(first posted 8/26/2013) Three cheers for oldcarbrochures! I was looking for a shot of the 1971 Fury III 2-door Formal Sedan to add to a comment I left on today’s CC, when I stumbled into a car I never knew existed, and certainly one I’ve never seen before: The 1971 Fury I 2-Door Coupe. In 1969 and 1970, there were 2-Door Fury I sedans along with the much more popular 4-Door sedans, a favorite of the taxi and police crowd. But for 1971, the 2-Door sedan gave way to this coupe, which is not a hardtop, having a fixed little post (Zack alert! Does the rear window even go down?). Who would have bought one of these? Too bad it’s shown with whitewalls and wheel covers; this just screams for dog-dishes and blackwalls; oh, and a 440, along with three-on-the-tree, just to keep up the thrifty look.
Make it a 440 and a 4 speed and you’ve sold me Paul, blackwalls and dog dishes are perfect I dont go much on fancy wheels just rubber on the road is fine, I wont be able to fling it around corners anyway, just gimme air and a stereo and Im good to go.
Realistically, yes, the four speed would be better. But somehow the idea of a three-speed in this with a 440 has a perverse appeal. I’m not sure it was even available with the three-speed; oddly, the 1971 Fury brochure has no info on transmission choices and options.
Make mine a Slant-Six with the three-on-the-tree. Imagine trying to muscle that big, ole fuselage coupe around in that configuration. That sounds like some exciting, low-speed adventure, right there (especially when trying to parallel park).
Yeah nar we have some really steep hills around nere this is far too much car for one it astounds me why it was even offered we thought a 225 in the Aussie Valiant went ok it couldnt beat a stock 3.3 Cresta you needed 8 cylinders to attempt that and not all could do it Vauxhall NZ installed the Cresta powertrain into the smaller Victor as a halo model when Holden announced its Holden6 powered Viva the Torana it wasnt as bigger deal here, Saloon car racing and the SBC have claimed most of them now, but underpowering big cars didnt sell that well in those days before OPEC, 3.3 Victors outsold 2L&1600 4 bangers easily my Dad was flying people to Trentham to bring them back,
Rail held a mandated monopoly and couldnt send them fast enough, he and others had a ball, by the time the desert road section of hwy 1 was reached the cars were judged broken in enough and they try them out and 3.3s would easily pull past 100mph and blasting thru Skyliner country was great even back then North of Auckland not so much.
Around a race track V8 Valiants beat the Vauxhalls then 9 years of Valiant Charger wins in the B&H 500 made Chrysler products look ok to Kiwis,
A Vauxhall Cresta held the quarter mile record for a 6 until the E38 Valiants arrived at Thunder Park those were the fastest accelerating 6 powered vehicles on the planet for decades.
I likes me a Chrysler but please dont underpower it.
I drive a 21tonne cement mixer around with less than 300 little Japanese horsepower daytime and a 50 tonne Scania trucktrailer combo for across several mountain ranges,at night. Describe slow to me bro I’m intrigued
Holy Moly, my memories were not playing with me…we had one of these, but I have never seen one…I remember distinctly that enormous door, but always thought I musta been dreaming. Our was light metallic green with boring hubcaps. My mom referred to it as “The aircraft carrier”.
My friend’s dad bought a 70 Fury 1 four door sedan, absolutely strippo. Slant six, three on the tree, no power steering or brakes, and not even a radio. I believe it was the cheapest full-size car available in Canada that year. I got to drive it 4 or 5 years later when I had my license, and it was a brute to drive.
I’ll take a 4 speed on the floor and a 440 with the 4bbl swapped out for a Six Pack, heavy duty police springs and brakes, a Gator McKuskey Special….
It is probably just the way that the two pages are angled but the front clip is a different color than the rest of the car. Make mine a 440 with a TorqueFlite, a four speed (or a three speed) manual in this type of car is just wrong.
