Fans of Mopar should probably take a look at the Cohort, as there’s a batch of vintage Pentastar products recently uploaded by Hyperpack. No information was given on the occasion, which to my eye seems to be a gathering or someone’s collection.
Whatever the case, of the many, I decided to highlight this fuselage wonder today; a ’71 Sport Fury 440. It has no license plates, but seems to be going through some servicing or refurbishing. Is this one coming slowly back to life?
Fuselage-era Mopars always catch my attention, mostly because they were so rare by the time I was growing up. Their styling, though not always that successful, is certainly unique. A plus in my book. The Sport Fury certainly looks the part of a menacing and forceful vehicle, even in this joyful hue.
The fuselage Sport Fury has gotten its share of love at CC before (links below). It’s just about the largest 2-door coupe… ever, and impossible to ignore. I would think the vinyl top and skirts suggest this is a Formal Hardtop and not the Hardtop GT, but it does carry a discrete 440 badge below the front side marker. I’ll leave it to Mopar experts to let us know the exact model we’re seeing here.
In either case, it’s a rare survivor nowadays. A fuselage wonder that seems to be getting some deserved attention.
Further reading:
Vintage Road Test: 1970 Plymouth Sport Fury GT 440 Six Pack – A Rare Road Test For A Rare Car
Curbside Classic: 1971 Plymouth Fury III – Good Things Come For Those Who Wait
Thanks Rich for letting us know about the Mopar pics. Some nice shots over there. Quite an overdose of cream coloured Aspen/Volares to start the day!
There may be some hope for this Fury. At least the tarp is partway off.
Guess I’m a little partial to these C-bodies, too.
Photo didn’t attach…2nd try.
*VERY* nice ! .
In late 1976 I was gifted a 1969 Plymouth Fury III (IIRC) and it was a massive beast but also very nice and like all Mo-Pars it drive very well indeed, the buckled pavements and pot holes of Boston Mass. didn’t phase it one bit .
Mine was the common medium green I like this red one much better .
-Nate
I like the styling on these more with each passing year. The ones with hidden headlights hold up especially well.
I probably wouldn’t want to own one, and would have no place to store it anyway, but a gigantic orange car with a huge engine would be fun to play around with for at least a bit. I agree that the hidden headlights add to the already attractive front-end.
What I really do NOT like is the trope of photographing cars with the car cover only partially removed. You see this in nearly every set of photos where these “barn finds” are for put up for sale. It’s ridiculous. Don’t waste bandwidth showing pictures of a damn piece of cloth when it’s a car you’re trying to sell.
Well Hello,
I am the aforementioned hyperpack, I will be sharing some more MoPar Madness as I can document it before it all gets shipped out or crushed.
I have a quite rather large collection of automotive things, and have started to share some on the CC flickr Cohort.
This particular one is not quite a car of a lifetime material, although I have been around it since ~A.D. 1989
It is a 1971 Sport Fury, it is not a GT, but sort of looks like one, as best I can tell it’s a repaint ot the Original Tor Red / Hemi Orange color. The S.F. GT’s are also 440 equipped, but have the other hardtop roof line, and a stripe package.
The car belongs to my father and has been solidly languishing in the back garage of the car lot next to the car wash since at least 1992.
A few months ago we got it started and running off of a bottle, the old AVS brought the lumbering 440 back to life after not running and being parked in that spot since at least 1999. The fuel pump required no attention! I did not dare to suck 25 year old gas up the tank/pickup/supply line from the back of the car. I know better!
We used it for a monumental trip that sticks in my mind from when I was a ~ 10 year old child.
From Pittsburgh to Niagara Falls and back in one day Over 600 Miles round trip.
That was our family vacation that year!
No Going to the Canadian side, eh? , no maid of the mist, no Niagara aquarium, no stroll along Robert Moses parkway, just drive there in the ’71 Fury, get out look the falls for ~45 minutes, and then return home.
I do remember a compliment from a toll collector on the NY thruway about the car, we used it for other drives and some semi-daily commuting that summer too until something else came along, then the mighty 440 Plymouth got parked.
I really should see if I can dig up a picture at my parent’s house from that trip and share it with you here.
Here is an older video documentary that a local youtuber did on my dad’s place one day: It’s crazy, but some folks like to hold onto lots of things.
Enjoy!
Love the video and the narrator’s classic Pennsylvania accent!
Your dad’s car lot certainly has a bunch of interesting stuff…a lot of cars that have been featured over the years here on CC. Very cool.
That video is 8 years old it seems. Are those cars still on the premises?
Hello, yes a lot of them are still around, but some are now gone/junked/scrapped/crushed. most of the other “good ones” are mostly sold now.
