Monterey Mopar: 1970 Plymouth Fury II
Sometimes it’s the at-one-time inconspicuous and obsequious that, with the passage of time, become interesting again. Take this 1970 Plymouth Fury II, Mopar’s competition for the Chevrolet BelAir and Ford Custom 500. Produced in somewhat fewer numbers than either of Plymouth’s competitors, you rarely see one today and if you aren’t familiar with domestic motoring from 50+ years ago, a Fury II may have escaped your attention. This big four-door sedan is cooling its heels in Monterey, California and is available, here on craigslist for $6,500.
Sandwiched between the Fury III and the Fury I, the Fury II was the “budget-conscious” big Plymouth – not a complete stripper, but more of a “conservative” trim level. Summing up the numbers, including station wagons, we find:
- 1970 Chevrolet BelAir – 76K
- 1970 Ford Custom 500 – 69K
- 1970 Plymouth Fury II – 53K
Actually, Plymouth wasn’t that far behind its competition but cars bearing these trim levels, especially four-door sedans, aren’t exactly salvation subjects so most are gone to the passage of time and use.
So, a lifelong west coaster this Plymouth is said to be, but the ole tin worm has caught up with it anyway. It’s not terrible but the trunk lid, the top of the driver’s side fender, the lower edge of the passenger rear door and quarter panel, and various other small spots are so afflicted. The easiest fix for the trunk lid, which appears to be the worst of it, would be to find another, assuming that’s possible – the door doesn’t look too bad. The seller states that a lot of the corrosion is surface rust but I beg to differ. That’s true of the underside, but not necessarily the body panels. The finish is certainly diminished, no surprise there, and the various images portray a poorly applied partial respray. Back to that rust matter, the rear bumper’s looking shaky too. Beyond that, this Fury II seems reasonably sound and minus significant crash damage.
Old Faithful, a 230 gross HP, 318 CI V8 engine is holding court in the engine room. The “LA” engine has 76K miles on its clock and the seller states that he has “replaced the timing chain, timing cover, water pump, fuel lines, and a new gas tank!“. It is said to still need some carburetor work but mechanically it “runs and drives pretty well“. As is usually the case, a TorqueFlite three-speed automatic gearbox gets the go to the rear wheels.
Inside there’s lots of blue. The vinyl and fabric front seat upholstery is stained and the driver’s side backrest is coming apart. The carpet is badly faded and I imagine that dash topper is hiding a multitude of dash pad mayhem. The door panels look OK but things like the sun visors (minor) and the headliner (less minor) are going to need attention. This is an air-conditioned car but the seller states, “A/C has not been charged in years“. I’ll bet that it will take a lot more than a charge to revive it, but that’s expected on an old R12 system.
So, marketable? Absolutely! A big old barge like this, even with its less preferred extra pair of doors, will have a certain amount of appeal to a lot of potential buyers. It’s really not car show material but it could be with some effort. You could also try a CHP conversion – appearance-wise anyway though that 318 engine wouldn’t really be up to the task. Check out this video (it’s extensive) and you’ll get a better feel for what’s here. If this Plymouth held your fancy, what would you do with it (no demolition derbies!)?
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Comments
$6500? For this? Really?
I don’t see a $6,500 car here either. It needs too much work and too much money to turn this into even a decent daily driver. It does have the “I haven’t seen one in decades” factor going for it but it’s really not a very desirable car, especially for what the seller is asking. I think the seller will have to accept reality and just take what he can get for it and that’s assuming anybody is even interested in it at all.
Nice find and write-up, Jim! I love it, I’m a huge fan of this era Fury as we had a ’69 Fury III when I was a teenager. They’re hard to find today for sure.
It would be worth thinking about if it had a $2,500 asking price, but needs too much work to justify anywhere close to $6,500.
The blue license plates he’s proud were issued in the late-70’s at the earliest, California only added the number 1 prefix after it cycled through all of the possible 6 alpha numeric combinations.
Steve R
The Blue/Gold plates came out in 1970.
Actually they came out in 1969, I’m not sure what your point is. Early blue plate had six digits, three numbers followed by three letters. Once the DMV cycled through all available combinations the number 1 was added as the first digit and the positions of the numbers and letters were reversed. That didn’t happen until the late-1970’s. There is a good chance this car came from out of state, by the amount of rust, it was likely somewhere the roads were salted. For the seller to claim these plates are original to help brush off the rust on this car is disingenuous.
Steve R
Please no CHP clown cars. CHP never had Plymouths. Only Dodges . $6500 is reasonable seeings how I’m in upper rust belt.
This brings back memories, my dad had one, in that copper color you still see on Mopars.
Had a timer of some sort on the headlights, if you left them on they would turn off after ten minutes.
