(first posted 3/16/2012) The restyled full-size 1974 Plymouths and Dodges were not launched in the best of times. Introduced just as the first gas crisis was ramping up, these cars were not exactly a hit, though its Dodge cousin would go on to fame in The Blues Brothers.
The fuselage look of 1969-73 was gone. More squared-off styling was featured in all full-size Chrysler products. A full line of two- and four-door hardtops, a 4-door sedan, and station wagons were available. Plymouth Furys and Dodge Monacos could easily be mistaken for a 1973 Buick, clearly the source of most of its styling cues. The Dodges were even more obvious with a muted version of the Buick sweepspear stamped into its bodysides.
The 1974 Plymouth’s and Dodge’s source of inspiration…
The 1976 Royal Monaco. No, it’s not a Buick. Really.
The gas crisis could not have hit at a worse time, as Chrysler was already in the middle of one of its periodic crises. It was probably a good thing that they had the captive-import Colts and Arrows and the Valiant/Dart to sell to fuel-conscious customers, or it would have been even worse.
Not much was new for 1975. The mid-size Satellites were renamed Furys, so all full-size Plymouths became Gran Furys. The new intermediate Fury followed the design of the full-sizers and new for ’75 Cordoba with more formal styling.
A new Gran Fury Brougham series had a a restyled front end with single headlights, plusher interior and a standard 400 CID V8 with Torqueflite. Gran Fury Customs and Gran Furys retained the quad headlight front end with a new, busier grille. They also had the Torqueflite automatic but made do with a 360 V8. While sales of the full-size cars would pick up to some extent after 1974, this generation of Gran Fury did not last very long and was discontinued after 1977.
I found this ’75 pillared sedan in the back of a local dealership. It is in remarkable shape except for a torn driver’s seat. It has the optional Premier wheel covers and a vinyl roof, but sorry, it’s not a Brougham. The claimed 31,000 miles are believable. Hopefully the new buyer will keep it the way it is and not turn it into a Bluesmobile. I love that movie, but come on, this car is a time capsule – when Broughams roamed the land and cursive emblems were standard equipment.
A Gran find, especially for your part of the world! And no rust anywhere, at least visible.
I’m going to go out on a limb here and say these were some of the best looking barges of all time. If I were to be stuck with any full sized American Car built past 1971, these (and their Dodge brothers) are exactly what I’d buy. They are thankfully un-Broughamed and have an almost evolutionary “What if the 1960s never ended” classiness about them.
Sorry about it B-bodies…
I’ve always thought exactly the opposite — that this gen Chrysler full-size was the most anonymous car on the road in its day!
I remember when these first hit the showrooms. I thought they were the best looking big Plymouth since 55-56. In a “cheap gas” alternate universe, they probably would have been much more of a sales success.
Always liked these too, tbh. They were in many ways the continuation of the ’67-
’68s, especially the sedans. And crisper than the ’71 GM full sizers and with much better 5mph bumper integration than the ’71-’76 GM full sizers. Of course both were miles ahead of Ford products on that front. They even brought back the center glove and coin tray.
Cherry ride; even the color is right, beige was so common on the full-sized cars of that era. I have always loved the ’70s American barges, probably because it’s what I grew up around. If this wasn’t half a continent away and on the wrong side of the border it’s be sharing garage space with my AMC Ambassador by tomorrow night…
Mills Chevy is apparently in Moline Illinois. Nice shape for a rust belt car, but I can’t make out how much it is.
IMHO the only proper use for this is to make a bluesmobile. The use of unnecessary violence has been approved…
Nice car I get confused with the various Chryco models of this era we dont have enough of them how much did they want it would be a easy $10k here.
They’re asking $3995. It’s been there at least a couple weeks. I tried to take photos the first time I saw it but the camera’s batteries were just about flat, only managed one shot before it went out.
For $4000 I’d have to buy it! I could sell that thing for $6000 easy in Atlanta. But my problem is I don’t like to sell the cars once I get them!
Ah, the Plodge Gran Royale Monaco de Brougham, in beigemist tan.
I’m with Laurence on this one. I’d grab a Royal Monaco or Gran Fury long before I’d hit a GM B car(at least till 77).
This 75 would have had Lean Burn too. That didn’t help Ma Mopar much in the 70s for reliability. It did show that they knew what the future held for emissions controls though.
I had a 75 Royal Monaco four door hardtop with the same beige/vinyl top colour as the Gran Fury. It had the 360 2V without lean burn (Canadian) I bought it when it was two years old. I swapped manifolds and put a Holly four barrel on and installed dual exhausts. Not the best car I ever had but was trouble free all the time I had it. Lots of heat in the winter and the air blew ice cold in the summer. Sometimes I wish I still had it. I always liked that car.