I like manuals I drive a very clever automated shift truck a 12 speed 480hp V8 diesel motor turbo computer controlled its a clever piece of gear the transmission has a manual feature same modes Manual,Manual power,Manualoverdrive if I dictate the shifts performance and fuel economy both improve I got 2.04 kms per Litre last trip because I can see out the windscreen the cruise computer isnt GPS linked so it doesnt know where it is,
I also drive a 15speed roadranger Hino (toyota) Concrete mixer around town doubledeclutching or clutchless shifting in daylight shifting gears doesn’t bother me I own 4 manual cars three pedals is the most effective anti theft device on our market.
LOL-
I have three manual equipped cars as well. When I stop at convenience stores in our 1990 Mazda Miata, I often leave the keys in the ignition. When you combine it’s book value (around $2,000) with the clutch pedal, it’s pretty much theft proof.
Though I believe that argument has some merit, especially for the now archaic three-on-the tree, the purported theft-resistance that a manual transmission confers upon a vehicle likely has more to do with the desirability of the vehicle to the right (or wrong) people.
I never lock my rusty F-100 with the three-on-the-tree. The transmission, along with the low market value of the truck, combine, I believe, to give it a high degree of theft resistance. Interestingly, the person I bought it from, who got it with the intention of restoring it and never drove it, didn’t know how to shift it. For me, the shifter was a major selling point.
On the other hand, my wife had a 93 Accord with a 5 speed two cars ago. Neither the lock nor the manual transmission prevented that one from going away. The police told us that those cars were common targets regardless of transmission.
My current car is a nondescript Outback with a 5 speed. Though I tend to lock it to protect the stuff I leave inside it, I doubt that it would be of much interest to thieves even with an automatic.
I ought to do some research to see what the numbers were for how many coupes were built. Very unusual to have a base-bones coupe. About the only comparable car to this would’ve been a Canadian Pontiac Strato-Chief, which was a coupe, but the last year for that was 1970. I would have to assume Plymouth would’ve combined stats for the low-end coupes (Fury I and II) together and that the majority (of a few thousand) would’ve been 318’s with Torqueflite. The closest I remember seeing in the flesh was when I was 18-19 years old. I guy I worked with had his Mom’s ’69 Fury I two door. I was kind of hard-top-ish; had a little ‘post’ as is mentioned above. It was a total bare bones; vinyl seats, rubber mats, no radio, no power nothing, slant six, three on the tree, dog dish wheel covers. I think if this model was representative of “basic”, that ’69 would’ve been it.
There were 5,152 Fury I 2-door coupes made for 1971, according to The Auto Editors of Consumer Guide’s “The Encyclopedia of American Cars”.
Strato-Chiefs made American Catalinas look posh by comparison.
And wasn’t the ’70 Bel-Air 2-door HT also Canada only?
Considering the market for stripper specials in the Great White North, Paul, any chance this was a Canadian brochure?
My dad had a 1970 Strato Cheif two door hardtop that was equipped with a 350/2bbl and Powerglide at that’s all, folks. He pirated a radio from is BIL’s blown-up 1963 Mercury. It had a new, modern steering wheel but no power steering, making parking a Herculean endeavour for anyone smaller than Hulk Hogan. My mom just didn’t parallel park it.
It was actually a cool looking car in the metallic turquoise of the day, especially with the wheel covers that had the red reflector in the middle. Dad loved it as he thought it was a rocket ship and compared to his 1965 Biscayne 283-Powerglide it was. I recall barreling the 401 at 75 mph, a high speed in those days. It handled very well and had excellent road feel in the manual steering on the highway.
It started falling apart at about exactly three years. The entire exhaust was replaced at year three, a prelude of things to come. Then the front springs broke and at the same time, the entire front end, worn out, was replaced. The radiator failed, then the alternator, then the water pump…..you get the picture. Cars were like this in those days. By year five, it had major cancer and dad was sick of replacing brakes, drums all around. Both he and my brother drove it hard and thus is went through brakes and front end stuff a lot. Quebec’s winter conditions in those days were also extremely harsh. By 1976 it was done and we didn’t take it west since it was full of rather large holes by that time.
It was so unreliable and gulped so much gas he bought a 1974 Corolla 1600, in March of 1975. He got a sweet deal on it since it was a stripper leftover. That car was in the family for fifteen years and never failed once. The Pontiac then became mom’s grocery getter until we scrapped it.
