Photos from the CC Cohort by Eric Clem
Adapt or die, that’s just the norm in product evolution. The curious thing is when, in hindsight, a product arrived embodying a new direction while also belonging to a soon-to-be-gone evolutionary branch. For 1969, evolution at Plymouth was in the form of its newly adopted fuselage bodies; clean styling with unobstructed planes that gave their full-sizers a distinctive and polarising look. A bold design ethos to stand out in the evolutionary race against GM and Ford.
Fuselage styling would be short-lived, but let’s not be too harsh on that effort; fashionably yet disposable wrappers were the norm at Detroit then. Shorter still and closer to extinction? The full-size Plymouth convertibles. This 1969 Fury III found by the roadside was one of just 5,708 sold in the penultimate year that body was offered. Only 1,952 were built for 1970, and by 1971, the full-size Plymouth droptop was gone, never to return.
As far as full-size went, the 1969-1970 Plymouth convertibles were the largest their open-air rides would ever get, at a total 214.5″ inches, and riding on a 120″ wheelbase. Evolution by growth, a Detroit tradition at the time.
The slabsided non-flourishes of the fuselage’s large bodies are an acquired taste, and sans roof, some of the concept’s severity can be too much. The Fury III trim (and wrong hubcaps?) does add some levity, though, and the wide aeronautic wing-like effect of the whole –particularly seen from the rear– must make this shape an imposing one when moving.
Besides looks and body growth, the model’s engineering was minimally evolutionary elsewhere, as a CL period review more or less discovered. Unibody technology, a standard 318CID V-8, with an array of other Pentastar options (the 440CID 4-barrel being top dog), 3-speed manual or Torqueflite, and the maker’s known driving torsion bar dynamics watered down to provide the “full-size luxury comfort ride” of the time. Plus tons of “luxury” accoutrements.
In all, looks aside, technical evolution was there, but in a minimally progressive form.
The full-size segment and the whole industry was to be hit hard in the coming decade by a fast changing automotive landscape. Full-size, RWD, droptops, as Detroit knew them, would all be gone by 1977, as Aaron S. recounted some time ago.
But as can be seen with today’s find, automotive fossils from those days are still around. And good thing about cars, no need to do much digging if the right one is found; just a good set of tools to keep it in running order.
Related CC reading:
Auto-Biography: 1969 Plymouth Fury – Somewhere East Of Laramie
The Last Full Size Convertibles – The End Of An Era
What a beauty even old and only marginally loved like this .
I had a rusty ’69 Fury III two door in late 1976, it had the typical 383CID V-ate that slurped gas but it was also a neat car that rode well and handled acceptably .
-Nate
This car brings back good Brady Bunch memories:
As time has passed, I have come to consider the 69 Fury line as the best looking of all the fuselage era cars, with the 69 Chrysler line as a close 2nd place. I always preferred this front to the loop bumper on later cars, and the Dodge was always roo cluttered. Plus, you still got vent windows on the 69!.
A worn one of these came for sale in my are and I was momentarily tempted. Until I remembered my terrible history with project cars.
I’m just the opposite, preferring the 1969 Polara. I can’t pinpoint it exactly, but it just seems like the hood and front fender endcaps of the Plymouth make it look like it has a much more ungainly ‘forehead’ than the front of the Dodge. Extending the the headlight bezels below the grille did the Fury no favors, either. Of course, from 1970 forward, the Fury looked better. But, yeah, the Chryslers with their loop bumpers trumped both the Dodge and Plymouths during the entire fuselage era.
That was always the way it was for Mopars ever since 1962. Either the Dodge or the Plymouth had better styling for one year, then they’d typicall flip-flop it for the next.
Interestingly, the convertibles and sedans kept the front vent windows, while the hardtops lost them for 1970.
Regarding the vent windows, for 1969 they were standard on all models, but if you ordered air conditioning on a 2 door hardtop there were no vents. All 1970 2 door hardtops were ventless, and all other body styles were vented. They were gone on all models for 1971, and in 1973 they came back as an option on all 4 door models.
Some folks living a few blocks from us had a “73” with the vents. Our’s didn’t and we so “coveted theirs..lol (( Our’s had a/c though))
Sure wish the ones on cars now a day’s could open.
In the Fury III publicity photo on the mud flats, the red Fury in the distance has head rests while the seats in the insert photo don’t.
I believe headrests became mandatory January 1969.
Those are ’68 Fury hub caps.
I know. They work though. We had some on our “73”. My brother got them from a guy he knew, they’d been sitting in a box since about “71”. ((We got them round “76”))
The ’70 I owned for a couple of years and sold for a ridiculously low amount about 10 years ago. The very last year for a full-sized Plymouth convert in a great color.
rear, 318 v8
interior, a very sharp looking combo:
Road wheels, other than that almost a clone to the Brady-mobile.
What color for the top? Pretty car.
White… got a pic somewhere.
I own a sibling-of-sorts to the featured car…a ‘69 Dodge Polara convertible in red over black; 383-2bbl, power top, AM radio, road wheels, tilt wheel, speed control (non-functional) and the SuperLite option. It was/is a retirement gift to myself in 2005. Definitely a cruiser for a beautiful day!
Sometime in the 1960s, Chrysler’s droptops suffered an assault on the quality of their roofs. What was once a padded, stylish canvas top available in a choice of colors turned to an insubstantial-looking black rag. I recall seeing a white 1968 Imperial convertible some time ago and being shocked by the shoddy (but restored) roof.