The ’75 full-size Mopars are the final chapter of the Newberg Curse. I’m talking of course about the 1962 last minute, disasterous restyling of the full-size Dodge/Plymouth lines at the insistance of the then-Chrysler president, William C. Newberg, due entirely to a misheard statement by GM CEO Ed Cole at a Detroit party.
The stunning catastrophe of the 1962 cars scared Chrysler executives (mainly new CEO Lynn Townsend) so badly that they went on an ultra-conservative design approach for over the next decade where Chrysler styling was virtually whatever GM had been doing in the previous model cycle. It worked well enough until the seventies’ gas crisis virtually wiped out the big-car market overnight. While it had a severe detrimental effect on all of Detroit, Chrysler, being the smallest of the three, couldn’t weather the storm.
In hindsight, if not for the gas crisis (jolting Chrysler into take drastic action, i.e., Iacocca), one wonders how long Chrysler could have continued to simple ape GM styling from the previous two years.
Nice unit and even though Chrysler softened their ride to match GM the torsion bars would still handle better than the other too. This wouldn’t be a bad beast at all. Remove the lean burn crap add dual exhausts and likely it would be a very pleasant daily driver.
There was nothing wrong with Lean Burn. It was just a bit ahead of its time.
I had a buddy with an 83 Dippy that he kept the LB system running finely to around 1995. LBs biggest issues were lack of training for the technicians, people that didn’t want nannies on their engine and ChryCo’s odd insistence of hanging computers on the air cleaner assembly. The latter being something they did well into the 90s.
Bigger engine, Dan, don’t forget the bigger engine!
My Dad literally had one of these, he bought his from a local Gov’t auction, perhaps state auction and it was supposedly an unmarked police cruiser.
There were tale tell signs that there were antennas on the roof for the radios and it didn’t have the factory radio in it, though I don’t recall if it had AC or not.
It was that soft gold with parchment vinyl top and vinyl interior and yes, it had the 360 and electronic ignition and had the super fast reduction gear starter too.
I got to drive it some while learning to drive while I had my learner’s permit and this was 1981-82 or so. He would replace it with a ’78 Ford Fairmont in around 1982 that later became mine in ’87.
these were nice looking cars except that they WERE a little TOO bland for my taste.
Collectible Automobile had a article about the 1974-77 Plymouth and they mentionned then the idea of renaming the Satellite as Fury and Fury as Gran Fury for 1975 was a change coming late in the planning, they originally planned to continue with the Satellite and Fury I/II/III. I guess that move didn’t helped either and bring more confusion (and to note then the basic body of the 1971-74 Satellite hadn’t changed a lot and beginned to be old didn’t helped things either and I don’t mention then the Cordoba was originally planned to be a Plymouth instead of a Chrysler).
We could wonder what if The Blues Brothers had came early, circa 1975-76 instead of 1980, if that could had helped these C-bodies to gain more fame?
It would have been interesting, particularly if the ‘Bluesmobile’ had been a 1969 Polara, a car that has achieved legend status among law enforcement types as the pinnacle of cop-car performance.
Cool idea, I could go even a step further with a 1970-71 Plymouth Fury customized with the hidden headlights of the Sport Fury.
Weren’t these Gran Furys also seen on ‘The Dukes of Hazzard’ as patrol and background cars?
A Dodge Monaco or a 1974 Fury was seen in the pilot episode of the Dukes of Hazzard when Daisy Duke push Rosco to step in his car. Then a couple of AMC Matador during the first season before switching to B-body Fury for the remaining episodes. They never used some R-bodies St.Regis or the M-body “Dippy-ized” Gran Fury.http://imcdb.org/movie_78607-The-Dukes-of-Hazzard.html
I know this thread died out a few years ago, but I just came across it and thought I’d respond. In the original “Georgia” episodes of the “Dukes of Hazzard”, they used a ’75 Plymouth Gran Fury with the quad headlights, and either a ’74 Monaco or ’75 Royal Monaco (again, 4-headlight model). I believe there was also a ’73 Plymouth Fury.
