November 2001 Mopar of the Month
1964 Plymouth Fury
Dick writes:
Floyd and Hazel Johnson from Winchester Indiana purchased this Fury from Charold Fraze Motors. Inc dealership in July 1964.
The Johnson's last had it serviced in May of 1967 at 22,237 miles.
The second owner of this Plymouth remains a mystery. However, the third owner, Mike McNew from New Paris Ohio, sold it to me around 1993, and I currently have 108,000 miles on the car's odometer.
The interior is original.
Back in the 1993 time frame the car was white with a black vinyl top. I believe the vinyl top was put on by one of the last two owners, as Chrysler did not start adding vinyl tops on Mopars until 1965. To my knowledge I have the only 1964 Fury with a vinyl top; although not original, it is different!
The Plymouth was in fair shape when I purchased it. The Mopar did have some rust along the back fender wells, which were repaired, along with a good paint job, by a local body shop.
During that restoration I decided to have the Fury painted red. Why? Red matches the first new Plymouth we purchased back in 1964! That Plymouth was a Sport Fury, 383 Automatic. We had that car set up for drag racing in 1966 by Jay Howell Automotive Engineering from Detroit. We ran B\SA and the Fury was very competitive.
In the spirit of that racing heritage, and as a concession to driving in style now, the Fury's restoration stressed torque and comfort.
Torque is handled by the rebuilt 361 with dual quad AFB carburators, sparked with an electronic ignition, pushing out the exhaust through the original exhaust manifolds (now jet coated) into 2 inch dual exhaust. A Griffin aluminum radiator keeps the engine cool while 15 inch Magnum 500 rims with BFG T\A radials P-235-60-R15 and super stock springs transfer the torque to the pavement.
The dealer installed air keeps us comfortable as my wife and I enjoy driving this Fury to cruises and car shows.
