The automotive landscape of 2018 is one of angry headlights, floating screens, and electric vehicles. In the wake of advanced technology that is gathering on the horizon like a cloud of Eldrich black smoke, I decided my next car would be opposite of all of that. My own personal Alamo, just as doomed to fall but that which I will defend all the same.
The story begins shortly after I paid off the infamous Rio. As a member of classic car club local to DFW, I had a solid line to any number of classic cars. The issue was, most of these were either too far gone to be driven daily, or too expensive to be practical. A friend mentioned offhand that his grandmother was selling her Plymouth Fury and I was instantly intrigued. You see, I had three goals that my next car had to meet:
It had to be American
It had to be rear wheel drive
It had to have more than four cylinders
This one was located two hours away in Royce City, with only 78,000 original miles, and after seeing the pictures, I was smitten. I didn’t know much about this generation of Chrysler, or even that the Fury name was carried past the 70’s. I did a bit of reading up (admittedly not as much I should have!). After setting up a day to meet and stopping at the bank to take out more money then I had ever held all at one time, we made our way down there.
I knew it was all over as soon as the car pulled up. Still slick with rain, the red paint stood out among the drab gray and tan crossovers and white sedans in the parking lot, and the chrome caught the light of the big Shell gas station we eventually settled on meeting at. After looking the car over, I was amazed to find that the dash pad wasn’t cracked, the seats weren’t torn, and all the power accessories still worked.
Aside from a “Salon” badge broken off the door panel on the passenger side, and a strange thing where the radio would only pick up AM signals, the car seemed almost perfect. I slid into the driver’s seat and wrapped my hands around the thin steering wheel, and something felt… right. It was as if I was where I belonged. Nervous, I backed the huge car out of the lot and took a short drive down a dirt two lane road with rolling farmland to either side of me. I was amazed by the effortless pull of the engine, the way the car floated down the road, and how the hood seemed to stretch on forever.
Time seemed to pass in a daze, as I went about the process of making sure it passed inspection and went about filling out paperwork. After paying more than I originally agreed too (no one’s fault but my own!) I was down quite a bit of cash, and up one used Plymouth. After fueling up and saying our goodbyes, my friend hopped in my Rio and I in my new car. I had purchased walkie talkies for the trip, thinking we could keep in touch on the way back.
This proved problematic, as we lost each other twice and had to stop for a bathroom break at a dicey looking store in a bad part of town as night fell. After losing each other one final time, I hit upon the bright idea of making sure BOTH of us had my address in case we got lost. (It was a day of not-so-bright moments for me). Three hours after heading out, I pulled up to my house and waited for my friend to do the same. After driving him back up to the apartment where he was staying the night with some mutual friends, I finally got home and called it a night.
Since then, I’ve done quite a bit more research on this generation of M body and the history of my car in general. It was made in 1987 (obviously), at the Jefferson North Assembly Plant in Detroit Michigan, and was sold new at the Greenville, Texas Chrysler dealership. Both the auto factory and the dealership remain open to this day, which does my heart good! It was owned by an elderly women in Royce City who had the car a few months before passing away, where it was bought by my friend’s grandmother and kept until the point where I bought it. It hadn’t been driven very often at that point, and my pressing it into daily service caused issues, as almost every line and hose on the car was original. A few months in… It was clear not everything was as it seemed for my new ride.
I can imagine many of you readers just had some PTSD flashbacks from seeing the above picture. Yes, Helen (which I decided to call her shortly after signing the paperwork), had the horrible computer known as the Lean Burn System. This black box, which even Pandora would be loath to open, worked quite well when new, using sensors to monitor the functions of the engine and adjust spark and timing accordingly. It wasn’t a bad little system, but cast your minds back to the middle of the previous sentence, and you’ll recall I said it worked well when new.
Unfortunately, these fragile computers (which some no doubt world-class intellect decided should be attached to the air cleaner) aged like milk left to become chunky and fetid in the noonday sun. The poor girl would lean out and stall if the gas was pressed too firmly from a stop and would sometimes fumble and falter when at idle. The suspension and steering components were so worn out that when my step father had to borrow her to get to work, he vowed to never set foot in my car again until it was fixed properly. It was taken to a mechanic in Dallas who removed the computer and converted her back to a regular carburetor set up with that classic orange box mounted on the firewall to allow me to have electronic ignition.
After replacing the heater hoses and the master cylinder, she seems to be sorted out for now. The steering gear box was replaced as well as the idler arm and sleeve along with all the other needed components. My next stop is for some new tires, as the ones I’m riding on are from 2011.
