For much of the 1960s and 1970s, the Plymouth Fury III was on par with the Chevy Impala and Ford Galaxie. And it usually came in third place in the sales race for family-oriented full-size automobiles. This 1973 edition looks to be a sweet survival-quality classic car with less than 60,000 miles. Wearing Cragar wheels, this Mopar can be found in St. Augustine, Florida, and is available here on craigslist for $8,900.
The fifth generation of the Fury product line was redesigned in 1969, a layout that would carry it through 1973. V8 engines were now standard as the Slant-Six had finally been deemed too weak to power automobiles of this size and scope. The seller’s car has next the step up from the 318, a 360 cubic inch V8, paired with a TorqueFlite transmission. No mention is made of numbers matching, but since the Plymouth comes with documentation including the build sheet, we’ll assume it is.
Chrysler managed to produce nearly 263,000 Plymouths in 1973 of which 21,000 were Fury Iii 2-door hardtops like this sharp-looking unit. No history is offered as to what this Mopar has been up to for 51 years. The location shown in the seller’s photos looks familiar to me and it should be the Classic Car Museum of St. Augustine, Florida. I drove by there just the other day and I saw this machine from the road. Had I known it would show up on Barn Finds, I would have stopped to check it out!
Other than the factory air conditioning is said not to blow cold, this vehicle may be totally turn-key. The seller says it runs great, and the body is rust-free. The dark brown paint has plenty of shine, the cream-colored vinyl roof looks good, and the bench seat interior still has that 1970s kind of vibe to it. Other than the wheels, this could be a largely original survivor.
Not only do I love the seats, but the color-matched brake fluid reservoir takes the cake!
The fuselage styled Chrysler products have been growing on me more and more, and this one I like. I agree with 8 Banger above, I saw those seats and said Wow!!!. Lo e the Cragers they look right at home on this full size Plymouth. And the white vinyl top goes great with the color and the interior. That 360 will have no problem keeping up with traffic.
Sorry not white top, cream colored top. Long day at work lol.
Smell them fumes ,some of you might get it..
Straight out of Thunderbolt and Lightfoot….
If you’re rebuilding ANY 63-73 C body, this year of car has the front wheel disc brakes that you want….
Without rabbits!
1973 was arguably the best looking Plymouth of that body run, the grill actually was very attractive. Dad had a four-door version of one of these for the month that he worked at Chrysler before going back to Ford. I can still feel the brocade cloth on the seats. Great looking car, hopefully somebody gives it a new home
This reminds me of the rabbit scene in Thunderbolt and Lightfoot.
I thought the same thing
Looks like the same model car used in the Clint Eastwood movie “Thunderbolt Lightfoot” from the mid seventies.
Cool Mopar. The 360s didn’t have a ton of punch on 73′ but i bet it sounds great, plus effortless cruising w the Torq-flite autoloader.
I swear, the rear quarter panel alone must be as long as a smart car.
That’s what I was hinting at.
I owned one of these in the mid-80s, blue with a white vinyl top and blue vinyl interior. I remember the driver’s seat had a sensor in it that would set off a buzzer until the seat belt was fastened. Very annoying. One of my favorite features of this car were the recessed taillights and single, centered reverse light. Oh, and btw, “Thunderbolt & Lightfoot” is still one of my favorite movies.
Seat sensors are still around. They haven’t gone anywhere.
my 73 Duster had the same thing, it lasted about 10 minutes after I got it home, I unplugged it and it hasn’t buzzed now for 44 years
I had a ’73 Barracuda in ’79 that still had that buzzer. I disconnected it right away and was surprised that it hadn’t been done by the previous owner.
Beautiful. Love love love the interior! Just get rid of the silly mag wheels and get the original wheels and wheelcovers back, and you’d have a fine looking old Fury.
The 15″ road wheels that were common on Chrysler’s C-bodies in this era would be a fine replacement for the Cragars, as well.
I always like these fuselage Mopars – though IMO they look silly with Cragars and a higher rear stance.
We used to laugh at these years ago,and still am,looks like the wanna bes took dads car and put fancy wheels on it and thought they had something.the interior looks like my grandmothers living room furniture.I’m used to chevelles,novas,rrs,cudas,muscle cars,not family cars with 20 foot quarters,and ugly as hell! If you still like these your one of the wanna bes from years gone by!
