A certain Jim Cavanaugh came to mind when I saw this fine Sport Fury posted at the Cohort by nifticus. Jim owned a Fury III sedan for four years in the late 80s-early 90s, and racked up some 40k miles in it. But he always pined for a Sport Fury. And from the looks of that fender call-out, this one is sporting a Commando 383 rather than the 318 in Jim’s sedan. Not to rub salt in the old wounds, but I could sure see Jim behind the wheel of this baby.
Although some may like this endless rear deck look, combined with the fender skirts, it’s just a wee bit much for my taste. The slab sides and trim only accentuate that. As if it didn’t look long enough already. There was a reason Bill Mitchell’s curved hip ’65s revolutionized the industry. But this makes for a perfect mobile heliport.
And then there’s the color combo too: doesn’t get more 1966 than this, inside and out. The Fury dash was obviously quite a bit more modest than the ambitious Dodge and Chrysler versions, but the console and that big, solid chromed shifter goes a long way to jazz things up in here. And the steering wheel still has gobs of chrome, and is color-coordinated, unlike those dreadful greasy black wheels and padded hub that came along in ’68.
Jim is going to want to point out that the these individual die-cast letters spelling out P-L-Y-M-O-U-T-H are each affixed solidly with individual bolts running through holes in that big bumper. Well, I guess I just did that for him, but he pointed it out to us previously. I better shut up now, so Jim has something left to add. I’m guessing he will.
Oooohhhh what a find indeed and it sure looks nice! Wonder what mileage or usage restrictions antique vehicles have in British Columbia?
Unlimited mileage but “pleasure” use only. No driving to work, but I’m sure many do. The catch is that it takes about 20 pics sent away to the government insurance company to get the plate. The pics must prove that the vehicle in excellent condition with no rust, scratches etc, and very few mods allowed. The nice thing though is that once you have the plates, no one checks up to make sure the vehicle remains in that condition. That likely accounts for the bit of rust bubbling on this one and the weirdness with the trim on the quarter panel.
I’ve always really liked these Plymouths and nearly bought a ’68 Sport Fury with a 383 a few years ago for $1000. Probably best I didn’t, it had been sitting for a decade and although it ran I’m sure I would have fell down the rabbit hole pretty quick.
I’ve had to downsize my collection, and so I finally sold my Sport Fury…however, it’s still a part of the family, as a nephew was dying to own it! 🙂
BTW: Paul, I always thought that the 66 was an improvement over the 65, which always looked slightly “stubby” to me! Remember, it was “longer, lower, wider” then!! 🙂
Oh man….Jim would have to fight thru me to ride off in that sled! What a gorgeous car…its just BEGGING for a set of Cragars and for those fender skirts to be sent to the trash bin. Maybe Ill let ya have those and the wheelcovers as a 2nd place prize! Haha!
This is one car where I would keep the skirts!
+1!
Jim has good taste.
Those individually bolted through the bumper letters are just so Chrysler. Spend crazy money on the details one model year, and cheap out the next on some other detail. This same company had some of the coolest Federal compliance side marker lights in the business in 1968. In 1972, they moved most models to a common cheap external tack on side marker light front and rear.
“Extra Care in Engineering” was a long-time published Chrysler slogan. “We Have the Biggest Tightwads in Cost Accounting” was generally not used as much, but applied equally.
Oh, yeaaahhhh! This was the one I wanted instead of my vanilla 4 door Fury III sedan. Not a huge fan of that color, though (Citron Gold, unless I miss my guess). That color always got dull like this. Mine was white with turquoise interior and I was plenty happy with it.
These were great drivers and I would have another in a heartbeat. The Commando 383 would be a huge upgrade on the old wideblock 318 that was in mine.
I still have part of that car – somewhere I still have the set of 4 factory wheelcovers that I disassembled, cleaned and waxed, then decided they were too nice to put back on a daily driver.
I’ve mentioned before that our driver’s training car in the summer of 65 in small town Indiana was a white 1965 Plymouth Fury III sedan. I have pleasant memories of that car – 318, Torqueflite, the infamous low effort P/S, and a big greenhouse – all made it an easy car to drive and park. IIRC it had the combination vinyl and cloth upholstery in pale blue.
At the time I was disappointed not to have been assigned to the other car used for our two groups that hot summer – a burgundy red 1965 Chevy Impala hardtop with A/C. But at least the Fury was white and the seats were a lighter shade and didn’t stick to us badly and it was probably easier to park than the big Impala. The Plymouth did have a few quality issues, most notably the transmission selector was out of alignment with the quadrant (maybe Chrysler was out of practice given they hadn’t used a column selector for the automatic since 1954). Overall a good and handsome car that sold well in our area and brought Plymouth back after the disastrous downsizing from 62-64.
My father’s cousin bought a brand-new 1966 Fury III convertible in light blue with a black top. They had that car until the late 1970s. It didn’t have the fender skirts. A good, tough car that provided many years of steady service.
As with so many posts on CC, this one brought to mind something I haven’t thought of in years…
I was in elementary school in the early 60’s. My family traveled across Ohio to visit my mother’s aunt in Warren (we lived in Findlay).
