We had a good deal of Mopar recently thanks to a series of images uploaded by Hyperpack at the Cohort. A few have been highlighted here at CC, and the Mopars on those posts were part of a family collection in the process of being moved, sold, and more.
On this occasion, the Mopar goodness belongs to a neighbor of his. All Furys, all green, all early ’70s fuselage. We start with this light green 1971 Fury III.
There are four in total, split between 1971 and 1972 model years. Three of them in these darker shade of green with black vinyl tops, parked not far from each other. Must be quite a sight when passing by.
I’ll leave you with an additional image of the light green 1971, and I hope you didn’t mind this slight overdose of fuselage goodness.
Further reading:
Curbside Classic: 1971 Plymouth Fury III – Good Things Come For Those Who Wait
Cohort Sighting: 1971 and 1972 Plymouth Fury – Whales Among Yachts
Is it just me or is Fury an unusual car name? It’s not the easiest to say, it’s not an often used word (did it used to be?), it’s not anything aspirational, it doesn’t have positive connotations…
Perhaps coincidentally, Plymouth introduced the Fury in 1955 (1056 model year), the same year that the Western TV show “Fury” (a show about a boy and a horse) premiered. I think I knew about the TV show before the car. So maybe Fury was not so unusual or strange sounding a name back then.
Fury was an early endeavor of the actor Peter “Joey, Have you ever been in a Turkish prison?” Graves.
It’s INspirational methinx. When I go to boxing sites I joked about Tyson Fury and called him Tyson Furry at first, then he started losing his hair, so I went to Tyson Fuzzy. Now he is just plain … BALDY! 😛
The 60s to early 70s (1972) were great years for cars, music, and our culture in general! I have fond memories of driving my red/black 1955 Plymouth Savoy. (2 door post). Also, my red 1965 Mustang conv. with a rebuilt 289, and 3 speed C4 tranny. That car was great fun to drive, and a chick magnet! I wish I never sold it!
What i remember most about 70 and other early 70s Plymouth Furys is when a long haired teen of the time in St.Louis County, if one of them in a certain shade of brown, filled your rear view mirror, you knew your day was about to change.
https://stlouiscountypolice.com/sites/stlcopolice/assets/pdfs/Police/History%20Docs/History-PatrolCars.pdf
I was NEVER a fan of the oinkers! They are, mostly overpaid TAX-collectors! (fines). I only tried to outrun the cops ONE time. It was early morning about 3 AM and I was driving home from a party in East Vancouver, and a cruiser was driving down the hill toward me, passed by me, and then turned his lights on, a did a U-TURN! I just spontaneously GUNNED it and I lost him after a few blocks. I made a quick left to where my 3 ton moving truck was parked. I pulled in behind it, and jumped in the back of the box, pulled the service door down behind me! A few mins later I heard the cruiser’s radio outside the truck, but he left shortly after! I’d never done that before, and TBH I was so proud of myself, thinking I was like Steve McQueen in Bullitt! L0L BTW, my older brother drove an exact replica of the Bullitt 1968 dk green Mustang fastback.
In the summer between high school graduation and college I considered buying a 1972 Fury III pillared sedan in the same color as the one in the attached picture. Yes, the rear quarters were beginning to rust out (it was a teenaged midwestern car when I looked at it, a decade+ past new) and the For Sale sign indicated it needed some work on the carb, but it was pretty solid. In hindsight I should have bought the Fury with its solid 318 V8 and fixed the carb, rather than struggle with my junkyard escapee 1976 Coupe de Ville. Ah well, the foolishness of youth.
Seen these cars before, about two weeks ago, on the For C Bodies Only site
Where? I’ve been a member there for years and just looked back to Nov 1 on all the relevant Forum topics, no see these anywhere. I may be interested in buying one… depending. Where are they? Contact info?
I take it back. I had to think, and think, and think on where I saw them as I had made some comments that were answered. I found it and it was here. Duh! Midway down you can see where I commented on the cars as I saw them on Cohort back in mid-December.
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/blog/cc-cohort/cohort-pick-of-the-day-1971-plymouth-sport-fury-440-under-maintenance/
So I understand these 4 or so ’70/71 Furys are owned by a neighbor of Hyperpack, aka slantsix. Can anyone provide contact info for him, or the seller? I’m interested in a ’71 Fury III 4 dr sedan in solid running condition, and apparently these cars are in PA and not far for me. I’m deadly serious.
Ok, I went looking at https://www.forcbodiesonly.com/mopar-forum/ since I am a member, some time ago, and it seems slantsix isn’t unique as there is a guy in Finland using slantsix at that site.
Now maybe if you’re lucky the slantsix fellow that posted these pictures gets emails when there are reply comments to him. Worth a try so here is the link to where I first saw him. I asked two questions and got two answers back.
Good luck, and if you really want a C Body the guys at that forum I referenced seem to know where most all C Bodies are. The knowledge bank there is massive.
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/blog/cc-cohort/cohort-pick-of-the-day-1971-plymouth-sport-fury-440-under-maintenance/
Hello Randerson,
I am slant six
I cannot seem to create an account here on the curbside classic site, and additionally do not know if there is a private message function here between registered users.