I have a picture of my ’62 Valiant Sedan in front of the place from this fall on my flickr. It seems that I cannot share/post additional pictures in the replies here.
Cheers!
To share pictures here in the Comments, try reducing the file size. If the photo is less than 1,200 pixels in the bigger dimension, it should post here.
Lets try this again then… Thanks, Eric 703 – I downsized to a “new for 1960” valiant size!
I was about to say that I have never seen this car on the C Body Forum where some of those members seem to know where every neat Mopar is located particularly a Fury with the 440. Not common as most Furies had the 318-2V to 383-2V. I checked members and while there is someone there using slantsix it isn’t you. I know they would be extremely interested in seeing the car and the build tag.
I will try to get some more documentation for you, or a fender tag photo.
We also have some more C Bodies that will likely get scrapped or crushed in the next year. They are all parts cars that have been outside for 30 + years.
We have a twin to this fury, same color, parts car but it has just a lowly LA Block 360-2bbl
Here is the Tag
I like these cars too, especially with the hidden lights and skirts. It’s interesting how Ford and Chrysler were all-in with hidden lights throughout the Seventies while GM all but abandoned them, to their disadvantage imho.
My dear MIL (age 96), who is currently visiting and sitting here at the table, bought a ’71 Fury
Gran Coupe with the paisley “mod top” vinyl roof and with a 440. She was moving from LA to Iowa at the time (1985) and I had suggested that her beloved ’74 BMW 2002 might not be the best thing to take with her to a little own in Iowa, so she sold it and bought the Fury. It was dubbed “La Bomba”, and I drove it a couple of times before she left. It was a real bear. It served her well until about 2000 or so.
1970 and 1971 were peak Fuselage Fury, imho. My most favorite view ever behind the wheel was in the 1970 Fury I owned back in my high school days. The twin bulges on the hood, coupled with the rounded corners of the a-pillars, along with the rounded and curved dashboard, made it a unique and cool visual experience behind the wheel (getting behind the wheel of my 2020 Challenger is probably the closest I have come to the same view out the window as the Fury)
My father had a 1971 Fury for about a dozen years. It received minimal but adequate maintenance. He and my mother took countless cross county vacations in it including Canada. Not a Sport Fury. Pea soup green with vinyl top and a 318. It may have had a good luck charm thing going for it. Dad bought it from a local C-P dealer at age one or two. The original owner was one of the very first Pa. state lottery $1 million winners and promptly went to the Chrysler line up. I also greatly enjoyed a ’73 Fury III 2dr for five years as a daily driver. That was a 360.
Thanks to slant six/ hyperpack for the great background info on the featured Fury. Glad to hear that you were able to fire it up!
Peak Fuselage, so much Mopar goodness here, though I do prefer the 1970 grille.
Must comment on the most stripped down Valiant (last pic) I have ever seen, like a plastic model kit awaiting Peter Wilding to assemble the plastic floorpan chassis and firewall. Some serious restoration going on there.
Hello, the green ’62 Valiant shell sure looks like a life size Jo-Han model kit with the green candy paint and all!
I am storing that shell indoors next to the fury for now. It came to me in a bulk buy, I had to buy a pair of ’62 Valiants to get one good parts car. Not sure what to do with this shell as I hate to cut it up, but I might have to. It was originally on a Tube frame chassis which I convinced the seller to keep, and cut the body off., But i did get some usable doors, fenders, hood and trunk lid out of the deal!
Ahh, yes, the Fusie Chryslers! 1970 and 1971 my favorite two years of each of the Mopar brands!
A local neighbor has a menagerie of medium and dark green ’71 and ’72 Fury Gran Coupes and Fury III’s. I documented those and added them to the Flickr CC cohort Group Pool. More real fuselage Chryslers for folks who enjoy those things!
I drive by the group of 4 Fury’s every 2 weeks or so, I have never yet seen one on the road or driving, but they are there in the yard and parked on the street.
Your local neighbor has “antique vehicle” plates on the cars and yet parks them over dirt and grass? What’s the point given the downside of that?
Probably a legal way to keep the hoard outside without hassle from the code enforcement from the city. I don’t understand it either, but not everyone can’t have indoor storage for their passions.
The bucket seats and console look to be in real nice shape on that ’71 Sport Fury. I think it has about 126K miles.
A couple of years ago George also had a 1964 Dodge Polara with the original 426 still on intact.
Your ride is awesomely awesome and amazingly amazing and beautiful a little more tic or a full on body off frame restoration would do it even more justice I know it would take the proper funds to do it but to me it would be worth it. If i had the proper funds and found the proper right restoration garage and staff that takes pride and stands behind their work.