Buy/Drive/Burn: A Chrysler Fuselage Trio From 1971

by Corey Lewis

August 3rd, 2018 11:08 AM

buy drive burn a chrysler fuselage trio from 1971

It started off casually enough, in the luxury Slack chat environment of TTAC just a day or so ago. Amidst a conversation about large Chryslers of the early ’70s, TTAC’s Steph Willems declared he wasn’t sure which fuselage-design Chrysler product he’d choose to take home.

Let’s see if we can’t venture some opinions on this topic.

Chrysler’s C-body resided under a multitude of vehicles with Dodge, Plymouth, Chrysler, and Imperial badges on their exteriors. A flexible platform, wheelbases varied from a svelte 119 inches up to a long 127 inches. We’ll start with the smallest and work our way upward, though the Polara you see up there is not an option. Oh, and ’71 was the last year before emissions regulations started their stranglehold — you’re welcome.

Plymouth Fury III

Riding on the 120-inch version of the platform, the Fury model was the most flexible of our tri0 with regard to options and engines, even carrying a Slant-6 at one point. The fifth-generation Fury debuted for 1969, becoming more rounded with each passing year. Our selection today is a Fury III in four-door hardtop format. We’ve opted for all the newest luxury items, including stereo with cassette recorder, and integrated headlamp washers. The 320 horsepower, 440 cubic inch V8 is present as well.

Dodge Monaco

Stepping up to a 122-inch wheelbase model, the Dodge Monaco name was a bit younger than the Fury. In its second generation for 1969, the model was significantly revised for 1970, and revised again to a lesser extent for ’71, featuring a new grille and rear lighting treatments. Today’s Monaco option is a two-door hardtop with bucket seats, and the same stereo setup as in the Fury. Dog not included, but the 440 is (smaller V8s were available).

Imperial LeBaron

Grandest of the grand, the 127-inch wheelbase supported the Imperial LeBaron. Officially still a separate marque through 1975, the Imperial was in its fourth generation for 1969. Minor cosmetic alterations (read: less trim) in 1970 led the way for some rebranding in 1971. The Imperial Eagle at the front was replaced by block lettering, and the rear end hinted at what was to come, reading “IMPERIAL by Chrysler.” Sporty bucket seats have no place in Imperial, but a bench works nicely. A first for production cars, ABS was available this year — an option we’ve selected. Such a car as Imperial could only do with the 440 V8, so there were no other engine choices.

Small, bigger, biggest, and 7.2 liters of V8. Which one goes home with the buy?

[Images: Chrysler]

#440V8 #Brougham #Buy/Drive/Burn #Chrysler #ChryslerC-body #ChryslerImperial #ClassicCars #CollectorCars #Dodge #DodgeMonaco #UsedCars #Plymouth #LuxuryCars #PlymouthFury #NewsBlog #ImperialLeBaron

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11 of 69 comments

Sgeffe on Aug 04, 2018

Time-warp B/D/B suggestions: 1971 GM A-bodies: Olds 4-4-2 W30, Chevelle SS, Buick GS 455 Stage whatever-is-most-powerful. Ace Of Base 1979 A-bodies: Olds Cutlass Salon Coupe, Chevy Malibu Coupe, Buick Century Coupe (which was also an Aeroback like the Olds, and might have had the turbocharged 3.8 V6 as an option). G-body swan song: 1987 Olds Cutlass Classic whatever-the-sportiest-coupe-was, Buick GNX, Chevy Monte Carlo SS (or were only the Olds and Bruick around for ‘87?) 1980 C-bodies: Olds 98, Buick Electra, Caddy Sedan DeVille. 1974 Ford PLCs: LTD/Mercury Cougar/Lincoln Mark IV. 1979 Ford big coupes: LTD/Mercury Marquis/Lincoln Mark V 1981 Mopar Coupes: Chrysler Córdoba/Dodge Mirada/Chrysler Imperial. Last Big GM PLCs: 1985 Olds Toronado/Buick Riviera/Caddy Eldorado. (Or has this been done?) Mopar M-bodies: Plymouth Gran Fury/Dodge Diplomat/Chrysler Fifth Avenue (pick the closest year to end-of-production where all three cars were available to the general public). Malaise-Era Fords: Granada/Mercury Monarch/Lincoln Versailles (preferably during a year when all three shared the same wheelbase).

