Dodge St. Regis: the short-lived full-size Dodge of 1979-1981

The Dodge St. Regis is a full-size automobile that Chrysler built from 1978 to 1981 and Dodge sold for the 1979 to 1981 model years. Replacing the Monaco, it was Dodge’s largest sedan, positioned above the mid-size Diplomat and Aspen, and unlike them it came only as a four-door sedan.

Dodge St. Regis at a glance

Based on one source: the English Wikipedia article on the Dodge St. Regis.

History of the Dodge St. Regis

The St. Regis replaced the Monaco as Dodge’s largest sedan and was the first example of downsizing of the full-size Dodge line. Its name came from a 1950s Chrysler trim package and had been used on the 1956 New Yorker hardtop coupe and again on the 1974-1978 Chrysler New Yorker Brougham coupe. The car was assembled alongside the Chrysler Newport, Chrysler New Yorker and Plymouth Gran Fury at Chrysler’s Lynch Road plant in Detroit, the last production vehicles built there.

The St. Regis used the rear-wheel-drive Chrysler R-body platform. Chrysler needed a downsized replacement for the 1974-1977 C-body quickly after the 1973 oil crisis, so instead of redesigning the full-size platform it updated the intermediate B-body, whose architecture dated to 1962 and also underpinned cars from the Dodge Coronet to the Chrysler Cordoba. Compared with its 1977 Dodge Royal Monaco predecessor, the St. Regis was 5.5 inches shorter, 2.7 inches narrower and 3 inches shorter in wheelbase, and nearly 900 lb lighter depending on the powertrain. The 225 slant-six became the standard engine with 318 and 360 V8s optional, all with a three-speed automatic, and the 400 and 440 big-block V8s were deleted for fuel economy. The front suspension kept Chrysler’s longitudinal Torsion-Aire torsion bars with an anti-roll bar, and the rear used a solid axle on leaf springs.

Offered only as a four-door notchback sedan, the St. Regis had frameless door glass with fixed rear quarter windows. To distinguish it from its Plymouth, Chrysler and Chrysler New Yorker counterparts, the front was styled with transparent retractable headlamp covers, a feature introduced on the 1978 Dodge Magnum.

The R-body cars arrived at exactly the wrong time, as a second fuel crisis hit the United States in 1979. Compared with clean-sheet Ford and GM designs, Chrysler’s financial state forced it to rework an existing chassis. Although the shift to an intermediate chassis made the St. Regis smaller than the 1974-1977 Monaco, at 220.2 inches long it was still an inch longer than a Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham. The fuel crisis, high interest rates and uncertainty about the company pushed Chrysler towards fleet sales, and nearly 30 per cent of St. Regis production went to police and law enforcement even though the car was new. The R platform was dropped in the middle of the 1981 model year, and for 1982 the Diplomat became Dodge’s largest four-door, nearly 16 inches shorter. Outside California a 195 hp 360 V8 was available in the A38 police package, while California cars used a 190 hp four-barrel 360 and, for 1980, a 155 hp 318 with California emissions; the California Highway Patrol bought 900 cars with the 318 for 7,091 dollars each.

Design and features

• Downsized full-size: much smaller than the Royal Monaco it replaced.
• Hidden headlamps: transparent retractable covers, as on the 1978 Magnum.
• Slant-six standard: big-block V8s were dropped for fuel economy.
• Police car: almost a third of production went to law enforcement.

Dodge St. Regis versions

• St. Regis sedan: the only body style offered.
• A38 police package: the 360 V8 law-enforcement version outside California.

The St. Regis replaced the Dodge Monaco and made way for the Dodge Diplomat as Dodge’s largest sedan, while it shared its body family with the Dodge Coronet platform. More Dodge models are in the Dodge collection.

Sources

• Dodge St. Regis, English Wikipedia: platform, engines, police use, production