The Dukes of Hazzard didn’t smash up cars quite as often in the earlier episodes, but they did end up rolling the Dodge. There was a chase scene that involved Uncle Jesse trying to burn off a bunch of illegal moonshine in the tank of an old ’71 or so Galaxie. Roscoe and Boss Hogg were chasing, as was a female federal agent in a Ford Granada. In most of the scenes, Roscoe is driving the ’75 Gran Fury, but then the Granada runs him off the road, and at that point it’s the ’74-75 C-body Monaco, with a bit of front-end damage, possibly from previous takes. It ends up hitting a ramp (better disguised than on “CHiPs”, at least), and rolls over, ending right-side up.
I don’t know whatever became of the Gran Fury, but that was the last Georgia episode. The show went on a short break, and when new episodes were filmed, they were done in California, and IIRC, they started off using those “Coffin Nose” AMC Matador sedans. I guess the B-body Furys and Monacos were still too new, although eventually those would become available, and they’d start smashing those up.
I can’t remember if the Dukes of Hazzard ever moved on to smashing up R-bodies or not? By that time, I ended up outgrowing the show, and wasn’t really watching it anymore. Also, by then they were trying to outdo “Knight Rider” with the stunts. Well, K.I.T.T. couldn’t jump worth a darn, so Knight Rider usually resorted to models. As a result, the Dukes did, as well, doing stuff that a real car simply couldn’t do. At least, not on a tv show budget, in those pre-CGI days.
By the time these things were 4 or 5 years old they were worthless, especially low option ones. When I mean worthless, I mean you had to pay someone to take it worthless.
A rust-free Gran Fury with 31,000 miles for $3995? Sign me up!
Price seems a mite high to me, particularly given the interior condition. There is a 2 door 74 in the same color in my local CL for even less money, and it appears nicer. Actually, it has kind of tempted me.
These were a big disappointment to me when new. By the fall of 1973, I was ready to be done with the fuselage, and I liked the look of the 74 Plymouth and Dodge. In fact, I still do, in a clean, conservative kind of way.
Then I got to ride in one. The dash seemed quite cheap, and Plymouth seemed to pick up that Chevy Impala trait of a black steering wheel and steering column no matter what your interior color, at least on lower level models.
The bodies did not feel quite as solid as the fuselages (which were, themselves, no bank vaults, although they were quite tight going down the road). Then by 75 they started messing with the grilles. I never liked the single headlight Gran Fury grilles as well as the 74 style. Also, the opera window coupe so quickly patched into the 2 door hardtop roofline was just awful.
A great find, but I think I would keep looking.
One more thing. Those Premier wheel covers were on my 77 New Yorker. They were the nastiest things to clean of any car I ever owned. They were primarily plated plastic (except for the potmetal hub and the stainless rim). Every one of those little rectangles (over 40 of them) needed to be scrubbed with a rag over your finger using chrome polish or cleaner wax in order to get the grunge off of the chrome. Took me about 2 hours per wheelcover by the time I dissassembled, cleaned and reassembled each of them. Just thinking about those makes my fingertips hurt.
Jeez, JP, maybe they could have gone in the dishwasher? 😉
I’m not surprised that wheelcovers got cheaper as the 70s wore on. The Imp’s are made from two separate aluminum stampings, with a deep-dish hub that had to be hand-crimped onto the outer ring, which had a subtle black paint treatment as well. What a lot of trouble for a (quite handsome, IMO) doodad!
And I wonder how many people really noticed all the attention that went into designing, manufacturing and installing these doodads?
When I was a kid, I always had the job of washing the family car, so I got to notice all the doodads. The flowing ‘Falcon’ script on the sides of Dad’s ’62. The badge with the gold falcon wing against a black background on the front fender. The texturing of the chrome ‘scoop’ ornament on the hood. The neat little flip-up cover over the trunk keyhole, and the way it integrated into the Ford badge. All these little details made me smile. Nice.
The ’67 that replaced it was bigger, bulkier, harder to manoeuvre around the cramped confines of our back yard – and, more tellingly, devoid of all these nice little doodads. It was the equivalent mid-range model, but the doodads were gone, and with them, the sense of style. The sense of someone at the factory really caring, and wanting to make me smile. It lost that personal touch, and was merely a transportation machine.
But then, how many people wash their cars by hand these days, to notice any doodads? Me and – who else?
Bring back the doodad!
I, too, cleaned the family cars and noticed everything you mentioned.
Yet there was a new addition: side-marker lights (in ’68) meant a new doodad -and Pontiac used some classy examples (either the Firebird emblem or the Pontiac Arrowhead).
You’re quite right that by ’72, the only thing adorning the side of the car was the dealer-installed vinyl, anti-door-ding strip (which ruined the look of any car and in particular, fuselage cars).