Now, back to the title of this post. I love this car and don’t mind spending time and money to fix her because I love knowing I’ve got the one of the only M bodies in town. She is unapologetic in her size and nature. She doesn’t pretend to be sporty like modern sedans. No thin, uncomfortable “sport” seats, no LED headlights that give the car an “aggressive” look, just soft bench seats and dual beam sealed headlights. Helen doesn’t have to look angry. She’s a big old family sedan and doesn’t have to hide that fact. I wanted a car that I could keep for the rest of my days. One that would work if I ever decided to have a family. One that was built to last, with simple, if outdated controls.
My closing thoughts are thus: In a world where our cars monitor everything we do, where engine bays are covered in plastic, and electric vehicles will one day surpass any and all attempts for the gasoline engine to soldier on… Classic cars will remain. There will be those who refuse to back down from our passions in the face of a changing world. Logically, it doesn’t make much sense for a single young man like me to need a car larger than a modern Chevy Impala, one with a huge thirsty V8 that only makes 150 horsepower (on a good day!), and one with such archaic means of safety and comfort. However, I won’t let a little thing like logic keep me from making questionable decisions! It’s the same thinking that leads me to collect typewriters. Perhaps I’m a man born in the wrong time… But here at Curbside Classic, I know I’m in good company.
Thanks for reading everyone!
Congratulations on your purchase – very nice Plymouth – great color.
If you haven’t seen Breaking Bad or Better Call Saul yet, check out Mike Ermantraut’s ride.
Mike’s Fifth Avenue is always the first thing I think of when I see one of these. It’s actually a very timely post since the latest season of Better Call Saul just began last Monday.
Nice car rare here though there is a blue one nearby not as nice as yours but the same model ex Florida police, has huge thick sway bars Ive seen it on a lift, and was for sale with a 440 to drop in, it hasnt sold and sits amongst a pile/ collection of Jeeps.
This is a beautiful car. I love the color (inside and out) and you have taken the necessary (and smart) steps to make Helen better than originally designed.
She must stand out to the point where you will always be able to easily find her in a crowded parking lot.
Smart move on the tires. It is the time that has passed, not the tread that remains, that counts.
The way I buy tires nowdays since they have a sell-by date of six years is to figure out how many miles you drive a year, multiply that by six and get something with a treadwear rating that matches that number. That way you don’t drive on old tires just because they still have some miles left on them.
Speaking of tires . . . today I had the tires changed on my aging product from FoMoCo. I hadn’t intended to keep my previous tires on the car so long. They were P185 80R13 “Tempest Touring SR 90s M+S” and I had them installed at a Tire Kingdom in South Florida in 2006. I moved to GA in 2008, btw. After 12 years I finally got ’round to having four new Nankang tires on for a total of $296.00. Ok. These are P185 70R13’s as apparently my previously-sized tires are now only made as trailer tires instead of all-season passenger-car tires. I don’t know why that is . . . but ’tis. No whitewalls here; just plain black tyres for a plain Jane FALCON. (Now I have to get the turn signals fixed. Think I blew a fuse).
Those new tires you got are lower aspect ratio (70), which means they’re smaller in diameter/overall circumference than your old tires. Your engine is going to be running faster at highway speeds and your speedometer is going to be off.
I just checked Tire Rack; you’re right, those are the biggest 13″ tires available. I’d get some 14″ rims. It shouldn’t be hard to find some junkyard 14 inchers.
Coker Tire makes a couple of 13″ tires that look like they work.
https://www.cokertire.com/catalogsearch/result/?header_year=1962&header_make=FORD&header_model=Falcon&q=700-13
I’ll check these things out. Thanks for the info. 🙂
185/80R13 is the correct size for a first generation Corvair as well. Maxxis makes them and they are available at a variety of sources; just google and choose.
Very nice. I really like the looks of this compared to its Fifth Avenue sibling, and I agree wholeheartedly with the sentiments on simplicity and comfort. I find myself happier in the lower, less electronically enhanced trim levels of cars. I don’t have a problem with the technology per se, but the engineers and salesmen seem to insist that it ought to be intrusive and pervasive so that we the customer know it’s there.
In a previous CC, it was mentioned that the Fifth Avenue used rear doors from the station wagon. That would explain the subtle difference in the roof lines.
That and it doesn’t have that ridiculous lump of a landau top. I know they wanted that Sheer Look on the Fifth Avenue but to me it just looks like a really bad wig on an old lady.
The 5TH ave has a cap on the roof to make it look like a different roof line thats why it has to have a standard vinyl. top
For unknown reasons in Canada. Chrysler kept using the Caravelle name even if it was also used for a FWD E-car aka “EEK” counterpart of the Dodge 600/Chrysler LeBaron/EClass. I would had wished to see the Fury name continued a bit longer in the Great White North.
Wikipedia claims these were built in St. Louis, then from 1987 through 1989, production was transferred to AMC in Kenosha.
