The Stephen King book (and the resultant movie) helped to lift the Plymouth Fury from relative obscurity to world-wide notoriety. This particular Fury is a long way removed from Christine, but you have the opportunity to have a Plymouth Fury in your life. This particular Fury is listed for sale here on eBay. Located in Lake Park, Minnesota, it is offered for sale with a clear title. Bidding has only reached $615 with the reserve unmet. There is a BIN option of $2,700.
There’s no doubt that this Plymouth needs work, but the basis is there for quite a nice car when it’s finished. Rust seems to be quite limited, which is a good starting point. There is rust in both lower rear quarter panels, but the rest of the body seems to be really solid but for a bit of surface corrosion and a few minor dings in the body. I have to say that I’m quite a fan of the hardtop styling, not just of this car but of the majority of American hardtops. We received precious few hardtops in Australia, so I do envy you for that.
The interior is complete and is quite a pleasant surprise. The front seat will need new covers, there is a small tear in the headliner and a couple of the armrests will need restoration, but the rest of the interior looks like it can be revived with a good dose of cleaning. The dash is complete and the pad looks to be free of cracks. The rear seat is nearly perfect, and even the carpet looks like it will clean okay.
The engine is the 318ci V8 which is backed by the automatic transmission. The car also sports power steering to make driving just that bit more relaxing. The engine currently doesn’t run, but judging by the information in the ad it isn’t far off it. The seller has put a battery in the car and gas in the carburetor and it has kicked but hasn’t run. It sounds like a dose of good old-fashioned maintenance should see this Fury up and purring again. There is also some corrosion evident in the engine bay, but it looks like it is only minor and should be easy to rectify.
If this Fury were actually Christine then all you’d need to do is drive it around a junk-yard for a while and all of the issues would disappear. Unfortunately it isn’t so it’s going to come down to hard work and money. So maybe it’s not the most desirable car on the planet, but the reality is that it is a car that appears to be quite solid, doesn’t look like it will cost a fortune to restore, and is more than 50 years old. It’s also a hardtop which makes it potentially more desirable. Good examples seem to be selling for around the $14,000 plus mark, so even at the BIN price this could be quite a shrewd investment.
Christine is a female and this car would be too.
All of these Furys are temperamental and they are all females
My 1963 Fury sure is. She was very jealous of this one girl I had in her when I was 16. The car had no problem with her sister, however.
Even 30 years later, I asked this first girl if she remembers, and she said yes she remembers every time the car shut down with her in it.
Great cars. Well built.
Mine was a rocket with the big block 318 and 727 torqueflite
Big block 318??
There were two 318 engines. The 318 A was manufactured from the mid-fifties through 1967. It features heads with polyspherical combustion chambers. The 318 LA engine that replaced it has wedge heads. Some people refer to the 318 A as a “wide-block” engine.
Who stole its alternator?
My uncle Ruben was always a Plymouth guy and the last one I remember was a 2door Fury in a gold color. I didn’t know him all that well since there had been a family feud(not a game) with my dad and his sister on the losing side of the other siblings which was finally over in the early 70’s and by that time all the money was gone anyway.
My mom and Ruben’s wife were friends so we saw them and his Plymouths occasionally. I got married on August 3,1973 and he died on August 1, and his family decided to have the funeral on my wedding day. That created a few more problems.
I really liked the styling of these Elwood Engel cars decades ago and still like it. I owned a few driveable examples of the 66 Fury and a lot more parts cars. This example is pretty basic despite being near the top of the Fury heirarchy. With only the solid lifter 318, automatic trans, power steering, and (probably) the AM radio and a heater, it doesn’t get much more basic. Oh, wait, I just noticed that it has both front and rear bumper guards! IME those are rarely seen.
I put many, many happy miles on a similarly equipped 66 Sport Fury hardtop pictured above so this example will likely perform just as well but not be so flashy. I drove mine until the tinworm made it unsafe.
My folks had a ’66 Fury III four-door sedan with a 383 under the hood. I was only three when they bought it new at Hahn Chrysler-Plymouth in Yakima, Washington. It was the family car for 10 years, and we went everywhere in that thing.
Cool cars great roof line hard to beat a 2 door hard top I currently have a 65 belvedere 2 door hard top 273 auto trans 100% original i love the body style nice to see something besides an e body
Christine had a 392 hemi with 2x4bbl carbs
The movie car was not a 392 powered car. It had either the dual quad 318 poly head engine or the 350 B block. I don’t believe the 392 Hemi was offered in the Plymouth line.
Adam, I love your wit in my inbox every morning here in the US. But, I read your comment about the Fury and “relative obscurity” with a chuckle. The Fury was long out of Plymouth showrooms when the book and later movie came out. And everybody here in America had a neighbor with one or owned one themselves. Stephen King just added a bit of evil to a select model that will forever haunt the 57-57 MY. True, you guys on the other side of the world may have never heard of, or seen one until the movie came out. For that, it got its worldwide notoriety. Cheers!
I’am presently building a 1965 fury 3. It originally had the poly 318 (wide block). I installed a 440 from a 1966 New Yorker. Much better engine. Looking at the pic’s of this car those floor pans and unibody frame rails appear to have a lot of rust lurking under that undercoating. The only trunk pic has the trunk mat hiding rust which you can see along the edges of the wheel wells. Replacement panels are not available for these cars so you have to fabricate your own. Both bumpers appear bent, missing trim pieces also. Passenger door is pushed in. There is nicer examples out there in better condition for less than this. Should fire up and runs are 2 different things. Needs to run to know if the trani and brakes work. A lot of unknowns for that money. These don’t command a lot of money when complete. It is nice to show up at shows in one as you are usually the only one driving one. Every Mopar guy comes over to check it out and many others as they faded into obscurity. They are cool cars but not worth a lot. This one IMO is a $1000 parts car at best. Mine is nicer and I picked it up for $800 5 years ago not running!
The wide block 318 weighed 80 pounds more than the newer 318 LA