Back in 1979 a high school friend bought a Fury III 2 door hard top 440 from some pensioner here in Florida and put limo tint 360 with just peep slits in the tint to see to drive! Needless to say the shenanigans we pulled off in the Mafia Staff car which was the official name are still legendary from rolling burnouts to hiding from would be fun spoilers that couldn’t see in! That was before the law started enforcing tint standards which I’m sure my friend help evoke but man that thing was nice high back seats brocade material, a/c & a 440 we were living the dream! The only thing that slowed it down was a gas station which was im sure was why he needed a friend with job lol . This car brings back memories of that time. Mafia staff car where are you?
West Coast doesn’t always equate to rust free, I would guess that salty ocean air is what’s slowly consuming this ole buggy.
2500 obo. 6500 is too much imo.
I had one just like this in the early 80s. It was a one owner car that had been rustproofed. I paid $450 dollars for it. It had 70,000 actual miles. I called the original owner and he gave me 2 snow tires on wheels and a set of floor mats. He said he had traded it in on a K car and wished he had it back. It was easy to work on and got great gas mileage. I wish I had it back.
Define your opinion of “great gas mileage” 😄
About 23 mpg highway which isn’t bad for a large comfortable car like this.
The real question is how much to replace the sails on that land yacht? 😁
I personally do not trust this dealership. Asked them months ago for a VIN on a certain vehicle and never heard back. Their lot is basically right next to and along the Monterey Bay, home of beautiful scenery and an abundance of rust filled moisture on their vehicles. Just because the cars are old or vintage, they jack up the prices big time. Every vehicle I have seen for sale is basically full of rust. They will show photos of exposed areas that can be seen but not the hidden areas which would be of major concern. This is my opinion based on the cars for sale over the past year.
Just a FYI, I lived in So Cal for 33 yrs.
The salt air only effects vehicles within about a mile from the beach.
I rarely saw rust on vehicles out there, very rarely.
$6500 if I had it I would do the same throw the price out and see if it sticks. With the ridicules prices people are paying for some cars why not try
23 mpg highway which seemed pretty good for a car of this size.
This is the same model the washington state patrol used. Were great as patrol cars
Surprised they didn’t use a mid size instead of that tank.
Sight of a late sixties Fury in my rear view mirror and the struggle to slow down without brake lights giving “the man a clue” was like a cold shower. Drop from fourth to second while sipping the clutch. Once when riding with my Sis’ she saw the NJestapo coming on fast panicked and threw her torque flight park lever over, luckily the black and white bubble gum machine was well ahead chasing some other scofflaw while the screaming rear tires brought us broadside and yes, parked middle of the two lane. Furies
A Show barge(on wheels). I like the sound of that !
I think one of my Uncles had one of these. Early to mid 70’s.
Neat old Plymouth. I like the styling too. I don’t think it’s worth anywhere near $6500 in this condition, even if it was a 2 door. I do like the blue interior…I wish the car manufacturers would bring back blue as an option. So freaking tired of black or gray interiors…BORING!
Recalling a school chum with a ’69 Fury II. I’ll always remember this car for its after market 8 track player and upgrade speakers belting out Frigid Pink’s version of ‘The House of the Rising Sun’. :)
I think many of these met their demise at demo derbys across the country.
A lot- they were really good for derbies. The unibody leaf spring set up caused the rear body to bend upwards , keeping your wheels free from crumpling sheet metal, and the fronts were battering rams . The later model Chrysler and GM cars with the massive 5mp bumpers took over for these in terms of domination. The last one I ran was a 72 Fury II sedan , halfway through the feature reverse went out ( an issue that was probably the reason it was junked in the first place ) , so I just started ramming with the front. Got all the way to second when the engine finally locked up, and found out later while watching a video of it that the Volare that won was sandbagging the whole time ..I got robbed ! LOL
Chrysler and GM dominated with those 5mph massive bumpers? I won a 6 heat demo derby back in 82 with a 74 Mercury Monterey, the only car still running when it was over, and drove it back onto my trailer and hauled it home.
Look what’s been the most dominate car in derbies for the last 40 odd years – 1973 -1976 full size GM cars, followed by the 74-78 Chrysler products .
Bring your own parking space for today’s world!
Compare the distance from the back seat to the end of this car(& most others in the ’70s & older, vs the same distance on most modern appliances on wheels today.
IMO, this dinosaur is a LOT safer for belted back seat passengers if hit in the BACK(the most common place to get hit) hard, compared to sitting in the back seat of a new appliance – no air bags behind to “save” you, & how much of a crumple zone is there behind you!
& 1 is supposed to put babies back there?! Heck i myself would not sit in the back seat of a way-too-short-in-the-rear new appliance, if i could even fit back there.
Wonder how they can call this a one owner car when they bought it in 2011 and they are just now trying to sell it here in 2023 at that exorbitant price? Where has it been for the last 12 years?