The deal was inked in 1986, and was a win-win for both Chrysler and AMC (46.1% of which was owned by Renault at the time). Chrysler needed the plant capacity where the M-bodies had previously been built, and the production benefitted AMC’s Kenosha plant – and it’s been reported that AMC was able to build the cars for less than Chrysler could! It also gave rise to rumors that Chrysler was considering the purchase of AMC, which it did in the following year.
Another interesting sidenote to the final years of M-body production: The 1990 models added a driver’s side airbag (among the first with a tilt steering wheel), which seems like a huge investment for what was known to be the last model year of production.
There were no 1990 M bodies, but they did add air bags for shortened 1989 model year. Production ended Dec. 1988.
It was the 1990 L bodies that got air bags its last model year.
You’re right, it was 1989. There was a slip up between my brain and my fingers. That’ll teach me to post before my second cup of coffee!
Really nice car!!! why would you put a typewriter on top of it? You want to damage the paint………..lol!!
Very nice, man. In marvellous condition. Definitely a keeper!
I’m wondering how much more manoeuvrable these are compared to a Panther or B-Body because they weren’t any quicker or more economical. If they do feel more nimble, that’d be a big plus because these seem to be a good size for a classic daily driver.
Will, having owned both an ’86 Gran Fury and an ’86 Crown Vic (with a brief overlap in ownership) I can tell you the GF was much more nimble and maneuverable. It was also more comfortable. The GF is simply a smaller car than the Panther or B-body as it was based upon the Volare.
My GF had a 4 barrel 318 with a 2.94:1 rear axle while the CV had a two barrel 351 and a 2.73:1 rear. The GF had it all over the Ford in acceleration although neither was a rocket. Fuel economy sucked on both and there wasn’t enough of a difference to brag about – and the Ford had overdrive whereas the GF did not. Figure about 13 to 14 mpg. Granted, neither was a retail grade car like this featured GF.
One to keep in mind with a retail GF like this is many of them had a crazy tall rear axle gear, like 2.24:1 which would kill acceleration and likely render even a 302 powered Ford quicker.
Right now if given the choice between a M-body and a same year Panther or B-body I’d take the M-body in a heart beat. They are a easier to drive, just enough smaller, and my GF was one of the most comfortable cars I’ve owned.
My father went car shopping in the summer of 1986. His choices boiled down to a early 1987 M-body Diplomat and the barely used ’85 CV he bought. I often think of that Diplomat, knowing it would have been a better car.
And Rudiger is right; going off memory these were built in St. Louis with production moving to Kenosha after the AMC takeover. I’ve read the Kenosha cars had better build quality than the St. Louis ones.
CV’s had terrible auto transmissions. Rented one in FL and the trans blew smoke out the back. The car also got terrible mpg.
Policeman helped when stranded and he said the police CV’s were always blowing transmissions.
GF had the torqueflite – best in breed until they “improved” it.
Actually, the move to Kenosha was the year before Chrysler’s purchase of AMC (see my post above). But there’s a belief that the two events were not coincidental.
I’m glad you posted that the Kenosha-built cars have been said to have superior quality to the St. Louis-built ones, as I was almost certain I’d read the same thing at one one time.
It was strange seeing Chrysler products rolling out of the Kenosha Main Plant. (Omnirizons were also built here for a while.) Little did we know what was coming, sooner than later.
I did spend some time in the back seat of a couple of these. I notice yours doesn’t have the divider behind the front seat…
Great catch!!
One of the great features of this car is that its “fixable”. Parts are available and any mechanic worth his weight in salt can fix it.
Not sure about the freon, but maybe it can be converted to 134a.
You remind me of my own young adulthood when I followed a new VW GTI with a 21 year old Plymouth Fury. Yours is quite a bit older than mine was (in 1987, of all years).
I always wanted one of these when they were older used cars but could never get past one problem. You could buy a Panther or a GM B body for around the same money and have a significantly larger car (with a much larger trunk) and no penalty in gas mileage. Every time I came across one of these I just couldn’t justify the downgrade from what I had in terms of size/utility in my years with 3 young kids.
I always thought Chrysler picked the wrong RWD platform to carry through the 80s. This one was just too small for the segment it tried to compete in. That said, I always found them charming. The interiors were really nicely done. Yours is a beauty.
”I…could never get past one problem. You could buy a Panther or a GM B body for around the same money and have a significantly larger car (with a much larger trunk) and no penalty in gas mileage.”
I feel exactly the same way about compact pickups, even though I’ve owned (and thoroughly enjoyed) a 2000 Ranger since it was new. I might be swayed if the new Ranger gets much better mileage than an F-150, but I doubt the price will be significantly lower.
To get the Loan Guarantees, Mopar had to show they were “serious about building smaller cars”. So out with R and M stayed.