You can look me up as slant six on forabodiesonly.com I can give you contact info on the Orange 440 ’71 from the other linked post, and I can give you location info on the quartet of 4 listed on this post. I do not know the owner, and my guess is that he would not be too inclined to sell, but you never know. The green quartet is located about ~25 miles outside of Pittsburgh PA. Thanks, and good luck!
Great that you saw this. I didn’t think of checking forabodiesonly since I don’t have one. Interestingly, Daniel Stern, is a strong Abody fan and he is someone we haven’t heard anything from for quite awhile now. Makes me wonder.
Yes I am pretty sure Dan is around We have been swapping ideas about slant 6’s and my ’62 Valiant Station Wagon Exhaust recently on another forum.
Maybe he just has nothing to offer on the fuselage body cars?
I didn’t mean For C Bodies but that he is missing here. Oh, and excuse me if I correct you a bit and that is C bodies encompass more than Fusies but also Slab Side and Formals.
Had one of these in the mid 90s. It was a ‘71 Fury III that I daily drive for a couple years. 318 2bbl, April metallic green with green cloth and vinyl interior. . Great car. Handled great and was a rattle free pleasure to drive. . Sold it with 150k on it. The next owner (who I knew) rebuilt the transmission at 275k and finally junked it because it wasn’t structurally sound due to rust at 475k mikes
I knew that Chrysler Corp was involved in the space program back then, but had no idea they tried using actual cars, 🙂
The image of the two 1972 Furys really put into perspective the massive size and style of those one-year-only loop bumpers, particularly when they’re the hidden variety of the upper trim cars.
The succeeding years that aped the previous GM products actually look better, a rarity for 5mph bumpers.
Not for nothing, but in my recollection, these cars, new, were aspirational for my middle class family. In 1971, my dad was looking to upgrade from our 1966 Coronet, bought used from Martin Motors in Harrisburg in 1968.
Couldn’t make a deal on a Fury or even a Satellite to his satisfaction, even stripped to base models.
Ultimately went to Behney Motors in Middletown and ordered a Dart Custom with a few options, which was our family’s first new car.
Dad’s in a nursing home now, but he still talks about how he “took his business to Behney” over fifty years ago.
In my opinion, there are many vehicles that don’t age well and some look outdated and old within a couple years of rolling off the line.
Not so IMO on these and so many of the Chrysler’s.
Admittedly, I am not a huge fan of the greens and earth tones that typically adorned Fuselage Chryslers. Many cars have colours that have defined them. I’m almost afraid to say ‘taxi yellow’, defined the Fury of this era.
There’s also the police car variety with black, green or blue depending of which color your state, county or municipality use like these white and blue ones shown in the movie Detroit 9000 along with some Polara and some Coronet/Satellite.
Very true! Sadly, I was also thinking this.
I had 3 of those at one point, two ’73s, a 4 door hardtop and a wagon. also a ’69 convertible. Chrysler wondered why the Imperial didn’t compete with Cadillac, probably because the imperial looked so much like their base model cars
We owned 5 fuselage Mopars: a ’70 Fury III convert, ’71 Custom Suburban, ’72 T&C, ’73 Custom Sub, and a ’71 Fury III 4 dr sedan in Dark Sherwood Green that I daily drove for 5 years to work, 42 miles each way, and which was probably the best car we’ve ever owned. I love them without reservation.
Our “73 Fury III” was yellow. The “73 Swinger” was green. Brother’s “74 Dart Sport” was too. (Swinger was med green/Dart was dark green)
Enjoy the Mopar fuselage cars.
Brings back some great memories.
Good info on the entire fuselage timeline:
http://fuselage.de
And some fuselage from elsewhere like this Fury rebadged Dodge Phoenix Down Under from Australia or this Dodge Polara/Monaco rechristened as Chrysler 383 in South Africa.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/50415738@N04/28814916333
https://www.flickr.com/photos/ifhp97/51362349363/in/photolist-2mfHt2D-BKSYZg-ETDL4U
Chrysler Australia assembled Hardtops and pillared sedans, the Hardtop had the 383 engine, sedans had to make do with a 318.
Saw one in Olongapo in the mid-80s with “war wagon” in sparkling lettering on the back window. Said it all.
Nice ~ I see they’re settling into the grass, this normally means serious rusting going on .
I hope Randerson is able to save at least one .
I didn’t like these cars when new nor for decades after but being a Gear Head I had plenty of ‘Mo Par or NOcar! buddies who got sterling service out of them be they nice low mileage civilian sedans or ex cop & highway patrol cars .
Out running the cops isn’t too hard (depending on your location) but you’ll never outrun the radio nor the chopper .
-Nate
To my eyes these 4 door sedans and the long station wagons were the most attractive models of Mopar’s “fuselage” bodies. The 2 door hardtops and convertibles just didn’t look as appealing, as attractive, as cohesive as the 4 door models did.
Just Me ?
Love the ’70 and ’71 Plymouth Fury’s in all forms! They are my favorite of the Fuselage era Chrysler products.
My dad bought a new 1972 Fury 3 off the showroom floor in May of 72 . 2 door in Sherwood Green metallic … with the hideaway headlights !! Sticker price was $ 5,700.00 !!!!! I really miss cruising in that car !!!!!
I had a 66sport fury and loved that car hated the day I sold it. I always thought the 64thru 66 model fury’s were the best.