I guess I’m in the minority on this, but the ’74-’78 Gran Fury has always captivated me in a way few large American cars have. I liked their upright chunkiness and, if one considers the face-lifted single headlamp version, the up-graded slotted road wheels with rim rings, a darker color blue, grey or red, and a fully spec’ed out interior, I feel the Gran Fury really looked significantly better (with a whole lot less BS hanging off of them) than its contemporary Chevy and Ford competitors. And while they may not have been executed using the best materials, the Chrysler Corporation C bodies also had dashboards with a “design concept” to them: wrap-around, flood lit, with control switches (on the fuselage antecedants at least) that were really neat looking, finished in brushed aluminum. The dashboards were also modular, designed to repair easily and each function (climate, driving or entertainment) had “domains” to their own on the dashboard, instead of haphazardly tossed around the steering wheel like most other large American cars of the day. But back to appearance, the Gran Fury surely looked better than those hideous full sized, “road-hugging” Fords with their funny narrow opera window squeezed between regular windows, their messed-up vinyl roof treatment (on two-door hard tops) and the LTD’s hidden headlamp covers containing a bizarre strip of brushed aluminium with an even more bizarre filigree print design that had no business finding its way on an automobile — as if some calligrapher sat at the end of the assembly line in Dearborn and personally “scribed” each example). IMO, only the “bustle-back” Seville, the mid-to-late sixties Thunderbirds with those strangely substantial “Landau” hinges that hinged on nothing at all surpassed those full-size Fords of the 1970’s.
Comment of the day, Ken!
I have nice memories of my grandfather’s ’75 Custom 4-d hardtop, with the four lamp front end. Silver with a huge black interior. I remember he and I riding in the back seat while my Dad drove. We were reading the newspaper, spread out like we were at home on the sofa.
I think the ’74-up C-bodies had bigger interiors than my Imp, although the cars were shorter on the outside.
Is “Gran” a word?
I like the coupes. Handsom.
I had a 1974 Gran Fury sedan that looked exactly like that tan one, except that it was pale metallic green with a white vinyl top and green interior. We got it in 1980 or so when we thought that my wife, a Realtor, needed a big roomy car to use for showing houses. I got a lot of razzing from my WPC Club buddies along the lines of “Hey, get that Buick outta here!”
It had the 360 engine and got twelve miles to the gallon, whether we were driving through the Cascade Mountains or on the flat on cruise control. It was roomy and solid with none of the water leak issues that so many Chrysler products had in the Pacific northwest, and with no evident wear on the upholstery or carpet.
A couple of different times when my wife had customers in the car it failed to start. Both times I was at work and she had to make other arrangements to get her people back to the office. And both times when I came to trouble-shoot the car it started without incident. Understandably, she developed an aversion to driving it, and not long after that it was traded. We saw it a few years later; the people had kept it up really well, used it to tow a pretty good-sized boat, and hadn’t had any problems with it at all.
Pfsm, some people just do not know how to start an engine, your wife must be one of them. Apparently she was not interested in following your ‘starting method’.
Having worked as a Chrysler mechanic through all the years mentioned in this writeup, the best advice I can give is, when engine is cold, 2 to 3 pumps on the gas pedal, then keep your foot off the gas pedal, when warm or hot, no pump, still keep the foot off the gas pedal, just crank that gear reduction starter. Intake vacuum only sucks the fuel from the carburetor when the throttle is closed.
I wonder how many have yet to learn that starting method with fuel injected cars?
Today, I went and saw a 1975 Gran Fury for sale at a local dealership, with only 31,000 miles! I went On-line to check out the car, and, what do you know, I stumbled on this very post for that very same car!
I drive a ’92 Roadmaster right now, but this magnificent yacht has captivated me. Might buy, might buy. I’ll come back here and let you all know if I decide to go through with it. Tom, I can assure that if I bought this vehicle, I would most certainly NOT be turning it into a Bluesmobile clone!
Seeing it in person, I can see that it does have a little rust on the left-hand side, and the whole car really deserves a new paint job. Besides that and the upholstery which needs some attention, I’d leave her alone.
Oh, and the P, Y, and H are missing from “Plymouth,” so it’s really a “Lmout”
That’s quite a coincidence! Did they tell you where the car came from? If I had to guess I’d say it was someone’s aunt’s or grandmother’s car and garaged since new.
What surprised me is the dealer had this car hidden in the back. I would have put it out front.
No, I was at the dealership after-hours. They have since moved the vehicle to a stretch of cars alongside 16th Street. I’m itching to hear the story, I’ll probably go check it out on Tuesday.
