I know that fuselage era Chrysler products are a recurring topic here at CC. After all, the fuselages brought back bold styling to Pentastar showrooms, and as with all things expressive, it created strong feelings among fans and detractors. So, why not keep the topic alive with the help of this temporarily down ’69 Fury III that showed up at the CC Cohort, caught by Hyperpack (Slant Six) in PA.
Regardless of your point of view, these truly spoke to the long, low, and wide school of thinking; this full-size Fury III looks massive on the road. The squatted elongated shape just calls for attention, perhaps in more ways than it did when new; there’s nothing with such proportions in today’s showrooms.
This Fury III is clearly getting a heart transplant at this no-shade mechanic’s roadside “facility”. My mind immediately springs to two preferred possibilities when such scenes pop up: The car is getting a whole makeover, fixed to stock condition to become a garage/car show queen. Or… is being fixed up to create a mechanically sound creature, even tuned up a bit, while keeping the “character-full” exterior more or less as is. Both concepts have their distinct appeal.
Say what you will, but between the car’s low looks and slabside fuselage styling, it does possess that one elusive quality: presence.
So, love them or leave them, an old fuselage is bound to cause a reaction, which is more than can be said of safer and more common classics. Let’s see if we ever see this one back on the road.
Related CC reading:
Auto-Biography: 1969 Plymouth Fury – Somewhere East Of Laramie
Curbside Classic: 1971 Plymouth Fury III – The Long Search For A Fuselage Fury Finally Pays Off
Ouch ;
Poor old thing .
-Nate
I agree that these big Mopars look quite distinctive, looking through current eyes. They certainly had presence. It’s kind of amazing that all of the Big Three really were BIG, at least in physical size. This was considered a lower priced standard size car
It looks like in this neighborhood the houses does’t have garages, or even driveways. Doing a major repair like engine or transmission replacement at the curb would be my least favorite location. But sometimes, you just gotta do the work. I give the owner props for gettin’ it done!
I love cars. I love old cars. But I can’t imagine coming home every day and having to see your neighbor’s old “classic” sitting propped up and out of service like this. And where there’s one, there’s 10 more. Looks like the police would need to enforce ordinances against this type of stuff.
It looks like his neighbor has a whole bunch of 90s era Jeep Cherokees/Grand Cherokees in various state of assembly in their lawn, so I doubt they’re complaining. (I say neighbor assuming the Fury owner isn’t one in the same because the fury’s hood is leaned up against the house across the street
This neighborhood seems like a utopia to me lol
I’d drive it, I kinda like fuselage Chrysler efforts, but not interested in fixing one up, I have one car that just got off jackstands yesterday, dont need another in pieces right now.
At least it has a Classic Car plate, so the owner presumably knows what he has. I would need to look underneath to see how much the Pennsylvania Tin Worm has eaten away. The sheet metal looks good for a 50-yrar old PA car. Many 20 year olds look far worse and have totally rotten underbodies, chassis and suspensions, especially prior generation Japanese marques.
Maybe this car spent much of its life in a more favorable environment.
Interestingly, that’s a pretty old license plate – my guess is that it dates from the late 1990s. (As far as I know, Pennsylvania’s Classic Car plate sequencing reached 99999 in the early 2000s, when the state changed to a sequencing format that put a “C” in front of the numbers).
Also, it looks like the car may have a Jan. 2025 inspection sticker (enlarged image below) – if so, it’s been roadworthy somewhat recently.
To me it seems likely this car’s been owned by the same person or family for quite some time, so I feel hopeful that it’ll be back on the road soon.
The front tag suggests the owner is also an IH fan. Dropping an IH V8 into a fusey would certainly make for a unique ride. I can’t imagine why anyone would want to do such a thing, but stranger things have been done in furtherance of the cause of weird curbside engineering projects.
Despite the tinny feeling these fuseys generally had, I always kind of liked the ’71 Plymouth version. I consider the grill one of the best renditions of a Remington shaver. Many tried, but the ’71 Plymouth knocked that look out of the ballpark. Why anyone would want a car whose grill resembles a Remington shaver is a question for the ages.
Came here to comment on the International Harvester front plate. Good catch 🙂
I too am thinking that some sort of IH drive train transplant is in the works. The possibilities are endless (uh huh…), but most likely involve lots of dirt and even more beer.
Same for me, especially if it’s the 1970-71 Sport Fury or 1970½ Fury Gran Coupe with its hidden headlights.
Btw, here a 1969 Plymouth Fury ad with Petula Clark singing the jingle ad.
Thanks for adding that commercial to my Petula Clark songbook.
Between Downtown and Don’t Sleep in the Subway (Darling), I may have been Petula’s biggest 6 year old fan. I was absolutely enthralled with her in the mid-to-late 1960s.
Still holds up quite well.
I normally don’t go for four doors, or fuselage Chryslers for that matter, but this one really speaks to me. Maybe it’s the three wheel motion. I like it. It definitely has presence!
The 69 Fury is one of my favorites of the breed. They got all the details right, to my eye, and I like the absence of a loop bumper. That 4 door hardtop roof is a lovely bit of design.
It looks terrible propped up, but it also looks very salvageable. A paint job and hubcaps, plus whatever mechanical surgery it’s going through currently, and it could be a fine Curbside Classic. Even the paint might have a case that could be made for keeping it with the patina look, as it appears to be the original paint. Hopefully it will be fixed soon and the neighbors who may not appreciate this car’s charms will be given a break.
It’s amusing to see some comments looking at the car as if it’s in a bad way. This is literally the behind the scenes snapshot of a well cared for old car looks like at home, being worked on/maintained, tarp over the engine so water either doesn’t get into it or dirty up its dress (depending on what’s being done). Not everyone has a garage, you gotta do what you gotta do!
I like fuselages, but I get why they’re disliked. The 69 Fury especially in 4-door form is probably the least fuselagy to me though(the loop bumper Chryslers take that crown). The 4 door Fury actually reminds me more of a slightly swoopier 66 Impala 4 door. They got more embellished in 70-72 but the 69s are pretty subdued for all the fuselage tropes
I don’t love Chrysler’s fuselage style, but it has grown on me. There truly is something about these large beasts and presence is as good of a descriptor as any.
Funny thing is only very recently did I realize mother mopar’s fuselage styling has grown on me was last Saturday when I saw a ’71 Dodge Polara convertible–in much better condition than this poor Plymouth.
Thanks for the post, Rich.
A proper “3-legger”
It does seem to be on the way to a comeback.
Great find, love Fuselage Mopars of all kinds but especially ’69-71 Plymouth Furys, had 3 of them, including a ’71 F3 as daily driver for 5 years. Given its current situation not optimistic about the fate of this one but at least the owner seems to know what it is, we can hope for the best.
Not something I’d want to see sitting there, were it my home street. Overall, the car appears to have been maintained, (unless these are old pics)
Four door Fury…call the scrap yard.
My favorite year and favorite model of all the fuselage Mopars.