fury earned the distinction of having the highest top speed of any car built in the United States in 1978. It outran a Mercedes 450 SLC, the Chevrolet Corvette, plus both GM F-bodies and not by insignificant margins.
So while performance was down, testing revealed the St. Regis to be the best performer of any police package sedan sold in the United States for the 1979 model year. It just didn’t have the highest top speed of any car built in the United States. States like Michigan and California, having a selection process that was performance based in lieu of simply the lowest bid, used the St. Regis in 1979.
Things devolved for 1980. While the 360 remained for 49 states, stricter regulations by CARB disallowed it in California, making their hottest cop engine the 4 barrel, 318 (5.2 liter) V8 pumping out 155 horsepower. Also conspiring against performance nationwide was Chrysler discontinuing the option of a 3.21:1 axle ratio for a one size fits all 2.94:1 axle ratio. While this four-barrel 318 still outran a 5.7 liter Impala in Michigan State Police testing, performance was down from 1979 with the sprint to 100 mph taking nine seconds longer and top speed being 8 mph less, at 115 mph.
In California, where their Highway Patrol had ran Dodge’s for all but two years since the mid-1950s, this was a stark contrast to the 440 powered cars they had been using for over a decade.
Chuck Swift, owner of Swift Dodge in Sacramento and nearly perpetual contract winner for the Patrol’s cars, summed it up best when he attributed the lack of performance fuss by cops to “big block withdrawal”. While the 318 powered St. Regis wasn’t in the same league as a 440 powered Monaco, the St. Regis was simply the best patrol car available in a time when a drop in performance was an annual event. These California emission cars had a documented top speed of 114 to 115 mph with a slick top and around 108 mph with a lightbar. For comparison, that 108 mph exceeded the capability of a 5.7 liter Impala with a slick top.
While a 318 was the largest engine available in any St. Regis for 1981, it really didn’t matter anymore. The police had moved on to both the M-body Dodge Diplomat and Ford Mustang with any remaining retail buyers going elsewhere. The Mustang provided power and the Diplomat aided in the people moving realm, but both were considered too small. Called many things, the St. Regis was never called small, even being dubbed “Best Chrysler Police Car” by respondents to a survey by author Edwin Sanow in his book Dodge, Plymouth, and Chrysler Police Cars, 1979 to 1994. The St. Regis had proven itself to perform quite well for the time.
The St. Regis lived a short life, born into a perfect storm which seemingly doomed it to failure from every angle. While a sales failure, the St. Regis succeeded in doing what it was built to do, even acquitting itself as being the best among some of the worst.
Is it any wonder this car has such a mixed legacy? 
Photos by Tom Klockau
Related reading
St. Regis?
Can´t help it, but I guess there are more than one or two hotels with that type of name around…
Mopar had a thing for naming cars after hotels, Belvedere,Plaza,Savoy…..
hmmm, let me try:
Chrysler Sheraton
Dodge Radisson
Plymouth Hilton
Jeep Doubletree
… kinda has a ring to it, doesn’t it?
🙂
I’m going with the 1959 Desoto Holiday Inn Express. Smart!
Fiat Motel 6….
More like Fiat EconoLodge.
Radisson? No, it’s obvious, Dodge Ramada.
The St. Regis name was actually first applied to the top of the line 1955-56 Chrysler New Yorker 2-door hardtops, very elegant in their day, especially when configured with the stunning three-tone paint schemes in 1956.
Nevermind, the St. Regis…
I see, a 1st gen 86-90 Acura Legend, right next to it.
Gimme one if those, preferably a 5-speed, please.
Nice photo, of two rarities… It should be captioned, “The parking lot that time forgot”. 🙂
It is too bad these didn’t come out in 1974 instead of 79. By then Dodge would have realized the 71 Bs were failures so this resyle turning it into a smaller fullsize would have made sense. It was light enough to get the slant six back as standard and I think this fact and exclusivity would have gotten a whole lot of both retail and fleet buyer when the oil embargo/ big carmegeddon happened in 1974. Dodge would have been the leader and saved a lot of money compared to the expensive final ill timed redo of the C body in 74. It would have also been a final redemption of the related then too small 62s.
I wish Chrysler had let the Rs hang around a few more years to take part in the big car revival of 83-86 or so. It would have needed an overdrive gear added to the torqueflight and at least throttle body injection for both slant 6 and 318,don’t think 360 could survive CAFE, except maybe in tiny numbers. I don’t think either would have overly taxed Chrysler engineering. Also the more years the car was made the higher the quality.
Thanks for the writeup.
Exactly. Sales would have picked up, especially for the big New Yorker.
I quite like the R-Bodies. And the second-gen Cordoba and Mirada.
When Lee Iaccoca was placed in charge and the corporation had to go begging for government loans the promise was made that they would start to build more modern and fuel efficient vehicles. That was the death knell for the R-body and ensured that the M-body would eventually receive some very fancy frosting on a small cake.
But yes life would have been more interesting if the R-body had hung on long enough for it to be incrementally improved like Ford’s Panther platform.
You are right about Ioccoca’s talk at the time of the new Chrysler corp and getting out a outlandish number of K derivitives. The Rs and the Cordoba/Mirada/Imperial were already in production so could have remained so. The incremental improvements I suggested could have been justified based on trucks alone.
