The Plymouth Fury was an automobile model and series made by the Plymouth Division of the Chrysler Corporation from 1956 to 1989. Conceived as a halo model, the Fury was sold as a white hardtop coupe and convertible with gold anodized aluminum trim in 1956, 1957 and 1958.
In 1959 Plymouth introduced the Sport Fury as the halo model the Fury was stepped down to replaced the Plymouth Belvedere as the standard barer of the Plymouth line-up. In doing so, the Fury range now contained sedans and station wagons as well as hardtop coupe and convertible. The Fury remained Plymouth’s bread and butter model throughout the ill-planning of the early 1960s when the full-sized Fury was consigned to an intermediate (or mid-sized) platform.
When Plymouth reintroduced a full-sized car in 1965, the Fury was available in four sub series, dubbed Fury I, Fury II, Fury III and Sport Fury, which were priced to meet Chevrolet’s Biscayne, Bel Air, Impala and Impala SS models car for car, body style for body style. Usually, the Fury I was marketed to police fleets or sold to others wanting a basic, no-frills car with the convenience of a full-sized automobile, while the Fury II and Fury III were the bread-and-butter lines. Many Sport Fury models (as well as Fury III models) came loaded with options such as automatic transmission, power steering, white sidewall tires (along with full wheel covers), stereo radios, vinyl tops and air conditioning.
From 1966 to 1969, a luxury version of the Fury, called the VIP was marketed, in response to the Ford LTD and Chevrolet Caprice. These models came with styling hallmarks such as full wheel covers, vinyl tops, a luxuriously upholstered interior with walnut dashboard and door-panel trim, a thicker grade of carpeting, more sound insulation, full courtesy lighting, etc. In addition to options ordered for the Fury III and Sport Fury models, VIPs were often ordered with such items as air conditioning, power windows and power seats.
From 1965 to the mid 1974, Plymouth’s third place in sales owed a great deal to the Fury series popularity.
In 1975, marketers at Chrysler devalued the Fury nameplate by applying it to Plymouth's redesigned midrange models that had been previously marketed as the Satellite . The full-sized Plymouth then became known as the Plymouth Gran Fury. The Gran Fury, (not Grand Fury) was dropped after 1977, but was redesigned for 1980. Despite being more popular than the mid-1970s version, the model was dropped after the 1981 model year.
In 1982, Plymouth launched the last car to carry the Fury name, this time using the Dodge Diplomat’s “M-Body”, which simply received “Plymouth” and “Gran Fury” badging. Although available to the general public, the 1980s incarnation of the Gran Fury was far more popular with police departments and other fleet customers (especially since the car was cheap and had a proven drivetrain that needed only routine maintenance). Declining sales and a lack of advertising eventually contributed to the make's demise in 1989.
Plymouth itself, unable to compete without any new product development and a shrinking product line was discontinued shortly after Chrysler was taken over by Daimler Benz.
Stephen King's Christine
The 1958 Plymouth Fury has been incorrectly identified as the car in the film adaptation of Stephen King’s, Christine, when in fact the vehicle in the movie was the 1958 Plymouth Belvedere. Several statements about the car in the book version were factually incorrect for the 1958 Fury, referring to features that were found on the Belvedere model (but not on the Fury). Some of these include the doors (Christine is referred to as a four door, but the Fury was only available in a 2-door model until 1959), the transmission (called a Hydramatic in the book - this was a GM transmission, the Fury transmission was called the TorqueFlite), and the gearshift mechanism (a sentence in the book refers to the transmission lever; all 1958 Chyrsler automobiles with automatic transmissions used the push-button drive). Regardless, the author should be afforded a bit of creative license; he did note that Christine was 'a special order,' and one achieves nothing by nitpicking factual details in a horror novel about a car possessed by a murderous spirit. Years later, Richard Earle made a Pro Mod drag racer with the same name with Paul Strommen driving. The car used a big block motor with nitrous oxide injection.
Resources
The Standard Catalog of American Cars 1946-1975, John Gunnell, Editor. Kraus Publications, 1987. ISBN 0-87341-096-3
