posted at the Cohort by John Lloyd
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1966 Fury III by Ed Stembridge
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Cohort Pic(k) of the Day: 1965 Plymouth Fury III
– Posted on May 1, 2020
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My dad bought one like this in the then current turquoise color with matching interior. IIRC, it was also our first car with A/C! Poly 318 and Torqueflite; I also got my driver’s license in that car! What was amazing to me was how much longer and sleeker the 66 version appeared to be, and I eventually ended up owning a 66 Sport Fury! 🙂
Perfect choice of wheels for these cars,
Nice! A ’65 Fury II was our family car for 5 years, poly 318 automatic, never let us down. Ours was a pale blue with black roof, but the roof was textured so it was probably a dealer add-on. Thanks for the memories!
I’ve mentioned before that our driver’s training car in the summer of 65 in small town Indiana was a white 1965 Plymouth Fury III sedan. I have pleasant memories of that car – 318, Torqueflite, the infamous low effort P/S, and a big greenhouse – all made it an easy car to drive and park. IIRC it had the combination vinyl and cloth upholstery in pale blue.
At the time I was disappointed not to have been assigned to the other car used for our two groups that hot summer – a burgundy 1965 Chevy Impala hardtop with A/C. But at least the Fury was white and the seats were a lighter shade and didn’t stick to us badly and it was probably easier to park than the big Impala.
The Plymouth did have a few quality issues, most notably the transmission selector was out of alignment with the quadrant (maybe Chrysler was out of practice given they hadn’t used a column selector for the automatic since 1954). Overall a good and handsome car that sold well in our area and brought Plymouth back after the disastrous downsizing from 62-64. And this one helped me get my license one month after my 16th birthday, five months earlier than if I’d not taken driver’s training!
For 1965, I would give a slight edge to the Dodge Polara. Perhaps it’s because a buddy of mine’s Dad had the Dodge, and we would stand around on our bikes after getting back from a game of wallball in the schoolyard in Grade 8 or so, and stare at his Dad’s car parked next to the curb before he had to go in for dinner and I had to go home. Both the Plymouth and the Dodge looked to have shared the same greenhouse, but the Dodge’s taillights were a bit more stylish and the front grille resembled a barbell (as I would read later. Terry’s Dad’s car was about the same blue as this Plymouth.
This is a very nice action shot, without any distractions. Nice photography.
Also, Dodges had way cooler dashboards, with those two giant dials.
Not my favorite of the big 3’s 1965’s, but not bad. 1965 was in my opinion a high point for Detroit’s full size car styling. I think the Chevy is just about perfect, I really like the Ford (though exposure to CC is making me appreciate the ‘66 Ford more than I’d back then) and this Plymouth has aged well too. And it’s a nice picture also.
This is a gorgeous and evocative photo. It helps that the car is a beautiful shade of turquoise, so period-correct, but not seen in more recent decades except for a brief resurgence in the early 1990s.
1965 was definitely a good year for the Big Three, with Chevy, Ford and Plymouth all sporting major restyles. All were different, all unique and all worked. Have to give a slight edge to the beautiful Impala, but I can now appreciate that big greenhouse on the Furys. The new LTD was amazingly luxurious, before the decontenting set in a few years later.
I thought the floodlit instrument panel on the Plymouth was cool, as were the directional signal lights on top of the fender edge.
I recall the ’66 and earlier Plymouths as having backlit instruments. Never owned one, but did have a ’66 Dodge that was still backlit. My ’68 Plymouth was floodlit and I believe it was the same instrument panel as the ’67. I did like the floodlit better than the backlit. My ’68 was a Fury 1 without a radio. When I installed an aftermarket unit, I had both floodlighting and backlighting on the radio. Cool effect.
The car is sporting a Washington state collector-car license plate.
Yes, I believe the location is Marine View Drive in Everett, right by the Navy base. I used to live just to the right of that overpass.
I seem to be in the minority for prefering the 65 Fury to the 66. I preferred the tail end treatment on the 65, it was not terribly original but it was done very nicely.
The side of this car shows younger readers what Chrysler-built cars could look like in that era – no two pieces of that trim strip line up at all. Yes, it could be a bad collision repair somewhere along the line, but it could also have been just the way Chrysler built it.
I totally agree – I’ve always liked the details on the 65 better than the 66. The 65 driver’s training car I mentioned above had a lot of misaligned trim but the excellent engine, transmission, and suspension made it a very nice driving car. IIRC you could see the tops of the front fenders and that, along with the very visible hood ornament and over-boosted steering made it a cinch to park.
Interesting, as I’ve seen a few all-original 1965 Plymouth Furys at the Carlisle Chrysler shows, and they look very well-built – better, in fact, than that year’s full-size Chevrolet.
Chrysler Corporation cars were well-built from 1962 through 1965. It was in 1966 that things started to slide on the build quality front.
That is reflected in the responses to Popular Mechanics “Owners Report” series. Starting with the 1966 model year, owners of Chrysler Corporation cars complained of numerous build quality issues, whereas from 1963 through 1965, Mopars garnered fewer complaints on this issue than their GM and Ford competitors.
It probably didn’t help that 1966 was the first year that Lynn Townsend resorted to the notorious Sales Bank to artificially boost sales.
I would take any 1965 or 1966 Mopar C-body. The Dodges really interest me, both for their relative rarity (they were the least popular, by far, of the C-bodies) and their dashboards. It was obvious that Chrysler spent the money necessary to make the C-bodies fully competitive with their GM and Ford counterparts.
Did the USA make a bad car in 1965/66?
I think not.
Beautiful, very cool car, especially being a practical 4 door. I have always admired 4 door Mopars and have terrorized the streets in my past with sleeper modified 4 door A,B,&C bodies. My old, Clapper 1969 Coronet 4 door, “Super-Wanna-Bee” with a 1969 440 HP, with go fast parts…….goodbye Camaro, Firebirds & Mustangs….you just got beat up by a Clapper 4-door…lol….!!
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In Spring of ’65 Dad traded in our stripper ’59 Ford Custom sedan for a snazzy new Fury III two – door hardtop, color was “Dark Turquoise Metallic” with matching interior. Had the 318, Torqueflite, PS and radio/heater, so very basic but such a cool car, especially liked the “inverted wedge” roofline…it was a beautifully – styled car, full – size but trim…very fond memories of this car!
I love all sixties Plymouth Fury’s. Learned to drive in a ’68 Fury ll sedan. I have driven Impala’s and Galaxie’s, no contest, Fury for the win in my opinion.