The GM Bs and the Panthers also always had the axe over their head mistakenly. Remember giving the Malibu a restyle to look more like Caprice and Lemans becoming Bonneville G. At Ford remember the Granada and Cougar becoming LTD and Marquis on the fox body.
I expect Ioccoca’s talk at the time was bs or at least making lemonade out of lemons. Remember Carroll Shelby at the time acting like he was so thrilled to be working with efficient L body Chargers instead of old style Mustangs and Cobra. Thinking back, crack was the new fad then.
Iacocca was an arrogant idiot, rest his soul. Infatuated with small cars since the 1960s (witness the Mustang, his sole major achievement at Ford), he considered even the M body (Diplomat, Fifth Ave, etc.) to be a relic of the past. He refused to budget for certifying the Slant Six for auto emissions, for fuel injection for the V-8, for overdrive. A V-6, fuelie V-8s and overdrive were all developed for pickups by Bob Lutz after Chrysler got rid of the overstuffed idiot.
He didn’t save Chrysler a penny with these “economies”. He cost Chrysler sales in the eighties, and all those dollars he saved then were spent in the nineties. Considering the Fifth Ave/Diplomat/Gran Fury were Chrysler’s best selling cars, and government CAFE regulations were causing the wholesale flight to light trucks, Iacocca’s attitude was clearly, “The Customer is Always Wrong!”
Was he secretly still working for Ford? Yes, he was–whether he was smart enough to know it or not!
Sorry, this is just wrong. When Iacocca took over in 1979 just in time for Energy Crisis II and the start of the worst recession in decades, there was genuine doubt that the company could make it. Chrysler, by that time, completely lacked the resources to compete all across the board and he had to pick where to invest scarce dollars. Everyone in the industry planned to cut the big cars. Ford renamed the Fox body cars LTD and Marquis. The Pontiac LeMans turned into the Bonneville. Chrysler’s big cars would have been, at best, a distant number three in sales as they had been for years and years. Had the economy turned around a couple of years earlier than it did, he may have extended the life of the R and J bodies, but it did not. Hindsight tells us that if he had hung on for a couple of years those cars would have picked up some sales, but nobody in the industry expected that. Look at GM – they poured tons of money into smaller FWD V6 powered C body cars for 1985. The success of the old full-sizers took everyone by surprise.
Iacocca made his share of mistakes, but he did not have a crystal ball.
Chrysler by 79 was in trouble worldwide their European debacle was bought by PSA and Mitsubishi took over in the south Pacific There was only the NA market left and no money.
I’ve always wondered this too. Given that fuel prices subsided and sales of other full-size cars were up by the mid-1980s, I think Chrysler could’ve made the R-body last like the M-body. Given the R-body’s slightly larger size than GM and Ford, it could’ve been something positive to promote, especially as GM switched to nearly all FWD.
It’s a shame they were discontinued so quickly without true successors, as I find them the better looking than similar age Panthers and B-bodies.
Iacocca was convinced that Chrysler lacked the resources to go mano a mano against GM and Ford. The R was just launching when he took over, and the launch was a quality nightmare.
Iacocca was also convinced that the high gas prices of 1980-81 were permanent, and that no large car was going to sell in any volumes at all going forward. He figured that the best option was to cut the R and J bodies loose and concentrate on segments where there was a chance to compete successfully.
I agree that the R would have made a great car in the mid to late 80s and that given Chrysler’s strong CAFE position, could have made these much more pleasant drivers than the compromised Panthers and GM B bodies of those years. A 360 New Yorker would have been a treat in 1987.
Although JP I’ve said time and time again, I would have rather seen Chrysler develop a solid four speed automatic to put into the M-body and the pick up trucks.
Heck the M-bodies with 318 and Torqueflite ended up being hit with the gas guzzler tax toward the end of production.
When I see the St. Regis, I think about the Consumer Reports write up of the car. The one sample that they bought was so unreliable that they had to buy a second one to complete their testing. I don’t remember that ever having happened before or since.
Chrysler must’ve really been on a roll with testers at the Consumer Reports proving grounds, around 1978-79, to pull another stellar review like this, the year before the 1979 St. Regis.
Ouch! The review of the 1978 Dodge Omni and Plymouth Horizon, from July 1978.
I’ve got a soft spot for these, especially in the St. Regis trim. Really not a bad looking car, you don’t see very often.
Lord have mercy, how would the driver of a MB 450SLC feel watching this box on wheels pass him by? I have to think that a German-market MB would have hammered this car on top speed.
Never having driven a big US car at really high speed, how did these cars handle at speeds over 100? The closest I have ever come was taking a Dodge Dynasty to 100 on a long flat two lane…it felt OK, but it was smaller and FWD too.
From all accounts I have read, these big Dodge police cars were very stable at high speeds. The suspension on the police models was much firmer than the retail cars which explains the difference.
I’ve driven a Dynasty at speeds in excess of 100 mph; not the most joyful experience on can imagine and far different than a rear-drive car.
Ditto my 77 New Yorker with 70 series tires and factory HD suspension. At 100 mph it just hunkered down on it’s suspension and felt like a jetliner in smooth skies. The most drama-free car I ever drove at those speeds.