Car & Driver made a big deal about the R’s dying off, nearly celebrating it. In 1982 New Car issue they said “these rolling aircraft carriers will no longer be draining gas stations”.
No, I didn’t create that quote so don’t yell at me R body fans. 😉
I would dispute that timeline. The loan guarantee process ran from November 1979 when the act was introduced in Congress to January of 1980 when it was signed by President Carter. All of the horse-trading and promises would have been going on earlier in 1979. Having the L body cars in production and the K body cars primed for introduction later in 1980 (as ’81 models) was what John Riccardo and later Lee Iacocca relied on to show the government that it was serious about small cars. Remember that the R body was in its first year then and the J (Cordoba/Mirada) was brand new in that time period.
Chrysler continued to build the R body cars for nearly 3 years thereafter (through the 1982 model year) and the J bodies a year beyond that (through 1983, and in addition to the Ms, which continued). The killing of the R and J had more to do with Iacocca bringing the company to grips with the reality that Chrysler no longer had the luxury or the capability to field a lineup in every segment that GM and Ford were in. Iacocca (and the rest of the world) expected $2/gallon gasoline and decided that the large RWD cars were never going generate the kind of volume needed to be profitable. They were manufactured and sold for awhile in an attempt to pay for their tooling and design costs.
I have no doubt that if the K program had not been so far along Chrysler would not have gotten those loan guarantees. But the K is what saved the day even before the first one was built. I remember it as being built-up to almost religious significance among those who followed Chrysler for close to a year before they went on sale.
It would be a good research project for someone to look into, I was purely guessing. [should have noted]. Why did M continue and R didn’t?
A couple of writers for Time Magazine did a book early in Iacocca’s time at Chrysler (Going For Broke – The Chrysler Story). They did a deep dive into the company and covered the loan guarantee struggle blow by blow. I bought it when it came out and have read it a time or two since. It is a great inside history of the company from the end of the Lynn Townsend period to early Iacocca.
Going from memory, I cannot recall exactly why the M survived – I suspect that because Chrysler had traditionally gotten a lot of volume from police fleets, they needed to keep a “traditional” car in the lineup. Whether it was that the car was smaller or that they saw in its smaller size a versitility giving it the best chance to cover the maximum number of bases – which the M in fact did. Police cars to the Fifth Avenue was quite a span. It was surely not CAFE – Chrysler alone among the Big 3 did not have a CAFE problem because they sold such a high percentage of four cylinder small cars. They lived off of CAFE credits built in the early 80s for years.
That sounds exactly like the type of anti-American drivel that C/D used to stain paper and lacerate my eyes with. I still hold a deep contempt for those snobby, pompous buffoons who used to write that tripe back then.
Love the car, love the name, loved the write-up – nice work! Thank you for sharing Helen with the world.
Great ride and writeup! That Fury is so unique, and it looks otherworldly compared to today’s cars. That bordello red interior! You won’t see that again anytime soon. Hope you can manage to hold on it without sucking the bank dry.
Incredible condition for a 30-y-o Plymouth!
Excellent colour, too. You found a gem.
A ruby or a garnet, by the shade of it.
Hope it brings you joy for many miles and years to come.
Congratulations on owning, and caring for such an amazing survivor. So many 70s styling cues for 1987, and these were considered quite obsolete by that time. But if you think of it as a full sized car, it is much more practical for the era.
The bright rocker panel trim, chrome trimmed wheel arches, hood ornament, and formal grille are reminiscent of details used on the 1977 Chevrolet Concours, for example. The dash definitely says mid 70s.
I’m especially impressed Chrysler chose to use upholstery on the seat backs and seat sides. When the use of vinyl for these surfaces was so popular in the 80s. It looks much higher quality here.
Given how popular these were with fleets at the time, it looks almost like a Fire Chief’s car.
Thank you very much for sharing.
Years ago I’d have had a whole different take on this car, but today I’m waxing nostalgic, with a slight touch of jealousy. Right around the time that Helen was rolling off the assembly line I handed over $800 to my grandmother for her 1977 LeBaron Coupe, with 60,000 miles on the odometer. The “GrandmaMobile” as she was referred to at the time, was white with a white vinyl half top, red leather interior, a red pinstripe, coach lamps, silver rimmed “opera windows”, the whole package. I only kept her for about a year, as I became smitten with an MG Midget, and then another, but she was comfortable and had presence in spades.
It strikes me that in 1987 Helen came off the line with exactly the same dash, instrument panel and seats that the GrandmaMobile was sporting 10 years earlier. I guess if it ain’t broke, why fix it?
I never had any trouble with the Lean Burn system during my ownership, but fuel consumption was shocking to me. My car had a 360 and only a 3 speed Torqueflight (I assume that by ’87 these cars had 4 speed automatics?), and being the only V8 powered car I’d owned up to that point I was flabbergasted by how often I had to fill that tank.
