Looking like it’s had an infusion of morning coffee, this eyes-wide-open 1970 Plymouth Fury III 2-Door Hardtop appears to be a gem. If it had been a Sport Fury, it would have had hidden headlights, but I would not kick this one out of the garage for looking at me all the time. The seller has this sweet hardtop posted here on craigslist in Gresham, Oregon, and they’re asking $12,000. Here is the original listing, and thanks to Curvette for the tip!
That big seam in the bottom corner of the vinyl top shows up on the other side as well, so it must be a natural seam that has opened up a bit over the last 55 years? The alligator skin-pattern vinyl top is cool as H (heck), and I don’t see any rust on this car anywhere. The seller says an Oregon car, so it doesn’t have factory air-conditioning, and that could also mean that it’s solid as Sears used to be when there actually was still a Sears (a tear just rolled down my cheek).
Gorgeous details are loaded onto and into this Fury III, like that super modern offset trunk lock. I love that Plymouth designers and engineers were thinking outside the box on this one, right down to details like that. And how about the tight, sexy, curvaceous (ok, this is getting creepy) rear loop bumper? It would do absolutely zero good in a crash, but who cares? Just don’t get into a crash, problem solved.
Sadly, the seller is very, very light on interior photos, not showing an overall dash photo at all. That’s always a bit… uhh.. um, well, let’s say that sometimes, sellers try to hide things by accidentally not showing certain areas. I’m absolutely not saying that’s the case here, as this car looks great and this is a Pacific Northwest car, where soft interior goodies don’t usually get cracked and burned to a crisp. Maybe they just didn’t have a way to take a wider angle photo?
See, the dash looks perfect, as does the front seat, or what we get to see of it. Even if it is coming apart on the driver’s side, which I’m betting it isn’t, it shouldn’t be a problem to have that vinyl matched and redone. The tiny snippet of the back seat also looks perfect, although the rear window trim looks a little bloated; I hope that isn’t water damage. The carpet is really the only place that looks like it needs help inside. We don’t get to see the trunk compartment or the underside at all, but you’ll figure that out once you click on the craigslist link and check out the photos.
They did include an engine photo, so they could not use a turn signal 348 times in a row, and I’d still forgive them! This is what we had in our 1969 Fury III sedan, a 318-cu.in. OHV V8. My dad used to fry the rear wheels (or at least one of them) regularly with that thing, which you can do with 230 horsepower and 320 lb-ft of torque, even in a car weighing 3,800 pounds. A tough TorqueFlite provides movement to the rear wheels, and they say everything works as it should, including fingertip power steering. I remember that well. I love this car, and Hagerty is at just $7,300 for a #3 good-condition car, so I’m not sure where they got their $12,000 asking price from. Most likely, they’re getting ready for lowball offers and meeting somewhere in the middle. The #2 value is $11,600, and I’m not sure if this is an excellent condition car, but I could be wrong. How much is this Fury III worth?
Very nice “Fuselage ” Plymouth here. I need an infusion of coffee like this one has had. If I remember correctly the trunk lock is on the far right which I always thought was a unique feature. This one looks solid and a 2 door hardtop won’t last long. I’m a little surprised at the 318. But I’m sure it have enough Oomph to propel this one along at highway speeds for sure. We had a family friend that had a ’70 4 door. Solid car. Very nice one Scotty I enjoyed it. And now. For more coffee
Hagerty is in the price range, but I don’t know. Low spec car (for a Fury lll) with no AC and a 318. Sure, the 318 is fine, but a 383 in it’s penultimate year would be great.
8500 would give you some room to improve the interior and other things.
I didn’t look up values. Just a seat of the pants feeling about that 318 especially. My Dads friend had a 383 in it. I just dont remember if it was a 2 barrel of 4 barrel. But that thing was not wanting for power for sure. Just a little surprised at the 318. Its a good bread and butter engine, don’t get me wrong, bit I just think a big block should be in a car this size. Just my .02.
Not many of these left to pick from and this one is nice. I thought the Fury lll was the top of the line and am surprised it doesn’t have more options, like A/C and power windows. It seems back in the 70’s every other Chryco was green with a matching interior. I had a ’73 New Yorker in dark green. I always liked the styling of these ’69 and ’70 Plymouths. I don’t know about the price, everything seems expensive these days. But if you want one of these you better go get it, where are you going to find another one?
Especially one that isn’t hopelessly rotted, like most of them did.
As a young Nebraska state trooper in 1972 my first unit was a ’70 Fury 3 2door hardtop. All white (no vinyl roof of course) with a blue interior. 383 motor with rumored Road Runner engine DNA. I was never able to prove that but it was a strong runner.
My first car was the four door version of this car with the 383-2bbl in a slightly darker shade of green. Passed down from Mom and bought from my grandfather’s dealership, it was a great car for highway cruising or hauling friends around town. We put 100k miles on it with few issues.
In 1971, I borrowed my cousin’s 1970 Plymouth Fury lll 2-dr hardtop to go camping with his sister (also my cousin), her boyfriend and my wife. He had ordered the car new with a 383-4bbl and every option – power everything, EXCEPT, with a 3spd, column-shifted manual transmission! The boyfriend cut his foot very badly. My wife used her bra for a tourniquet. and we raced to the nearest hospital … down about 5 miles of twisty dirt mountain roads, ultimately to an interstate and then at speeds never below 100mph to the town with a hospital. I didn’t like the way the car floated at speed, but it would go as fast as I dared.