I’ve driven a boxy Caprice with the 350 V8, two LT1 equipped Caprices, and an aero Crown Vic past 100 MPH. All felt competent and stable, particularly the LT1 cars. However, I was going “straight and level” no crazy manuevering
Sadly, the largest Chrysler I’ve ever driven was a 91 New Yorker. But it was OK at higher speeds.
Don’t feel too bad, Fred. I’ve never driven any Chrysler product at all! 😉
These big heavy cars are pretty good at high speeds. In fact, for a long time it was believed by police organizations that police cars had to be large cars with huge wheelbases to be stable at high speeds. I have driven an Aero Vic well over 100 MPH it was pretty stable, My friends old ’91 Caprice with it’s ultra squishy base suspension was very stable cruising at 100 MPH. Even my old 70’s iron have all been really good in triple digit speeds. Depending on the car some will experience front end lift at very his speeds which makes the front end light.
The MB might be able to give the stock version a run for its money.
Nobody left them that way. My 77 fury with the 360 was capable of 150 mph easily. That was as fast as I had the nerve for. Mostly due to tires. No money mods made that engine sing. Dick around with the carb and the ignition after pulling the smog gear and you could burn tires or fly at high speed. The handling was superb with properly adjusted torsion bars and good tires. I think the small block helped there….
Even my 81 diplomat with the super six was faster than the B body chevy cabs I was driving at the time. Handled better too. 245 eagle gs1s.
I imagine this would be somewhere in the middle.
Did it have transverse torsion bars like a m body, or length wise ones like a b body?
Unfortunately, I don’t remember ever seeing a St. Regis as nice looking as those pictured in the sales brochures. 99% seemed to look like (tired) ex-police cars…even when nearly new. Perhaps as a result of sitting in the sales bank?
I have seen pictures of one of these stretched into a 6 door limousine, but I can’t lay my hands on it at the moment. Armbruster Stageway built more Chrysler-based 6 door funeral home limousines than you might imagine, and this was the last design that was big enough to really lend itself to being cut and stretched. After that, they reverted to Cadillac and Lincoln almost exclusively. The funeral home I worked at in the 80s had historically used Lincoln lead cars, Cadillac hearses, and Chrysler limousines, because GM, Ford and Chrysler all had plants in town and they wanted to make sure to not offend anyone who happened to be an autoworker.
You mean like this? No 6-door, but a stretch nevertheless.
Same idea, different company.
The “sales bank” photo showing rows and rows of freshly built R-bodies is pretty mind blowing to look at and think about, considering there are like 3 of them left on the planet. These are seriously rare cars. The combination of ultra low production (compared to the Caprice/LTD et al), heavy fleet sales, and shoddy quality extincted these overnight. I’ve seen one St. Regis and one Newport in real life, never a single Plymouth or New Yorker.
One thing I’ve noticed about these cars in photos and in person – the trunk lid fits horribly! That huge panel gap along the bottom edge is so unsightly (and especially noticeable since it’s about twice as wide as the gap between the trunk lid and fender top). It seems to have been designed to fit that way since even brochure photos exhibit the problem. Consumers sure did have lower standards back then – imagine such a design flaw in a 2015 model!
On the panel gaps – such things were the norm in the days before modern, more flexible robotic assembly lines, so it most likely wasn’t even considered a flaw.
Ever seen the panel gap between the body and rear bumper of a first-generation Dodge Durango? It has to be at least a full inch!
You can imagine the accountants rubbing their hands together, with a wicked grin – “Save half a pound of plastic, that’s eighteen cents per unit!”
I had a 2003 Dodge Durango SXT, last year of the first generation, and I don’t recall any such gaps;it was put together surprisingly well.
Although the R-body Mopars had some of the higher top speeds in police testing for it’s era, this isn’t the only important performance measurement. For police work, 0-100 mph is an important measure, probably more than top speed, to catch speeders. Further, the road course times reflect the cars overall performance which is probably more reflective of how it would perform in a pursuit. In these instances, comparing the Impala to the St Regis, the numbers aren’t too far off. For whatever reason the Impala’s of this era had low top speeds compared to Ford and Mopar, likely due to its aerodynamics. Although 1979 was a wash year for Ford police cars, after 1980 the 351 VV LTD was a good performer and certainly not far off the Mopar squads.
In fact through the 1980’s there wasn’t a huge difference in performance from these police cars from any of the three brands. There did sometimes seem to be fairly large variations in performance year to for the same car even though on paper nothing had changed, which may have had to do with the poor quality control of this era. It wasn’t until the mid-late 1980’s when the Chevrolet Police cars started to improve beyond the competition to become the clear performance champion, a title it kept until 1996.
Further, I know you compare the car to the 9C1 Chevrolet, but you probably should have noted that the performance of the Chevrolet dropped off significantly from 1978-1980. A 1978 Impala ran 0-100 mph in 33.7 secs, and by 1980 that increased to 46.2 seconds. However, a 1980 Impala ran the road course in 92.8 seconds compared to 91.8 seconds for a 360 powered St. Regis. So even though it accelerated much quicker (a 1980 St Regis 0-100 mph in 36.7 secs), they weren’t far off on the road course.