I’ve mentioned this car here before, and each time it comes up I’m inclined to say that it’s the only car I’ve ever owned that I truly wish I’d never parted with. I didn’t appreciate it at the time, but I’d sure love to have it around today.
The M bodies never got a 4 speed automatic,
Nope! I’ve got the same set up as the car you had, three speeds and all!
Just for comparison’s sake, this is the exact interior mine had (this pic is of a ’78 that I found online). The only difference from ’77-’87 that I’m aware of besides the steering wheel is that the earlier cars had the “Chronometer” digital clock set into the upper left corner of the glove box. Later cars had the clock integrated into the radio, obviously, which while maybe not as pretty, did free up storage space, as the clock mechanism actually took up a good chunk of that corner of the glove box, making it tough to fit much more than an owner’s manual in there.
I didn’t know that! I love how big the glovebox is. I actually have the owners manual from a 1986 model because I was able to find it cheaper than an ’87 (for some reason). Man, those leather seats look comfortable.
They were insanely comfortable, and the back seat was really nicely trimmed, with that center woodgrain panel, etc.
Back when I owned it these were just considered old gas-guzzling dinosaurs that younger guys owned either because they wanted to hot-rod the nearly indestructible and easily tuned drivetrains, or because it was all they could afford, or because they were basically hand-me-downs like mine.
My attitude about the car obviously came from the fact that I ended up with it out of necessity and the fact that it was available to me at a crazy low entry price, so I never treated it with any love and was not at all sorry to see it go. It was in immaculate shape when I got it and still cleaned up beautifully when I sold it. Hindsight being 20/20, if I’d known then what I know now I’d have held onto it as long as possible.
Outside, she looked pretty much like this one. I always wished mine had the “Road Wheels”, but the simple standard wheel covers with the LeBaron medallion in the center were kind of classy. (Incidentally, the early LeBaron coupes were actually officially called the “LeBaron Medallion Coupe”.)
I think that the 77 Lebaron coupe is one of the most overlooked cars of the 70’s. I liked them then and they look better as time goes on.
These were probably the most common MOPAR vehicle in the rental fleet when I worked for Hertz (in 1977 and 1978)….not that MOPAR vehicles were very common in the fleet (back then Ford was the common rental, mostly LTD II, Granada, and in 1978, the Fairmont). I was a bit surprised that we didn’t have more Dodge Aspens/Plymouth Volares as the Diplomat was a more upscale car (and our location didn’t usually have much in the way of fancy cars).
We had both the 2 door and the 4 door models…for some reason I remember driving these frequently to Montpelier, Vermont (we were in Burlington) to Harold’s Gulf station (which was the local office back then).
It was the shortest trip we made, only about 30 miles…but the Diplomat was a nice drive down I89.
I wouldn’t mind a Plymouth Fury, but would fancy a wagon….that’s pretty much what I rented in 1985 or so when I was having my car painted…I peddled my bike over to rent-a-wreck (what ever happend to those?…we don’t have one in my city anymore). It was OK, but rent-a-wrecks aren’t always the best maintained vehicles, I think the one I rented was in rough shape…but I recall driving it to a vendor for work. A slant 6 would be OK for me, I think it would be a good car for running errands around town, and I’m no longer a speed demon (instead one of those pokey retired guys people always thinks are in the way). What I really like are those full sized Mopar Wagons…but they’re not very common anymore, and I probably wouldn’t want to suffer their fuel milage…so even if the gran fury was only slightly better mileage, I think I’d use it more and hang onto it longer.
You dredge up a long-dorman memory. In the summer of 1978 I had just graduated from high school and was having bodywork done on my car. The process stretched out longer than I had expected. One weekend my father asked if I was going to join everyone at the lake for the weekend and I told him that I did not have a car available. He agreed to rent one and gave me a credit card.
I was hard into my Mopar phase and made sure that I got one at the rental counter. It was a black 78 Diplomat sedan with a V8. It was a very nice driving car and I recall that the Diplo with the 318 impressed me as being MUCH quicker than my mother’s 74 Luxury LeMans with its 2 bbl 350. I only had the Dodge for a weekend but I liked it a lot. Even my father (no Mopar fan) seemed surprised by how nicely the car presented. But as we all know, for every one like that in 1978 there was somebody else fighting a never-ending stream of defects and failures out of a car just like it.
“Medallion” indicated the higher trim level. There were plain LeBaron coupes and 4-door sedans, and then the fancier Medallion coupes and 4-door sedans.
What a find! It’s in great shape, and the boxy, upright lines still look right to me. I love the big, airy windows and that red velour interior is to die for. There are so many things to like about this car.
