'71 Fury Gran Coupe

[spity]

Ive lurked here a bit and I thought id start a thread on my most recent project.
I usually take on massive projects - and well this car is massive - but im not talking size, im talking full on rebuilds. I was searching craigslist one night in Tacoma WA, and this gem of a car popped up. Now for the longest time Ive been a GM guy, but when I realized that GM didnt really give a crap about me I thought it was time to sleep around with some new brands. What I found was a one owner 57,xxx original miles, LOADED, 2 door 1971 Plymouth Fury Gran Coupe, every thing worked said the seller and so I went to check it out. The original owner died about 3 days prior. Well when I got there, I said no way I could pass this one up even if i just drive it home and list it on ebay to make a few bucks.
360 v8, Automatic, Power Steering, Power Brakes, AC, Hide away headlights, head light Wipers, Paisly vinyl roof with matching interior.




I wasnt sure what I was going to do with this one, but so far the plan is to keep it, and get it ready for the power tour next summer. I did the full trip this year with my friend in the 2 door hardtop Nova wagon if anyone remembers that one. Ive been driving the Fury about 50 miles round trip everyday for school. Fuel economy sucks in this thing for sure, but I got it cheap, I have no payments, and dont have many bills so im good for now.

Its a "done" car, which means I cant leave well enough alone and have to mess with everything I dont like instead of fixing rust and broken crap. Great huh?

My first order of business was to remove the wheel skirts, I just couldnt handle them. I scoured the net and have a pair of the full wheel opening stainless trim coming in the mail.

I then ripped off the god-awful full wheel covers and replaced the caps with very nice police/taxi poverty caps. Still looking for a nice set of fat police 15x8 steelies.

I lucked out on a super nice factory am/fm radio and thats going to replace the OG AM radio.

Still collecting everything I need to upgrade to a 4 barrel, with the proper linkage and brackets and such. Probably going with a carter AFB.

The car as fair driver quality original paint, and some small dings, zero rust and is really a survivor. Im debating wether to paint it before or after the power tour, but we'll see.

[BangShift McT]

Re: '71 Fury Gran Coupe

That was in Tacoma?! Where?! I'm amazed I didn't find it! :D

Good score. I passed up a cherry '69 Monaco four-door 383 a couple of years back...they are still out here, still in great condition. I might be able to locate some 360 parts if you want...

[Scott Liggett]

Re: '71 Fury Gran Coupe

I've never seen a full sized Mopar with a mod top. Must be rare.

[milner351]

Re: '71 Fury Gran Coupe

holy cow those cars are huge!

there's more steel in one body panel in that car than in the average 4 door sedan these days.

any idea what she weighs?

[yogreasygramma]

Re: '71 Fury Gran Coupe

I love those giant slab-sided Chryslers, and a coupe is even better. Paisley vinyl top? I've never seen one in person; do you have some close-ups please?! And I'd definitely keep the original paint as long as possible. To me that is a huge turn on. Congrats and we're waiting for the eventual hemi build...

[spity]

Re: '71 Fury Gran Coupe

That was in Tacoma?! Where?! I'm amazed I didn't find it! :D

Good score. I passed up a cherry '69 Monaco four-door 383 a couple of years back...they are still out here, still in great condition. I might be able to locate some 360 parts if you want...

It was actually in Milton, but was listed on Tacoma area. I used to be station on Ft. Lewis, when I was with 4/2 ID. Looking for some parts to finish my 4 barrel conversion.
-Spity

[spity]

Re: '71 Fury Gran Coupe

holy cow those cars are huge!

there's more steel in one body panel in that car than in the average 4 door sedan these days.

any idea what she weighs?

2 + tons, shes huge, but shes fun to ride. ;D

[spity]

Re: '71 Fury Gran Coupe

I love those giant slab-sided Chryslers, and a coupe is even better. Paisley vinyl top? I've never seen one in person; do you have some close-ups please?! And I'd definitely keep the original paint as long as possible. To me that is a huge turn on. Congrats and we're waiting for the eventual hemi build...

This is a pic of what the top is supposed to look like, the silver on mine is faded a bit, but is still cool. The original paint is mostly nice, but there was an old laquer repair on the passenger quarter, and that didnt hold up so great. So either a full paint job or some spot repairs are in oder.

[fast Ed]

Re: '71 Fury Gran Coupe

Sweet find, I love it. Only thing it's missing is a 440. :P


cheers
Ed N.

[spity]

Re: '71 Fury Gran Coupe

Sweet find, I love it. Only thing it's missing is a 440. :P


cheers
Ed N.

Im happy, i'll just keep the hood shut when your around. Its staying the way it is untill I blow it up, or untill some one else cant live without it - $$$$. ;D

[antmnte]

Re: '71 Fury Gran Coupe

My Neighbor had the exact car paisley top and all.He had a 383 in it though. I like the trunk lock over to the
right kinda neat. Nice car enjoy it the hideaways are really cool.

[spity]

Re: '71 Fury Gran Coupe

Step forward and a step back today. Its had a very very slow leak on the passenger side front tire, wasnt a big enough deal for me to worry about. I went to move the Fury so I could get to my truck, and noticed the tire was flat today. Didnt look too low to me, so I though I could drive it around back to the shop and fill it up. Well, apparently there was a nail in the tire, and on the way around it manage to have an intimate encounter with the side wall, thus destroying the tire that only had about 5k miles on it.



To make things easier it rained while i was doing all this, but im in Pacific Northwest so it rains when the suns out - so im used to it.

Oh well, I mounted up what I assume is the original spare which still has the nipples on it. I know someone somewhere is crying for one. I mounted it up and put about 5 feet of movement on it.



I have the regular wheel at the tire shop getting a good used tire i had laying around installed. Im just going to bite the bullet this week and order some 15x8s, and new rubber for it. Im just undecided if I should go with rallys or police wheels. Like everything else I do it will just come down to a last minute impulse buy.

In the close to a 1,000 miles ive clocked in already ive been trying to figure why it was so squirrelly when I get hit by hard winds - way more than i thought it should be. Im used to driving early Chevy II's so im no stranger to bad handling. I never really thought about it much more than that - but when I was comparing a picture of the car to an original photo I found on the internet I thought the rear end was sitting high. As usual I couldnt get lucky to get some air shocks and just let the air out. I found these monstrosities.


I called Napa and got a quote for 13ea for some new rear shocks. I told them to try again and get me a price on something made in the USA, those are 50ea. I went USA, I could have probably found a better deal on ebay but I want to install them this week and by the time I calculated shipping, I only paid a couple more bucks. Napa can get me them tomorrow.

I took some more pictures of the interior for you guys that are going nuts on the paisley.






Saturday im planning on driving 120 miles round trip to a "x-mas" show, rain or shine I just want a reason to burn some gas.
I think in the next couple days im going to squeeze it into the shop and put an H-pipe to even out the exhaust some.

Stay tuned...

[Not A Duster]

Re: '71 Fury Gran Coupe

Very cool. I love the barges...plymouth's versions especially.

I've seen a few fury's in that colour with the paisely interior/top. Including at least two four-doors.

Not a fan of poverty caps on anything...prefered the full wheel covers...oh well - dif'rnt strokes...

[antmnte]

Re: '71 Fury Gran Coupe

The rallys look kinda cool on there. You can see thm on there if you look up those old Rapid transit ads

[Bobbie Kincade]

Re: '71 Fury Gran Coupe

That's a really neat old C-body! Nice to see some variety out there.