And one last point. I doubt many if any R-body weight in at 3600 lbs. Maybe a base model with no fluids and or options, but the real world weight on these cars was closer to 4000 lbs. In fact in MSP tests all their cars had a well over 4000 lb test weight even with the 318.
You’ve hit upon a lot of things that I was tempted to include, but doing so could have become tedious to read. I was concerned about losing reader interest with only the amount of numbers I have included.
Correct, there is a lot more than top speed to consider with any police car. While the acceleration to 60 mph was comparable among Ford, GM, and Dodge, what struck me was the differences after that point. So while top speed doesn’t tell the entire story I used it since top speed was the primary complaint about the St. Regis in police use and wanted to illustrate it was the best of the field in this category, at a time when performance stunk across the board.
I can see your point about becoming too unreadable with too many stats. I think the only way to really compare the stats without being overly tedious would be to put all the data into a chart, but making that chart would be tedious! However, I agree with you though that these Mopar R-bodies were probably the best overall police cars of this era when it came to all out performance.
According to certain accounts at Allpar.com, 318 CHips R-Bodies units had a tough time cracking 90 in real world use.
I lived in CA at the time, and that was the reality. It was in the papers quite a bit, and anyone who was a serious speeder knew they could just walk away from these cars. It made the CHP feel very impotent. The CHP was very unhappy about them, and they had other issues with them too, like front end problems.
That’s why they eagerly started buying the Mustang 5.0; to get some credibility back.
Paul,
I don’t remember front end issues with the R-bodies, maybe you are getting mixed up with the M-bodies? The M-bodies had some serious durability issues with their front suspensions and K member frames.
At least CHP had enough foresight to see the writing on the wall in 1978, well before they were stuck with these slow cars. That’s when they first experimented with the special purpose cop cars, using Camaro Z/28s. It just took them until 1982 to actually implement it, and by then Ford won the bid with it’s excellent 5.0 Mustang.
I believe the front end issues were with the M body Diplomats. Subfames that held the transverse torsion bar suspension was prone to bending and cracking. Chrysler replaced a lot of them under warranty to keep the CHP happy.
At the allpar article on these St. Regis police cars, one former police officer wrote: Those St. Regis also wore out tires because they would not hold alignment (drastic negative camber),
I have to imagine the quoted officer must have been mixing up cars, if the St. Regis was having trouble holding alignment, so would the beloved B body Monacos that preceded it, right? The transverse torsion bars of the F/Ms are well documented in their shortcomings and not holding alignment was one of their many criticisms.
With equipment, wind, and any type of grade, I was skeptical of the 108 happening with any frequency in everyday use and this 108 was under ideal conditions.
I wouldn’t be surprised if the real world performance of this R-body cop cars was much worse than the MSP tests. Really the 318 M-bodies that followed had pretty similar performance and they didn’t seem to get the same reputation that the 318 powered R-body cars have.
On another an anecdotal note, I have a friend who was a police officer in this era, working for a large Police Dept that exclusively used Chevrolet products. From their old accounts the late 1970’s early 1980’s 350 Chevrolets Bel Airs, then later Impala (as it was in Canada) moved out very nicely. These cars had no issues catching speeders. It was only when they switched to propane fuel that the cars got slow. However, they’d still crack 100 mph, just the acceleration was much more lethargic.
Looking at every version of the ’79-’81 R-Body, one can’t help but think the main parameter set for stylist was to create a car that would sell to old, conservative buyers and no one else! From what was seen when these were new, they succeeded in fulfilling that objective in spades. One aging couple drove proudly in their dark brown ’79 Plymouth Fury, he with his arms straight out, big cigar at a jaunty angle, both dressed in their Sunday best. One wonders how much prouder they would have shown in a New Yorker!
I don’t know the headlight covers on the St. Regis were pretty modern and rakish to me for a full size.
The Gran Fury wasn’t launched until 80 at the clamoring of Plymouth dealers for a cheapskate special. Your guy would have probably thought the New Yorker was for those who were stupid and overpaid. He knew where to find a deal, the sales bank. I miss guys like that.
C-P dealers probably wanted the Gran Fury for PDs who were getting flak from taxpayers for their “fancy” Chryslers.
In the ’66 ChrysIer 300 feature, I mentioned that big Chryslers were seen as aspirational cars in small town prairie Canada. I didn’t mention that all too many of them, by the early 70s, were grim Newports or Newport Royals, with no options beyond Auto, PS, PB, radio and maybe a rear defog, usually in Brown or a “deteriorating foliage” type Dark Green. A clock? Unacceptably sybaritic.
Even as a kid, I mused “what’s so great about that?” Interior no better that a Fury III. The same money would have bought a much jazzier Satellite or Charger. Nope, they wanted a hulk, a great big, grim decontented hulk. Nothing even close to a like-bodied 300 or New Yorker.
The other thing that hurt these cars (certainly by 1980 after many of the quality problems had been addressed) was Chrysler’s financial situation. The fact that there were no 2 door or station wagon models only accentuated the perception that Chrysler was only months away from becoming the next Studebaker.
My mother was shopping an Omni/Horizon in 1980 (the only competitive product the company had) so I saw lots of these lined up in dealer lots. Theynwere modern, but in a generic way. For every one that was in a high trim level with attractive wheels and colors, you saw 3 that were low trim rental spec cars (that Chrysler had always sold too many of). The folks that those low trim cars appealed to were not buying big cars in 1980-81. Bet Mom could have driven quite a deal on one, but she was like most, trying to get out of a mid 70s 4000 pound gas hog.
