1963 Dodge Polara

Story and photos by John Gunnell

Kevin Pfaff listed the things his ’63 Dodge Polara two-door hardtop was known for. He wrote of its sound, its dual quad carburetor set up, its racy stance and its glitter-withclass ‘60s Mopar-style vinyl interior. Then, he thought for a minute and added — “Oh, and the front end; you know, this car has a front end ‘face’ that’s very hard to forget.”

Kevin bought the Dodge Polara, put a bit of work into it and quickly took trophies and awards at several local car shows. A printer in Ripon, Wis., by trade, Kevin put a lot of energy into detailing the exterior and interior of the car. In addition to the cosmetics, he did a drive train rebuild (with a couple of aftermarket upgrades) and also had the push-button TorqueFlite automatic transmission gone through so it works the way it should.

With a 119-inch wheelbase, a 208.1-in. overall length and an almost 4,000-lb. curb weight, the ‘63 Polara hardtop might be hard to think of as a muscle car today. However, road tests recorded back in the era the car was new could easily change your mind. Motor Trend’s technical editor Jim Wright tested a Dodge Polara with the 383-cid 330-hp V8 and he managed do the 0-to-60 mph trip in a mere 7.7 seconds. The quarter mile took him 15.8 seconds, by which time the big, open-top Dodge was moving at 92 mph.

“Barring all-out drag-race engines, there aren’t many that can stay with the 330-hp “383” in acceleration,” Wright wrote in his article. Kevin loves hearing that, since his Polara hardtop has a 440-cid engine that’s been tweaked to 485

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hp. He enjoys quick getaways and snappy performance, although the restored car’s street racing days are history. To aid acceleration, Kevin installed a big 8-3/4-in. Sure-Grip rear axle with 4.30:1 gearing and a Super Stock leaf spring rear suspension (which explains the car’s stance). The Polara was considered the top trim level “Dodge” back in 1963, when the even fancier Custom 880 was thought of as, well, a Custom 880 instead of a Dodge. The basic Polara two-door hardtop listed for just $2,806 and weighed 3,280 pounds. That was with the base 318-cid V8. Wright’s test car

had 340 pounds of extras including a Sure-Grip differential, power steering, power brakes, electric windows, an AM/FM radio, a heater, a Sun tachometer and seat belts. Kevin’s car is set up very similar to Wright’s test car, except that it has crank windows. Still, it’s probably tipping the scales at around 3,600 lbs.

Single-stage enamel paint in very-near-factory Polar White has been sprayed on the Polara’s body and the eye-catching two-tone teal and white interior has seen a lot of tender

loving care to bring back its great new-car look. The car is one of just 8,716 made and 545 of those were built with slant six engine power. A V8 was under the hood of the rest of the cars, but only a relatively few had big-block engines stuffed in there.

The low production total could explain why Kevin doesn’t see a lot of cars similar to his Dodge at shows, or even in backyards and allies. He has spotted a few, though. They are easy to pick out when you see them. They have that face that’s hard to forget!