My parents found it amusing that Aunt Grace (a maiden aunt in her 50’s-60’s) had purchased a white ’65 Plymouth Fury III hardtop. It was white, and had a black vinyl roof, as I recall.
What impressed me then (and now) was the red interior. It might have had red bucket front seats, too. I’d never seen anything like that at 9-10 years old! Certainly not in any of the cars or trucks my parents drove.
Almost a twin to the ’65 that was my daily driver in the early ’90s. It was more of a copper color, with spinner hubcaps, 383, similar black interior.The skirts were beginning to fall off from rust out, but the rest of the car was nice. Almost rear ended a Caddy at a traffic light on a long descending hill when I was zoning out on a rainy day and had to stop suddenly. Power brakes locked up and I lost adhesion. I would have slid into him if I didn’t veer into the left turn lane, thereby cutting off a guy planning to make a turn. One of those situations where you have to sit there in your own juices and handle the embarrassment.
Those letters bolted onto the bumper are a detail I never noticed before.
I don’t know if it’s the bumper letters or the design of the taillights, but it seems like the previous year 1965 Fury (which had an otherwise identical body) had a ‘lighter’ appearance when viewed from a rear 3/4 perspective.
In fact, the ’65 seemed a lot closer to looking like the same year intermediate Satellite so maybe that’s why Plymouth stylists went for something that had a more substantial appearance for the following year.
Nice car. I could do without the 3 trim pieces on the door. And of course the duct tape…..
Sometimes it couldn’t be helped with an occasional shopping cart or some other ding-creating jerk marring a good classic. I always liked the ’66’s and the ’69 sport Fury ragtops, and thankfully my Late Uncle has two good examples. Plymouth did good and it shows!
My Dad had a ’65….still his favorite car and a family legend.
A nice looking Fury. I am kind of funny in my likes and dislikes of different years and models made by Chrysler
As a Mopar fan I always liked the ’65-66 Chrysler Newports over the same years Fury’s which were the same body and the dashes were way nicer and more impressive than the Fury’s. Did not like the same years New Yorker, 300’s or Imperials. Not too much of a price jump the Chrysler Newports over a similarly equipped Fury, which the C-P dealers used to exploit “for just a few dollars more a month you can be driving a Chrysler rather than a Plymouth”. I have owned both a ’70 Sport Fury and a ’65 Newport and always will prefer the ’65 Newport.
These ’66 Plymouths really do have enduringly pleasant design and style, to my eye. I would delete the fender skirts, which really do exaggerate the car’s length beyond reason, and I’d prefer the export Dodge Phoenix version (see attached) because “It’s a what?” plus RHD plus real rear turn signals—I’m something of a fanatic about that.
Great find, this; it takes some of the sting out of my having been too slow on the draw today to catch the early-’50s, extremely original and/or correctly-but-not-ridiculously restored Mercury pickup truck that was just pulling out of the parking lot as I got there.
Dan, found out about you over 15 years ago when my “interest” in lights intersected yours. Ended up buying a set of frightfully good Cibie Cesar driving lights with 100W from you. I ABSOLUTELY love the parallel universe of amber-lit American iron.And I love the fact that maybe 0.01% of the population shares that interest.
Thanks for the plaudits. You like that particular parallel universe, eh? Pop some popcorn and see Attachment № 7 of this document.
Now I can see 1 of the reasons why the VIP didn’t become as successful for Plymouth as the Caprice and LTD did for Chevy and Ford, respectively: the Sport Fury looked so good.
This car, however, needs a paint job in a different color to really “pop”. Perhaps the root beer brown metallic that Plymouth would use on the Gran Coupe in the early 70s?
Other than the Dodge models, I really like the 65-68 full size Chrysler Corp. line. I particularly like this year Sport Fury. Dad grew up in a Chrysler family so it isn’t hard to get him interested (again) either. I came close to pulling the trigger on a 1966 Newport town sedan 4 years ago. Copper, factory AC, power driver seat, and basic 383. $6,000. It wouldn’t fit into my townhouse garage so I had to pass. Dad was upset I diddnt tell him about it, so a year later I showed him this beauty. Factory AC, power windows, and same 383. Wanted $7500, but the interior was redone on the cheap to extreme, sadly. Think cheap pontoon boat vinyl. He also passed, but this ’67 Newport sure was a beauty:
When I was in high school (late 1970s) but before I had any sort of “real” job, I mowed a few lawns for a few bucks. One of my customers was a senior woman who had a car exactly like this—the very same model, year, and color combo (though I cannot remember which engine). I always thought it was a little strange that someone of her age was content with bucket seats and a console, but I think the car may have belonged to her late husband and she held onto it to hold onto some part of him.
Brings back very vague memories of my Aunt and Uncle’s light yellow ’65 Sport Fury h/t – their wedding car. Much sportier than my parent’s ’55 Belvedere sedan, but then they were a sportier couple!
It’s funny, on balance I think Engel’s ’65 C-bodies were better than the revised ’66’s, but the reverse when it comes to his ’67’s and ’68’s – the “faster” 4 door hardtop roof on all but the New Yorkers and Imperials helped. My only exception would be the ’67 Imperial over the ’68.