Dodge St. Regis
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The St. Regis was the model name for a fullsize Dodge automobile built from 1979 to 1981. The St. Regis was based on Chrysler's rear wheel drive R-body platform, itself based on a modified version of the circa 1971 B-body design that provided the underpinnings for such cars as the Dodge Charger and the Chrysler Cordoba. Engines available included the 225 in³ (3.7 L) I6 as well as the 318 and 360 in³ (5.2 and 5.9 L) V8s. The St. Regis name had originally been used for a trim package on the mid-1970s Chrysler New Yorker Brougham.
Offered only as a four-door sedan, the St. Regis was differentiated from its sister models, the Plymouth Gran Fury, Chrysler Newport, and Chrysler New Yorker by retractable, transparent plastic headlight covers.
Unfortunately for Chrysler, the new cars (like their 1974-78 predecessors) arrived at precisely the wrong time. A second gas crisis hit the U.S. in 1979, and despite the fact that the St. Regis was somewhat smaller than its predecessor, the Dodge Monaco, it was not much more fuel efficient. At the same time, higher interest rates and Chrysler's ongoing corporate and financial problems all combined to keep buyers out of the showrooms. The St. Regis and the other R-body models were dropped midway through the 1981 model year, leaving the Dodge Diplomat (a mid-size car) to soldier on as the marque's sole "full-sized" model until the introduction of the Dodge Monaco in 1990.
After 1979, the bulk of St. Regis sales were for fleet use. The St. Regis, along with the Gran Fury and even the Chrysler Newport, did find a small following as a police car during the early 1980s, although it is generally accepted that the cars were not as good - or as fast - as previous Chrysler Corporation "cop cars". A green police-spec St. Regis was featured in the 1980s cop-drama parody Sledge Hammer.
Although the St. Regis does not hold much collector interest today, fans of Chrysler products sometimes search junkyards for the cars' disc brakes as an upgrade for earlier cars such as the Dodge Dart and Plymouth Barracuda.
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