(first posted 7/3/2013) The 1972-1973 “Fuselage V2.0” cars are hardly a common sight anymore. Well, they weren’t all that common in their day, which of course explains that and a few other things. The first fuselages (’69-’71) didn’t exactly set the world on fire, and the attempt to make them look a bit more mainstream by ditching the loop bumpers in front and back, as well as extending the C-pillar on the roof (among other changes) made them look a bit less bold and a fair amount more generic. While the new ’74s were blatantly GM-esque, these were just the first step in that direction.
Whereas the new front end was just dumbed-down GM/generic, the rear end blatant rip-off of the big 1971 Oldsmobile, as was the horizontal accent strip down its side, and the rear fender flare.
Presumably Chrysler could only afford to do that on the rear, because the front shows no sign of Oldsmobilitis. Oh well; the 1969 fuselage had been a big gamble, and now Chrysler was going to play it safe. The only difference was which GM division to copy for the new ’74s; Buick turned out to be the lucky beneficiary of the Chrysler Styling Studio’s adoration.
Nevertheless, these cars have a decidedly strong presence, especially in today’s streetscape. They’re big, brash, and different, by virtue of their not being another big GM sled. And there’s good old Mopar goodness under their long hoods, especially since this is still the pre-Lean Spark era.
This one has a 400 CID B-block hiding in that massive engine compartment, with what appears to be a few upgrades. The 400 came in 190 (2 barrel) and 250 hp (4 barrel) versions, and if that wasn’t enough, the RB 440 was also available in either 235 or 285 hp trim (all net hp numbers).
No, the leopard skin upholstery wasn’t one of the factory choices that year.
The seventies were a very difficult time for Chrysler, and it would have crashed even sooner if it hadn’t been for the Valiant and Dart. The big cars’ downward trajectory were a particular bitter pill, never mind all the other challenges.
But if you want to stand out from the crowd at the U of O campus, there’s few better ways to do it than with this. There’s even more Lamborghinis on campus than these.
One other reason the 73 Fury’s went with conventional front bumpers was the 5 MPH crash standards. 1973 New Yorkers, Newports and Polaras also dropped loop bumpers, which were really ‘ornamental’ and got damaged easy, which then led to the heavy barrier standards.
73 was the last year big Plymouth Furys sold fairly well, then the 74’s flopped with civilians. Many old D/Ply C-bodies were traded in for A-bodies during 74 gas crunch, and then Cordoba took some too. By 1977, seemed like all new D/P tanks were cop cars.
The bumpers seem very close to the bodywork for 5mph damage-free (wasn’t that the requirement?)
5 mph front and 2.5 mph rear in ’73 only. That’s why the rear bumper doesn’t protrude much. The front bumper is missing its chunky black rubber guards that Mopar pretty much used across the board in ’73.
Sweet. My father had a clean ’72 Fury III 2-door in BEIGE for a few years. I think the ’73 restyle is a vast improvement over the Googly ’72 non-Gran front end and I prefer the rear too…although I don’t see any Oldsmobile resemblance.
My father’s car had a very responsive 360-2 engine, A/C, AM/FM monoraul, working cruise control but little else. The car felt very light…as if I could fling the car around like a smaller vehicle…but it also felt a bit flimsy. The doors seemed very hollow, light, and fragile but could be easily latched with mild pressure unlike the gorilla-strength required to latch a comparable GM product.
I was always surprised how fast the ’72 was…even with its single exhaust. My favorite part was the sound its wacky starter made while cranking. Too bad it was beige all over and didn’t have the cool Gran hidden headlamps.
You see no resemblance to that ’71 Olds rear end? Had your eyes checked lately 🙂
The resemblance to the taillights of the Oldsmobile Delta 88 was really strong on the 1972-73 Chrysler Newport. The 1972 Newport featured a single, unbroken taillight – just like those on the 1971 Delta 88.
