---- "Eugene Calderaro" <carnut31@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> Can anybody give me a background on the magnificent Chrysler Enforcer Squad
> Car. I have seen a picture of a 1962 model and it looks to have been built
> off a Newport. Can anybody tell me what years it ran and give me a lowdown
> on engines and transmissions? SOme pictures would be nice also.
"Dodge, Plymouth and Chrysler Police Cars 1956-1978" by
Edwin J. Sanow and John L. Bellah, published by
Motorbooks International, has information on the
Enforcer and other police-package MoPars of this era.
The short version is that the Chrysler Enforcer was
catalogued from '61 to '64. (I've seen a '68 Newport
fire chief's car that looked like it may have been a
police package car, but Sanow and Bellah make no reference
to A38 Chryslers after '64.)
The '61 and '62 Enforcer appear to be a trim level below
the Newport, with dogdish hubcaps and none of the
Newport chrome. This follows the pattern of that era
for Plymouth and Dodge "Fleet Special" models, generally
more stripped cosmetically than even the Savoy/Seneca
but with fairly extensive mechanical upgrading for police
or taxi use. The book shows no '63 Enforcer pictures,
and in fact the only hard evidence the authors were able
to cite that a '63 Enforcer even existed would be references
to it in the '63 parts book. Pictures of what is claimed
to be a '64 Enforcer show a Missouri Highway Patrol car
which appears identical to that year's Newport other than
gumball and markings, including full wheel covers. The
book also shows a '64 300 (probably nonletter) 2drHT
which had been used as a marked vehicle by the Calhoun
County (Michigan) Sheriff's Department, but this is not
represented as an Enforcer.
Mechanically the '61 Enforcer was powered by a 325 hp
383 B-block with 4-bbl, a combo not offered in any other
Chrysler-make cars, altho Dodge offered it as the Polara
D-500 (civilian) or Dodge Special Police Pursuit (police,
offered in Dart models as well as the '61 Polara police
package which was built solely for the California Highway
Patrol). Car Life magazine tested a '61 Enforcer and
raved about its capabilities. The Enforcer, like other
regular-production MoPar police models, was available as
both a 4dr sedan and a station wagon.
The '62 Enforcer was offered with a 361 2bbl as standard
and the 325hp 383 from '61 optional. The California
Highway Patrol switched from Dodge to Chrysler for this
year only, as the downsized '62 Dodges were considered
too small and the Custom 880 was not offered as a police
car until '63. The '63 (admittedly post-FL) could be
ordered with this 361 and an optional 413 (also used in
CHP's '63-'64 880s) which appears to have been a police-
only single carb version of the 300J powerplant. This
413 appears to have been the only engine choice offered
in the '64 Enforcer; it does seem unlikely that a police
department would order cars that size for police work
only to equip them with the 2bbl 361.
Mike Sealey
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