Comments on: Plymouth Fury

By: Paul Niedermeyer

Paul Niedermeyer — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 17:48:05 +0000

Queensmet: It was a guy magnet. The Fury belonged to them.

By: Queensmet

Queensmet — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 13:38:26 +0000

WOW. Who’d a thought a Plymouth Fury was a chick magnet.

By: davekatz

davekatz — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 04:06:13 +0000

Fury tales, ah, yes, indeed…December post-Christmas hung over, sprawled in the vast back seat of my buddy Dave’s four-door Fury III, turning around in a vacant lot in some low rise neighborhood north of Boston…dude slings his arm over the seat back, cigarette negligently dangling, pokes it in R, fixes us with one of those hey, Ma, watch me! rubbery-lipped shiteaters, and mats ‘er….right into a phone pole. The sound the streetlight bursting on the roof made was apocalyptic. As was the view out the rear window, what with an iceberg-looking jagged peak of blue sheetmetal where there once had been a placid plain of trunk.

Drove 70 miles home like that. Rest of the car didn’t care at all.

By: David Holzman

David Holzman — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 20:39:20 +0000

Great story. Takes me back to my youthful x-country journeys, starting in 1970 at 17 in the ‘62 Falcon, Cape Cod to Stanford, CA. The big dif: that car had the kind of power where you floored it and it felt like another person had started pushing, and anyway, in my effort to preserve its late middle age, I never pushed it much beyond 50mph. I did get close to 30 mpg on that trip.

By: nikita

nikita — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 19:12:06 +0000

Oh the joy when grandpa traded in the brown Studebaker on a brand new, metallic turquoise 1965 Plymouth Belvedere. He was proud of the fact that the midsize, and price, Belvedere was basically the same as the ‘64 Fury, which got even bigger for ‘65.

I was 12 and hated being seen in the Stude. The 318 and Torqueflite were still running strong when he passed away two decades later.

By: WildBill

WildBill — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 15:13:15 +0000

Good times, me and my ‘66 318 c.i. Ply-mouth Belevedere, shiny wheels, glass pack mufflers, jacked up rear, Rush on the 8-track player, 18 yrs. old and the open road. Yea…

By: fallout11

fallout11 — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 12:53:27 +0000

That was a great article, and I really enjoyed jurisb’s comment. Really takes me back.
I picked up an estate sale avocado green 1969 Fury with the SuperCommando 383 and about every option back in my college days for a meager $800 (Detroit had fallen mightily, and the ‘80 X-body I’d been driving was an unmitigated unreliable piece of crap). My other choice was a blue 1968 Dodge Monaco with evil taillights (leaked oil terribly, though, so I passed).

What a great car! Except for the gas mileage, which wasn’t terrible considering the prices in the early 1990’s. Brakes were incredibly grabby, however, and nosediving is the best description to go with that. But the power, the space, and the feather-touch (and no feedback) steering was awesome…..if you could get it into a parking space.
I loved the fuselage bodied barges, beauty and grace in a battleship size. What a cruiser.
Truly, the epitome of a era, a time and place never to be seen again. How bittersweet, the memories.

By: Paul Niedermeyer

Paul Niedermeyer — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 03:58:16 +0000

Kevin Klutz: he most righteously did. jurisb rocks!

By: Kevin Kluttz

Kevin Kluttz — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 01:53:25 +0000

I think jurisb stole his thunder!

By: Toscha

Toscha — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 21:01:48 +0000

It’s articles like this that make me wish I had grown up in a time where the gas was indeed cheap and the cars massive. Road trips are so appealing, and with a boat of a vehicle and nothing between you and your destination but the open road, the trip would only get that much better.

Thanks for the article, and the envy.

By: blautens

blautens — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 15:08:45 +0000

Great read – thanks, Paul.

By: GS650G

GS650G — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 13:35:27 +0000

I had the privilege if working on a dual 4 barrel 383 in a 68 fury back in he 80’s. This particular model was blessed with a 4 speed manual and 3.23 rear gears. The owner needed help with the carbs and I was all too willing to oblige as long as I got to test drive it.

We ran low 13’s in that car consistently and burnouts were on tap. the dual carb offenhauser intake was a perfect match for the cam it had.

Who cared about handling and gas mileage? Sure the interior was crap and the dash ugly by most standards but the car was a beast.

By: PeteRR

PeteRR — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 22:23:39 +0000

I’ve built a ‘68 Plymouth Road Runner to go road racing in. The first summer I took it out, I was going to a local car show with a bunch of Mopar fanatics. We were cruising down the Atlantic City Expressway, when I decided to show off and leave all of the stop light bandits behind. I dropped down into 3rd and punched it. Very quickly the Road Runner is flashing along at 130 mph in 5th gear. I don’t want to go too much faster because NJ State Troopers don’t have much of a sense of humor. I happen to look in the rear view mirror, and right on my ass is my friend Dave’s ‘71 Dodge Polara convertible. His hair is whipping in the breeze and he’s resting his left arm on the driver’s door. Crestfallen I let off and we wait for everybody else to catch up. When we get to the show, I walk over to talk to Dave. Not only did the big Dodge keep up, but it’s also riding on bias ply tires!