To each his own. This is a great looking car, and more appealing than the common as dust particles Chevelles, Novas etc.
Variation is what makes this hobby what it is. I’d love to have this car.
Hey Al Camino … I kinda / definitely agree with you that these don’t look like they have “could be on a racetrack” styling. And I understand that you mean that back in the day all some kids were capable (skill and finance) of doing was have the shop put cool wheels and ‘red-ovals’ on the car dad gave them. Also don’t forget that a used Fury was way cheaper than a challenger. But the current generation of kids if shopping for a new car have no styles to choose from whatsoever because they are all the same. When they are faced with average USA 2024 car price of $48,000 I think kids will start looking at these and wanting the giant size and floating suspension and quiet spacious cabin and back seat for smooching and if they have vision they can resto-mod this boat for (???) $15,000 and have something reliable for years?
my 73 Duster had the same thing, it lasted about 10 minutes after I got it home, I unplugged it and it hasn’t buzzed now for 44 years
Different year, etc… My brother had a Gold ’66 Sport Fury with a white convertible top, back in the day. He put on Cragar SS wheels, WL tires, and sidepipes. We thought it looked pretty damn good for it’s time.
This was always the strangest fuselage body produced. I remember this as a 1972 Gran Fury coupe. It had skirts and bulging flares on the rear quarter panels around the rear wheels. This was not a good look. The 1974 models were very good looking but a recession and then $1.00 per gallon gas killed them. Chrysler kept making bad decisions during this decade. As proof, the Volare and Aspen had ugly faces and cheap interiors. The Omni and Horizons were Rabbit clones. I’d rather have a Rabbit. The 1979 C bodies were nice but didn’t sell very well. Gas was expensive to many people and MPG was everything. The Japanese took over after that. Chrysler was never the same after that. The 1980’s brought the K-cars, which were brilliant, but kept too long in one format or another. Buying AMC from Renault was great, think Jeep, but selling to the Germans destroyed Chrysler. It’s been downhill ever since. Fiat has been the nail in the coffin for the once great Chrysler Corporation. Stelantis sucks! Them and their stupid EV’s. They would have better off shuttering the doors until Regime change. They have WASTED billions of dollars on EV’s that few want. They need new and relevant product. And with our terrible economy, it would be a great idea to introduce a much lower cost line of cars like Plymouth. But no, Stelantis will let Chrysler die. They have spent their money with little hope of more. They are laying off thousands. Now, just hanging on is a monumental feat. How sad!
To Dave Brown: I agree wholeheartedly where you wrote: “Gas was expensive to many people and MPG was everything. The Japanese took over after that. Chrysler was never the same after that.”
But as I recall (from when this 73 year old was about 23) The Saudi Arabians oil Embargo also caused a recession. That began the end of the big car era and the eventual demise of not only Chrysler but caused loss of sales to all the US makers. ALL the big three were hurting and factories began laying off and outsourcing and unions began to weaken.
Now, the USA economy is better than most all of our western allies and the auto industry is back with not big cars but giant size pickups. Fuel economy for a 4WD F-150 with the 5.4L will range from around 14 to17 MPG overall.
Today’s luxury cars are the size of 1970’s compact cars but … sadly for me, I have no use for a pick-up truck. In my perfect world: if I had enough money for today’s pick-up truck mpg and purchase price then … I would love to have a FULL SIZE LUXURY car like this Plymouth. But they don’t make duece and a quarters or any tuna boats anymore – even though they would get equivalent or better mileage than a pickup truck.
I don’t get the hate on the Crager’s? They make this behemoth at least look sporty. But man, that interior! Like they pulled the pattern straight off of Great Aunt Gertrude’s couch.They definitely weren’t marketing these to young folks.
Back in 73 I drove one of these with the police package. They handled like a wheelchair. As far as 0 to 60 stingray (schwinn) bicycle was faster POS!!!!!!
I don’t see the issue with the wheels, but to each their own. I would be more concerned that it does not have hardened valve seats. For $5k I would be down there tomorrow to drive it back to Mass. I had a 69 Fury convertible when I lived in the Bay area and loved that car.