As the middle of the 1970s approached, Chrysler was facing an increasingly worrisome organizational and financial situation due to a combination of internal and external factors.

Unable to fix the mounting difficulties beyond unsuccessful sales incentives, chairman Lynn A. Townsend took early retirement and left the reins to John Ricardo.

Ricardo attempted to seek a bailout from the Federal government to the tune of $7.5 billion, but President Jimmy Carter immediately turned him down.

During this time, the R-body project commenced which essentially amounted to taking the same old B-body platform that had its origins in the "downsized" standard Plymouths and Dodges of 1962 and grafting a new, more modern body onto them to create an ersatz challenger to the Chevrolet Caprice.

However, the company was still facing a dire financial situation and it was obvious that new blood was needed, especially as President Carter had written off Chrysler's management as incompetent and made it clear that no federal bailout would happen so long as the status quo were maintained.

Sold mostly for fleet use after 1979 Plymouth Gran Fury combines the Dodge St. Regis roofline and taillights with the Chrysler Newport headlights Billed as "pillared hardtops", all R-body vehicles were available as four-door sedans only.

The 17-year-old platform that the R-bodies used was hidden by the design and engineering changes mentioned above, although the cars ended up being three inches (76 mm) longer than the B-body Dodge Monaco and Plymouth Fury.

This decision had apparently sound reasoning in that it reduced expenses at a time when Chrysler could ill-afford to waste money and because sales of the B- and C-body Plymouths had been rather minuscule outside the fleet market.

Substituting for Plymouth was a stripped Chrysler Newport offered for the police market, which ended up proving quite popular with law enforcement agencies.

The R-bodies proved quite popular with police departments, who especially appreciated the cars' handling, and the attention paid to interior space and comfort.