In 1968, the top of the line Plymouth Fury was called a “VIP”. It was only manufactured for three years, 1966-1969. It was offered as the upscale luxury counterpart to the successful “Sport Fury” trim level cars.
It included a much more luxurious interior including faux wood trim panels, extra insulation and other options, and plenty of fancy exterior bright work. This one is in what Chrysler referred to as a “fast top” body style, but the VIP was more commonly found in the four door hardtop configuration. The seller says just 6,768 were produced, but doesn’t mention whether that’s this body style, or both. I didn’t verify it, but less than 10,000 units for special trim level sixties Mopars is not unusual.
This one looks fantastic in this color, and although the wheels are not original, I think they go along with the look of the car pretty well. The body looks straight, and the trim looks good.
A peek under the hood reveals a no-nonsense engine compartment, not detailed, but still presentable, and it reveals this burgundy to be the car’s original color. The engine is Chrysler’s “Commando V8”, which in this case is a 383 big block. Although the 426 gets all the press, this “B” block also has wedge-shaped combustion chambers in the cylinder heads.
While I’m sure I would have removed the pink bath mats before taking the photos, the seller tells us the interior has been re-done, and I respect his decision to protect the carpet and keep it looking like new.
The seller also tells us this is not a show car but a great cruiser, and I’m inclined to believe that. The asking price is $8,000, which seems very fair for a nice looking, finished driver like this one.
The trunk looks as clean and finished inside as the rest of it. It would be nice to see under the floor covering though, just to make sure there isn’t any rust.
It’s located in the town on Puxico, Missouri, and is offered for sale here, on the The southeast Missouri craigslist page. If I had room for this big, beautiful Mopar, I’d be on it like a bum on a baloney sandwich. One of Plymouth’s ad taglines in 1968 was “and the beat goes on”. I think I can still hear it. Can you?
Nice car! If it has no rust issues it is a good buy at 8K. The 383 Commando is not the base engine. The Commando was a four barrel equipped optional version of the 383 engine. It came with a slightly hotter cam, and I think a little higher compression ratio. The base engine for this car was a 383 with a 2 barrel carburetor. the first thing one will notice is with the four barrel option the engine is equipped with a dual snorkel breather. The two barrel version has a single snorkel version.
The commando was a 383 2 barrel. The super commando was 383 4 barrel and the 440 super commando 375 horse power. The car if ordered with disc brakes had 15 inch rims. The vip came with standard 318 or 383 2 barrel.
Lots of owners of these cars opt for a 15 inch aftermarket wheel because these cars came with an H-78-14 tire. It is difficult to find a suitable substitute for that tire these days. With 15 inch wheels, it is easier to find a compatible tire with a similar outer diameter as the OE tires.
Actually, H78-14s are quite easy today if you wanna pay Coker prices. They’ve got them in either their own ‘Coker Classic’ form or as a bonafide BFGoodrich Silvertown Belted repro 8.50-14 which is the same size, in either wides or narrow whites. Would think they’re available from other after-marketers too. Course that assumes you want its original Belted/Bias style tire of course!
SOL if you want radials since the best rad size equivalent is 235/75-14 and those are tough today!!!
So as is usually the case, all it takes is $-$-$-$ to have what you need!
These wheels are actually Dodge Police wheels with beauty rings added.
Beautiful car, if the tin worms aren’t there, this is a great deal.
HA.. baloney sandwich, classic! A great write up here.
I didn’t know that the VIP was discontinued in 1969. That’s weird since ’69 was the first year with a new body style, I thought that I had seen VIPs that were 1970 and ’71 models but I must be wrong on that; that’s good trivia. I just looked and there are in fact 1970 VIPs shown on a Google image search, but according to Wiki, you are correct, sir, 1969 was it!
And, sorry for being that guy, but 1966-1968 is four years, not three. This VIP is beautiful and well worth $8,000, a definite future collectible it will go nowhere but up in value. It would be a fun winter project to detail that engine compartment.
Good price for a lot of car. Would make a good investment down the road and a cruiser until then.
My uncle bought a new 1968 Sport Fury lll that I spent a lot of back seat time in. It was the Spory Roof model, the car was dark metallic blue with black vinyl top with three white pinstripes on each side, with light blue vinyl interior. I liked the dash layout and the way all Chrysler dashboards in the late 60s were lit with overhead floodlights, they lit the entire dash, not just the gauges in a cool blue color, I thought the floodlights were a good idea. He bought it to pull a 16 foot camping trailer. That 383 Commando pulled that trailer up hills with ease. I could see the big temperature gauge from the back seat and it would never heat up on hills. I drove the car several years later when I got my license and it still had plenty of power and handled like it was brand new. It had the smoothest power steering I have ever felt, even to this day. It was so smooth and easy to turn you couldn’t even feel the road. I remember thinking it was too smooth for my taste but I’m sure a lot of people liked it. In any event, leave it to Chrysler’s engineers to figure out how to steer a big, heavy car like that like it wasn’t even touching the ground. I also loved the sound of the exhaust and a ticking sound that an exhaust manifold value made when I put my foot into it. That was one of Plymouth’s best looking model years. I live in Southern California so we never have to worry about our cars rusting, melting in the sun, yes but no rust. What I didn’t know until reading these articles, is how few were made and sold. Seems to me back in the day those cars were everywhere in California. Seeing the pictures of this one brought back a lot of great memories, so thank you for that.
I sure wish all of Detroit had installed those fuzzy dice; what a stunning option. But the color alone would inspire me!
I used to hate these type of cars in my youth seeing them as old man cars. Now that I’m an old man I have come to appreciate them.
As far as price here there is room for haggling. Could be nicely bought for 5k
I’m with Steve on this one, the price is at the top, with room to wiggle down.
My dad had 4 door Fury’s in the 60’s for company cars. Brings back memories.
My Dad had a ’67 Fury 4 door sedan. When he died I acquired the car. After 11 years and over 100k miles I sold the car. Other than a water pump and an a/c leak the car ran great all those years and there was no rust showing anywhere except where scratched. There was no special maintenance, just regular oil changes.
Certainly looks good to me!
The ’66 Fury III that I had in the late 70’s was plane Jane next to this styling ride.
I always liked most ’60’s Plymouths (1962?). The VIP faired poorly against the Caprice and the LTD, but still a neat car. If I could make one change in the car world, I’d outlaw those chessy looking fuzzy dice. They cheapen just about any car and look dumb (there, that’s off of my chest).
Great find.
Barry Thomas’ “Wheel to Wheel” blog
I had a 68 Plymouth Fury lll VIP and it was a great car. It had the commando V-8 with a 383 and that’s the first car that I drove as a teenager over 100 miles an hour! It actually still sits back home on the farm but over the years people have been stealing parts off of it. I haven’t seen it in over 20 years but I know that the engine is stripped out and the rear end is gone. If I had the time and money I would love to restore it because it would sure bring back some memories.
I have a ’68 VIP fast top like this and happily without the vinyl top which has been in the family for about 46 years. The base engine for the VIP is the 318 with a 2 barrel carb which is what my VIP has. If this is the same car as the one on the VIP Facebook page, it just went to a really good home this week.
I just purchased this car from the person who purchased it in Missouri. I gave 6k for the car and it runs drives. has some issues with the brakes but am in process of doing a complete system replace. This car is as nice as the pictures show. it has been garage kept since here in KY. This is a solid 10k car now. Maybe more.
Great update!