I always liked these cars. If the Dodge copied the Buick I always thought the side view of the Plymouth copied the Olds Delta. My college roommates parents had a 74 Newport Custom 4 door hardtop in Maroon with tan roof and interior and a 440 under the hood. I always thought it was beautiful and it would fly too. I ended up later with a 77 Newport Custom with the 400 with the dreaded lean burn; which after running a while on the highway would forget to reset causing it too stall and run awful when you hit stop and go driving. Called the car Lucy since its size was just short of the Lusitania. The car handled so much better than my Dads 73 and 74 B Bodies and would get around 17 to 19 on the open road which was great for for a car this size. It also had the telescoping wheel and reclining twin lounge seats which most GM cars lacked at the time at this price point.
Sold last week…
Beautiful looking car. If it weren’t for the difficult times from which the car was built, it probably would’ve been a hit, maybe even more than that.
I never got why the lower end models had quad headlamps and the Broughams had single lamps! Never made any sense. Plus, with the optional split bench seats, the passenger side reclined, but only on the four-doors. Yet on the mid-sized Fury, the Volare and even the Omni/Horizon, you could get dual reclining seatbacks as an option.
I wish I would have found this for $3995..I would have bought it on the spot. My Mom had a 1974 Fury Gran sedan. (Yes a hard top 4 door) blue with blue interior Loaded. This was an awsome car she still talks about it today how she wishes she still had that car.. My grandfather then went bought a 1974 Fury III 4 door bronze in color, my aunt then bought a 1975 Gran Fury 2 door brown with pearl beige interior. They all loved these cars. I don’t know if it had something to do with my Grandfather working for Chrysler at the time or not, like I do now. Then I found it even more interesting when my Dad a police officer in the 70′s pulled up in his new patrol car in 1975 a Gran Fury suburban station wagon!! His was a wagon due to he was the crime scene unit.If anyone knows or has 74-77 Fury/Gran Fury for sale I would like to know. If you post on here I will send you my email.
I was 14 when these came out….and My parents took me to the dealers to see them. I instantly fell in love with these car and still to this day I am in love with them. I’ve only owned a Chrysler New Yorker and now a Royal Monaco Diplomat Hardtop.
Yes, the styling is very much like the GM full sized cars. But I can tell you from first hand experience. I know this will upset GM Fans and I like GM cars so i’m being honest. I worked for 4 years 1977 thru 1980 model years for Chrysler. I’d seen hundreds of these cars and also GM Full Sized Cars at the time. The Plymouth is simply a better quality car compared to the Chevy Impala, same for the Royal Monaco compared to a Pontiac or Buick of the same time. They were better build and used better materials and had better fit and finish and were quieter.
The GM Full Sized cars were significantly improved in quality in 1977 but the bigger pre 1977 cars were not as good as these Chrysler Products. I think the Ford or Mercury were better than the GM cars too.
I never knew the single headlights were only available on the Brougham models, I always thought the single headlights were available on all models starting sometime around 1976, I personally prefer the quad headlights over the single headlights
When I was younger I used to mistake these cars for a 1973-74 Ford Galaxie/LTD
Yes, why did they go through all that expense of making a different grill for single headlights for the entry model? Of course they didn’t know these would not be good sellers, but still? It wasn’t 1957 where they were trying to phase in quad headlights due to regulations.
Maybe these are a bit conventionally styled, but I like them (maybe partly because they are scarce). Had the gas crisis not happened when it did, these might have continued on more than 4 more years. I don’t think Plymouth had a wagon model of this (maybe I’m wrong but I think the ’73 was the last wagon) which is too bad…I hardly see any of these around anymore, they were the end of an era, where the “standard” car was actually pretty large, but very comfortable.
There was a station wagon model. I learned how to drive my father’s 1977 Plymouth Gran Fury Sport Suburban, with the required simulated wood panel down the sides.
The featured car is a dead ringer, color and all, for my police chief’s car, bought by the City for him. The patrol cars that year were full size Fords and other administrators had Dodge Coronets. We figured the Fords and Dodges were bought on bids, but the Chief got to choose his car.
His Plymouth was big, roomy, with comfy seats, and quiet. Its instrument panel looked modern and was both stylish and easy to read though its black color and that of the steering wheel was rather dark looking. Its engine and underpinnings were all cop, though: a 440 four-barrel police engine, stiff spings, firm shocks, metallic brake pads and high-effort power steering. While he was on vacation, he left the car at the station and I used it as a surveillance car.
It may be damning with faint praise, but these C-bodies had hands-down the best 5 mph bumper integration of any full or mid-size US car. Probably because they were just about the only all-new bodies developed once the bumper standards were set.
