Photo: Craigslist Western PA
Allow us to set the scene for you. The year is 1976, and your working-class, factory-worker old man just pulled up in this brand-new Plymouth Fury Sport. It's been a few years since the great oil crisis of 1973, after which the feds decreed that all domestic automobiles have the daylights choked out of them by archaic and frankly pathetically inefficient catalytic converter technology. But your pipe-smoking elder doesn't seem to be too bent out of shape about it. He's just happy to go on a road trip sitting in the plush cloth seats.
Fast forward to 47 years later, and this particular '76 Fury Sport looks just as good in 2023 as the day it left the factory during the Gerald Ford administration. If you can believe it or not, the Fury Sport was considered a mid-size coupe during the mid-to-late 70s, one that filled the gap nicely between some of the smaller Dodge models like the Dart and gargantuan vehicles like the full-size Chrysler Newport. From what we can gather, this Fury Sport spent most of the recent past away from the weather and the elements in a storage unit in Connellsville, Pennsylvania, about an hour southeast of Pittsburgh. It's one key reason why such an old vehicle isn't rusted into the ground like so many cars far newer than this one.
Under the hood of this certified survivor is a 318-cubic-inch (5.2-L) Chrysler LA-series V8 engine that first entered the scene during the 1968 model year. Without the benefit of a four-barrel carburetor that'd feature on this engine starting in 1968, it's hard to call this Fury Sport particularly fast. But then again, the beauty of an engine so old and archaic is it's always possible to change some parts around, tune the engine, and make more power than Plymouth ever thought possible without touching a single piece of diagnostics software. You can't say the same about a Hellcat HEMI these days.
But even bone stock, there's something eternally cool about a mid-70s American car that isn't a total rust bucket. You know, the kind of car you could fork over the money for and drive away as if you were taking it off the dealer lot yourself. Thanks to a new intake manifold, timing chain, valve covers, air filter, and water pump installed by the previous owner, chances are good you won't have to do much of anything to this old car besides change the oil regularly. Oh, and maybe check the fluid levels on the Chrysler 727 automatic transmission. You wouldn't want that shiny, new shift kit to go to waste.
For the low price of just $8,000, it's hard to say old-school American iron is as unobtainable as you might think. It just might involve picking a slightly later model year than you first anticipated. But come on, anyone looking for a cheap late '60s muscle car is bound to disappoint themselves.
Under the hood of this certified survivor is a 318-cubic-inch (5.2-L) Chrysler LA-series V8 engine that first entered the scene during the 1968 model year. Without the benefit of a four-barrel carburetor that'd feature on this engine starting in 1968, it's hard to call this Fury Sport particularly fast. But then again, the beauty of an engine so old and archaic is it's always possible to change some parts around, tune the engine, and make more power than Plymouth ever thought possible without touching a single piece of diagnostics software. You can't say the same about a Hellcat HEMI these days.
But even bone stock, there's something eternally cool about a mid-70s American car that isn't a total rust bucket. You know, the kind of car you could fork over the money for and drive away as if you were taking it off the dealer lot yourself. Thanks to a new intake manifold, timing chain, valve covers, air filter, and water pump installed by the previous owner, chances are good you won't have to do much of anything to this old car besides change the oil regularly. Oh, and maybe check the fluid levels on the Chrysler 727 automatic transmission. You wouldn't want that shiny, new shift kit to go to waste.
For the low price of just $8,000, it's hard to say old-school American iron is as unobtainable as you might think. It just might involve picking a slightly later model year than you first anticipated. But come on, anyone looking for a cheap late '60s muscle car is bound to disappoint themselves.
Google News