Add the fact that everybody’s big car sales went in the toilet in 80-81 and these just never had a chance.
There were a lot of competitive cars in Chrysler showrooms back then. Thing is, they were all built by Mitsubishi.
Sir could I show you a Plymouth Arrow. You seem like a man who works with his hands, perhaps a Plymouth Arrow Pickup, it’s a real mighty max. It is a hot summer day. perhaps a Fire Arrow, it’s too hot to touch.
“In the case of Chrysler, they had their poorly conceived Sales Bank. Instigated during the reign of chairman Lynn Townsend, the concept was to not idle factories and place cars into the Sales Bank, encouraging dealers into buying pre-built cars already on hand.”
proving nobody learns from history, 25 years later Joachim (“Joe”) Eberhardt did the very same thing. between 2003-2007, it seemed like every bit of open land in south east Michigan was filled with Rams, Dakotas, and Durangos.
I really like that printed ad. It looks really modern. As does the overall design of the car. The pointy end with clear covers looks to me more “evolved” than the square design that seems prevalent in that period. It definitely looks more modern that the Diplomat that followed, for instance.
BIL had one of these, and ’80 model that he bought in 1991 for $300 as his first car. He didn’t even have his driver’s licence yet so the guy he bought it from had to drive it home for hilm! Well, BIL has always done things a**-backwards. Like the other car he bought a few years later, a Pontiac Sunbird that had been sitting out in a farmer’s field for god knows how long. . . but that, as they say, is another story.
BIL’s St. Regis was light blue with a dark blue cloth interior and some options like power windows etc. Was nice to sit in, very roomy and comfy, but he never drove it. By the time he finally got it to the mechanic for inspection he found out it needed over $1,000 in repairs which he didn’t have. So, off to the scrapyard it went.
So unfortunately I can’t comment on how these cars drove and rode, but I always thought they looked nice and Chrysler was playing on styling themes they had been using for several years. They were certainly a lot cleaner looking than the New Yorker and I particularly like how they integrated the windswept outside mirrors into the A-pillars.
IIRC, one of the reasons these cars had durability problems was that some of the unseen components in the brakes and such were plastic instead of metal.
I have never seen a St. Regis (or an R-body of any sort) on the road, at a junkyard, or at a car show in the last 15 years or more. These cars have disappeared as though they never were. The styling is pleasant, but generic and slightly awkward…they look as if someone draped the sheetmetal of a ’77 GM B-body over pre-1977 proportions. The transparent headlight covers are a very nice detail, however: They previewed the “flush headlight” look of the late 1980s by seven years or more, and help the front end look newer than it really is.
With the exception of the all-too-brief successes of the Cordoba and Omnirizon, Chrysler just couldn’t catch a break in the seventies, and it really hurt in the large car segment where Ford and GM were cleaning up with big profits. John Riccardo and Eugene Cafiaro’s last effort as the goofy, dual-CEOs of Chrysler exemplifies how unlucky Chrysler could really be. They couldn’t even get something as rudimentary as the window frames right (frameless windows might have been marginally cheaper, but lent to a noisy interior). It ‘should’ have been okay (hey, it looked just like a two-year-old Buick, and they sold okay, didn’t they?) But with expensive gas, even the Chrysler faithful had finally had it with shoddily-built big cars that looked like copies of last year’s, better-built GM products.
Then, when they started losing what was probably the last decent market they had, the cop-car segment, it was the final nail in the coffin (appropriate, considering how much the R-body looked like one).
Still, it really must have killed Iacocca to have to discontinue the type of car he loved. I guess the upcoming, ill-fated 1981 Imperial (especially the Frank Sinatra edition) was enough to keep him happy.
I always thought these were nice-looking cars, back when I used to see them on the road in the 80’s and 90’s–the glass lamp covers were my favorite feature, and enough to provide something of a distraction from the “Buickness” of the rest of the styling. If you’re going to crib, though, not a bad place to do so! Uncommon even then, though, and like most others I haven’t seen one on the road in more years than I can remember.
This is the unicorn of R-Bodies, the St. Regis Touring Edition. No, I have never seen one.
The interior.
The fact that the slant 6 was standard in what was likely the heaviest and most luxurious St. Regis makes me want to cry.
The Slant 6, in anything bigger than a Dart/Valiant, is pretty pointless. You see how lethargic they are in the Aspen/Volares.
I came across a great bargain, when I found an 82 Dodge Mirada CXL, black w black carriage top, and aluminum turbine wheels… For only $1200, and with 59,000 original miles.
It was stored in a warehouse with a bunch of classic Lincolns, somewhere in Boston, back in 2011.
I asked the owner, about the engine, thinking it would have a 318 or 360 v8… Which still wasn’t great, by Malaise Era standards.
I couldn’t believe it only had a Slant 6. I turned it down and looked elsewhere… Even though finding a MINT, low mileage, original Mirada again, would be slim to none.
That sounds like the *perfect* candidate for a real sleeper. Built 360 and some suspension upgrades, stock body and interior.
