1985 DODGE DIPLOMAT

1985 DODGE DIPLOMAT AHB

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Interior

1985 Dodge Diplomat AHB Police Package

Updated 11/25/03
(This description was written for eBay, ignore the disclaimers that refer to eBay)

Please read though my long description, it may take you a bit but I think I will answer just about any questions you may have. I wanted to be as descriptive as I could and give you the bidder as much information up front.

You have seen many M-body Dodge Diplomat's and Gran Fury's on eBay and some of them are good cars but few can compare to the one I am offering. This car was never used as a Police car or parking ticket checker or any type of service that puts on tons of miles a year. The best deals are usually always Fire vehicles or administrative vehicles assigned to a individual person. This is one of those cars, it was used by Dallas City Hall for Emergency Preparedness and hardly saw more then 3000 miles a year. Total it has 57,000 miles and I bought it with about 50,000 miles. One of the best things about this Diplomat was that it was parked in the parking garage at city hall. So this means it was never exposed to the outside elements. It has no hail damage, paint is not faded and in fact I removed the door molding and you can barley see the difference. To the best of my knowledge the paint is original and I purchased this directly from The City of Dallas. Running the CarFax there is no negative history or accidents. The CarFax report also shows how little the mileage increased since 8/13/1997 when it had 36,334 miles. This car never had a light bar or spot light installed on it when in service. There are no holes on the roof but as you can see in the images the antennas and there are holes there. Below I will go into detail about the condition of this Diplomat and in a separate section I will explain any known issues.

Mechanical:

This car was well taken car of, usually happens with most cities when a vehicle is assigned to city officer or brass. Since this car was assigned to the person in charge of the EP department it had many items repaired over time. The A/C system was converted to R-134a and the compressor was replaced along with other parts (Compressor is a remanufactured with the stamp). There is also a newer Alternator and the air pump & water pump looks updated. The shocks are good and the brakes, for an 18 year old vehicle it is great condition. The A/C works great and it is user serviceable since it is R-134a. I have seen many older Dallas vehicles in the past and none of them compare to this one. Most of these older cars the A/C does not even work let alone converted to R-134. So this car was well taken care of if it was converted and someone important drove it and wanted a cool car in the summer.

The carburetor could probably use a rebuild for better performance but it is ok for every day driving. I did put on 7000+ miles on this and the only problem I had was the headliner (will go into more detail about that later). I did remove the wheels and check the brakes, they have lots of life still left on them. It does not seem to burn any oil and I do not recall seeing any oil or transmission leaks. It was a daily driver for me for about 4 months. It received lots of attention and many people would comment on it condition. One guy even asked me if that was the original paint cause it was so shinny. Ok I am trying to up sell it, but that really happened one day.

Body & Interior:

This car is remarkably clean for 18 years old but knowing of it's limited use by City Hall this makes sense. The colour of the car is a gold metallic and the interior is tan like all Dallas cars. The body has no major dents or faded paint, there is of course the usual door dings and chips. The largest door ding in on the drivers door and you can see that in the images. There are also some paint chips and the large ones are in the front header and rear trunk lid. Some of them are from the city maintenance facility when they removed the numbers 5303 (1985 unit 303). Most of the time these rocket scientist use a razor blade to remove decals and that damages the paint. If they would think and do it right by using a heat gun they would not damage the paint. Luckily there was minor damage and only the rear trunk and a small spot or two on the doors. There is also some minor chrome chipping away from the plastic headlight doors and some on the grille. The rest of the chrome is good.

The large whip antenna is included with the car and the smaller 800mhz antenna's. The rear antenna is setup for CB and the cable is run to the front. The smaller antenna are not hooked up but can be if you wanted too use them. The large whip antenna was from the 80's when Dallas used low band radios, then when they switched to trunked radios they added the dual ones on the trunk. I installed the CB antenna in the existing hole so it would look more authentic.