Oldsmobile horizontally divided the taillights of the 1972 Delta 88 into two sections – and Chrysler did so on the Newport for 1973.
The front of the 1973 Dodge Polara, meanwhile, was a very obvious copy of the 1971-72 Delta 88 front ensemble.
You beat me to it hitting the reply button. However, you may have the years a bit off on the Chryslers.
The 72 NYer and 72 Olds Delta 88 both had the taillight divided into two sections. They almost look identical. For 1973, the New Yorker went to horizontal taillights mounted in the rear bumper. I think the 73 Newport stuck with the 1972 rear end and received the 1972 New Yorker taillights, in which case your account is accurate.
I am particularly familiar with the New Yorkers because a 1972 NYer got passed around between my family members and spent awhile in our own driveway, and I had a 73 NYer as a parts car for awhile.
The 1972 New Yorker had the full-width, horizontal taillights mounted in the bumper. The 1972 Newport featured the taillights that looked like they were inspired by those on the 1971 Oldsmobile Delta 88.
The 1973 Newport taillights were the same basic shape as those on the 1972 Newport, but divided into two sections. The 1973 New Yorker again featured the full-width taillights mounted near the top of the bumper.
I guess “love is blind” when it comes to Oldsmobiles! I’m really trying to make the connection here but it just ain’t happenin’.
The front end on the ’72 Fury looks like an oversize version of the 1970 Dodge Coronet front to me. I never thought it translated well onto the larger car. The ’73 iteration is definitely generic looking, but I also think it’s an improvement.
Paul, I see the resemblance to the Olds in the back, but my first thought was that the Fury taillights remind me of those on a contemporary Imperial, which are more like a Cadillac because they’re tall, fairly thin and tapering to a point at the top. The back end of a 1972 Chrysler (NYer or Newport) looks the most like the back of the pictured Oldsmobile.
Fond memories of the ’71 Gran Fury my Aunt and Uncle had from 1971-76. Brown metallic paint; brown paisley vinyl top and matching brown paisley nylon cloth inserts on the naugahyde seats. It too had a 360 2-bbl, which although I never drove it, rode in it plenty and it “felt” fast. Being a coupe, I slid in the back seat and large doors did have a tinny, echoing “clunk” sound to it.
My second car was a 71 Fury Gran Coupe. Mine was blue with blue interior with a Black Roof. No paisley. I bought it at an auction with around 60000 miles on it for 765.00 in 1976. Car had a 360 that would move a lot faster than my Dads 73 350 Impala. It was not as quiet or smooth as the Impala but would out run and out corner it.It also got close to 20 MPG on the highway which the Impala would do good to get 15. Sold it later to my brother which he raced a cousin who had just hopped up a 73 Malibu with a Hi Performmance 350. My Brother won the race but broke a motor mount in the process.We called it the Starcruiser. Also liked the Hiback bench seat with a center armrest which my Dads Impala lacked.
I’m sorry, never liked the Mopar fuselage designs, even as a kid in the 70s, these looked ungainly and clumsy. My Great Uncle died and left one of these to us in the mid 80s. It was like driving a marshmellow with a tiller, wouldn’t steer around a straight line much less an actual curve and couldn’t see the ends of the car to see where I was going anyway to make it matter…
The only good memories of these cars is crazy driver Bill McKinney driving the jacked up black one, with a trunk full of bunnies in Thunderbolt and Lightfoot.
+1 on fuselage Mopars,it was a step back looks wise I’m one of the few people who like the unloved Mopars,the 67 – 69 Barracudas especially the fastback and the 70 Coronet and Superbee are to me some of the best looking cars ever built.
Yes, the Plymouth with the trunkfull of white rabbits in Thunderbolt and Lightfoot, that was the first thing that came to mind when I saw this.
For those who haven’t seen Thunderbolt and Lightfoot, here’s the Fury in a fury:
I always loved the 73 Riviera car chase and the white Eldo convertible at the end.