They also had a cool, center mounted change/glove tray that first appeared on the 65 Chrysler.
I like the up thread comment about these cars being a continuation that acted as if the fuselage cars never existed. I’ve always felt that the sedans especially feel like an outgrowth of their 67-68 predecessors. As if Engel (and Dick Macadam) realized the fuselage – like Exner’s fins – was a dead end and went back to what they knew best.
Chrysler definitely had a Buick fixation back then, even if coincidentally. Consider tthe 78 Magnum and 79 St. Regis, both of which aped the sloped light pods of the 77 Buick, but with covers!
Wow, until now I always thought that the Plymouth and Dodge versions of these used the same rear end styling, save for light lenses and some superficial trim.
Now I see they had unique rear bumpers and the Dodge’s tail lights are set in deeper and lower.
Chrysler went through a lot of tooling trouble for the tiny bit if differentiation they managed between the two.
While the Chrysler of this era could be quite handsome, the Plymouth and Dodges always seem uninspired, and as JPC noted the eventual Plymouth versions with the single headlights and crappy opera windows were quite terrible.
The high trim Plymouth hardtops as introduced in ’74 were about the best of the lot. After that, Chrysler did everything it could to kill a beleaguered car through the end of the run in ’77.
A bit better in ’74…………
It’s strange but I quite like the Brougham with it’s single headlights. It’s different. You can really tell from looking at these that Chrysler did a better job integrating the 5 mph bumpers than other manufacturers. What a shame these didn’t come out in ’73 before the oil shock. They would have had a better chance to establish themselves in the market.
When these were new, friends of mine traded in a 72 VW Squareback for a car very similar to the one here except for having a dark brown body….oh, and it was a hardtop and not a sedan. They bought their Grand Fury after their VW was involved in it’s 3rd “fender bender” (ALL to the rear of the car) because the small….really small, town Chrysler-Plymouth dealer was so desperate they were offering $2000 guaranteed for trade-ins PLUS a “huge” rebate, I believe this was when Chrysler first started their rebate payments.
My memories of that G-F? For a new car the assembly quality was only okay: the vinyl roof was already peeling away from the lower edges of the top. And while the interior was decently….styled (?), almost none of the pieces that made up the door panel was the same exact color. The interior of that new car was about 5 or 6 shades of cream color.
But to drive? Not that bad for a large car, steering that was light with no feedback and brakes that could stop the car almost instantly…..typical Chrysler product.
As others have said, a very pleasant car, but for the price asked for this now 3 years ago, you can get nicer cars that are newer….in some places in the U.S. (though no low mileage “creampuffs” like this car was.)
I always loved these last of the really big Chrysler Corporation cars, especially the ’76 Gran Fury. More solid looking than the Buicks you say they were copied from, though I don’t see that Chrysler copied GM, but rather the style of all American large cars epitomized the look of that era. Perhaps I’m overly nostalgic, but I liked the way American cars looked just before the downsizing period began in earnest. They were so unapologetically American.
Hi,
I’m about to buy this one, I can’t quite figure out the exact Fury, although I think it’s a 1973/74 with a 318 V8. Does anyone know the exact model and if the 318 is the one that produces 230 horsepower?
“74 or ’75 Gran Fury or Gran Fury Custom. 318 std on lower model, 360 on Custom.
The slow sales of the 1974 big Mopars is invariably blamed on their unfortunately timed launch during the OPEC embargo and high gas prices. But what accounts for their mediocre sales in later years? Full size Ford and GM cars sold well in 1975-77. For that matter so did smaller Chryslers like the Duster/Valiant, Aspen, and Cordoba. So there must have been something else people found offputting about the big ones.
While sales of the full-size Ford and Chevrolet did bounce back after 1975, I don’t believe they reached their pre-embargo level. But given their higher sales level – as compared to the Plymouth – prior to the embargo, they could absorb a hit and still remain viable.
Compared to sales of the full-size Plymouth and Dodge, sales of the full-size Chrysler experienced a greater recovery after 1975, if I recall correctly. (This was particularly true if fleet sales were taken into consideration – these Dodges and Plymouths were still popular as police cars and taxi cabs, while the Chrysler Newport and New Yorker were sold primarily to retail customers.)
It was as though people who wanted a traditional full-size American car moved up to the higher-level version. The same thing happened at GM with Chevrolet versus Oldsmobile and Buick in the late 1970s.
The latter is true, especially as there was almost no difference in the retail price of a Gran Fury Brougham and a Newport. The prestige factor favored the Chrysler but in reality there was little difference other than styling.
