“Chrysler had the M-body Diplomat and Gran Fury through 1989, but then gave up on the police market until the Magnum.”
Yep, except that the Fury was the Fury II after 1980, a totally different frame size. They moved down to the so called “mid” sized frame which the Crown Vic is also a member of, as you have already mentioned. I think that they limited the engine to 318 largest, in the Fury II also? I don’t remember seeing anything but 318s in them, (Fury IIs).
IIRC you could get the Fury OEM in all current MoPar engine sizes, until the very last years, where it was limited in OEM to 318.
“Yep, except that the Fury was the Fury II after 1980, a totally different frame size. They moved down to the so called “mid” sized frame which the Crown Vic is also a member of, as you have already mentioned. I think that they limited the engine to 318 largest, in the Fury II also? I don’t remember seeing anything but 318s in them, (Fury IIs).”
The M-body Gran Fury had been sold in Canada since 1977 as the Caravelle. It was brought to the US in 1982 and sold along with the Diplomat/Fifth Avenue through 1989. These were actually midsized cars that were smaller than the Crown Vic. They were originally offered with a Slant Six, 318 V8 (either two or four-bbl carburetor), and 360 V8.
Civilian M-bodies used only two-bbl 318s from 1984-89 (six-cylinder engines were dropped in 1983), while the four-bbl version continued in police cars. The 360 was not officially available as a factory option after 1979, but some police M-bodies were nonetheless equipped with them.