Virgil Exner’s “Forward Look” styling of the late 1950s helped Chrysler post some impressive sales numbers – for a time. “Suddenly, it’s 1960!” was the marketing mantra in 1957. But by 1960, the styling was getting dated, and – rather than tone things down – Plymouth stretched its styling muscles even more to create tailfins that were taller than ever. This 1960 Belvedere looks to have been off the road for years and is going to need a lot of work, especially when it comes to sheet metal. Located in Estacada, Oregon, it’s available here on eBay for $9,700 (Buy It Now), although offers will be considered. Another interesting Mopar find by Larry D!
Belvedere, the car, was a Plymouth staple from 1954-70 and is not to be confused with Belvidere, Illinois where Chrysler built cars starting in 1965. After rebounding from a poor economy in 1958, restyled Plymouths in 1959 enjoyed a decent sales year. But that changed in 1960 when designers introduced a dramatic rework in appearance that took the good points of the ‘59s and overly exaggerated those features. As fins were soon on the way out at GM, Plymouth’s got even bigger. Buyers were unimpressed and production of full-size models dropped by 44%. The only saving grace for Plymouth in 1960 was the launch of the new compact Valiant.
Unit construction (or Unibody) was applied to Chrysler’s full-size cars in 1960. That makes restoring cars like this more complicated because you can’t separate the frame from the body (there is no frame). The seller’s car, no doubt idle for years, has its fair share of rust, with holes in the floors and trunk as well as along the bottoms of the sheet metal all around the car. The rear window is missing, which means the insides of the Plymouth were more exposed to the elements. It doesn’t look as though the car had the optional “Ski-Hi” rear window which cut deeply into the rear of the roof, possibly outdoing GM’s bubble tops of the era.
Under the hood resides a basic 318 cubic-inch V8 engine paired with the push-button automatic transmission. No mention is made of the car’s running condition, so we must assume it does not. The seats (the front swivels) along with the carpeting have been removed but survived. Likely most everything there will have to be redone. At 112,000 miles, this car is going to need an extreme makeover, but could the cost of restoring it exceed its future value? The 1960s don’t attract collector interest like the 1957-59 models and Hagerty is pessimistic about one even reaching $20,000. The seller is looking to get half that for this car in project state.
Has anyone ever noticed how Mopar vehicles of this era have an angry mug? I wonder what kids must have felt when they saw one of these coming their way. When I was a kid living in Texas there used to be a really large hornet that would fly low to the ground. When we saw it we would go running/ screaming the killer bee is going to sting us. No wonder why they used a 58 Fury in the movie Christine.
The car in the movie was not a Fury but a belvedere.
When I was 10 years old these were well used cars. They seemed sinister and menacing. Unnerving.
But I still pretended my bile was a ’57 deSoto.
Like a 70 Coronet/Super Bee, always looks pissed off
Rusty and crusty and grumpy. Not much left to see here. A full restoration is probably out maybe someone will restmod it and it will not end up crushed. Sort of surprised to see some safety belts in the rear. Must have had the kids back there but as long as this one has been off the road no-one wore belts back then.
59 Caddy is the King of the Fin! This is the Junior Varsity version.
$9K for a rust bucket? Usually only Chargers and Chevys have the corner here on overpriced garbage, but why not a big-finned ’60? I used to have one, a Savoy with the slant six, first year for those. The engine overheated on the freeway all the time but the car was a beast.
I bought one of these off ebay many many years ago. One of those I thought I needed vehicles that …… I seriously didn’t. Ebay was new at the time It was only $900.
It was in LA wearing primer with newly covered seats. It was delivered and amazingly ran and drove. Only it was a damn clicking six. I cleared over the gray primer and added heavy metal flake. Ended up looking purple ish. I slammed it with custom rims.
It was so low the breather tube which was a metal tube attached to a breather cap let blow by that run straight down to the ground. It had to be cut because it scraped the ground.
The 75 lbs of body side trim was in the trunk and I opted not to put it back on. Looked cleaner without it even with all the holes in the panels. One thing of note. The trunk looked exactly the same as the above car. Chrysler products used imported metal and rusted everywhere even in a dry climate like Cali.
Other thing I added was 60 Plymouth wagon fin trim as the wagon didn’t have the body trim the hardtop had. I didn’t have the toilet seat trunk lid which looked better.
It was fun for a moment and most likely would still have it if it were a V8. Due to the noisy leaning tower people would hear it rattling a block away. In other words it looked cool until you started it up. If I had this I would do it the same way only not for for $10K
My 63 Valiant’s trunk floor looked like a doily. And had spent it’s initial 18 years in AZ.
I love the clicking sound of the /6. I also really like lorries. That, to me, sounds like a great car you put together!
I had a 60 Sports Fury in 1973. Had the 361 Golden Commando. One sweet ride back in the day. Run Good, Sounded Even Better With The Dual Smitty Mufflers. Had the mirrors on the fenders and the dash. Chrome Skirts FRONT and REAR. Use to love watching the SPEEDO FILL UP RED. Learned to speed shift the push buttons. The only thing I never got use to was the OB LONG Steering Wheel. The Back Glass Got BUSTED and It took almost 6 months to find one then. Don’t even wanna think about it now. I loved the one I had but it’s going to go beyond love for this one. Hopefully some one has that kind of love AND DEEP POCKETS
Not that it matters (this is basically junk) but those front seats? Those look to me to be Fury’s. Wouldn’t a Belvedere have been a notch below?
Yes Fury had swivel seats . They were an option on the Belvedere hardtop also. There is misconception on options according to the data/dealer ordering books. What one could get or not.
It is pretty well agreed now at the factory and dealership level. if you had the money and were willing to pay for it. You could have whatever you wanted.
In any vintage vehicle anomalies exist. At American Motors for an example. At the assembly plant when a line worker ordered a car. Say the guy ordered a base Rebel. If he was well liked when his car came in station and called for a 290 engine. Joe is a real good guy and with that he got a 343 or 390 engine. Upgraded SST interior and so on.
These seats appear to be 59 Sport Fury, going by the seat pattern and what’s left of the cloth.
I wonder if that is is another one that was buried and dug up years later
I wonder if that is is another one that was buried and dug up years later
I owned a bunch of Furys over the years and they would out handle a Ford or Chevy on corners and they where fast cars with the right engine. My e-mail is Furyfrank.
“Cold War Motors” on You Tube has a series of videos on the 60 Plymouth [Fury in this case] 2 door hardtop body that he has grafted onto a solid ’60 Dodge Dart four door sedan.
Yes. It sounds insane, but he’s at the stage of putting on the newly chromed bumpers and actually made it work. Fascinating progression.
Great piece, BTW. Neighbors had one. They called it the “Hot Car”.
They sure looked weird back in ’70.
Price is crack pipe worthy.
I wonder how many of these are left. I remember I was 9 when they were introduced and I thought those fins were the coolest thing ever! (along with the fake spare on the trunk lid.)
“Removed seats and carpet to view floor pan pictures of floor pan very little rust holes”
LOLOLOL
This is a humpty dumpty car.