What a great find. These cars rarely show up at special-interest car shows.
Both of our neighbors were Mopar families in the 1970s. The one family had a 1962 Dodge Dart station wagon well into the 1970s, and a 1969 Dodge Coronet 440 sedan. In 1973 they bought a brand-new Plymouth Sport Suburban, loaded with virtually every option – even power windows and seats. It was a light creme color with white vinyl seats. I always thought the front end managed to look both generic and a little odd at the same time.
What’s really fascinating is how much money Chrysler must have spent on the 1969-73 C-bodies, particularly the Plymouth version. Chrysler restyled the Fury every year this generation was on the market, and offered it in a bewildering variety of body styles.
On full-size Plymouths, the sheet metal sculpturing around the wheel opening of the rear quarter panels varied depending on the body style – a distinction that was probably lost on customers even then, but added to Chrysler’s overall cost.
There were two different two-door hardtop coupe rooflines.
And, from 1970-72, the top-tier full-size Plymouths had hidden headlights and a more “upscale” grille, while cheaper versions had fixed headlights and a plainer griller. All of this for a car with sales figures that were a fraction of its Ford and Chevrolet competitors.
Given that Chrysler always had a much smaller volume base over which to spread its costs, one wonders whether this was a wise use of the corporation’s money.
This model year was really the last one in which the Fury sold reasonably well. Like all full-size cars, the all-new 1974 Fury was badly hurt by the effects of the Arab Oil Embargo. But, unlike most other full-size cars, sales of the Fury and Dodge Monaco failed to bounce back in 1976, when the market recovered. The only full-size Chrysler Corporation car that sold well after 1975 was the Newport/New Yorker.
Plymouth claimed the number-three spot in sales for 1974, but that was on the strength of Valiant/Duster sales. These cars just fell off the map…and, after 1974, basically took Plymouth with them.
The 70 and 71 Furys just had grilles and tails changed, but still they did a do lot of style changes other fuselage years. 69 to 70 and 71-2-3.
When they planned all the differing C bodies for early 70’s, it was to match all of GM and Ford’s shells. But Plymouth and Dodge gradually lost big car sales and crashed in 74.
To me the front end is a copy of the ’70 Chevelle, the rear definitely Olds. Body itself hints at ’69-70 Impala with the kickup of the belt line at the c-pillar.
’70 Chevelle — yes, I see the resemblance. Also ’72 Impala is somewhat similar.
I dont like what Chrysler did to tone-down the fuselage styling for 1972. In the case of the Fury, it just made it look bigger, more bloated, and as you mentioned certainly more generic. I find the headlight treatment especially ugly.
There’s a lot of hatred towards the loop bumper ’69-’71s, but I really like them. They looked really sleek. I especially love the top-line Grans with their hidden headlights. When it came to 1970s full-size styling, however, I still think GM was king.
On of my favorite fusey-era C-bodies is the 1970 Fury. Both the regular grille and the Sport Fury grille with hideaway headlights look good. The ’71 was basically the same design, but the Sport Fury grille had a pattern of rectangles in it instead of being completely blacked-out.
I didn’t know there was any ’69-’71 loop bumper hate out there — Those are my favorite fuselages…especially the hidden-headlamp equipped jobs. The ’72 model sure is ugly though…
The 1972 Dodge Polaris was even uglier…and I owned one!
“POLARA!!” D*** Spellcheck…
Remember, the 69 Fury was not a loop bumper. It may be my favorite of the Fusey Furys.
Agree!
The ’69 Fury (2 or 4 door) is my personal favorite of the full sized fuselage Plymouth models.
Agree with you, Brendan. Styling-wise, I can see no reason why anybody would have bought this car.
I’ve always been okay with the fuselage Mopars, and generally thought the ’72-’73 were the best looking. I don’t see this Fury as a rip off of GM as much as being a product of it’s times. I always thought the ’71-’76 big GM cars took on their own fuselage look – well after Chrysler introduced theirs.
