At first glance, this car looks like the one from the 1983 horror movie, Christine. But that car was a 1958 Fury which was a 2-door hardtop and this is a 1959 Belvedere 2-door sedan. At any rate, it’s a beautiful car that has likely been restored, but since it’s being offered by a dealer, no history is presented. This two-tone beauty is in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and is available here on eBay for $23,900 (Buy It Now). But you can submit an offer if you think less money will move it.
The “Forward Look” of Chrysler automobiles in 1957 set the industry on its ear, styling-wise. So much so that Chevrolet scrapped its one-year design of its 1958 models to go all-in on big rear fins in 1959-60. The Belvedere was Plymouth’s top series beginning in 1954 but became second-banana to the Fury after 1958. However, a Belvedere could be decked out to almost look like a Fury which is why several Belvedere’s became stunt doubles in the aforementioned movie patterned after the Stephen King novel.
Out of more than 458,000 cars Plymouth built during 1959, just shy of 14,000 were the 2-door “club coupe” like the seller’s car. We don’t know what engine powers this automobile, but a good guess would be the 318 cubic inch V8 that produced 230 hp with a 4-barrel (not 2) carburetor. But that assumes the motor is original to the car. Whatever the case, it’s likely paired with a push-button automatic transmission, although it could be a 3-on-the-tree, the photos just don’t help with that.
The body, paint, and interior look stellar on the car at less than 35,000 miles. Which means it’s either a well-preserved original or a restoration at 135,000 miles. The seller says the Plymouth is “turnkey” so that tells me that it runs and drives well. But watch out for any guy named Arnie Cunningham who might want to take it for a spin. The seller has provided a walkaround video for your perusal.
It’s definitely a pushbutton automatic.
Correct! Buttons are plainly visible in the interior photo.
I don’t really like the 4-door sedan look on a 2-door. But a clean example of a car you don’t see much of anymore. Nice fins !!!
Did Plymouth actually use the same size front door from the 4 door on the 2 door?! That would have saved development money.
I would love seeing today’s younger passengers looking for the “side rear door” handle on this car. lol
2 door sedan and four door sedan front doors were different. Each door was shared with it’s wagon counterpart. The 2 door sedans had longer doors to assist with entrance/egress to the back seat passengers.
At least it doesn’t look like the 1953-54 Studebaker 2 door sedans. You would swear they welded the doors shut and patched it up.
Christine was not a Fury. It was a Belvedere. The side trim was silver.
The Fury is Gold. Man, wake up.
Yeah!
And don’t u EVER FORGET IT!! 😆
Dad Gummit!!!!!
About 10k too high!
Great write-up Russ!
Christine trivia from IMDB:
28 Plymouth “Furys” (which in reality were Belvederes or Savoys) were purchased and restored for the film. A few were “showcase” cars that were used whenever Christine is just sitting there “looking pretty” or whenever Arnie is driving her. There were “hot rod” versions with souped up engines and airplane landing lights for the headlights for Christine’s rampages. And there were “junked” and “shell” cars for the versions of Christine in disrepair or for her “death” scene. There is one way to tell which cars are the showcase hot rod cars and the stunt cars: if you look at the under grill beneath Christine’s front bumper, the showcase cars have a chrome under grill while the stunt cars have a red painted under grill.
Great info, thanks love that movie
In the walk-around video you can see that this is a 2 pedal car.
For the price asked, I would like an original interior or a more faithful reproduction.
Correct. That interior in no way resembles the original. Cheap uph. shop recover.
This yr/model has to be in contention for largest fins! of course, how to measure: length x height or ???
Yes, the pushbuttons are in clear view. And I say it’s the optional 3-speed automatic, because I count 5 buttons. The 2-speed transmission had only 4 buttons!
230HP was a 2 bbl “Fury V-800”. The four barrel option was 260HP called the Fury V800 Superpak. The only other optional V8 was the 361 cu in 305HP “Golden Commando 395” for it’s 395 ft lbs of torque. The transmission in this car is the A-466 Cast Iron 3 Speed Torqueflite Automatic which stayed around through ’61. The A-727 was to replace it in ’62. Other transmissions options for this year were the A-233 2 speed powerflite automatic, the 3 Speed manual column shift and in it’s final year for Mopar, the 3 Speed manual with borg-warner overdrive.
The 58 Fury with Dual Quads was not a 361, it was a 350 B Engine.
361 was 1959.
This refers only to the Dual Quad cars.
Friend of mine, his Dad bought new, a 58 Fury 350 Dual Quad, Tan. Think all were supposed to be tan.
Probably a 318 Poly and a Typewriter TorqueFlite.
Beautiful beast of a car.
Price seems more than fair for a runner and one that needs nothing.
But it isn’t a $30k swamp find Charger that will take $200k to rebuild so there is that.
If I didn’t know better I would swear it was a 4 door sedan with the rear doors welded shut. However, I like it and would love to have it
Blutec320……. you are correct. Just watched Christine again on my DVD. Something I never noticed before and I have an eye for detail.
Cool factoid.