CarBrandLogos archive · Plymouth · 1955

PlymouthFury

Chrysler's low-price full-sizer, remembered mostly for a Stephen King novel.

The story

A defining chapter in Plymouth history.

Explore the ideas, engineering and context that shaped the Plymouth Fury, then continue into its specifications and place in the marque's lineage.

Origins

The Fury name began in the mid-1950s as a limited high-performance version of the Plymouth Belvedere, sold in small numbers and finished in a distinctive off-white with gold anodised trim. It worked well enough as a halo that Plymouth promoted it to a series of its own, and from the late 1950s the Fury became the division's principal full-size car, built at Lynch Road in Detroit and elsewhere.

'69 Plymouth Sport Fury Convertible · Bull-Doser · Public domain

Design and engineering

Its subsequent history reads like a summary of the American industry's confusion. The Fury was full-size from 1959, mid-size from 1962 after a disastrous downsizing decision, full-size again from 1965, mid-size once more from 1975, and the name later migrated across body sizes and into Canada as the Caravelle. Through all of it the layout stayed conventional: front engine, rear drive, V8s for anyone who wanted one, and pricing set to undercut Ford and Chevrolet.

'70 Plymouth Fury III Convertible · Bull-Doser · Public domain

In production

The car most people picture is the 1958, and that is entirely the doing of Stephen King's novel Christine and John Carpenter's 1983 film of it. The real 1958 Fury was sold only in that pale gold-trimmed specification and never in the film's red, which has not stopped a generation from associating the model with malevolence. Plymouth kept the nameplate going until 1978 in its main line, replaced in the upper reaches by the Gran Fury.

1959 Plymouth Sport Fury photo-14 · AlfvanBeem · CC0

Technical specification

The Fury, in detail.

Class: Full-size (1959–1961) ; Mid-size (1962–1964) ; Full-size (1965–1974) ; Mid-size (1975–1978) ; Full-size (1980–1981) ; Mid-size (1982–1989)
Manufacturer: Plymouth (Chrysler)

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