The Plymouth Fury is a model of automobile which was produced by Plymouth from 1955 to 1989. It was introduced for the 1956 model year as a sub-series of the Plymouth Belvedere, becoming a separate series one level above the contemporary Belvedere for 1959. The Fury was a full-size car from 1959 to 1961, then a mid-size car from 1962 to 1964, again a full-size car from 1965 to 1974, and again a mid-size car from 1975 to 1978. From 1975 to 1977 the Fury was sold alongside the full-size Plymouth Gran Fury. In 1978, the B-body Fury was the largest Plymouth, and by 1979, there was no large Plymouth. This was rectified in 1980 with the R-body Gran Fury, followed by the M-body Fury in 1982. Production of the last V8, RWD Plymouth Fury ended at Kenosha, WI, on December 23, 1988. Unlike its sibling brand, Dodge, Plymouth would not live to see the resurgence of the large, V8/RWD sedan. The last Plymouth rolled off the Belvedere assembly line in 2001.
The word "fury" denotes a type of anger, inspired by the Furies, mythological creatures in Ancient Greek and Ancient Roman mythology. The model appears in popular culture as the subject of interest in the 1983 New York Times best-selling novel Christine by Stephen King about a 1958 custom red and ivory Plymouth Fury that is part of a frightening love triangle. It was later adapted into a movie.
Seventh generation (1975-1978)
During the start of the 1975 model year, Chrysler moved the Fury name, which had been part of the full-size C-body Plymouth model line up during the previous ten model years (from 1965 to 1974), over to the restyled mid-size B-body 1975 Plymouth Fury line up, which had been marketed as the Satellite during the previous nine model years (from 1966-1967, 1968-1970 and from 1971-1974). The "Road Runner" was offered as the top-of-the-line model of the redesigned Plymouth Fury 2-door line up, then it was moved over to the Plymouth Volare line up during the following model year (1976). The full-size Plymouth, during the start of the 1975 model year, had then become the Plymouth Gran Fury, which was discontinued during the end of its third model year run (1977). The entire mid-size Plymouth Fury line up was discontinued during the end of its four model year run (1978), replaced in Canada by the rebadged Dodge Diplomat model called the Plymouth Caravelle (not to be confused with the E-body Plymouth Caravelle from 1983 to 1988 and the 1985 to 1988 Plymouth Caravelle for the American car market). During the entire 1979 model year, there were no Fury offerings from Plymouth at all.
Only minor styling changes occurred from the 1975 to the 1978 model years, most notably, during the 1977 model year when quad stacked square headlights replaced the previous round dual beam headlights, the front turn signals, previously on the outboard edges of the grille, were moved over to the cutouts in the front bumper. Tail lights received amber turn signal lenses in place of the previous red turn signal lenses. Various 2-door models had no centerposts and some of them were true hardtops with roll-down rear windows. Other two-door models had fixed rear windows even though they had no centerposts. For the most part, the Plymouth Fury two-door models, during the 1975 and the 1978 model years, were labeled as "hardtops".
The Plymouth Fury, 1975-1978, shared its B-body and unibody structure with the Dodge Coronet (1975-1976), Dodge Monaco (1977-1978) and the corporation's new personal-luxury coupe models, Chrysler Cordoba (1975-1979) and Dodge Charger SE (1975-1978). All the four-door models, wagons and sedans alike, continued with the basic body shells, which date back to the start of the 1971 model year, rode on a 118 in (2,997 mm) wheelbase, while the various two-door models—which were restyled with new and more formal sheetmetal and rooflines—rode on the 115 in (2,921 mm) wheelbase.
Before 1975, the Plymouth Satellite had a 117 in (2,972 mm) wheelbase, while the Dodge Coronet had a 118 in (2,997 mm) wheelbase. For 1975, the mid-size Plymouth Fury had a 117.5 in (2,984 mm) wheelbase and the 1975 Dodge Coronet had the same wheelbase.
Before 1974, the Plymouth Fury had a 120 in (3,048 mm) wheelbase, while the Dodge Monaco/Polara had a 122 in (3,099 mm) wheelbase. For 1974, the Plymouth Gran Fury and Dodge Monaco had the same 121.5 in (3,086 mm) wheelbase.
Fury was offered in three basic subseries for 1975 in sedans and coupes and two for the station wagon. The sedan was offered in base, custom and salon models, with interior and exterior trim ranging from austere to luxurious. The salon featured plush velour bench seats with recliners and folding armrests and carpeted trunks, along with a spring-loaded hood ornament with the Plymouth logo. In addition to the Road Runner, the Fury coupes were offered in base, Custom and Sport models. The "sport" was the top-line coupe featuring body pinstriping on the upper door and front and rear fenders, interiors with all-vinyl bucket seats and center cushion and armrest, or optional center console; or split bench seats with armrest, along with plusher shag carpeting on floor and door panels plus lower door carpeting. The wagons were available as either the Fury Suburban or Fury Custom Suburban.
Engine offerings included the 225 cu in (3.69 L) slant-six that was standard on all models except Fury Sport, Road Runner, and station wagons, which came with the 318 cu in (5.21 L) V8 as the base engine which was optional on other models. Optional engines on all models included 360 cu in (5.9 L) and 400 cu in (6.6 L) V8s with two- or four-barrel carburetor, and the 440 cu in (7.2 L) four-barrel was only as a "police" option on four-door sedans. A three-speed manual transmission was standard with the automatic TorqueFlite optional.
The 1976 model year mid-size B-body 1976 Plymouth Fury saw very few appearance changes from the previous year other than the availability of a dual opera window roof on Sport Fury two-door models. Engine and transmission offerings were also unchanged except that the 360 two-barrel V8 was now the standard engine on station wagons along with the TorqueFlite automatic transmission, both items of which were optional on other models.
The 1977 model year mid-size B-body 1977 Plymouth Fury received a new front end with a chrome vertical bar grille and outline along with stacked rectangular headlights. Model and drivetrain offerings were unchanged from 1976 except that the Slant Six now had two-barrel carburetion replacing the one-barrel pot of previous years and was now standard on the Sport Fury two-door models. Optional V8 engines included the 318 two-barrel, 360 two- or four-barrel and 400 two- or four-barrel. The 440 four-barrel V8 was only offered in four-door models as part of the police package.
The 1978 model year was technically a mid-size B-body car, but the 1978 Plymouth Fury was Plymouth's largest car with the discontinuation of the full-size C-body Plymouth Gran Fury after 1977. TorqueFlite automatic transmission and power steering were now standard on all Fury models and the same selection of V8 engines was still available. Few appearance changes were made from the previous model year. The 1978 was the last model year for the Plymouth Fury and its Dodge Monaco counterpart, which was renamed as such during the start of the previous model year (1977), which, in turn, was called the "Dodge Coronet" (from 1965, 1966 to 1967, 1968 to 1970, 1971 to 1974 and from 1975 on through to 1976), while the former full-size C-body Dodge was renamed the "Dodge Royal Monaco" during the start of the previous model year (1977) up until it was discontinued after just one model year. The personal-luxury coupes, which were based on the mid-size B-body platform, including the Chrysler Cordoba and Dodge Magnum (renamed from Charger in 1978) would soldier on for one more year until they were downsized (and renamed Mirada for the Dodge version) in 1980 to the M-body platform used for the Dodge Diplomat and Chrysler LeBaron.
Source: Wikipedia
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