1979 Volare E58 Police Car- good for parts or sell?

Hi all,

I've got a 76 Volare RoadRunner, and my dad's offered to give me his 79 Volare Police car. It's got the 360 E58 engine, which we converted to standard ignition from lean burn a couple years ago. My question for you, I wanted the car for the tighter suspension, 8.25 sure-grip rearend (mine is open), and possibly the engine for a future performance build. Car runs fine and is in great shape (no rust, runs and drives fine), I'm just not in love with the style.

Question for you- are these worth anything, or is there any reason I shouldn't strip it for parts for my car?

I've been quoted somewhere around $1,200 for rebuilding my current rearend and converting to suregrip with steeper gears, and the suregrip from the police car is a direct swap.

Adding a couple pics from the cop car when we refreshed the valvtrain a couple years ago, and converted from leanburn (still have all the old parts).

The E-58 's are strong runners. I have a hard time parting a car unless it is really rusty or crashed beyond repair.BUT as far as value they are worth very little and are revered by few. I am in the same mindset as you with my 79 Chrysler 300.Great car,E-58 no rust drives fine and reliable,drive anywhere, lots of new parts..Value?? I can't give it away,I may soon do like you, just part it out keeping the driveline and scrapping the rest.I'm sure you will be able to sell off the unwanted parts.

Such a rare car. Maybe not a 71 Hemi Cuda I know, but as a old Mopar Cop Car fan, I'd hate to see it parted out. But I guess you have to look at it as what benefits you the most. I had an '80 E58 Aspen that was in great shape and ran awesome. I sold it (and hated to do so but just had too many cars). I miss that car so much. I'd put some feelers out and see what you can get first. I feel like it should be worth at least 5k but the market doesn't seem to want to pay that, but you could put it on ebay and see. You never know on a particular day. Can we please see more pics? Dang I love those things, and the E58.

It's currently stored at my dad's place in SouthWest Colorado, but I'm bringing it to Denver next summer. I'll probably put it on ebay or something similer to see if there's any interest. I'd really only need to get $2,500 out of it to buy new parts vs using it for parts. Suregrip rearends are just so hard to come by and expensive to build out here... It's factory white with a stripe on the side from service duty and patched holes for spotlight/ roof lights. Light blue bench, everything in great condition. The only thing we messed with was the AC and leanburn, but those parts are sitting in the trunk. I'll put some pics up when I've got it at my house.

Here are the only other pics I've got from when we refreshed the valvtrain.
I don't think I've got any of the interior.

I didn’t see it mentioned – but I’m guessing the car is a 4 door?

About 5+ years ago, I bought an extremely rusted out Oklahoma Indian reservation ’84 Gran Fury, for parts.
I basically stripped anything that moved on it and really, there wasn’t much else on the car worth anything (no floorboard, not much roof and could see through the car sideways from all of the rust).

If you do end up stripping it, the parts unique to police, to save are:
- K-frame (should have more supports and welded Better.
- The front sway bar and frame brackets are bigger/different. The rest of suspension is the same, except for torsion bar bushings are firmer. It is fairly easy to remove entire front suspension as an assembly. With tires on it, it will roll around fairly easily with or without engine/transmission remaining on it.
- Under radiator spoiler (should have a rubber flap (so to speak) if not damaged).
- Power Steering (P/S) cooler (I didn’t see it in the pictures)
- Automatic transmission cooler and over the core-support lines (if equipped)
- Engine oil cooler (I didn’t see it in the pictures)
- The transmission, maybe. It could have a 727 or a 904/999. The transmission is not special per se, but the governor weights/springs allow for a higher shift point than non-police versions have.
- The two fender to cowl support rods (they are thicker than non-police ones are).
- The 8¼” differential assembly. Note: I hadn’t seen very many police with sure-grips in them. If it came that way from factory, I would be surprised – but it is possible.
If the police car is a 4 door and your RR is a 2 door, the propeller shaft will not fit directly. It can be cut down or sold here for $. I think it might be a good selling item here.
- Rear leaf springs (5 leaf) and rear sway bar. Be sure to get the frame brackets as well. Matter of fact, it would be easiest to remove rear differential, springs and sway bar as one big assembly. With tires on it, it will roll around fairly easily.
- Police wheels
- Speedometer and other instrumentation on dash specific to police.

Other parts on car worth collecting (police or civilian):
Grill, bumpers and their brackets, any unbent exterior trim items and un-rusted body panels. Even 4 door cars have a lot of usable sheet metal. If not wanting to mess with that – you might talk to Deconstructor Jim. He might have a non-lean burn wiring harness to trade or something (IDK).


If you decide to part the car out, if items are not rusty, I need a pair of straight fenders and a hood. Rust happened to my fenders and a garage shelf fell on hood leaving a lot of damage.
Also, i',m looking for that metal lean burn air cleaner.

BudW

Hey BudW, thanks for all the info.
That all makes sense.
Yes, it is a 4 Door and it does have the sure-grip.
There's zero rust as it's a Colorado car, which is why I might see what it's worth before parting out.
I'd probably grab the engine too, as they have stronger internals and valvetrain than my 76. I think the rods are strengthened as are the rocker arms.
I wouldn't need the trans (727) as I've got an A833 OD.

The 360 engine components are not stronger per se.

The lifters, pushrods and rocker arms are the same on any small block ’71 and newer (until roller lifters came out). The valve springs and camshaft grind will be different, though.

The crankshaft, rods and block are different – not necessarily stronger.

8 1/4 sure gribs are easy to come by. Lots of Dakotas had them, just make sure you grab the correct year and carrier spacers etc so it can be set up in your rear end. Iirc the 96+ ones don't work but I would need to verify the year again.

A rust free, e-58 cop car in running and driving condition is quite uncommon these days, and I have no doubt you could get your asking price on e-bay. Don't cut it up.

I have to agree with Jasper, I think is would be a shame to part it out. An original cop Volare is very cool!

Four doors are Chick magnets.........

I don’t know about “Chick Magnets”, per se – but it is easier to get more of them in the car.

I had my nine year old daughter and four of her girlfriends (six total) in my wagon a couple months ago . . .

Wow -- the doors are for people... I better break the news to the dogs (Mister, Texas Ranger, and Tater)...

Thanks all.
Once I get it all cleaned up this spring I'll throw it on ebay or to the forums.
Still temped to steal the sure-grip out of it, but I can always take the sale money and buy an 8.75 or something.

If you part it, I need the oil pressure block that allows for two sensors.