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Fashionable Driver: 1961 Plymouth Fury

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It’s hard to imagine a time when cars like this looked stylish, but then again mid-century modern furniture is on its way back. This Fury is listed on craigslist by its second owner with the asking price of $4,500 in Sacramento. It’s very complete and original with a 318 push button automatic. It hasn’t been driven in years, so it will need some mechanical work to get it running.

It’s a nice 20 foot car inside and out. It is a California car, Madera and Sacramento, so rust should not be an issue. It looks like it wouldn’t take much work to make a really nice driver. Prices for 4 door cars are going up, so this one could even appreciate. That fact might even help you talk your wife into letting you have a new toy.

Comments

  1. Avatar photo Rich

    Super clean! Nice car for the money!

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  2. Avatar photo DENIS

    Looks like a nice buy….had to get old to become attractive…a runner-up to Gremlin for ugly…

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  3. Avatar photo Howard A Member

    Just an incredible find. This era Chrysler products, either you love them or not. Personally, I like them, just because they are so different. My old man had a ’61 Plymouth wagon. I heard they had very poor build quality ( doors popping open, frame and spring issues), and were not very popular, so to see one like this, is pretty rare. Won’t be here long, for sure.

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  4. Avatar photo Fred

    Now that’s a buy. 5 years not running is not a huge problem – worst case scenario is a gas tank / fuel line cleanout. Can’t believe it appears to have factory a/c for that price.

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  5. Avatar photo socaljoe

    The factory A/C may need a charge! I like it for it’s oddness. maybe I will make a drive up north this week.

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  6. Avatar photo krash

    nice car…..but I always thought the front end looked suspiciously like Wise Potato Chip owl……
    ….. pictured some poor guy in the design department at Chrysler stumped for a new front end design for the Fury, decided to eat the lunch his wife had prepared for him at his desk..and as he opened the brown bag, he stared at the bag of chips that she included with his bologna and cheese on white….saw the logo and incorporated it …and his boss loved it…..

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    • Avatar photo GeeBee

      Lol!

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    • Avatar photo Leon

      I often thought many cars were designed with ‘faces’

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  7. Avatar photo Vince Habel

    This is uglier than a 58 Buick. The 61 Dodge wasn’t much better.

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    • Avatar photo MikeH

      I was thinking that this car is almost as ugly as a ’58 Buick. I still think the Buick wins, but it’s a photo finish. That said, these cars are SO ugly, they’ve become the symbols of the era, and I now love them. Remember, this was the year the new Lincoln came out. It was a 180 degree turn from the excesses of the late 50s and early 60s.

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  8. Avatar photo Ed P

    This is a nicely preserved ’61 Plymouth. While I agree that ’61 was not the best looking Plymouth, this one is so nice it needs to be preserved.

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  9. Avatar photo socaljoe

    Some cars are so ugly they become timeless. 1961 was not the best year for any make or model IMO.

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    • Avatar photo Jason Houston

      I agree, but believe 1960 was actually worse, over all. At least by 1961 Ford and GM had pretty much cleaned up their atrocious styling blunders from the previous year.

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  10. Avatar photo Jason Houston

    There was NEVER a time when “cars like this were considered stylish”. If they were, Chrysler wouldn’t have lost so much market share between 1959 and 1962. Virgin Exner designed some of the most beautiful designs Chrysler ever offered… but he also spit out some of the most putrid and reprehensible in the history of the automobile.

    Although this is a beautiful example of a dead-mint car in a good color, personally, I’d rather be seen driving the Wise Potato Chip bag.

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    • Avatar photo Mike D

      I agree with you , Jason, they put the “UG” in ” ugly” the bullet tail lights rusted quickly also , I disagree with you about the Dodge though, but wouldn’t consider either one .. not on my top ten list.. or even top 50 … ha ha

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  11. Avatar photo Jason Houston

    Pistoresi Motors has been around since the late 40s, although no longer in Madera.

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  12. Avatar photo Luke Fitzgerald

    Looks outstanding – look at the tags! – beer money – someone go get it –

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  13. Avatar photo socaljoe

    Dead-mint it’s not, (front seat and dash pad at least) but a nice original car.

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  14. Avatar photo piper62j

    Cool car.. would fit right in at the drive-in… If there were any…

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  15. Avatar photo Jim Marshall

    I nicknamed this car the crab back when it was new I thought it was ugly.then as I still do.

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  16. Avatar photo Robert White

    My dad had a 63 Fury pushbutton drive slant 6. It stalled in the rain all the time, and the chrome on the bumpers literally peeled off after about 6 years. My dad’s slant 6 63 Fury made me a GM man for life, but I did like the Chargers, and Cudas.

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  17. Avatar photo Rick

    makes me think of Ward, June, Wally & the Beav. Or of the 1st season of Car 54 Where are You? Ugliest Mopar ever made IMHO. One of my buddies drag raced a brand new ’60 Fury w/ Sonoramic Commando power (cross ram 2×4 413 w. 3 on the tree) in S. Cal back in ’59-’60. He did so well Chrysler Corp offered him similarly equipped “61 Fury to campaign the following season. Once he got a look at the car (’61 Fury) he turned them down!

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  18. Avatar photo Dolphin Member

    No offense to those who like these, but I could never figure out how anyone could design the front end for this, and then how other people could approve it for production.

    ‘Odd’ is the best I can come up with for it. No wonder Iacocca had to come in years later to turn Chrysler around.

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  19. Avatar photo Ed P

    ‘Odd’ is a good word to describe the ’61 Plymouth. Things got worse for ’62. The ’62 Dodge and Plymouth were plain ugly.

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  20. Avatar photo Wayne

    That front end looks fantastic. It sure beats all the belly button fronts of Ford and GM.

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