The interior is in really good condition for 18 years of use but it is not perfect. The headliner has fallen down and is held up with sewing pins. The reason it fell down was that it spent so much time in the garage and then sat outside waiting for the auction. Then when I started driving it and using the A/C the headliner glue just broke down and it fell. I did not want to remove it since the fabric colour might be hard to get and the pins are small and will not damage it. The bench seat has a small rip on the drivers side, about 3" long. The rest of the vinyl in the front and rear is in good shape. I did remove the center seat belt in the front but it is in the trunk for you to re-install if needed. It just got in the way and I had no use for it anyways. The drivers door is missing the 'Salon' emblem but the passenger side is there. There are holes in the passenger side lower dash area from radios and a mic clip on the center dash. This is not uncommon and you will have a place for your CB and scanner! There are some minor gaps here and there in the pillar cloth trim and the plastic on the drivers side center pillar is dirty. This is not a new car but it is in great shape for it's age. All the images should show the condition but if you have questions let me know.

Repairs I have done:

Replace Spark plugs.

Replace Spark plug wires.

Replace Distributor cap & rotor.

Fuel pump (old one started to leak)

PCV valve, Air filter

Check & Recharge A/C system w/R134

Replace all drive belts.

Technical:

VIN: 1B3BG26S1FX625243

1985 DODGE DIPLOMAT SALON

AHB Police package

5.2L V8 4 BBL HD /360 HEADS

REAR WHEEL DRIVE

4BBL Rochester Quadrajet

A999 3 speed Torqueflite trans

Oil pressure gauge

Power Steering

Air Conditioning

Power Brakes

Tilt Wheel

Tan interior

Gold metallic paint

AM/FM radio

All doors and widows work

Manual doors & windows

Remote mirror adjustments

Problems or Items not Working Correctly:

Steering wheel column inside car is a bit loose, it in the tilt mechanic. I will see about fixing this but it might be hard to find a used tan column.
Steering wheel wrapping is twisting at the top and you can move it with your hands. It is fine to drive just for some people it might be an issue.
Radio speakers in front are not so good, they should be replaced but they do work to a certain volume.
Radio buttons do not work very well, I tried to clean them but did not help much. You have to really push the buttons to work them. I left it stock for collector reasons.
Headliner has fallen down and is held up with sewing pins. The reason it fell down was that it spent so much time in the garage and then sat outside waiting for the auction. Then when I started driving it and using the A/C the headliner glue just broke down and it fell.
There is a small rip in the driver side of the bench seat, nothing major but it is there.

Terms and Conditions:

If this Diplomat sells this would be the 6th vehicle I have sold on eBay, I am not a dealer and I do not buy cars and turn them over the next day. All my vehicles I drive from 3-12 months and only sell because I bought another vehicle. I was planning on keeping this for car shows and make it a Fire Chief car but I need to pay some bills. This is a good car and can be used as a daily driver, this was my primary vehicle for about 4 months and now I have an Explorer so time to sell my baby. I hate to give it up but I know that there is someone out there looking for a classic Diplomat like this one.

I will work with shippers to have the car delivered but I will not arrange or fund the shipping. All shipping expenses are the buyers responsibility. I will pick you up from any transportation station you may use, as long as it is in the Dallas/Fort Worth area.

Ok, now the legal stuff.........
I have never had a problem in the past and hopefully this transaction will go well too. If you do not have the money in the bank or have to borrow it and do not know if you will have it DO NOT BID, you are just going to get negative feedback and a non-paying bidder filed on you. Make sure you have the money to pay me with-in 7 days and a 10% deposit via PayPal or overnight with-in 3 days. When you bid you are entering a LEGAL CONTRACT and you are obligated to pay for said item. You can not just back out after closing and say you changed your mind, try doing that at a real live auction and see what happens.

I reserve the right to cancel this auction at anytime during the duration of this auction. I will not suddenly inform the buyer that the car was sold to a broker that offered me more or that I changed my mind. Rest assured that when the auction is over and you win the car it will be yours when you pay me. I just want to leave the option open while the auction is running to cancel it in case of sale, damage, thief or other.

This is a reserve price auction and if the reserve is not meet I am not obligated to sell said item. I set a reserve on this at a selected price which I feel is a good price for a vehicle like this one. I do not tell bidders my reserve and I do not end auctions early. Please do not ask and if you do ask that means you did NOT ready anything I spent 2 hours typing up. Since you did ask you probably are not even reading this so telling you I will not answer that question is kind of pointless. I will answer any questions bidder have other the reserve price and end early. The CarFax report is available to anyone that wants it.

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