As others have said, the ’73 Fury front end was mostly a response to the 5 mph bumper requirement, getting a final year body style through its last season. Chrysler generally did the best job of integrating 5 mph bumpers into their designs. Ford was the worst with their park bench bumpers, and GM somewhere in between. The ’72 Fury with its double loop bumper and the optional covered headlights was a pretty awesome and original look, but granted it could be polarizing.
The 72 was indeed polarizing. We had a family friend who said the car appeared to be wearing sunglasses. Also, that was a design that only worked when the car had the hidden headlights. Without the hiders, the thing looked absolutely awful.
> We had a family friend who said the car appeared to be wearing sunglasses.
I was just looking at pics of ’72 Furies online and I thought exactly the same thing.
I also liked the front of the ’72 Monaco for its unique charms. No accounting for taste, I guess.
You have to give it to some cars – they have a bit of unique character, or they have relatively little. This thread has called the ’73 Fury front “generic,” and I’d agree. The headlights are straight off the ’69 and ’70 Olds, and the overall look is pleasant, if unremarkable.
I’ve always wondered if Chrysler would have been better off keeping these bodies through the 70’s. The big ’74 Plymouth and Dodge cars were egregiously similar and not terribly good looking to my mind, likely why they never made a comeback, and except for the NYB, didn’t enjoy the backlash sales Ford got when GM downsized the B & C cars. The single headlight look on some of the Gran Furys was just awful.
I thought of the same thing. Saving some money to do a makeover of the A-bodies Dart/Valiant/Duster and to a latter extent, the mid-size/intermediate B-body where the 4-door Coronet/Satellite aka Small Fury would had got a better stylized bodystyle instead of continuing the 1971-74 bodyshell. Then we could wonder what if Chrysler had introduced the Omni/Horizon in 1974 instead of 1978?
That Fury looks to be in good condition, in a nice color combination, and it wears the 5-spoke aluminum wheels well. It’s also endowed with a big block, which is a plus in my books. Front disc brakes were standard starting in 1973 as well.
The “updated” leopard print interior is garish, but in keeping with the strange times when the car was made. In the late 60’s to mid-70’s, Chrysler was offering wacky things such as “mod top” flowered vinyl roofs with matching upholstery, the Navajo edition Chrysler Newport, the Hang-10 Dodge Dart, and other special editions in the same vein.
In 1978, you could even order a Volare or Aspen that looked like it was stolen from Richard Petty.
http://www.autoweek.com/article/20100524/collector/100529867
I quite like the Petty look a like Aspen/Volare,another one I’d never heard of.
I remember seeing one of those in the trade in section of a used car dealer in Mountain View Arkansas in the late 70s. I wanted it then but I was way too young to buy any vehicle.
Nice car spoiled by the upholstery I see another G wagon in the background, You really dont have rust there do you coz those evaporate but are awesome if they dont.
Come to papa! I love this car. I even love the paint color, which I think was called Inca Gold. But then, who is surprised? 🙂
These were definitely one of the least appealing new cars out in 1973, but I loved them for that no-nonsense Mopar feel. As for the styling, I understood what they were trying to do (square the thing up) but it just didn’t really come off. Awkward looking, at best.
My car-mentor Howard owned a black 72 Newport coupe when I first met his son, who became my best friend for years and years. The lack of a vinyl roof made it the most attractive one of these coupes I have seen to this day. Then, one day, Howard swapped wheels with his Dodge van, and put the wide raised-white-letter Radial T/As on slotted aluminum wheels on the Chrysler, and boy. The car had a menacing look that is sort of replicated here. That was one of the few wheel-swaps that improved a car.
My friend Dan later bought a 72 Polara wagon that I loved as well. I have to say that I prefer the 65-68 C body for its higher quality structure and fitments, but I still love these cars. I would drive this one right now. I might even leave the leopard skin alone.
