Every one remembers their first car, your ticket to freedom. Like most of us Tom Ford remembers his first car a 1967 Dodge Polara. When you think classic car the Polara is not probably the first car you think of, but after reading Tom’s story and seeing the pictures of his beautiful Dodge Polara you might just change your mind.

Tom’s story begins like most of ours. When he was about to get his drivers license he had saved up a little money and was hunting for used cars. The year was 1971 so you are probably thinking Tom was hunting for some muscle, but not so fast. Tom explains “I was looking for something my father would drive.” We’ve all been there certainly, trying to be like our Father, trying to get his approval. Now you can start to see where the Polara comes in.







Having $500 to spend Tom did a lot of searching, but when he came across the Polara that was the one. The price tag was $700 but he was able to talk the dealer down to $500. Here is where Tom’s Mother steps in. It seems she was quick to snatch up the keys and forbid Tom from taking the car home until he had insurance, which Tom tells me cost him a whooping $125….. FOR THE WHOLE YEAR.

Tom would sell his first Polara two years later for $800 making himself a nice profit. So about thirty years went by when this Polara would enter the picture, literally.



As a coincidence Tom was surfing the net for photos of the Polaris missile when he stumbled across a photo of the Dodge Polara. Clicking on the picture it took him to ebay where the car was for sale. He called his wife over to show him his first car, enjoy some memories and that was that. Until the next week when his wife surprised him by having won the ebay auction. There was one catch, the car was Seattle, Washington and Tom and his wife lived in New Jersey. It seemed a vacation was in order so they flew out to get the car and drove it across country back home.



You’ll be happy to know the Polara is a driver. In fact it gets driven alot. Numerous trips from NJ to Texas to visit inlaws, cross country trips to LA and back. The car is runs like a champ. The mighty 383 is on it’s third engine overhaul now Tom says it’s still running strong.



The Polara now has 330k miles on it, with the original sheet metal, trans and 8 3/4 rear end. That’s a pretty strong testament to the Dodge cars of the 1960s. Keep an eye out at the shows and highway. You just might see Tom cruisin in his Polara.