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- JohnTaurus on Aug 04, 2018
  
  Some very good suggestions. I have some too, but it would just elicit mostly "burn em all" answers.
  
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- Sgeffe on Aug 05, 2018
  
  @JohnTaurus I was trying to figure out how to do G-body PLCs from, say, 1982: Cutlass Supreme, Monte, GP, Regal. But which one would you leave out? (Same with 1980 B-bodies: which of the four do you omit? I’d tend toward the Pontiac or Buick.)
  
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- MartyToo on Aug 05, 2018
  
  @sgeffe I normally think of the Buick, Olda as different from the Chevy and Pontiac offering. One could easily make a buy, drive burn for Chevy, Pontiac and Beaumont.... But many here would have to figure out what the hell a Beaumont actually was. It is like Mad Magazine's Cheviac.
  
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- Sgeffe on Aug 05, 2018
  
  @MartyToo The Parisienne was a Canadian Pontiac, I know, though I don’t know if it was a rebadged Bonneville (in the States) before 1982. IIRC, when the Bonneville replaced the LeMans sedan on the G-body platform that year, they simply made a “Cheviac” Parisienne for the States by grafting a Pontiac front and rear clip onto a Chevy Capriice. Instant full-size! Put the Pontiac three-spoke steering wheel inside, add a gauge package to the Caprice IP. Donezo! Going further back, wasn’t the US Pontiac Grand Ville the Laurentien (sp?) in Canada? (Early ‘70s?)
  
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- Corey Lewis on Aug 05, 2018
  
  Thanks for the suggestions! I will add these to my big list of idears.
  
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- MartyToo on Aug 05, 2018
  
  @MartyToo September 1965 Mad Magazine: "A Cheviac for GM for 1967? General Motors officials reportedly have found a small hole in their present price line which may be filled in '67 with the introduction of a new car to plug the gap between the Chevrolet Impala (top price $2,980.50) and the standard Pontiac (base price $2,983.75) With Corvair, Chevelle and Chevy II already overlapping nicely to the complete bewilderment of the public, the new line, tentatively labeled Cheviac, appears a natural for the shopping motorist with $2,982.12 1/2 to spend."
  
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- Arthur Dailey on Aug 05, 2018
  
  @Sgeffe: Canadian Pontiacs were considerably different from those in the USA. The Pontiac in Canada was a lower priced vehicle and sold extremely well, sometimes outselling Chev. Canadian Pontiacs had Pontiac bodies on Chev chassis with Chev engines/drivelines. The fullsize Pontiac models in Canada, in descending order were the Parisienne, the Laurentian, and the Strato Chief. Later the Parisienne became an 'entry luxury' model and for a few years in the 1980's was available in the USA.
  
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- Arthur Dailey on Aug 05, 2018
  
  The LTD was somewhat different from the Cougar and Mark, and was not generally considered to be a PLC. The Ford PLC would be either the T-Bird on the Gran Torino Elite.
  
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- Sgeffe on Aug 06, 2018
  
  @Arthur Dailey I guess I was going by size, as I remember seeing a couple of ‘73-‘74 LTD coupes with opera windows, and which looked just like the Mark IV in side-profile. I thought that the Cougar was the equivalent. From your stories of family travels in Mark IVs, I thought that might pique your interest. But you’re exactly right about the longer T-Bird from that time. (I was trying to come up with the down level Mark V equivalents, and by then, the T-Bird and Cougar were on the intermediate chassis formerly the Torino (and Elite), but couldn’t recall exactly.) Was the dashboard and IP identical in the Marks IV and V? It seems like Ford had enough commonality to be able to pull that off back then. (Most obvious was the Fox Mustang and Fairmont with the same dashes, but seeing the Fox T-Bird dash (‘80-‘81) in the LTD/Marquis a few years later was more cognitive dissonance!)
  
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DweezilSFV on Aug 05, 2018

Buy the Imperial, drive the Dodge, burn the Plymouth, the least attractive of all three.

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