Then again that does require a not insignificant amount of money on top of that $1200 bargain price! I’ve always liked Miradas though.
CXL? Thanks Spellcheck… It was supposed to be CMX. ?
Oh well.
Anyways, yes, Chris… I always loved the style of the Miradas. We had a Dodge 024, in 1979… And when the Mirada came out in 1980, my mom loved it.
She says the nose looks kinda like the front fascia on the Omni 024/Horizon TC3, but on a personal luxury coupe. Those sexy shark gills make the car look sporty, too.
My mom had a 78 Malibu coupe at the time, she held onto, till 1983, when the new “Aero” T-Birds and Cougars arrived. We traded our trusty Malibu on a new black/red velour 83 Mercury Cougar LS.
Either, she knew the Mirada was being discontinued the next year, or she fell in love with the new Cougar, and got over the Mirada. 🙂
I do agree about how slow a volare with slant six is, but on the other hand there aren’t that many larger cars ( bigger than Falcon size ) drive so peacefully anytime.
Such a sharp looking car let down by myriads of quality issues. I’ve never seen one of these Touring Editions either.
Sadly, reluctantly, I must agree.
Nice wheels
Weren’t the holy grail of the R bodies the 79 only New Yorker 360 4 barrels in their Canadian market version. There was no catalyst and proper dual exhaust for 225hp. It has been a while since I read this but I think allpar said there probably only a few hundred built.
My uncle had a a well-optioned Canadian ’79 New Yorker, medium green inside and out. Don’t know what engine or exhaust it had though.
I rode in one of these a few times in the early 1980s. A friend had a battleship gray exterior/interior one and was on its second engine and third transmission!
Seeing those frame-less windows with the rear quarter glass & divider bar sticking up when the back doors opened was weird, and I had to be wary of it when entering and exiting.
I asked him why he put up spending money on it, but he said he liked the car!
I guess that’s a good enough reason as any.
Boy, that Touring Edition is certainly rare. Never knew it existed until today! What a nice looking car, too!
If these cars were optioned right, built well (at least as good as their GM rivals) and came out even one year earlier in 1978 I think Chrysler would have had a hit, and a definite true contender in the market. 1979 was far too late and the quality was horrible. Too many strikes against them already.
The big Chrysler (as opposed to Plymouth-Dodge) C-bodies, especially the New Yorker Brougham, was selling quite well at the time. I’m sure that they’d have love to keep building it longer if it weren’t for CAFE. Dodge Division would have been the prime beneficiary of getting it earlier, but then might have stolen too much attention from the then new Diplomat, which at that time was seen as the future of full-size cars.
On the contrary, the Diplomat/LeBaron were not considered full-size cars but rather mid-sized cars. Chrysler was still building the huge land yachts when GM was introducing the downsized full-sized models. These R-bodies were a day late and a dollar short.
Even Ford felt the hit, with the Panthers coming out in 1979. It took them a while to really take off. True that a lot of folks bought the larger LTD in ’77 and ’78 in response to the GM downsizing, but Chrysler’s huge, outdated full-size cars weren’t that popular to begin with. It would surely have been to Chrysler’s advantage if the R-bodies came out earlier.
Did the Dodge St. Regis compete with cars like the Ford LTD Crown Victoria and Chevy Caprice Classic of the same period, I’ve always liked the 1979-81 Dodge St. Regis’s and the R-body cars and never understood why they never sold well, I’ll gladly take the Chrysler R-body cars over the Ford panther cars of the same era, I haven’t seen a Dodge St. Regis in like a decade but did see a Chrysler Newport of the same vintage last week that appeared to be in good shape.
I’ve related elsewhere that my father-in-law had a slant-six St. Regis back in the day; it was company lease car that was so bad, they were able to return it. He ended up with a slant-six Mirada, which wasn’t a whole lot better.
I learned something new today, I had never heard of the St. Regis Touring Edition before. I would not have been in the market for such a car in 1979, but it has it’s charms for me today. As much of a fan of the 77-79 GM B-bodies, this R-Body would rank right up behind them.
Nice finds, guys!
Always thought the 79-81 St. Regis looked like the 1980 revision of the B body Buick Le Sabre, since they share the same formal roofline and almost identical front end treatment(sans the St. Regis clear light covers)… More than the 77-79 bodystyle.
The similarity is almost uncanny.
Yes they are very similar, but I actually like the styling of the Dodge more!
+1
While they are both conservative sedans, I think the Buick looks more like a snoozefest on wheels. Like, a chariot of choice for the elderly.
The St. Regis just looks crisper,… maybe it’s those headlight covers or the sharper angles.
When, it comes to reliability, though, the Buick gets the nod.
How in the world did you manage to find both of those cars AND get them to the same location?
The real reason the St. Regis is almost extinct…
Another reason, why the St. Regis is almost extinct…
When these came out, I remember the press was not very kind, and was always quick to note that it was “just a rebodied B-Body Monaco.” Funny that GM did basically the same thing with their colonnade A-Bodies to make the downsized B- and C-Bodies, and there wasn’t a peep made from anyone. Chrysler was in deep trouble at this point and the pile-on was well underway. This car was a low point and couldn’t catch a break–nothing about it was good enough.