I actually recall seeing these “post” hardtops when I was a kid. I seem to recall some pre ’71 mid-size Mopars doing with the same thing. I thought they were strange then, and couldn’t see the point of messing up a nice hardtop roof line.
Unless it added some structural rigidity for some specific purpose, the idea of adding a part to a stripper like the Fury I seems sort of counter intuitive unless the purpose was to make a fixed rear window seem more logical. But, that certainly didn’t stop Ford with leaving fixed very hardtop looking rear windows in its two-door Grand Marquis, Cougars, and Mark (IVs I think) in the latter ’70s pre downsized cars.
Janet Reno?
Yup, Ma Mopar liked to do the “coupe” treatment to turn a hardtop into a stripper in these years. They did the same thing in the B body Chargers/Satellites in 73-74, only those looked exactly like the hardtop from the outside, but the rear windows were fixed in place.
The pre-1971 B body coupes used that little thin pillar that they must have welded in during assembly, and rear windows were either fixed or flippers. With this car, it is hard to tell which design they used.
I would have thought that the standard hardtop would have been cheaper to do, purely from a production efficiency standpoint. However, I don’t think that production efficiencies were high on the list in Chrysler’s late Lynn Townsend period. I suppose that if someone could make a case for another 5,000 units of a coupe, then management would decree “build it!”
The post coupe, whether the glass is fixed or flipper, establishes the value of the crank window in the upgrade model. Even if it would actually be cheaper to manufacture everything with a crank window.
IIRC, the midyear 1970 Dodge “Challenger Deputy” and also the 1971 Barracuda Coupe had a similar theme- make the rear windows fixed with minimal trim and interior choices. Six Challenger Deputes shipped with the 383 4-barrel, 3 automatic, 3 manual! But at least with that low-trim model, that was the top option, with the trusty 318 probably the most popular.
Something I just thought of…1971 was a recession year and there were more than a few stripper packages offered…some with their own model designations like the Pontiac T-37 or Heavy Chevy/Rally Nova…all variations on the stripper with some fluff theme.
Yeah that is very odd, with Chrysler also doing a Charger “Topper” and a Demon “Sizzler” also to boost sales.
The fuselage cars just didn’ make attractive coupes. I remember seeing them when I was a kid and the proprotions were all wrong. Big long butts held high in the air.
+1,they look bloated I think the 4 door and especially the wagon worked much better in breaking up that huge flank of sheet metal.Just out of interest were the C body cars offered with the high impact paint jobs?I always loved the eyeball searing colours from the early 70s
Yes they were, not all the high impacts but some of them. There were a couple if colors offered that were fury only colors, like April Green in 71.
Of course you were able to go the 999 paint code route and have any color you wanted.
Thanks I’ve only ever seen A & B bodys in high impact colours.A panther pink 383 2 barell with dog dish hub caps might just tempt me into full size lust
Is the 40-something, portly fellow with the bowtie and strange hat supposed to be a cabbie? He’s certainly not your typical brochure model – male or female.
Was Plymouth suggesting that beautiful, sexy people should buy the Gran Fury or Sport Fury?
Or that buying the Gran Fury or Sport Fury would make you beautiful and sexy?
Or that being a cheapskate and buying the Fury I means you look like Fred Mertz’s son?
It’s The Foreman’s neighbor, from ‘That 70’s Show”, Mr Pinchiotti, Donna’s dad. Bushy hair and all!
I thought Donna’s dad was trying to look hip and cool. This guy looks like the Maytag Repairman.
+1 I was thinking Maytag Man myself!
Chevy dropped BelAir/Biscayne 2 doors after ’69. Plymouth was still clinging to full line of big cars. They cut back in ’72.
Those 5000 Fury I coupes may have went to buyers looking for cheapest big car, but that market was shrinking fast. I’d think the Fury II coupe would be more rare, since many I’s went to fleets or elder drivers.
Hardly ever saw ‘Jan Brady’ II’s back then. My Uncle/Aunt bought a used ’69 Fury II sedan as a 2nd car to their wagon, in mid 70’s. I was like “wow a II” when they got it.
