Fuselages catch my eye anyway, but this one titled “Dodge Phoenix” threw me for a minute, or two. Another Canadian Plodge? Then I saw it was posted by Peter Wilding, who is from Australia. Aha! Another alter-universe Dodge from down under.
Jason Shafer did the full story on these large Chrysler Corp cars in Australia here, so I’m not going to repeat it. These were locally assembled from kits, and undoubtedly sourced from Canada. And of course, its donor was a Plymouth Fury, 1971 model year. 1972 was the last year for these, to be replaced by the Valiant-based “Chrysler by Chrysler“.
Here’s how the front of these looked. Only 400 per year were assembled, and each dash had a numbered plaque. The hardtops got a standard 383, and the sedans the 318.
Those additional indicator lights had to be added to meet Australian requirements.
This one has had its roof de-vinylized, and been treated to a purple or plum paint job. It rather works for me.
Lots more: Americans Down Under – Dodge Edition J. Shafer
I always think when I see a car like this it’d be cool to import one, put North American badging on it and watch the car show crowds go buggy over a right hand drive big American sedan.
I know up until seeing this post I’d have swallowed my gum seeing this at a cruise night or such.
It’s always a weird feeling to be looking at these “down under” versions, with something tingling your automotive “spidey sense” and then suddenly realizing that the steering wheel is on the “wrong” side! This one looks to be loved and well kept. 🙂
Great information and good fun. Thanks. I was working at Chrysler in The U.S. in the ’70’s. This model, of course, was not in our view.
I wonder how many strings the owner had to pull to get that plate! It’s the regular-issue Victorian plate from the late eighties (like the wheels), not a personalized plate, but with a brilliantly appropriate letter-number sequence!
This car was visiting my neighbours over the road – never saw it again.
The registration on this car expired 11 days ago ! , listed as a black 1971 Chrysler.
Interesting plate, I had a personalized plate in that era, 2 letters and 4 numbers. Could you not get 3 letters 3 numbers ? Can’t remember many with just the name Victoria on it’s own either..
Beautiful Fuselage by the way !!!
If Grimace had a car and had retired to Australia, it would be this one.
I haven’t really paid that much attention to the lines of this year of Fury (Phoenix) before, but outside the context of comparing it with Chevrolets and Fords of the same year or era, I think it’s a great-looking big sedan on its own.
Of the various grills the fuselage wore, the blinking eye Plymouth shaver face was my favorite. Chrysler-Oz picked the right one from the parts bin IMO. The tag # ices the cake.
Arrgh who cares..I’d rather a 72 Chrysler imperial