Tom Weglarz's 1974 Plymouth FuryII

Thomas Weglarz Jr. of Haddam, CT is the proud owner of this exceptional 1974 Plymouth Fury II retired Connecticut State Police cruiser. Tom told PoliceCars.us, “My dad purchased this car at a Connecticut state auction back in 1980. He paid $300 for it”. “The car was in pretty good shape considering it spent the first part of its life as a patrol vehicle. It only had 70, 000 miles on it when my father purchased it, but dad, being the perfectionist that he is, decided to have it restored. So, in late 1980 the car underwent its first restoration”. Tom’s dad, Thomas Weglarz Sr., was an Auxiliary Connecticut State Police Trooper from 1979 to 1983. He was stationed out of Troop ‘F’ in Westbrook, Connecticut. “He loved the Chryslers” Tom Jr. recalls. The car has been restored twice by Tom’s dad over the car's 34 year lifetime. The second restoration, according to Tom, was the most extensive. “It had acquired some dings and scratches through everyday driving, so dad brought it to a local shop and had the whole exterior of the car sand blasted and then repainted Chrysler’s 1973 model year "Blue Sky" color". CSP ordered all their Plymouths back in 1974 -75 with the Chrysler special paint code from the 1973 model year cars. The "Blue Sky" color was not available in 1974 or 1975 to the general public, Tom tells us. According to retired CSP Lieutenant Tom Seeley, “The Connecticut State Police ordered and deployed the Plymouth Fury from 1973 to 1975. Before and after, it exclusively used the Ford Crown Victoria. The Fords have almost always been ordered in multiple colors except for 1971 - 1972 ... they were all the same blue color for those years. The Plymouths were all light blue. The 1973 models were fast and powerful, but came without air conditioning, and they were brutally hot during the summer months. The '74 and '75 models with air conditioning were far better”. It should be noted that the Connecticut State Police vehicle utilized during those early years was actually a Ford LTD, as it was sold in North America by the Ford Motor Company from 1965 through to1986. In 1983, Ford added the Crown Victoria designation to the LTD, renaming it the "LTD Crown Victoria". In 1992, the LTD designation was dropped, and Ford's full-sized rear wheel drive car became the "Crown Victoria". While receiving a completely new body and drivetrain in 1992, it essentially used the same Panther Platform as its LTD predecessor.

Soon after the second restoration, the car was put away in Tom Senior’s garage in Essex, Connecticut for safe keeping. In 2004, Tom Jr. decided it was time to rekindle his relationship with the old Fury. "That's when I got to work putting all the period correct emergency equipment on the car. Some of it was donated by friends but most

Chrysler's 440 c.i. 4 bbl High Performance Engine resides under the hood of Tom Weglarz's immaculate 1974 Fury II

of the equipment that you see on the car today was purchased by me over time”, Tom explained. The car does have a well kept array of period correct equipment installed. A GE Master two-way radio resides nicely under the dash, along with a Whelen WS-295 electronic siren amplifier, which is connected to a 100 watt siren speaker mounted under the Fury II’s hood. The model number 3800 roof bar you see in the photos were first produced in 1971 by the Whelen Engineering Company of Chester, Connecticut. Basically the 3800 was an aluminum cross bar with a model 5000 360 degree strobe in the middle, and two PAR 46 strobes rear facing on either side. It was made in Whelen’s Deep River plant from 71 to 77. In 1977, Whelen introduced the Commander 5200 series which was a little squattier and a lot brighter to replace the 5000 series. The company offered it in the same configuration as the 3800, and called it the 5400 light bar. Both of these bars were used by the CSP extensively in the 1970s. Both were controlled in the vehicle by a rotary switch that allowed for the control of the cruise light, center strobe beacon, the rear sealed beam strobes, or the entire bar. The concept of operation was to use the whole bar in pursuit/response mode, rear only at a traffic stop, and just the center in cruise mode. All of these cars were ordered by the CSP with Chrysler’s “U” code High Performance 440 c.i. engine mated with the Carter 4bbl carburetor. For 1973 and 1974 this engine could only be ordered with Chrysler’s virtually indestructible, A-727 transmission. The Torqueflite A-727 was introduced in 1962 as a heavy duty version of the A-904, the aluminum Torqueflite introduced in 1960. The 7.2L 440 had a Bore & Stroke of 4.32 x 3.75. With 8.2:1 Compression, developing 230 Horse @ 3600 RPM and 350 Lbs of Torque @ 3200 RPM. An engine more than capable of chasing the bad guy’s down.

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