I’m guessing that, by the late 1960s, retail buyers who wanted the cheapest cars were skipping the full-size cars completely, and going straight to the compact class.
Buyers who wanted full-size cars also increasingly wanted well-optioned cars that looked more “upscale.”
the roof-line and window cut outs look to fit much better with the overal style of the body than the earlier 2 door roof lines.
The rear bumper/tail light treatment on the plymouth on the left is very…well… meh though.
I think I remember Plymouth Fury coupe highway patrol cars from around 1971 to about 1974 or so – in both Colorado and Nebraska. As I remember, I thought big Plymouth coupes were odd cop cars – but maybe sensible for the kind of work they did.
Can’t cite any evidence of Fury coupe highway patrol cars – just my sometimes incorrect memory. Anyone else ever see these? I think they were white in both states.
There were some Highway Patrol and police departments that did have a police spec coupes in their fleet, its rare, but they did exist.
Plymouth had the code ‘A-38’ police package option that could outfit the 2-door (and other non-traditional models) with police package equipment. More than likely extremely rare…
At age 17 (January 1974) I was driving on the PA turnpike toward Pittsburgh when I was stopped and given a warning – for going 60 in a 55 zone – by a State Police officer in a 1972 Fury coupe. I don’t recall the paint.
The Virginia State Police used 2 door police Furys up until 1970.
Rhode Island used Fury coupes in 69 and 70 for the State Police.
The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) and I believe the RCMP as well used full-size 2-door sedans exclusively until about this time (i.e.: when they were no longer available).
Okay- can anyone explain to me the difference between a 2 door sedan and a coupe?
Originally, you have to think of something like a 1940 Ford (or a model A). The 2 door sedan was shaped just like a 4 door sedan, only with two fewer doors. The coupe had an elongated deck lid and either a very cozy rear seat or none at all. There was still a similar distinction into the very early 50s, but by 1955, the 2 door sedan bodystyle became the norm, with some calling it a coupe because of the two doors.
Later, after the advent of the 2 door hardtop, coupe or two door sedan seemed to be used fairly interchangeably. I think Chrysler went with “coupe” because the car was neither a 2 door sedan (no window frames or center pillar) nor a 2 door hardtop. As things have evolved, coupe seems to be making a comeback to describe any 2 door car, as there really aren’t any 2 door sedans or two door hardtops made anymore.
Thanks – but I’m not getting it. What then is a two door hardtop?
Unfortunately, it’s not possible to put several of these overlapping names in perfect little boxes.
The easiest one is the 2 door sedan. With very few exceptions, it has he same roof as a 4 door sedan, but two longer front doors, and of course no rear doors. And there is always a B pillar between the front and rear windows.
The word “coupe” is used very broadly, and cannot easily be pigeon-holed. Historically, as JPC said, coupes had a shorter roof than sedans, with a smaller back seat, or even none at all. But in more modern times, that definition has been corrupted and used much more widely.
The word “coupe” sounds much better than “2-door sedan”, so it has come to be applied on a wide range of two door cars. In the sixties, the word “2-door sedan” was mostly just applied to low-level lines, like Chevy Biscaynes, and Fury Is and such.
For instance, in the 1969-1971 Fury line, there are two different roof-lines for the two-door cars, but they were called 2-door sedans and coupes, depending on marketing/image considerations. The Fury I 2-door sedan had the same roof as the Fury III “Formal coupe”, but see how much better that second name sounds?
In modern use, the word “coupe” is used on just about anything with 2 doors. There’s really no clear differentiation any more, but then there aren’t really many cars that are 2-door sedans either, having the same roof line as a 4 door sedan. But there might be a few…
Hardtops, either 2 door or 4 door, are lacking a B pillar; that is the key detail and what defines the appropriate use of the word. There is no such thing as a 2 door sedan hardtop, because that contradicts the definition of a sedan (vehicle with B pillar). But the word “coupe” is used equally on 2 door hardtops as well as pillared 2 door coupes, as most modern cars are, as well as some four door coupes, with a lowered roof line.
Three terms, some of which overlap, others that don’t. Does that help?