My grandfather, a retired Missouri state patrolman and a diehard Mopar fan (which has rubbed off on me), had a St. Regis as a patrol car. He had nothing bad to say about the St. Regis but it wasn’t something to write home about. The Fury he had before the St. Regis…now, that’s something he loved. Loved it enough to buy one brand new for his own personal vehicle, and years later bought another one (his original Fury was traded in long ago for another Mopar) and restored it from top to bottom, bumper to bumper.
I regret the fact that I’ve never seen a St. Regis in person (I will admit due to the GM-esque styling of the St. Regis I probably have but mistook it as a Buick). The example in this post sadly seems to be used as a beater, which is terrible–the R-bodies are near extinct for sure. I wish the owner just drove something unsubstantial yet still common like a 1990 Accord or a Ford Escort and not something that has almost faded into history.
Just now came across this article. I have a ’79 St. Regis with 258,000 miles and it’s been my daily driver since 1995. My dad had it ten years before that. It’s a base model. I has A/C, power brakes, power steering which I figure would have been standard by then. Vinyl seats that sat too low and were miserable on long trips. I put in buckets from an ’85 Omni that interestingly were on B-body seat frames instead of the usual all in one high back seats. My old headrests even swapped over to the new seats. I retrofitted dual remote mirrors from a Newport. It has front and rear anti sway bars. My dad added the rear bar. The old A904 when the front pump died the second time was replaced with a bullet proof A999 that continues to serve me well. While I’m running 215/70R15 tires on 7 inch steel rims and new shocks, it’s still on the original subframe bushings. Yet, that doesn’t stop it from being a very fun car to drive. I had to replace my steering box last year and it now has a Steer and Gear stage one box which I understand would be equivalent to the old police box.
For a non Mopar comparison, I’ve only driven a mid 80’s Chevy Caprice that I had borrowed for the evening. I felt the Dodge handled better, but was equivalent in ride and that the Chevy’s transmission was not long for this world and it was pretty new car at the time. Did not drive it enough to get a full impression overall. There were some things each car did better than the other.
My St. Regis has the crappy front window regulators and even with my making some new door seals is not nearly as quiet as it should be. The headliner was made of awful material and it’s replacement looks like the original because it’s bad too now. I wish Chrysler kept making these cars instead of the M’s and refined them. They were so close to being really fantastic cars, but I’d still drive this old St. Regis over many newer cars. It’s already outlasted two intended daily driver replacements. I’m getting ready to replace the fuel sending unit with a NOS part I got a few months ago, the only thing that would make me afraid of driving it across country is not knowing how much gas is in the tank. That problem will be solved soon.
The attached picture was taken today. I hope to paint this car by summer.
Patrick. Very nice looking DSR. Thanks for sharing your ownership experience. Would you be willing to expand it a bit further and send it in along with some additional pictures, for a Reader’s Rides post? We’ve never done one like that before.
Glad to see the headlamp covers are still operational! Kudos to keeping it up in daily driver condition, and I think it’ll look fantastic with fresh paint.
Ah, the St. Regis…reminds me of two things, the Navy blue one my parents neighbors had, and the 1980’s cop comedy sticom “Sledge Hammer”, where the lead character drove an unmarked Regis cop car. Always thought it was a classy looking car, despite being shitpanned so harshly by many, and underappreciated as just another generic fleet box on wheels. Maybe I’m a bad judge though, I always liked other classic fleet vehicles like Gran Furys, later model Bel Airs, stripper Novas and others for their classic simplicity.
I read an article about this car year’s ago and Chrysler was having significant issues in testing of pre-production models developing cracks and even tearing in the chassis to the point that models were experiencing separation of the front half with the rear.
This car was half-baked and worthless from the start.
Oddly enough the 1970’s also saw the same issues with the Camaro when it changed over into the sleeker body in 1970.
Wow, even the brochures had awful quality control (“Torsison-Quiet Ride”).
The St.R Touring Edition has the inside door trim usually relegated to the New Yorker, with the full-length armrest and big warning/puddle lamp. Seats look unique, though I may have forgotten some R-body variant.
(^^this was in response to Roger628’s post above, not sure why it posted at the bottom)
My experience with the 1980 St. Regis on duty as a police officer:
These were great handling cars, also roomy and comfortable. The siren, light controls, radio and shotgun fit well without cramping a front seat passenger. Other departments had problems with improper camber and tire wear but not like the 1984 M-bodies, plus our Chief was a car guy and kept after the torsion bar adjustments.
The police version rode stiffly. A luxobarge it wasn’t! Civilian cars differed, obviously.
Our 318s all topped 100 on the runway of a decommissioned Air Force Base. The frameless windows pulled out in the airstream by well over an inch at the top!
They weren’t as favored as the Plymouth Fury with the 440, obviously. My own favorite was the Plymouth Volaré with the 360, but I am not big and tall. Those guys loved the St. Regis.
Ours had the flip-down headlight covers disabled in the open position. They got put back into order when the cars were sold off, replaced by Dodge Diplomats. Nothing wrong with them…but maybe there was more drag with them open.
These were good-looking cars, I still think so; and the last iteration of the 1962 shrunken “full size” Dodge and Plymouth platform: 1962 to 1981.
The MeTV cable channel has been rerunning episodes of “T.J. Hooker” from the mid-’80s on my lunch break, and it is *so great* to watch their police-issue St. Regis sedans chase after the bad guys!
