Paisley Power! 1970 Plymouth Fury Gran Coupe
While it’s impossible to recall every variation of every automobile ever constructed, it’s almost equally unlikely to remember every variation of the more popular domestic brands – there were just too many. A case in point is this 1970 Plymouth Fury Gran Coupe. I had completely forgotten about this full-size two-door post (sedan) coupe until the groovy paisley embossed vinyl top was referenced. It became one of those, “Oh yeah, now I remember…” moments. Now that I have that out of the way, let’s look this brown bomber over – it’s in great shape and has been treated to some upgrades. Located in North Jackson, Ohio, this Plymouth C-body is available, here on eBay for a BIN price of $28,900.
The Fury Gran Coupe was based on the FuryI/Fury II two-door sedan and saw a spring 1970 introduction. While I could ascertain that 21K C-body two-door Fury sedans were produced, I wasn’t able to break down that number among the I, II, or Gran Coupe trim levels. As stated earlier, one of the giveaways was the paisley-themed vinyl roof covering which also saw duty on a similarly denoted Gran Coupe Baraccuda model. The paisley trail actually continued inside and is inconspicuously visible within the seating upholstery inserts.
Brown was “in” back in ’70 and this Fury looks resplendent in what appears to be a “Burnt Tan Metallic” finish. The chrome plating is new and works perfectly with the Weldstar RT wheels – which we are told can be excluded from the sale for a discount. The seller still has the original wheels that would take the place of the Weldstars. And of course, the paisley top is said to be “in phenomenal condition“. Of note are the hideaway headlights – not a feature usually found on a two-door sedan.
Research indicates that Gran Coupes were powered by a 290 gross HP, 383 CI V8 and this car’s VIN verifies that as being the born-with engine. This motor, however, has been hopped up with a four-barrel carburetor and the cam from a 440+6 RB powerplant. The seller adds, “Sounds phenomenal with cam lope but great drivability with a factory cam upgrade – Magnaflow mufflers. Starts right up, idles in stages perfectly, drive anywhere. Rides and drives straight“. As is usually the case, a TorqueFlite three-speed automatic transmission handles all gear-related matters.
The interior of this 92K mile example is in impeccable condition. The two-tone vinyl upholstery makes an impressive visual statement – paisleys or not! The seller mentions, “Small section of the headliner is coming away at rear passenger side -see pics. Small tear in DR door panel that can be repaired without replacing- see pics.” The headliner issue is more notable than the tear in the door panel but still, these are small matters when taking the rest of this car’s condition into consideration. As for the dash pad, no worries.
There’s no doubt about it, I like full-size cars from this era, especially ones with some get-up-and-go. It is true, you don’t know what you have until it’s gone, as full-size Furys, Galaxies, and Impalas were such the norm for so long – now, they’re mostly a memory. The good news is that these big-bodied cars were made in large numbers and many still exist. And finding a rare specialty model like this Gran Coupe, makes the search and discovery that much more rewarding, wouldn’t you agree?
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Comments
Super cool paisley vinyl roof. Love it.
Had a 74 Toyota Corona (not a Corolla) SR5 with a 5 speed overdrive trans, and a full length overhead idiot light panel. The dash was curved towards the driver. Had a textured paisley top fractal geometry style. Very unusual in my experience.
Neat add.
Big fan of the fuselage c body. Nice find. Love the paisley.
I’d put black steel cop car wheels on it with Blackwell. What a cool car . My neighbor had its twin when I was a kid.
The Fury 2-door post sedan had the same roof stamping as the 4-door, which avoided the hardtop coupe’s proportioning problems where those looked like Chrysler was using the side glass and roof stamping meant for a much smaller car. IMO that makes one of these the way to go if you absolutely must have only two doors.
But the best fuselage body style, the only one that looks great to me across every division and year it was offered as, is the station wagon.
I like it, it’s beautiful, but I’d have to check underneath for rot. I’d get original rims for it, and hopefully the bubbles under the neat vinyl top aren’t too bad. It’s a lot of money, though, for a non-desirable car. It’s worth probably half that.
I love this beautiful “big brown bomber”. Heck yeah, I would buy this car over a new Civic or Corolla. This is my kind of car. I don’t think I’d change anything about this car, although I love “pillow tufted” interiors. Not on this car, nope, just the way it is. Man , I sure wish I had a Boeing aircraft hanger to put all the great cars I see on Barn Finds! This Gran Coupe would be in there! Hope the new owner doesn’t mess with it ! Absolutely love the article! Good luck to all!