Paul… not that I’m going to contradict, but both in the US and in Europe there are some legal definitions of what a “coupé” is – by SAE and ISO correspondingly. AFAIR, the SAE definition limits rear interior area space to no more than 33 cubic inches, and according to Wikipedia ISO standard 3833-1977 (Road vehicles – Types – Terms and definitions) defines a coupe as a closed 2-door car with “limited rear volume” (how much limited ? that is the question, no numbers are given and I couldn’t find the original text of this regulation).
There is no doubt, though, that for marketing purposes this word is used much broader, sometimes even to refer to 4-door cars with lower roof line / frame-less door windows / etc. Likewise, it was broadly used in the past for 2-door hardtops, just as you said.
Stanislav: I don’t think Detroit ever got that memo 🙂 Think 1978 Lincoln Town Coupe. Like so many giant American “coupes”, the rear seat space was no less than the four-door sedan’s, just the access was a harder.
“but both in the US and in Europe there are some legal definitions of what a “coupé” is – by SAE and ISO correspondingly.”
The standards developed by SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers) and the ISO (International Standards Organization) are not legal definitions, since neither organization is a government entity and lack the force of law.
Having said that, there are government regulations that reference an SAE or ISO standard, but until that happens, the standards are simply guidelines. Manufacturers often go off in their own direction, merrily ignoring the best efforts of SAE or ISO.
When I hear the 4 door coupe in the new marketing BS it drives me crazy. Especially when MB still makes a 2 door hardtop.
Helps a lot. What should I call my brother’s new car, a smart 4 2? It has an A and a B pillar, but that’s it.
I had a friend that his family had a low miles 70 Fury II as their family car back in the early 70’s. It was a four door hardtop that was bordering on a stripper car as it had a 318, automatic , P/S and am radio. I recall the 318 working hard to move that fuselage body around.
Had a friend who drove a plymouth that looked like this in 71. Never wanted to hurt his feelings but thought it was pretty unattractive then. Still do.
They were a good car for the highway. Cops driving these would certainly be no more out of line than a mustang or two door F150 like the DPS here in Texas sometimes do.
I strongly suspect that this pic is a highly inaccurate artist’s rendering. The real Fury Coupe should have a much more upright roofline like the Gran Coupe. Indeed, an Internet search for actual cars revealed the following-
The 1969 2-door sedan is clearly a pillared sedan with framed windows and vent windows.
In 1970, they appeared to have switched to a frameless door with the same body, keeping the B-Pillar.
Then, in 1971 , they kept the 1970 roof stamping, and eliminated the B-pillar, electing to go with a conventional window that simply didn’t roll down. (cue Zackman). I found no pics of any 1971 model with the 1970 styled B-pillared roof. It is my conclusion that the 1971 “Coupe” pictured was a figment of the illustrators imagination.
I take back what I said about the ’69, on second look it appears to have a frameless door too.
Nice Pics. The 70 gran coupe is a favorite of mine. The coupe in 71 shared the 2 door hard top roof, and the windows were fixed in place with no post, or crank. Similar to the challenger deputy models. The 69 and 70 coupes were a 2 door sedan, and the gran coupe was a 2 door sedan with no vent windows. The 2 door sedan in 69 and 70 had vent windows even if they had AC. The gran coupe did not have vent windows with or with out AC.
There was a formal hard top in 69-71, it had the same roof as the 2 door sedan but without the post. the rear windows rolled down in all three years in the formal hardtop. The formal hard top in 69 had vent windows without ac, and the vent window was optional with ac in all the c-body 2 door hardtops.
in 69 and 70 there were 3 types of fury 2 doors, 2 door sedan (gran coupe was a fury II coupe in 70), formal coupe and hardtop. In 71 it went down to 2; formal hardtop, 2 door hardtop, and the coupe with fixed rear windows.
Another oddball 71 fury that is not in the brochure is the fury custom, it was a 2 door coupe or a 4 door sedan, it was a notch under the fury 1.
The 71 furies or dodges were not available with vent windows, the only c bodies with available vent windows in 71 was the imperial and new yorker 4 door hardtops. In 72 and 73 the vent windows were available in 4 doors and station wagons, they did not have cranks, but were a latch deal. The Chrysler and imperials were available with power vent windows too.
