After a 10-year run as a full-size car on par with the Chevy Impala and Ford Galaxie, the Plymouth Fury became a mid-size for 1975-78. From this era, many may remember them as police cars and taxi cabs. But you could go upstream like the Chrysler Cordoba with the Fury Sport. This example of the latter is from 1976 and looks to be residing in a storage unit. It appears to run, but cancer is starting to sneak into some of its extremities. With a rather loud interior motif, this Mopar is in Connellsville, Pennsylvania, and is available here on craigslist for $8,000. Kudos to Barn Finder PRA4SNW for the tip!
Chrysler played musical chairs with its lineup in 1975 and what once was the Plymouth Satellite was now the Fury. There was the base Fury, the Custom, and the Sport, while the name Gran Fury was saved for the dying breed of full-size cars. The Fury Sport (not to be confused with the Sport Fury of the 1960s) shared the personal-luxury platform of the Cordoba and Charger SE. The Fury Sport, as a 2-door hardtop with opera windows, saw 28,800 copies built in 1976 with a 318 cubic inch V8 as standard equipment (that’s the applicable engine here).
We don’t know the history of this Fury Sport, but the reported 84,000 miles is probably legit. The 727 automatic transmission has a new shift kit, and the car has received fresh fluids and filters. Also, the rubber donuts are new on all four corners. The seller was planning to do more, and some extra parts will follow the car. Such as a new RV camshaft, intake manifold, water pump, timing change, and engine bling.
The body and paint look original and seem fine at first glance. But some of the close-up photos show some rust starting to develop in the lower quadrants (and has grown as far as small holes in a couple of places). The interior, with its 1970s upholstery pattern, looks quite good (if you wear sunglasses), but the Tweety Bird floormats will have to go. This is a project the seller has no time for, so how about you?
Would not a 78 318 have a 904 trans? Beautiful car, these were quite the lookers. The only bad part was Chryslers awful power steering, though if you were wise enough to order a car you could opt for the cop steering, I believed they called it Firm Feel Steering, basically stiffer springs in the steering box and a tighter, better made unit. My buddy has a really nice Mirada with that horrible sterring, he talks about redoing it but is worried about the column positioning.
8 large for this nearly 50 year old western PA rusty car or $5,500 or something like that for the 96 Lincoln Town Car in today’s finds that needs just a heater core? Duh.
Chrysler also had a similar fabric they put into these era cars that was gold/white/black. Now that color was LOUD. I owned both a ’77 Sport Fury, blue with white interior and a ’75 Road Runner (based on this body for one year only) that was black with a white interior. Both were 318/auto cars, though the Road Runner had the console automatic.
I like easy power steering. If a driver needs to “feel the road”, they’re either going too fast, or they’re too nervous. Yes, the 904 should be in this car. It’s nice to see one that isn’t rotted away. I’d preserve and enjoy it for what it is, a Cordoba that rides nice but is nothing special. Some polishing compound and a good waxing will wake up that faded paint very nicely. That price is very ambitious for an undesirable car, he will be waiting for a very long time. There’s just no market for these cars, unless it’s pristine. Even then, the market is small.
These were the new cars when people now just retiring were in high school. Would seem like a big group with cash. Not everyone in those days wanted the performance of a half decade earlier, some just liked the idea of a brand new sporty looking car. In 1976, if you asked the average high school kid if they would like a hard driven and probably rusty late 60s muscle car or a brand new car like this, which one do you think they would choose?
Mopar power steering is notoriously over-assisted though. It’s not like GM or Ford power steering.
A friend had a ’76 Charger, back in the early 80’s. He found out the hard way about that marshmallow steering. Put her right into a drainage ditch, taking a sweeper at around 40 mph. Same color as this one. It was a nice looking car, prior to the ditch, though.
When I was 15’ and one year away from getting license this girl used to pick me up in her dad’s fury like this interior and she’d let me drive it we’d go parking and one night it start snowing and for no other reason other than young and dumb I was trying to climb a hill not a paved road but a hill and we’d slide back down and the next time I saw her she said her dad asked her where she went cause the license plate was bent in half. Wasn’t a bad car really. I remember the new cars with the unleaded gas had a different smell.
I had a buddy with the barn storming Roadrunner version. He stormed sideways into a tree. I junked that car in the late 80s. I removed the Roadrunner emblem from the grille before I fed it through the press. Two decades later that emblem went on the rear fender under the tag on my 2005 Gixxer 600. That little Roadrunner had to sleep in my emblem bin before it found something really fast… You have to really love these to plop this type of cash on this. I would not.
If it had no rust and a better looking undercarriage, I could see 8K because the rest of it looks good.
But with that corrosion, half that amount seems more realistic.