This is the 1. As in, not a Fury II, or Fury III, and it’s not a Sport Fury either. It’s a Fury I, once popular with police departments and taxi companies everywhere. This more-door sedan is located near beautiful down town Arcadia, Missouri. The asking price is $3,000. It’s advertised here on craigslist and it’s a runner.
How many car shows have you been to where you’ve seen a replica police car? Often made from a high option car with lots of trim, just like they very rarely ever were, back in the day. That wouldn’t be the case with this one though.
What else can you do with a low trim level, (some would say “boring”) four door sedan? What other variations can there be? We’ve all seen the police car, the occasional taxi, maybe a few bright red ‘fire chief’ cars, and the very scarce dark blue ‘Air Force’ or maybe olive drab ‘Army’ staff car. What else could be done with this?
This one has blue interior, so it would limit the options unless someone spends a lot of money re-upholstering it. Which most people would consider not worth doing on this car.
Here’s a shot of the inside of the trunk. As a former owner of several 1967 and 1968 Furys, I can testify that more than a couple of bodies could be fit in to a trunk like this…not that I’ve ever tried that personally, of course.
This article wouldn’t be complete without at least one shot of the “Leaning Tower of Power”, that’s right, the 225 Slant-Six. While the police car wouldn’t have come with this, as a low budget cruiser, it’s a righteous choice. Winner, winner, chicken dinner.
Ok, so here’s another angle on the Slant. Does that make sense? I think with this photo, the seller might be showing off the new starter. Who can blame him? It looks like it might have taken nearly a minute and a half to do the install. Hopefully the new starter sounds like the old one. The sound of a 1960s-vintage Chrysler product starter should be one of the recordings on that gold disc they sent off into space on Voyager 1. No doubt, it’s a sound we need to share with the Universe.
Although it’s not the best, this photo is worth sharing too. It’s a control panel you won’t forget if you’ve ever done any driver’s seat time in one of these. And here it is again:
Now that you’ve seen it, you cannot argue that this isn’t the 1. If it were yours, what would you do with it? Share your thoughts below.
Meh
Slants were used in some of Mopar’s PD packages.
Cruisers often had 6’s. Hiway cars were more likely V8’s. I love this car. I would roll in it as is. I had a police car replica once as a daily, and yes it was a blast, but this just says cool to me.
Chrysler made 3 PD packages. Slant 6 for city use, small v8 for faster needs, and big blocks for highway patrol.
I’d find a set of fender skirts and cruise. Who cares if it’s a slant 6? Not like I’m going to be doing burnouts. That’s about all I can think of to do to it without going into some other territory. Paint? Spray cans. Yes I would. I can do a pretty righteous job with spray cans on something like this that isn’t going to have much value ever. No clear, just leave it satin. No point in it being too shiny. Maybe a set of wheels?
3 words: split manifold exhaust.
:)
Even with rattlecans, with a little patience and some wet sanding, you can make it a decent, shiny 20 footer.
Edit: the edit button came back! Yay!
I was the 4th boy of five in what I call an SS Chevy family. Owned a 67 Nova SS and a 64 Malibu SS Convertible. The day I turned 16. My mom had an identical 65 Fury 1 to this ad. Bought at an estate sale for 100 dollars, put 100000 miles on it and sold it ror 400 dollars. My dad owed so many cool cars, bought, fixed up, sold them and kept some fun ones for a while including a two door tan Fury of the same era. Dad loved the blue goose, raved about that slant 6 engine, reliable, easy to work on, except that nothing ever went wrong with that car. I took my drivers test in it and I believe it was used to pick up the 5 or 6 of us that were old enough to drive when our hot rods broke down. The blue goose will live in infamy
Though not a pace car, these still bring a lot to the table. You can still build them pretty cheap. We had a 66 growing up that came with a 361 , which is the smallest big block and a 727 behind it. For what is was a that car was pretty fast. Dad took it off the road in 72 and went thru it, changing heads, cam, valve train intake, removed manifolds and put on header’s and dual exhaust. He was a big Mopar guy, we also has a 66 Coronet 500 with a 440 Super Commando. The Fury was painted Candy Apple Red. Last I saw it was sporting the Mopar 5 spoke mags and Goodyear Polyglass GT’s. We sold it in 91 and the owner still had I about 10 years ago, and would drive it in good weather to local cruises and shows. I always liked the Fury’s, especially Fury Sports and Fury 3’s. You could do a lot to/with them. I had a 69 for a while but it needed work, lots of rust issues here in the north east (PA). It too was a 383 car and ran real strong with a 727 and a Sure Grip . My Favorite of our cars was the 64 Polara with a 413. Next fave was granddads59 New Yorker with a 413 and 2 Carter carbs. Big cars but very powerful..and fast considering.
sell it to a hipster
I want it. I can’t tell you why because I don’t even know.
These kinds of cars are cool when you go “Wow, I got it for $500, what a score!”
But in it’s current condition, he’s asking all the money for it. As someone said, meh.
Keep it just as is. So real. So the way things were. Price is a little high but buyers ultimately determine the price. That’s the market: what it’s worth to someone.
Just leave it alone. Make sure it’s mechanically sound. Drive it. These were everywhere. Now how many are left?
I absolutely agree, Paul. These were the cars that people actually drove back in the day, and they’re almost all gone now. What is to be gained by turning it into something it never was? Does the world really need another one turned into a “restomod” by stuffing a monster motor in it, destroying a pretty solid original in the process? The Slant Six is great in there. Go through this old girl and fix what need fixing, clean it up, and drive.
BTW, nice write-up, Marty.
I had a 66 Fury 1, bought it in 1974 for $150. Smooth and reliable, put a lot of miles on it, the only rust was on the rear quarters. Built like a tank and it served me well, black with red interior, not real good at picking up girls though. The slant six was a great engine and the starter sound was unforgettable.
Mi. State Police
We had a 65 Savoy in Canada. Fury ll or Fury lll but no Fury 1 for us.
I can hear that old slant six now. Ratatatatatatatatat.
Sweet
Poverty? – it’s a torqueflite – that’s posh
As the seller of this car I just wanted to say we absolutely loved it! It road extremely smooth. An it was mechanically sound. The only reason we sold it was because we were young and need a house more than the car. My husband had to have a surgery that put us living with his parents. We still have a giant canvas picture of the car hanging in our house. It went to a lady that cares just as much about it. It may not have been the car everyone was chasing but it was great for us. My husband an I both find it extremely awesome that we came upon this article today. He was telling someone about our old car we used to have a googles a picture to show him what it kind of looked like only to find the exact picture of it. It sat for a really long time before we acquired it so there was a lot to go through mechanically. We also had the seats redone to its original glory.