I have had a bunch of these over the years and i tried for 2years to buy a 70 fury II coupe with a 318 and a 3 speed stick, the car vanished about 15 years ago never seen again. I even had a 69 300 2 door with ac and vent windows.
C body fan over here.
mopar: right on all counts, except what’s this about a Fury Custom? There’s nothing anywhere in the brochures or the Encyclopedia of American Cars about that. Can you verify that with some pictures, or?
It’s hard to imagine a version more stripped than the Fury I.
Me thinks you’re wrong about the 71s. More pictures below:
Here you go
Details
Well, that’s not below the Fury I, but above it. It’s a “value package” like Ford used to offer every year in the summer with their “Red, White and Blue” Customs/500s, with similar equipment. I doubt that was offered all year.
The Custom was probably the result of volume-obsessed Lynn Townsend’s Chrysler Corp. being forced to field a 3 year old design against brand new 1971 redesigns from Chevy and Ford. If you can’t sell it on style, you have to sell it on price/value.
I was wrong on the Custom, it looks like it slotted above the Fury I. good find on the description.
I have seen 2 of these in the metal, and they both had the three in the tree. After looking at the description the white walls, full hubcaps, wood grained instrument panel, and the 2 tone paint (painted roof) made the custom package. The ones I have seen had the rubber floor mat, and the plain door panels.
In my mind the 3 speeds made me thing it was the bottom of the line.
Wow! I had forgotten all about the many variations of the Fury in 71. The Fury I, II, and III, plus Sport Fury, Sport Fury GT and S-23? may have been a 70 only model? plus the Gran Coupe (first offered in 1970 as a mix of Fury II and Sport Fury with paisley trim in 2 door coupe form only, I think) offered as a 2 door Formal Hardtop (I had one) and a 4 door hardtop which was a mix of Fury III and Sport Fury (thought at the time how do you have a 4 door Coupe) and the Fury Custom which was, I think a mix of Fury III and II.
Roger: that’s the whole point of this post. I assumed the ’71 Fury I and II 2-door sedans still had that same sedan roof. But the line-up changed for 1971. Please note that not only is the Fury I using the “coupe” roof, but so is the Fury II, although as a hardtop. Actually, FWIW, I’m beginning to think the Fury I coupe may well be a hardtop too.
Roger: There’s several more examples of the ’71 Fury I coupe in different brochures. In this one, it does look like a hardtop. In fact, I’m thinking Plymouth just wanted to simplify the line up, and dropped the pillared coupe, keeping only the hardtop formal coupe and the regular hardtop coupe, for all version from Fury I through Sport Fury. Actually makes sense, when you thin k of how few of these were made.
Of course, this is the same rendering, just a different background. But from a different brochure.
And here’s one more: It’s pretty clear these weren’t all mistakes; the number of body styles ware reduced. Although here the Fury I does show a vestigial pillar, or fixed rear window. Still, it was probably a simplification over previous years. Or?
“I strongly suspect that this pic is a highly inaccurate artist’s rendering.”
Me too. Searching around took me to two images about halfway down the page at http://www.fordfusionclub.com/showthread.php?p=8465130, showing what’s purported to be a 1971 Fury I coupe (why would anyone falsely claim that it’s a Fury I?). Whether or not the rear quarter windows roll down, it’s clearly pillarless.
The 1971 Fury brochure at Old Car Brochures shows only the two types of pillarless coupes in the Fury series; offhand I don’t know whether the Gran Coupe introduced later in 1971 (and not in this brochure) was available in the pillared formal type as well as the hardtop.
Now I’m thinking the brochure IS right after all. A non-formal 2 door hardtop with a fixed window. I sure haven’t ever seen one, or recognized it if I did.
The word “coupe” describing a basic two door sedan may come from the more distinctive term “business coupe”.