Congratulations on a wonderful and fortunate find!
The Gran Furys and Diplomats in civilian form.were much less common than the New Yorker/Fifth Avenue, which sold very well. I like the less-Brougham touches of yout Gran Fury but would be tempted by any of the trio in appropriate condition.
Your interior photo reminds me of the rich colors that once adorned cars…and that the Chrysler M-body was P-C..Pre-Cupholder!
I remember my first time going through a drive through and just having to hold the cup with my legs. I was SO afraid I was going to spill it. Lucky for me the Family Dollar had a cup holder I could wedge between the seats.
Agree with G. Poon!
The duplicate of Pioneer Fox’s car, in midnight blue, with slightly lighter blue cloth interior would suit me just fine.
Take good care of Helen; she deserves it.
After the comments the keeper of the flame here Let Loose on me on the very similar Volare station wagon comparison article; I’ll just keep my opinions to myself.
🙂
Very nice find, hope she serves you well! Got a good chuckle out of the description of this huge car with a hood that goes on forever! My first car was a ’68 Fury which I am certain, was quite a lot larger than this one. Mine was named Sherman, inspired by the Sherman Tank! I wonder which year of Fury was the largest? I think maybe the 1969-73 Fuselage model or the 1974-77 Gran Fury.
My high school Driver’s Ed car was a 4 door 1971 Plymouth Fury.
I had to parallel park that Behemoth-Plymouth several times; never phased me at all.
Strange, it didn’t seem all THAT big in 1971…..
M body was Mopar’s last laugh at car critics, who love to dump on F body. Just add new front/rear styling, names, and plusher interiors and voila! A “classic full sized car” lasting until one year before the 1990’s.
Plenty of profits from these M’s paid off Chrysler’s 1980’s Loans early.
The K’s and T115 minivans generated the most of the profits to pay those loans back early.
Nice write-up about a car many of us Boomer/Gen-Xers knew as the definitive cop car of its day.
I really thought they’d gone to overdirve by that point. Maybe an option?
Not as far as I know. No matter what the model, these always had a three speed automatic with no OD, even when Chrysler had the means.
“I really thought they’d gone to overdirve by that point. Maybe an option?”
Nope. I always found it maddening that Chrysler could never bring an overdrive automatic to market while they had RWD cars. I am not an expert on this era, but from what I can tell the A-518 is the old 727 Torqueflite with a 4th OD gear added, but it did not show up until 1990 on trucks. Had they been out a little sooner with this these M bodies could have gotten a more pleasant final drive ratio and maybe claimed a fuel mileage (and acceleration) boost to go with their small size.
Its baffling that they didn’t have O/D. But I think Ma Mopar was all about the fwd at the time and was perfectly happy to let these languish as cash cows.
It cant be THAT hard to source a Magnum 360 and 4spd o/d from a wrecked 2nd gen Ram and do a heart transplant. With a few mods, that motor can be in the 345 Hemi’s territory which would make one of these cars a hell of a sleeper.
This is precisely why I don’t watch all the Overhaulin’-esque series out there.
“… made in 1987 (obviously), at the Jefferson North Assembly Plant …”
According to various history write ups online, such as allpar.com, M’s were only built in St Louis, and then, Kenosha in the US. And at Windsor until 1983.
If anyone has other info/links, please provide
I pulled that info from the vehicle’s VIN number which lists the factory as Clariepointe, which was another name for the Jefferson North Assembly plant. At least that’s where I got my info.
Sounds like another mystery to be solved by the CC B&B!
So it’s finally happened. We have reached the point where cars that were built during my lifetime, cars that I remember from my childhood, are now considered “classics”. Although as others have mentioned I remember there being a lot more Fifth Avenues on the road when I was a kid than Gran Furies/Diplomats, at least in civilian form.
30 Helens agree that you have a great car. I suspect you won’t get that reference, but it’s from The Kids in the Hall, a sketch comedy show only a little bit newer than your car.
It gets worse when some of these “classics” are cars that you personally test-drove as new cars. 🙂
+1
At least I can console myself by telling myself that this car would have been seen as pretty old fashioned even in 1987, giving them a more “classic” feel than, say, the K Cars that it would shared space with in the showroom. Now if I hear someone call an ’87 Reliant a classic…
J P Cavanaugh: When you know that you are getting old……
I also share this automotive recalling-the-past feelings.
I had a similarly uncomfortable feeling when I heard the classic rock station here advertise “five decades of classic rock”…the ’60s, ’70s, ’80s, ’90s, and ’00s. And not just ’00s as in 1999 songs that remained popular into 2000 – they used a sound clip of Green Day’s “American Idiot”, which was released in late 2004! I’m only 27, yet music from my teenage years is now considered classic rock.