We had a ’76 (400 engine w/ Lean Burn) GFB and a ’77 GFB (360 no LB) and ’77 Newport (400 LB). Our favorite was actually the ’77 GFB with the 360, ran great and got excellent gas mileage. The other 2 ran fine but only kept about 1 year. LB nothwithstanding they ran well but mpg was only around 13-14. They were all 3 excellent cars though, and we owned the ’77 GFB for 11 years: ’85 to ’96, it pulled many trailers, and commuted 100 mi a day.
According to the NYT 11/5/1974
“New‐car sales in October were off nearly 27 per cent from year‐earlier levels, the worst performance for new models in a decade, and Chrysler announced yesterday it was laying off another 10,100 workers indefinitely to keep production in line with lagging sales.”
“It was the worst start of a new model year since 566,066 cars were sold in October, 1964.”
1974 1973
G.M 327,146 479,456
Ford 195,156 235,564
Chry 87,811 105,347
AMC 17,408 36,703
Totals 627,521 857,070
Imported cars down 20%
Inflation was the reason given, cars prices increased by average of $400 which is about 7%
I often wonder when thinking of Chrysler of the 60s and 70s what if they never bothered with the C body full sizers at all? Was the heretofore “fullsize” downsized B body really a poor substitute for a true full size car for buyers at the time or was it just the hyper polarizing styling of the 62s and lingering Exnerisms through 63 ad 64 that necessitated cars like the Custom 880 at Dodge and the full revamp of its chassis to become the C body for 65? It seems with the 74s and Chrysler(brand’s) unwavering decree of nothing below that size being shattered with the success of the B body based Cordoba the answer is the C body may indeed have been an unnecessary answer the market didn’t actually need and thus liability all along The continued investment into the C bodies funneled cash reserves away from what could have made the B bodies more competitive outside of fleet sales, and give the A body an overdue update and/or not botch the F body so badly.
Mind you that doesnt mean I’m not a fan of many C bodies, in fact the Fuselage era has some of my favorite big cars of the era, but for many those are the most polarizing, but for most the 74s are simply disliked, or at best indifferent to. These are designs devoid of identity, the most blatant of Chrysler’s GM knock offs, yet are positioned to be the premier models of their respective brands.
Sad as it is these tend to be used only to clone the Bluesmobile or other police cars(from the same movie), frankly it should be so lucky that one was featured in an iconic comedy/musical featuring an all-star cast of early SNL alums, musicians and A-list cameos to be projected into icon status at all. The sad reality is the Bluesmobile is could have just as easily been a Bel Air or Custom 500 if not for the Hollywood based production sourcing ex-CHP Monacos. Police Chryslers have their extra cool factor to us car enthusiasts, that made that Monaco a perfect casting for the movie, but to most viewers it wouldn’t have made a difference, any old police car would suffice…
“It’s got a cop motor, a 454 cubic inch plant, it’s got cop tires, cop suspensions, cop shocks.”
No, try that again.
No, try that again.
“It’s got a cop motor, a 460 cubic inch plant, it’s got cop tires, cop suspension, cop shocks.” 🙂
<Daffy>
You’rrrrrrre deffffpicable!
</Duck>
That is, A 440 engine! Chrysler did not sell a 460!
It’s REALLY bored and stroked!
The Imperial/New Yorker Brougham was the one big Chrysler of this final C body generation that I liked, and that didn’t look like a watered-down GM car. Distinctive and elegant waterfall grille (this time it was GM who copied Chrysler, adopting that look for the Cutlass Supreme), concealed headlights, along with rear door contours and window shape that recalled the elegant 1965-68 New Yorker. Beautiful car.
Yeah I would agree that those were much more interesting designs, there were a lot of borrowed elements from Lincoln and Cadillac in it but executed in a way it came off original, which I think was a trait that made their late 60s designs so ironic. The problem by this time is Chrysler still had the talent to design with the best of them but just like the Cordoba in relation to all the other B bodies, the Imperial/New Yorker was the only real strong effort of the C bodies, everything else seems so hastily executed by comparison, which seemed to give Plymouth in particular the weakest designs – the Monaco at least is the faithful tracing paper copy of the Buick, the poor Fury looks like the cars used in commercials with their identifying traits removed and disguised.
Just like the ’69 big Plymouth’s front end: insurance company ad specials, a watered down copy of a ’66 Impala
My Mom and Dad bought a new Gran Fury Brougham in August of 1976; a deep metallic burgundy with burgundy brocade interior that wore like iron. A white vinyl top, air con, am radio, crank windows, and a 360-V8 were the specs.