A “business coupe” was a very spartan two door sedan without a rear seat. It was used by businessmen on the road for hauling samples, merchandise, tools, etc. The 1949-1951 Ford two door was offered in a “business coupe” style with, as described above, a shorter roof line – meaning the “C” pillar was farther foreword than that on a two door sedan. The business coupe had no rear seat, did have a deeper trunk and may or may not have had a pass through from the trunk to the flat storage area where the rear seat would have been on a two door sedan. The two door sedan had a “C” pillar farther back – where it would be on a four door sedan. It also had a rear seat. The quarter windows on a two door sedan likely rolled down; on a business coupe they likely were fixed. If a business coupe body had a rear seat, it was a different model Ford called a “club coupe”.
There were also Dodge and Plymouth business coupes that had a different and unique roofline. I saw a Dodge version last weekend – an original (gray) paint flathead six car originally used by a rural Colorado veterinarian.
The Ford, Dodge and Plymouth were called “coupe”, “club coupe” or “business coupe”; some of them did have rear seats too but the roofline on all was shorter than that of the corresponding “two door sedan”.
Chevrolet made a “business coupe” type work car but used the same roofline as their contemporary two door sedan – except when they had also a fastback two door sedan.
A stripper 1971 Plymouth two door is as close in concept as I can imagine to the “business coupe” that was common around 1950.
That’s one kind of historic use of the word coupe. But its use goes further back than that. The term business coupe was essentially created to distinguish it from the other coupes then on offer. The Model A came in at least three different types of coupes: coupe, sport coupe and business coupe. Some were 2 passenger; some 2-4 passenger.
The word coupe specifically wasn’t used on two-door sedans. In fact, the primary and original application of the word coupe refers to a vehicle where the rear seat is located further forward than a sedan; meaning a smaller rear compartment (from the French “coupe/couper”, meaning to cut,as it originally applied to carriages.
So the primary definition implies a vehicle with a reduced roof length and rear seat space compared to a sedan. Which is why it’s also used for four-dour coupes too.
When I was growing up, our neighbor across the street was the Service Manager at the local C-P store, so he had a new Fury company car every year from the time I was born right up to when he retired in the late 70s. He bought his wife a new 1967 Barracuda convert , too.
He would get me the brochures every year, knowing I was little car nut. His new ’69 Fury III 2-door hardtop stood out in my memory more than the others because A)it was the first fuselage, which, at the time, was kind of jarring compared to the past.
I thought the windows and roof looked to small for the body. B)He had an early model without headrests, and as a 9 year old I knew all GM and Ford products had them. Why didn’t Chrysler? C)The left-handed ignition switch blew my mind, I thought what are they doing emulating old pre-1964 Fords? (my dad had a new ’69 Galaxie 500 2 door hardtop at the time) D)One day not long after getting it, he came home minus his left rear extension molding, tail light lens and rear bumper. Evidently, pinched from his car to repair another damaged in transit. It was still the early fall of ’68,so maybe replacements were in short supply yet. I remember he drove it like that at least for a couple of weeks.
Roger, I am going to be driving a 1977 Sedan de Ville from Saskatoon to Victoria on the weekend. Want to come along for the ride?
I’d love nothing more, but I’m still in Korea,next stop Philippines after I’m done here.
From this perspective, it truly has some aircraft look, the smoothed out roof line and the greenhouse altogether looking so untypical for the 1970-s – it reminds me of the Audi 100/44 (Audi 5000 in the US ? can’t recall) of the mid-1980s, no less. Tail lights / integrated bumper combination looks just great, always loved it. ’72 front end with vertically split grille is better to my taste, though, and I just can’t imagine it with dog dishes, IMO it is too “futuristic looking” for that.
By the way, I remember seeing one of these cars somewhere in Latvia… ’72 Fury III, 2dr HT, metallic gold, non-concealed headlights, turbine wheel covers and a vinyl roof (not sure about the latter though). It seemed to be huge compared even to the later US cars, being also by far not as squared-off and more modern / aerodynamically looking.
I noticed several comments about 3 and 4 speed sticks. I read all the replies and it seemed like no one offered the correct transmission line up for the 69-73 “Fusies” C-bodies. If I missed it, I apologize.
The last year for 4 speed C-bodies was in 68.