And to think that just a few years ago it was considered strange to hear Pearl Jam or Nirvana on “classic rock” stations.
I remember when Milwaukee’s WKLH, widely known as the first Classic Rock format in the country, started playing Bon Jovi.
Heresy!
HELLUVA nice ride! Great color, slick top and this has the usual front clip which is common to a lot of cop car variants. I get the feeling you’ll be preserving this as original as possible and theres nothing wrong with that. Personally if this was my sled, Id stuff it with as many of the police spec bits as I could get my hands on. Tint the windows, breathe on that 318 pretty heavily, scrap grannys hubcaps/whitewalls for some RWL BFG T/A’s wrapped around Mopar Super Coupe wheels (same 6 slot design as the police wheels but in silver with bright trim rings and small bright center caps).
There just aren’t many of these left, and glad its in loving hands.
That lead in photo looked awfully familiar, so I did some digging.
You spoke of Helen once before here…
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/blog/qotd/cc-question-do-you-still-wax-your-car/
Such a good looking car. I always liked these, even when being pulled over by one in my 20’s (Baltimore County had several of its sister car the Diplomat).
Nice write up, and glad to see the old girl getting some love. ;o)
Oh, and I think my Mom still has that exact typewriter somewhere in her attic!
I have a huge soft place in my heart for the M body. They were very comfortable cars to drive. The driving position was the best of the big RWD cars. They were quite durable, too. Most were none too fast and they were all heavy on fuel- as bad or worse than a 305 Impala.
The only real downside to these was the Titanic Turning Circle. Made it somewhat problematic for taxi use.
I love square cars.
Square cars riding on frames.
Cars that make you drive more relaxed.
Cars that let you man-spread.
Cars with V8 power.
Rear drive.
You pay little and get a lot of style.
I know folks look at it like it is a UFO.
My little ones love my old car, and their friends do too.
I love my Crown Vic.
I know I’d love that Fury.
Such a smart guy!
Your writing exudes warmth & well, it put me in a better mood. The color combination on your car is interesting in a good way and hopefully you can keep it away from the UV rays. Nice typewriter, by the way. I love estate sales and nice examples are almost always north of fifty bucks around here…
This is making me sad… I had a very nice ’85 Fifth Avenue that was stolen shortly after I bought it, right after I spent several hundred bucks to get it perfect.
These are great cars, and I actually like your Fury even better than the Fifth Avenue, with that cleaner roofline. You got a real keeper there.
Great write up on a wonderful classic car.
In a previous life drove these as new Police fleet units with our local law enforcement. We had these as Police cars from 1981 to 1989. Actually we had Dodge Diplomats, but same car, different badging. Even with the heavier suspension setup they still wallowed when thrashed about, but so did the Crown Vics we had later. The M’s were so much better than the R’s we had prior to that.
Then later I had about 1/2 dozen or so Fifth Avenues as personal vehicles.
There were a couple of keepers in there that I wished I still had.
Thanks for rekindling some fine hazy memories from way back when.
Ah, this brings back memories!
We had an ’87 Chrysler New Yorker in the exact same color. The seats were upholstered in exactly the same way; I didn’t realize until now how much of the same interior ‘look’ the RWD Diplomats, Furies, and LeBarons had!
These were good simple cars that I liked but the smaller size and no better gas mileage made them a second choice to the full sized panther Ford’s. I remember driving a diplomat for a job and it had the reliable easy to repair slant six. It was comfortable and rode nice but wierdly had a mid 70s Lincoln sized turning radius. A u turn required one to go over the line to the right and even then you might hit the curb and that was with 2 lanes each direction.
There is so much to say about this car and article and experience.
First I must congratulate you on a beautiful, and rare car. Chrysler is one of the few lines I can think of where some of the more expensive versions consistently outsold their less expensive badge engineered siblings. The Plymouth version of this, and a plushy one at that, is very rare especially in this condition. I love the colour. I love the velour. I love the button tufts. That looks so clean and so comfortable! I don’t care if it’s real or ersatz luxury, to me it feels extremely luxurious.
All the people who are talking about there are no more young people who like cars can just look at this. As long as there are young people, and there are cars, the hobby will stay alive. I don’t know what you paid for Helen. But Helen, like the Velveteen Rabbit and all cars, got soul as she aged and got more unique. This car certainly has infinitely more soul and is more interesting and fun than a 10 year old grey Camcordima.
Life is about experiences, and since you cannot experience the future, as far as I know, it’s just as much fun to go back in the past and experience things we don’t do anymore. I also love my typewriter and my fountain pens and my elderly, made of iron cars. Electric power steering is awful. Cheap grey cars with grey nylon interiors are dull at best. There’s really nothing like a big, soft, RWD V8 Detroit car with a big plushy interior and Air conditioning.