They lived 25 miles from the dealership on a rural farm and 12 miles from the dealership, the car began to overheat and shot right into the red. Dad let it cool, swung around on the Interstate and headed back. By the time he got there after several more stops, it was making ‘bad metallic noises’. When mechanics pulled the engine with less than 30 miles on it, they noticed fine sand in the coolant.
The block was full of casting sand; it had left the factory full of it and the result was a very heavily damaged engine which had a restricted coolant flow from sand in the internals.
A new 360 was ordered out and installed later that same week.
My Dad still owns the now orphan Plymouth and it looks just like the day he brought it home 40 + years ago. Interior appears as never sat in. Zero issues with engine or other parts of the drivetrain and the body still wears it’s original paint.
This nearly 200,000 miles later……
Really attractive big Plymouth. The “Gran” prefix to me, though, is a stretch. It didn’t conjure up Spanish-language connotations for me. It just sounded like Chrysler Corporation had run out of resources to put a proper “d” at the end.
Or they were targetting the grandmother demographic…!
These really do look like Buicks. Does anyone know the backstory on why?
I was a college student when this Gran Fury came out. One was loaned to a British professor who came to our Texas campus as a visiting teacher. He was used to small, narrow Brit cars. He ended up denting all corners of his Plymouth given that it was as wide as his living room at home.
I think these are great looking cars, they may not have been original , but Chrysler styling in this period was handsome, the trucks, vans, Aspen , Volare, all pleasing to my eyes.
I just finished watching the TV series, Fargo, one of the series features the subject Plymouths prominently, one was a hardtop with vent windows , and other pillared sedans, great looking cop cars.
Pic from IMCDB
It’s pretty clear that it wasn’t originally a cop car: has anyone ever seen a hard-top cop car? The other tell is the cloth upholstery.
I agree with you that these were attractive cars, but they were unfortunately let down by some nickel and diming in important areas. My father had a Dodge Royal Monaco and the bench seats started to collapse in just a few years.
Lots of “Bluesmobiles” made from Brougham trimmed C bodies, since hard to find good pillared sedans.
Some car builders are just using 2000’s Crown Vics.
I remember seeing all the unsold C bodies at the Belvidere IL plant. These just didnt get any attention from middle aged family car buyers.
GM and Ford were getting more buyers and Chrysler had quality issues with the fuselage cars. Loyalists went to Dart/Valiant/Duster, and Cordoba/New Yorker.
Plymouth big Fury fell off the shopping lists of Ma and Pa, and the brand never recovered. I agree that Ma Mopar would have been better off not bothering with ‘low price brand’ big cars, but Chevy and Ford were still making $$$ with Caprice/LTD, so chased them.
Fury in the 50’s was the top ‘sporty/performance’ Plymouth, then fell to ‘fleet queen’. Example of name debasement.
I’m glad to see from some of the other comments that I’m not the only one who regards these cars as a continuation of the 67-68 C-bodies as though the fuselage cars never happened. I like the fuselage cars, but not as much as the slab side C’s. The styling of the 74 and up C-body Furys I find quite appealing and would have never stuck the Fury name on that generation of B-bodies. I would rather the late B’s remained as Belvederes or Satellites.
Since I was 12, when the 1974 Furys came out, I’d have to get in my time machine to buy one new, ordered the way I want it at the dealer and with a vinyl top delete on the 2 door. I’d have go back and look to see if I’d chose the Brougham or the Fury III which I think was still available as a 2 door.
Of course, in that flight of fancy, I’d also buy a Valiant to go with the Fury.
The ’74/5 was quite generic looking, as was the first ’69 fuselage model, but the Gran Fury Brougham with the bigger grille and single large headlight had a more distinctive looking front end.
We had both ’76 and ’77 versions of these, the ’76 had the 400 Lean Burn engine and after some issues with that was traded for a ’77 360 non-LB which we drove for 10 years and 200k miles. ’70s Mopar fit & finish was not fantastic, but it was a very durable and most satisfying large and comfortable car, I’d love another, but they are not easy to find thanks to the demo morons and the cop car clone cretins.
According to posts on a C Body fan forum, ChryCo decided to cancel Dodge/Plymouth full size cars, after the 77’s, in mid 1975*, due to distressing sales. One other reason was the Belvidere IL plant was picked to build the Omni/Horizon which would need to retool for mid 1977 introductions. Chrysler brand C’s were built in MI, until 1978.
* All C body wagons were built in same plant too, so T&C was cancelled at same time.