For 69 & 70, it was as follows:
Standard equipment,
Furys, /6 and 318 – 3 spd. manual
Polara/Monacos, 318 and 383 2bbl – 3 spd. manual
Newports, 383 2bbl – 3 spd. manual.
All on the column.
I was speculating. There’s absolutely no reference to transmissions in the brochure! And what was the standard transmission with the 440? I’m suspecting it only came with the TorquFlite.
You are correct, Paul. Any other engines in the fore mentioned cars got TorqueFlites as the only transmission available. 383/440 Furys and 440 Dodges and Chrysers were all automatics. Needless to say that a few enterprising individuals installed 4 speeds. I even know of one 1976 New Yorker Brougham with one (cough – cough)…
This was a factory installation, a special order ? I’d love to see a photo of it. Dad had a ’77 Newport with a lean burn 400 – that thing would have been wicked with a four speed.
C’mon, Stan. You KNOW there is at least one four-on-the-floor 70s C-body. 🙂
So the rumor goes 😉
I’m guessing a non-structural B pillar and fixed quarter window, just like the Duster (although those mostly had pop-put windows, I don’t see the hardware for that on the Fury).
I can’t tell if the brochure cars are photos are renderings.
But, expand the picture. That Fury I coupe is wearing the optional fender skirts!
If that is a photo, that has to be the only Fury I in history equipped with skirts.
Even the aqua Fury II in the photo with the road wheels, vinyl top and chrome body trim strip had to be about the only one produced that way.
These features were rare enough on the Fury III and up cars. Also, a testament that Chrysler simply offered too much choice on their cars, reducing manufacturing efficiencies, and muddying product image. Strange marketing photos if you ask me. Dress up the higher end cars with options to get folks to think higher line.
Notice that in the second picture the aqua Fury II has become a Fury III !
They existed, but my God, were the interiors cheap and plain. They weren’t vinyl – they were almost like industrial grade rubber with floor mats passing for cloth inserts.
I bought a buckskin brown 2 door police Fury I with post spotlight speedometer went to 170mph.
I paid 200.00 for it in 1978. My brother smashed into a parking lot light cement post and I sold the motor to a friend with a Belvadere late sixties. It had a big block with a carburator that had large inlet air ports that didn’t pivot open but levered down. I would love to get some photos of this model but none to be found…if these are rare especially a 2 Door Police Coupe…wow I should have know but I was young….a scraper gave me 100.00 and he took a double bladed axe and went through the roof…he had a hard time cutting the car in two….the roof had three plates of steel…wow…When you closed the doors with the windows up…your ears would pop…My God what a beasty car.
I actually owned drove of these, a 1969 Fury 1 2 door, which I took delivery of new in 1969. It was a light tan color with a tan cloth interior, no A/C, but a 318 V8 and automatic. My father was a Chrysler Corporate employee, and we got them on employee lease from Chrysler. In 1969, I was leasing a Barracuda and the sales were so popular Chrysler asked for us to return them early so they could be sold. This is what they substituted for it, and actually it was more fun to drive than the Barracuda was. A little strange, but you could pack six friends in it for a night on the town with no problem. I was 18 then. Now I’m 67 – but I still think about that car.
/Scott Wenger
Lots of great old car brochures at lov2xlr8 too:
http://www.lov2xlr8.no/broch1.html (American cars)
http://www.lov2xlr8.no/broch2.html (foreign cars)
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To add more convoluted-ness to the 5-1/2 year old conversation on coupes vs. 2-door sedans, Plymouth sold a 2-door sedan in the 1969/70 Fury I and II trims that was not a 2-door sedan. Like the base model GM A-bodies at the time, the “2-door sedan” used the roofline of the 2-door hardtop with a fixed pillar. At least in the big Plymouth’s case, it still had the same wheelbase as the 4-door sedan, but the “flying buttress” roofline is visible in the 1970 brochure:
Plymouth Fury II’s seemed to be rare overall. Mostly saw cop car/taxi I’s or family car III’s, even more Sport Fury’s than II’s. My uncle and aunt got a used ’69 Fury II and car geek me was like “wow a II”!
I have an almost no option 71 Fury I. The ONLY option is bumper guards. Slant 6 with a 3 speed on the column.