I really like the color too.
You had me until the interior though I do have to give them credit for doing the little insert on the door panel and not all of it nor all of the seats. The dash pad on the other hand is just waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay to much.
Probably necessary on the dash, though, to cover the multitude of cracks.
While the dash may have had cracks it certainly wasn’t necessary to cover it with that print, a nice simple solid color would have done nicely and almost made the seats and door panels acceptable, since you don’t stare at them all the time while driving.
It really needs chrome spokes and wide whitewalls to pull that print off. The wheels look great on there otherwise.
Yeah wire wheels and wide whites would go better with that interior.
I was just looking at photos 4 and 5 which show the open hood. Many hoods of that era had header panels in front of the hood, and many (usually on older cars) had hoods that went all the way down to the grille. This car seems to do both. Is this the only car ever to do this? If the headlights require the use of a header panel, why not go all the way across the front of the car with it instead of having to mess with the seams and alignment issues?
In the industry, I believe that the hoods are designated as either an ‘alligator’ style (without header panel) or ‘hatch’ (with header panel). Good examples of each type are the E-body Challenger (alligator) and Barracuda (hatch).
As to why the ’73 Fury seemed to have a hybrid version hood style, my guess would be something that the production guys determined in the way it was put together on the assembly line.
Of course we can’t forget about the 1973 Fury from ‘Thunderbolt & Lightfoot’…
http://cdn.speednik.com/files/2012/07/tboltandlfoot01.jpg
Those are some big shackles!
The tail looks more Imperial than Olds to me, and less Plymouth.
they look better as police cars
Yup!
Menacing and scary.
“Christine” didn’t have shiote on this year of Mopar Muscle police units.
This era Big Block Mopar made my mouth go dry and my lower stomach rumble when spotted in my rear view mirror.
It wasn’t the style that killed these fuselage Mopars, it was the timing.
After its 1962 debacle (although the the ’62s are a favorite of mine) Chrysler slowly inched its way back into bulgemobile territory–that is to say mainstream territory–just as the first oil crisis hit.
I remember reading news articles at the time mocking Chrysler’s acres of unsold inventory. The company had finally crashed the core of the market only to find that the core was fast disappearing. Having the newest designs they took the brunt of the criticism.
I love the Fuselage bodies. Their grace is similar to that of sixties and seventies era ministerial buildings in the USSR as well as government buildings here in the US. Apparently it was too progressive of a design to catch on in the US, given that these cars were unpopular and that such clean architectural design only lasted beyond 1980 on the other side of the globe.
I love the last photo with the juxtaposition of the large car and small house in wildly different colors!
It occurred to me that the greenhouse of the Fury isn’t too different from today’s cars with a high beltline and short side glass.
I favor the fuselage Mopars—my family had both a ’70 Sport Suburban and a ’73 Polara four-door hardtop while I was growing up. The ’72 Plymouth’s front end was an acquired taste, but let’s be fair: the Dodge counterparts that year looked even stranger. Both the Polara and Monaco had very odd front-end treatments for ’72; the Monaco’s two-level, hidden headlight grille carried over for ’73 with the addition of the big rubber guards, while the Polara got a plainer and cleaner nose thanks to the bumper mandate.
A friends father was a sales rep for General Foods and would get a new company car every two years. In 1973 he received a New Plymouth Fury done up in what I thought was a very nice metallic grey color.
Though my friends dad never really specified why, he was less than impressed with his new Fury.
My memory of this car is when my mother accidentally closed the door on my little 5 year old hand, although it didn’t latch all the way. Still one the more nostalgic cars in my father’s fleet.
This jumbo sized Plymouth with crazy colors and patterns seems right in style with the wide lapels, wide ties, large collars and loud colors of the early ’70s
Maybe Ron Burgundy should have driven one of these instead of that Catalina?
