Plymouth redesigned its largest coupe for 1969 with smooth “fuselage” styling, hidden headlights, hidden windshield wipers, and more rounded lines compared to the previous generation Fury (some details courtesy of AllPar.com). This 1971 Plymouth Fury Gran Coupe awaits a new owner in Chalfont, Pennsylvania with a listing here on eBay. The Gran Coupe pays homage to the Age of Aquarius with fabulous embossed paisleys inside and out.
PaisleyPower.com claims that the paisley may trace its origins to ancient Babylon around 1700 BC. The 1971 “Gran” option got you paisleys in brown. Some other interior colors were available sans paisleys. If I owned one of these (which is not out of the question), I’d have to find an awesome vintage paisley shirt and/or sport-coat, simply so I could emerge from this beauty and blow everyone’s mind with my hip swagger.
A new-for-’71 engine choice, the LA-based 360 cid V8, powers this full size C Body, providing 255 HP and 320 lb-ft of torque. The 360 evolved for decades, powering a variety of Chrysler vehicles through 2002. This one runs good but the brakes are “spongy” so bring a trailer and plan on a thorough once-over for safety reasons before getting this fuselage into the wind.
Thanks to Fuselage.de for this Gran Coupe sales shot. I’m not sure what the facial expressions of the mod couple behind the Fury were supposed to communicate, but I’m getting “Hip and Confident,” with a dose of “We dismember our victims and bury them under the porch.” The C-body coupe (preferably a Sport Fury) is on my wish list, but I’d have to hold out for a 440-powered 1970 model for the simpler grille.
More paisleys grace the upholstery and door panel inserts on the Gran Coupe, which was also available as a sedan. Gran Coupes feature a bench seat with a fold-down center console and bucket-style seat backs. That brake pedal must be nearly a foot wide – leaving no excuse for missing it if this two-ton barge gets rolling too fast. This Fury was garaged and seems well-kept. The original owner accumulated all of its 117,000 miles. I’m a sucker for the hidden headlights, and this is one smooth luxury coupe. What do you think of this two-ton two-door?
I LIKE it! A set of Magnums ( I don’t really care for wheel covers, LOL!) would really set it off! :-)
Well yah, but if you cannot have the magnum’s the stay with the factory wheel covers. It is old enough to do that now and please, keep the fender skirts!
I had slots on mine. Same brown. Loved that car, should’ve kept the car and let the second wife go then. Oh well 🤷, that’s life. Maybe again sometime. ☺️
Ditto….maybe slotted steel wheels, trim rings and center caps ala Hurst.
Never saw a paisley vinyl top…cool…made me think of “Silent Movie”, I think there was a Seville with Gucci print logo vinyl top.
Drive with your head held high, tie dye shirt, leisure suit or whatever!
…”High Anxiety” Louis Vuitton Cadillac, my bad
Correct, but it wasn’t LV (Louis Vuitton) but MB for Melvin!
Jebus it still got bias ply tires
Hideaways just make a car look better.
The headlights and the wipers both are hidden
These things shook and rattled like crazy. Closing the door was an undertaking as I remember.
Gently start the doors moving and inertia takes over and slowly closes the door with a car shaking thud.
I had a ’71 Fury 3 four door hardtop. I really think they are cool, and they ride and handle very well. It wasn’t paisley but had the hidden headlights. After it crapped out, the front frame section and the torsion bar suspension/steering/brakes became part of my old ’41 Dodge pickup rat rod. The broken 383 / 727 was the mock up that was replaced with the Chrysler 440. Still have it. :-) Terry J
I agree the handling was outstanding for such a large car
Very nice car.
Holy man, that’s one of my dream cars! A VIP would be even better, but that paisley is as good as it gets in my world. Nice find, Todd, and nice history lesson on paisley, in general!
Thanks, Scotty! Yeah I love those C-bodies with the hidden headlights in all their forms. I’d take a ’70 440 coupe (300, Fury…) and I’d also go for a decked-out four-door Imperial. I could probably find pictures of me wearing some paisleys back in the day, but no need to scare the readers.
Wow….flashback. I had a 70 Gran Coupe. Same vinyl top and interior. Mine was a cream color with the 383-4. That thing would float down the freeway at 120 all day long. To me is was cool even though it was 16+ feet long. This one is beautiful even if it is 360 equipped. Nice find.
I had one yellow and green in the Fury III. Had a dual snorkel 383 Police Interceptor. Car had 17,000 miles on it when I got. Lates rubber without braking all the way in front of high school. About 500′. Good thing my brother and dad had a tire store. Don’t know about the 360 or the 440 but the car was a dream to drive. I got on Amoco white gas which was super premium 22 mpg on a trip back to college. Sure was hard to drive 55.
Mopar offered these Mod top and interiors back a few years into the late 60’s cars including the Cuda’s….hard to find a late 60’s with the option still….the option might have ended about 1971….not sure.
My father bought a twin to this car in 1971. It was a real highway cruiser. I kept the car for many years after his death. I had to sell it as part of a divorce settlement. I sure wish I still had it.