The lean burn didn’t age badly, it was just as horrible when it was new and gave all the problems you described. I’m surprised it made it this long with the lean burn, they were usually yanked within the first year.
these cars are not that large by today’s standards, either. When I had my 87 Regal Grand National, which was about the size of this car, I was stunned at how small and trim it appeared compared with even what is today considered a small car, like a Sentra or Civic. The formal roofline, slab sides, thin details, and straight lines do wonders to make the cars appear small, and they are nowadays lightweight compared with the small cars of today. In 1976 when this platform debuted, compared with the GM aircraft carrier size full size cars, it was very small. Then by 83, when everything had gone fwd, this was huge. Nowadays, it’s small again. If you want the experience of overlooking a long hood, go to a 71-76 gm full size car. Enormous.
Who would have thought, when the original F bodies debuted and suffered horrible quality problems, that they would have gone on and on with updates until 1989 and been hugely profitable for Chrysler? The Aspen and Volare were HORRIBLE cars but Chrysler managed to turn the corner with them.
This car also illustrates why Plymouth died. What was the difference between this, with power windows and lots of luxury options, and button tufted seats, and a Chrysler Fifth Avenue in price? I cannot imagine that once you loaded one of these up like this, it cost much less than a Fifth Avenue. I know when we were looking at Plymouth Sundances and Dodge Shadows in 1989, there was absolutely NO difference between the cars in optional equipment. I think the Plymouth had a split fold back seat standard v. the Dodge Shadow’s solid folding back seat, and different cushions, and that was it.
You are lucky! Keep the flame alive!
By the mid 70s, Plymouth and Dodge were exactly the same price if the car was the same. There was a spiff of a few hundred dollars for the Chrysler brand.
Until the Aspen and Volare, Chrysler went to some trouble to make Plymouths and Dodges slightly different, and priced Dodges slightly higher. For example, most Darts were longer than the corresponding Valiant (although that changed as the Dodge and Plymouth models were rationalized). The Aspen/Volare and Omni/Horizon were the end of that. However, the Chrysler LeBaron was priced higher than the Dodge Diplomat.
I very much enjoyed reading your story of Helen, O Pioneer_Fox. She’s a groovy chick. And in red, to boot. At 31 she’s still got lots of life left to drive! It’s funny to think of a 1987 car as being a piece of machinery that’s 3-decades-old, but time has a way of speeding onward. Jeepers.
Helen looks comfy, too. I was glad to see you found a cupholder so as to minimize the chances of spilling a drink or two on those nice seats! The front seat of my old car looks HORRIBLE for that reason and that reason alone. I’ve spilled so many drinks over the years I cannot believe I’ve been that clumsy. → Today, as a matter of fact, after I drove away from the tire place I had some unsweetened iced tea . . . and it fell over spilling out on my front seat. Again. Ugh! Don’t let that happen to Helen!
Happy Motoring. Cheers!
I’d love to find a survivor Gran Fury (or even a Diplomat SE) along the lines of Helen.
My previous M-body experiences consisted of owning a 1983 Diplomat ex-cop car (former King County, Washington unmarked unit) and driving a bunch of M’s when I used to work in a detail shop in the mid/late eighties. I always thought they were great riding and comfortable cars (at least the civilian versions…).
I always wondered why Chrysler didn’t do a Newport version–same interior as Helen and the Dippy SE, Fifth Avenue header panel/grille, Fifth Avenue taillamp insert, but without the rest of the Fifth Avenue décor outside. Hmmm-maybe I’ll have to find one myself to make…it’d be a great head-scratcher.
Nice ride..I suppose it is a sign of the generational change, but I chuckled at the “huge boat” description..these were a variation of the Volare, which was the same size as a Dart, which when I was a teen was pushed as being an “economical compact ” alternative to big standard cars. I certainly didn’t consider these to be “large cars” when they were new…..:)
Volare was not a horrible car.
+1 for Dodge Aspen
What a nice car. Best of luck to you and Helen !
By the way, I wasn’t aware that those beaded “massage seat covers” were popular anywhere outside the former USSR…
Hey there! I met you a while back at a car meet in Irving at Lone Star Park. Something I didn’t think much at the time is we have a family owned Chrysler Fifth Avenue that has sat for close to 20 years and will likely be scrapped soon. I’m sure there are several parts you may be interested in grabbing before it get’s essentially thrown away. No idea why it was parked, but if anything the fact that it is painfully stock and unmolested there are parts you might need from it. Let me know if you’d be interested in anything!
What a pretty car. I did not know you could get such plush, nice seats in the Gran Fury. That car is a definite stand-out among the creepy pod-cars that seem to permeate the local roadways with their anonymous, blob-looking appearance. They really do all look the same, don’t they, with their gaping maws and pissed-off looking, ugly faces.