I understand the lack of love for these at the time. I agree that the 69-71 Ds and Ps looked good, the others were visually hit or miss. That said, I know that when my Dad worked for C-P leasing, he was able to get some good business from managers frustrated with trying to keep Ford company cars on the road. (See: P. Niedermeyer, Towson, MD, 1971.) Then, in ’74…the Mopars didn’t run right either.
Love the underhood shot. My “carline Y” has more room between block and radiator than this “carline P.” The battery runs front-back which makes it easier to get at the PS pump. The Imp also has even more empty void between radiator and grille.
I realize now that I have no clean shots of my taillights, for the Olds comparo. This is as close as I can get:
What a beautiful car.. I love the rear styling…so much to like here…the widely spaced block letters, the rear marker lights, taillights… I can’t remember when the last time I saw one of these was….it’s been over ten years minimum. Too bad.
Was this car originally black?
Thanks, buddy. It has always been black. This is admittedly a mid-90s Maaco job. I would love to do it over to shine like a new Lexus…just have to stop paying the mortgage, feeding the kids, etc. 🙂
And I’m sure you’d enjoy the electro-mechanical-digital Chronometer…which does work, thank you very much.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/1973-Chrysler-Imperial-Electronic-Digital-Clock-Photo-Poster-zuc3718-J6FGSH-/370843556625?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item5657ff9b11
I know it’s an optical illusion, but the car looks longer than the house is wide!
IMHO, a nice, clean design.
خیلی خوشگله
Certainly these were used heavily in taxi and police fleets along with LTDs and Chevvies. Sturdy construction as a land yacht. In Toronto these would have been painted yellow as police cars.
One of the few years when I preferred the 4 door model’s styling over the 2 door version.
Of the fuselage Mopar coupes I prefer the 1969-71 roofline over the 1972-73 roofline because it had a sportier look to it.
Neat car. Sure, I like the ’72 face better, but I like the ’73 car better than the ’74. I can live with the faux leopard-fur interior, uh, adornment; camp is pretty much always era-correct. What grinds my gears is that open-element “performance” air cleaner. These are worse than the stock thermostatic air cleaner in every way. They improve absolutely nothing, contrary to popular mythunderstanding about restriction (the bottleneck is the throttleneck, not the air cleaner). They worsen driveability, performance, fuel economy, exhaust and crankcase emissions, and noise. In the words of noted philosopher Bill the Cat: Ackthpthpth.
“In the words of noted philosopher Bill the Cat: Ackthpthpth.”
+1 for the Bill the Cat reference.
Never been a fan of fuselage Plymouths (or other MoPars), although I prefer the loop bumpers on the ‘70-‘71 and love the hidden headlights on the ‘72 Sport Suburban wagon.
My best friend in high school mom had a ‘73 Fury Just like the CC only it was red with the big bumper guards, while my mom had a 73 4dr Ford LTD, which I thought looked incredibly more modern.
These big Plymouths were not common “back in the day” and they maintain a impressive street presence today.
One of the main characters in the Amazon Prime series “Sneaky Pete” drives this ’73 Fury. He’s a cop, but it’s his personal car—and he’s in his 30s, so it’s not a nostalgia thing. The car, which usually has all four wheel covers, is in just about every episode.
And they don’t trash it, so you don’t need to cringe at how the car is treated. There is a cherry early ’70s Caddy in the latest season, too, also well treated. Someone in production is a car guy.
The Quality!
OH, the lack of Quality!
Our family were big Chrysler fans. My dad and his, were Mopar men. They put up with a lot of things to get what they considered to be superior engineered cars.
Then they bought these years – these cars.
Giant rolling lemons.
I learned to drive in these cars.
They were about as much fun to drive as an RV.
When they weren’t rusting, they were continually having engine problems.
No thank you.
I remember these cars too well.
I knew I recognized that place. I’ve got my baby blue 73 Plymouth fury 3 here as well
My true love