By: racebeer

racebeer — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 17:26:29 +0000

Thanks for the great article, Paul. Reading the comments here about everyone’s “remembrances” of this genre of cars, I have to admit I also fell into this group …. at least until I inherited the wife’s uncle’s 1963 Dodge Polara 2 dr. hardtop (yep, 383/4 brl with a Torqueflite) a couple of years back. The split front bench, ton of room in the backseat, huge trunk where the full size spare gets lost, and the absolute gobs of torque off the line bring a kid’s giggle to me each time we take it out. We often forget how simple and honest these cars were. No distractions other than the sweetie next to you! Of course, you better have good leg muscles for the non-power drums, but no wrist strength required on the super-boost power steering. I swear, if Detroit would just look carefully at what made these cars desirable, they might be able to pull themselves out of the dumper. In the meantime (albeit with only 12mpg….), I’ll keep on drivin’ and grinnin’……..

By: LtSolo

LtSolo — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 17:12:06 +0000

Can’t wait to be old enough to write about my own automotive memories…. as in this choice example from October 2005,

Cruising down the freeway in the hot, hot sun,

The ‘85 Audi 4000, at 85mph had just begun to run,

When from out of nowhere, hopping really fast,

Came two rabbits, and then a sickening smash.

Every belt in the engine bay, from a/c to water pump,

had broken and shattered, and left me really stuck.

Looking down Highway 285, in the middle of New Mexico,

I pondered the parts availability for a 20 year old auto.

The Audi didn’t stay there, the story goes on for three days,

and includes several choice characters that I ran into along the way.

Lesbian softball players, some rednecks, and sand dune flowers,

to Judy Messoline, aliens, and the UFO Watchtower.

Football players, a sonic waitress, and several cops as well,

I should write it down, it’s a great story to tell…..

By: Buick61

Buick61 — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 15:28:47 +0000

Well that’s simply the best Editorial this site has ever seen.

Makes me want to take my ‘58 Plymouth (with the Torqueflite and big block Plymouth 350) out on an interstate journey out West.

Too bad when I was 19, the 9/11 had happened and the most exciting cheap sedan on the market was a 245hp Nissan Altima. Times have changed.

By: NickR

NickR — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 15:11:10 +0000

Paul, you can still get a really, nice fuselage C body at a reasonable price.

On the other hand, as I have found from experience, the saying ‘you can’t go back’ is painfully, tragically true.

By: Johnny Canada

Johnny Canada — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 13:46:57 +0000

My uncle in Nova Scotia owned a black 70 Fury. It was a retired RCMP cruiser with the usual cop stuff. His favorite band was Creedence and his Maritime beverage of choice was Schooner. Halcyon days.

By: umterp85

umterp85 — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 13:13:02 +0000

Great article….

My first car was a ‘77 Fury 318. I had great times in that car during high school including many road trips to New England Patriot games. While I wasn’t a Pats fan…my friends dad was a season ticket holder and 2-3 times a year he would give us the tickets…oh the days when 18 year olds had freedom ! We would load up my Fury and make the 3 hour trek from Schenectady NY to Foxboro Mass—-the Fury was a great highway cruiser and a helluva tailgate mate !

By: Martin Schwoerer

Martin Schwoerer — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 12:43:09 +0000

Dinu — thanks for asking. The movie takes place in France; the leads are the immortal Romy Schneider and the versatile Yves Montand. In Europe in the 1950s and 1960s, American barges were practically the only means of luxury transportation for those who didn’t want a German car, or couldn’t live with the unreliability of a Jag. In most places the oil crisis ended that. But in Switzerland well into the 1990s, an American car was commonplace.

By: Dinu Uscatu

Dinu Uscatu — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 12:19:23 +0000

I didn’t know American barges of the 70s were sold in Europe or does the movie NOT take place in Europe? I’m 28, so what do I know? :)

By: Martin Schwoerer

Martin Schwoerer — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 11:31:21 +0000

From a European point of view, no mention of the Fury is complete without reference to Claude Sautet’s César et Rosalie, a movie from 1972.

In it, a rich junkyard owner falls in love with a beautiful woman he desires but does not understand. He is a roughshod charmer who drives an angular, spectacular, pre-fuselage Plymouth Fury. Having won her over, he feels the need to show her he has sophisticated sides as well, so he sells the Fury and buys a Citroen SM. The story goes downhill from then (as it would in real life, too).

By: Mike66Chryslers

Mike66Chryslers — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 03:30:41 +0000

Great editorial! Makes me long for spring, when I can pull my Chryslers out of winter storage.

With the exception of the Plymouth Fury, I don’t think that the “Fuselage” styling of the 1969+ fullsize (C-body) Mopars was an improvement over the 1965-68 designs.

By: Paul Niedermeyer

Paul Niedermeyer — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 01:19:11 +0000

Thanks for all your Fury stories. mba: your story was priceless; reminded me of my unlicensed antics(and getting caught): http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/editorials/auto-biography-10-strung-out/.

frontline; of course the girls were (and still are) gorgeous. And they’re still my friends, and read my articles. That goes for their Mom too.

By: phil

phil — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 21:39:50 +0000

my mother and her sister worked on the plymouth assembly line in the early 60’s. they were given a plastic bag full of screws and other odds and ends that attached the dashboard to whatever it was attached to. they did not have the option to stop the assembly line, and they did not have enough time to properly do the job, according to mom. as a result, as they were approaching the next vehicle in line any nuts/bolts/screws that had not been used were tossed behind the dash so as to not be seen by the supervisor (it would have been bad form to be seen with left over screws!). hence the old expression, “bucket of bolts”, and perhaps the beginning of the end for detroit quality. sorry mom.