I had always liked these cars when I saw them (in civilian guise). Really good-looking design. Look at the example on that brochure photo – tell me that’s not a handsome car. Thanks also for pointing out the resemblance between the St. Regis and Magnum. I see it!
I seem to recall those cars were built not to US or Canadian market specifications, but to the regs and standards in effect in Televisionland, where all cars involved in chases had to be equipped with 734-speed automatic transmissions; an(other) audible shift every time the camera angle changes! See also: Dukes of Hazzard.
I don’t find this a handsome car. I like rectilinear boxes on wheels, and the Plymouth-Dodge versions of these cars weren’t nearly so hideous as the Chrysler version all glooped up with padded vinyl Landau barfmittel that screwed up the proportions in side view, but like Ford’s panthers, these come off to me as a poor copy of the ’77 Caprice (okeh, LeSabre). Additional demerits for the dumb clear plastic motorised headlamp covers, with all their significant cost, complexity, and unreliability. They weren’t made of weatherproof plastic, either, so after a few years they went from silly to skanky, assuming they still worked. There is a long list of places that money could’ve been so much better spent on these cars, which were very poorly built, too; really a discredit to the B-body chassis.
But as with my hatred for the Ford panther cars, my aversion to these is of only positive effect to those outside my own car-buying decisions (i.e., everyone else in the world). It means I’m not taking up a car they’d like a lot better than I!
These were ordered by the same guys who spec cars that toss wheelcovers at every turn, then regenerate them before the next turn comes up, right? And tires that squeal on gravel. And Mustangs with Mopar gear reduction starters.
I recall reading about a giant order of cars that got rejected and there was a big quarrel between the automaker and the buyer because the tires squealed on gravel okeh, but were silent on mud and grass. Don’t recall the outcome of the eventual court case, but I think there was also some side-squabbling over sideview mirrors that refused to change among chrome remote, chrome manual, and body-colour “sport” remote as the camera angles changed.
Mustangs with Mopar starters aren’t nearly as bad as Mopars with GM, Ford, Datsun, Honda, or other-brand starters, but that’s only because Mopar starters sound cool and awesome, while those others sound annoying and poopy. Scientific fact.
I agree that these were attractive cars in a very conservative way. But they seemed to be very badly built. In addition to the poor window seals, which everyone has complained about, I remember the chrome bumpers peeling badly on all cars after just a few years.
The bumpers were made of aluminum in a half-baked bid to save weight, and durably chrome-plating aluminum takes more care (i.e., money) than Chrysler spent on it.
Here’s a road test of the Chrysler-branded version of this car:
“Next week, the Olds Ninety-Eight diesel!”
Man, this automotive reviewer goes from bad to worse…
Well, the paint runs and flaky brake pedal electrical issues on the New Yorker would suddenly seem like small beans.
Amongst the few mistakes Lee Iacocca made at Chrysler were prematurely cancelling the R bodies and dropping the Jeep Grand Wagoneer without a replacement. Their future looked bleak in 1981 so I can’t blame him, but the R would have almost certainly become a cash cow that could be sold well into the 90s if not the 00s just like the GM B body and Ford’s Panther. As for the Wagoneer, its buyers had the highest household income of any American car, truck, or SUV. The current version was clearly past its prime and would require expensive updates to keep on top of safety and emissions regs, but given the huge profits these made a revamped version shouldn’;t have had to wait until 2022.
I commented on this article in 2016, and my ’79 St Regis is still going strong as it’s about to turn over 279,000 miles. Realised it won’t be that many miles as the crow flies when the original 318 will have gone 200,000 miles on my dad’s rebuild of the engine at 113k. I’ve since put in a NOS wiper switch and a NOS turn signal switch since I commented on this last. The headlight door relay is wonky, subframe bushing replacement is on the list and it still needs a paint job, sadly.
Maybe it will let me post a recent picture of the car showing off its whitewall tires.
WHY won’t this let me post photos anymore??? Anytime I’ve tried to post a photo in a comment, it won’t let me do it.
Try reducing the file size. I’ve found that if I use a photo that’s 1,200 pixels max. (in the bigger dimension), the picture will always post.
Thanks, I’ll try that.
Trying again on the St Regis photo
I think a slick top St. Regis with a crate 440 would be nice sleeper, but I have a thing
for tarted up malaise era iron.
It is difficult to imagine Chrysler doing anything else by killing off this car after watching hundreds of them rust on back lots like beached whales. It probably doesn’t matter if they finally sold, having them hang around your neck like an albatross probably didn’t endear these cars to Chrysler. They just reminded Iacocca how rotten those sales years were.
I had an opportunity in 1980 to buy an ex NYS Trooper 1979 St Regis with 90k miles for $1500. It had nice cloth bucket or split bench seats and all the performance options and a 360. Real nice, but yellow and blue. Should have taken it. When i drove NYC taxi in college, there were quite a few St Regis taxi package cars, all sold by Future Motors. All had 225 slantys in them. A limo company in NYC called Fugazy had R body New Yorkers as their only cars including a few stretches, I also wondered why they didn’t sell better since they were in the same class as the Panthers and B bodys which were super popular, at least in NYC area.