I was the parts manager in a Chrysler Plymouth store and I stockpiled a lot of spare parts for that car. Lost the parts stash also.
I loved these land barges. This car looks amazing. It took a special type of person to opt for the paisley, they didn’t move well compared to the standard vinyl, and were almost impossible to move as used cars. They have to be rare today, especially in this condition. Good find!
I believe there were some scary fast 440 powered furys that were most likely painted black and white and had to little colored lights in the back window. Nice ride here.
Even though we had a couple Plymouth’s when I was a kid, I’ve never really been a Mopar fan. As a child of the 60’s, I did like the 69-70 Mod Top Plymouth’s and Dodge’s. They’re a little more subdued than the Mod Top’s, but the Paisley Fury’s were pretty cool too!
I had a ’70 Gran Coupe with paisley roof and interior. Great ride. This car has expected rear quarter rust. The chrome trim at the bottom rear of the vinyl roof leaked water into the trunk.
We have a 73 Fury III. Purchased new with 129,000 miles. Put on Edelbrock fuel injection on the 360 and it has better drivability. A/C converted to “134” and works well. I do have good looking chrome Magnum road wheels. Dual exhaust
Had a 71 2door fury 3 ,383 4 brl was faster than the rich kids mustang and camaro. 1980s and it was green
My parents had one exactly like this one. Sure brings back memories.
Love the ’70 and ’71 Furys! Hope to own one some day; I hope it has a stick!(And I’m not even sure they could be had with a manual).
For 1970, Plymouth catalogued a Sport Fury GT. It came standard with a 440 v8, a 4 spd was available. I’ve never seen one, but what a collector car if you can find one.
I had a metallic gold ’72 Fury III Coupe. Wasn’t the best car, but I was crazy for the hidden headlights. I agree with the rattletrap comments, but there was something really nice about driving it. It also had the great period gauges Mopar was doing then.
Our neighbors had the Gran Sedan version in this color
I am not a fan of the color nor body style but it appears to be a nice example having both the mod top and interior.
Love the paisley, but the 360, uh…
Wow. I love the mod top on this one…that it and the interior paisleys are so well preserved is making me drool
The salvage yard I worked at in the very late 70s/early 80s had the twin to this car. It was the only Mopar (or American car for that matter) I have seen equipped with the optional headlamp washing system.
It’s amazing to me how few power accessories these top line cars had back then. All that dough and you had to crank the windows. Today all but the very cheapest have power windows and a decent audio system.
I tried to leave you picture way back when this listing was new but it got blocked. Here I’ll try again. I can lend you the jacket anytime. Or maybe you can lend me the car with the paisley top to go with my sport coat? Looks like the pic loaded sideways. You can tilt your head and pretend we are taking a curve too tight and fast in that land yacht.
Perfect!
Wow! That coat is really cool. I have paisley sheets, just because…
My Dad had one in that same burnt orange/ brown color.
2 Very cool options it had were wipers & washer spray tubes on the high beams, which were Cibie (sp) brand.
A factory option high lamp wash .
And a quad stereo, way ahead of its time.
The car ran great, Lots of power and handled surprisingly nimble.
Loved that car!!
I had the exact car pictured here, color and all, 1971 Plymouth Fury Gran Coupe. The 360 engine had plenty of power. I would have killed to have owned a late 60’s GTX Charger 440 but was completely satisfied with the way the engine performed. The brakes were excellent and it handled unbelievably well. My Dad owned a 1969 Fury and that car was just plain dangerous. It had terrible braking and handleing and the 318 wouldn’t get out of its own way. This car was night and day better. I remember so well, zipping around in this car like it was half it’s size. Miss this car big time! Funny thing I used to do was pull up to people at night and turn off the lights. When the hidden light covers closed they made a clanking sound. Enough so that plenty of people really thought I’d hit their car.
History of the Gran Coupe
Spring of 1970 saw a new mid-year model called the “Gran Coupe”. It was based on the 1970 Plymouth Fury II two-door sedan but had more standard equipment including air conditioning and the Sport Fury grille with its concealed headlights. Most noteable were the vinyl roof and the interior upholstery with their Paisley pattern. Although most Gran Coupes had a copper tone paint, other exterior colors were available. In its “A” package version (with air conditioning and tinted glass), the Gran Coupe, at $4,216, became the most expensive big Plymouth of the year, stickering at $318 more than the Fury GT. Even its $3,833 “B” package variant (minus air and tinted glass) was more costly than all but the GT.
I read that the Sport Fury picked up a 4 door after ’69 to cover for the VIP that they dropped and I think the Gran Fury was to some of the same thing, looking at the interiors that were available. Always chasing the Caprice/Impala and Galaxie/LTD.
I personally love the ’72 coupe and then the ’71.
I drove this exact car in high school! Would this happen to be for sale??
Me too, unfortunately it’s gone.
I put a lot of miles on that car, it was actually pretty reliable and fast for it’s size.
Miss it!
My dad had one exactly like this, brown paisley top and interior and all… for less than a week. It had so many problems, my dad made the dealer take it back!