The fourth-generation Fury was Plymouth’s answer to the Ford Galaxie and Chevy Impala, especially when all three cars were in their luxury or sport trim. This car is a level or two below the VIP or the Sport Fury in being a 1966 Plymouth Fury III. It can be found here on eBay in Lucedale, Mississippi. The seller has a $900 opening bid listed – finally, an affordable car!
Cheap opening bid or not, this will be a big project, really big. As big as that shoe that Ed Sullivan talked about all the time. Some folks like to see a car as it is or as it was found, before it’s been cleaned up so they can see the honest to goodness condition: here ya go. One thing that I would have done, though, is to not take every single photo with a yellow hose sticking out of the engine compartment, but I’m funny that way.
The body looks deceivingly nice in the photos, despite the honest grime. The seller mentions that it needs a full restoration and once you look at all of the photos in the eBay listing, you’ll agree. It needs a lot of rust repair which is hard to tell from the main photos, but they say that it needs floor pans and work on the lower quarters and the doors and there is rust around the window, although they don’t say which window. I’d plan on just stripping it down to nothing and starting over. Hagerty is at $18,200 for a #2 excellent condition ’66 Fury III with a 318 so this probably isn’t a car that will be dropped off at a restoration shop unless someone has a lot of money and great memories of owning one exactly like it.
And, then there’s the interior work that needs to be completed. This car has factory AC which is nice, but the Fury III was one of the high trim levels for the Fury. Above the III was the VIP and the Sport Fury, depending on whether a person wanted either more luxury or more sport. The seller has all of the documentation of service visits from when the car was new, including repairs and even gas purchases. The car needs to have new brake lines and power steering hoses installed, according to the seller.
Unfortunately, even with every photo showing the hood open, this is as close as it gets to having an engine photo. That’s another head-scratcher, but it is what it is, as they say. It’s hard to tell what it looks like in the engine compartment but I’m assuming that given the condition of the rest of the car, the engine will come out at least for a cosmetic restoration as they say that it runs and drives. 1966 was the last year for the Poly-318 V8 before they went to the LA 318 in the U.S., and 230 hp will no doubt lay a nice patch of rubber from one or both rear tires. I’m betting that a newer LA 318 or another Chrysler V8 will be dropped under that dusty hood during the restoration. Any thoughts about the differences between the Poly 318 and the LA 318?
I think that yellow hose may actually be a yellow extension cord for maybe a battery charger. I didn’t think the poly 318 was still available in ’66, some, most, websites list the 318 LA engine ?
I thought that I saw an air hose blower attachment on the end of the yellow hose?
Almost every website that I saw mentioned that the LA 318 started in 1967 and 1966 was the last year for the Poly 318, moosie. There may have been some crossover and depending on the build date of this car that may be the case? Automobile-catalog.com does mention the LA 318 being in a 1966 Fury, but I always go with Allpar for Mopar info and they say that the Poly 318 was in the 1966 Furys and the LA 318 was first available in the 1967 models.
Today I was able to expand the picture & I did see an air blower, sorry I doubted you. Yeah, I was wrong about the poly 318 also.
Buddy has a survivor 1966 Dodge Coronet sedan with the Poly 318. Was an original Chrysler Corp car for some factory exec.
Chrysler changed from poly to the LA engine in Feb 67 therfore models built be for Feb 67 had the poly engine I own a 1966 Plymouth satellite with an original 318 LA engine. This car has been restored to factory original except the front brakes are disc. The satellite was the sport model Belvedere.
I bought a FuryII in Abilene, KS, near the end of 1977, because the car I was driving was having issues. The Plymouth became a tow vehicle to get back to Ohio, with a bumper-to-bumper hitch setup from U-Haul.
The Fury was a great car for the time I had it, zero complaints!
Poly-head 318 is very torquey for it’s displacement. In fact, machinists I know view the new generation Hemi as a combo of the 3rd gen version mixed with a Poly head design. You can still find some performance parts floating around for the Poly, but not very common
Rebuild the Poly.
Its was faster than an LA block.
Chrysler Power Magazine has an extensive parts supply for the A block.
When I was a kid my folks bought a new red 1966 Fury III four-door sedan with a 383 under the hood. We went everywhere in that car, and never had any problems. My dad traded it in for a new Ford LTD in 1975. I never understood why he didn’t opt for another Mopar. I guess the Ford dealer gave him a better deal. He wasn’t into brand loyalty. He had Studebakers, Fords and Plymouths. The only GM car we ever had was a Buick Skylark. Oh, and Datsuns. He loved his Datsun and Nissan pickups.
I agree with Del. The poly engine makes more power than the LA version
A Fury THREE!!! ( whistles) Who was sportin’ that kind of cash? Always got a chuckle out of that, a Fury l, ll, or lll, corresponding to your salary, I’m sure. Same car, just trim features, now, if this was a “VIP”, there’s your high class Plymouth, which is kind of a contradiction of terms, as generally, Plymouths and Dodges were pretty meager cars for most. The air hose does have a blow gun attached, who knows what that was for, radiator plugged?
@ Howard: The Sport Fury was the one to have. That was what I had; just look at that long, low sleek profile!! LOL!! :-)
BTW: It originally came with the poly 318, but I swapped a late model 360 into it.
I took my drivers test with a green 383 4 speed on one of these. 1966 and solid. I’d do it again
Differences between Poly 318 and LA 318? None in the horsepower and torque measurements. Parts availability for the Poly is still pretty good, considering what parts interchange between the two engines. The hard parts would be things like intake and exhaust manifolds and rebuildable heads and blocks. Because of the heads, the Poly is a wide engine – wider than a 440 big block I think – so it wouldn’t be the best candidate to swap into an A-Body though it has been done.
I grew up in one. I was born in 1966 and my parents bought their first family car, it was a 66 Fury II 4 door in white. It had a 318 Poly with blue interior and my dad installed under dash hang on air. It lasted till 92 when my Grandfather finally killed it right before he gave up driving.