The 1950s were over, but tailfins were not. Plymouth’s perhaps reached new highs on the new 1960 models, which had shifted from body-on-frame to unibody construction. The Fury was the top-of-the-line model, but those buyers with a smaller checking account could get the Belvedere, which came with less bling. The seller’s 2-door Belvedere coupe appears to be a two-owner car whose latest caretaker has paperwork dating back to the good old days. With no noted shortcomings, this edition with fender skirts is in Milton, Florida, and is available here on Facebook Marketplace for $18,000 OBO.
Perhaps the styling of the 1960 Plymouths was too over the top for a lot of buyers, as sales declined by 45% over the comeback year of 1959. The bright spot, as such, would be the Valiant compact, which debuted in 1960, and took away some of the pain brought on by Virgin Exner’s latest creations. In 1957, the Plymouth slogan was “Suddenly, it’s 1960!”, but had become “The Solid Plymouth for 1960” – not as inspiring, was it? And the shift to unibody didn’t help with the rust problems the 1957-59 Mopars became noted for later.
This ’60 Belvedere can boast its original 318 cubic inch “Poly” V8 with a pushbutton 2-speed automatic transmission. The car is better than new in two respects: the old points ignition has been changed to electronic, and the front brakes have been converted from drums to discs. According to the seller, 2,000 of these 2-door coupes were produced in 1960, and this one is #348 out of the year-long batch.
This two-owner machine (which may or may not include the seller) still carries its options sheet from the factory in 1960, although the list probably wasn’t very long. The body and paint seem to be okay (the seller says the paint is dark green). The interior may need work, given the use of a sheet over the front seat bottom. The asking price is $18,000, but trades of an equal value will be considered. Wings or no wings, the 1960s would be challenging for Plymouth.
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