Reminds me of an organized crime family taxi in the 70’s. 8 mpg and rides like a caddy
By the way – with the upgrades to this car, the way it sits, I believe it is “somewhere” in the reasonable zone price wise. I don’t think I’m going to sleep too well tonight thinking about it – oh well. Good luck.
https://nihilistnotes.blogspot.com/search?q=Groovy
The roof on the Gran Coupes seems to last well unlike next year’s Imperial. Sales of the colorful “Mod Top” (Plymouth) & “Floral Top” (Dodge) collasped in 1970 so Chrysler had a lot of bolts of un-wanted “paisley” vinyl in the warehouse; this was some time before just-in-time supply chains. The inspired suggestion was to dye the vinyl a dark purple and offer it only with the “Sparkling Burgundy Metallic” paint which was exclusive to the Imperial line, the technical theory being the same as used with hair-dyes: dark can always cover light. Some (quick) tests suggested this was true and in September, the 1971 models began to be shipped to the dealers, some of which were parked outside… in direct sunlight. Almost immediately, the “rich” burgundy vinyl began to fade. Chrysler replaced the tops with either black or white vinyl and this time the “paisley” option was killed for good. A handful were actually sold with the purple fabric still attached, later to fade, at which point most owners took up the offer for the white or black re-cover, depending on the interior trim chosen. Few burgundy examples survive although at least one which has spent the last fifty years protected from the ultra-violet still exists as it left the factory.
Love it, love it, love it. If I had $28k lying around doing nothing it would be mine. C-bodies are some of my favorites. The only thing that could make this better is if it were a 1970 Fury GT in B7 blue.
My mom had a 1970 Fury 4dr same color. It was a cheaper model. 318V8 and no AC. It ran well. Not sure why she had to replace it? I think the size was too big for her? It was only a few years old too.
It was 1975 and I knew a guy ( Dave) who had one like this but with a 440-4 and it was fast. I was in the backseat and he would floor it and I would be push deep into seat. Tires would scream. Man I wish I had room at home for this ride. I would ask $25,000 for it. Since it’s a 383 and it’s a L code not a HP block. But the upgrades made a difference. Good luck to the next owner. 🐻🇺🇸
I bought a ‘70 Gran Coupe brand new. It was a great highway cruiser. It was powerful and gas mileage (15 mpg) was ok for the time.
Bought one the 1971 Gran Fury III if I am not mistaken. That was a 4-Door model with the same brown exterior and paisley roof but mine had matching buck seats up front not the rather unattractive tan in this one. The 71 had been my grandfather’s, then my brother, then my sister drove it before I bought it for $750.00 my car had the 360CI with a two barrel carb. To this day I can recall the first time I really tromped on the gas pedal and the torque from the engine raised the whole front end, much to my surprise! Great times in that car!
Seriously, this is “Groovy!” Mr. Seller could you please share information about the tires and rims. i.e. Make and size of both rims and tires front and rear.. Thank You. BTW…Sell me that Blue Mopar next to this.
Read the eBay listing, it’s all in there.
JO
I had a 1971 Imperial when I lived in Florida in 1973. White with a burgundy interior and a burgundy paisley vinyl top.
Living in sunny Florida you’d expect the top to fade, especially with the stories I just read in the comments, but my top held up fine.
I think your top would hold up fine in any car you drove!
Sorry I couldn’t resist…😁
Wow, what great positive comments from this group !! I just purchased my 4th C-body, a 1970 Fury III convertible, rebuilt 318 drivetrain, a very nice, strong running car and drivetrain. I gotta stop buying these big C-bodys….but I cant help it !!!
Here are my other C-bodys….1969 Plymouth Fury III, ORIGINAL paint, 383 2 barrel….a great cruiser !!
Sorry for the delay in sending pics, finally figured out how to do it. My 1969 Plymouth Fury III, bought it a local, not well attended abandoned car auction. Factory 383-2 barrel, ORIGINAL paint, rust free, chrome Magnum 500’s, excellent running original….a real stunner to look at !!
Looks like the car Michael Brady used on The Brady Bunch.
My parents bought this exact car off the show room floor. Three weeks later the engine burned up because the gaskets were not punched all the way through. Not long after a snow plow opened up the drivers side bumper to bumper. Got it fixed and drove it well into the eighths . Rust finally got it but what a beautiful car. Can’t afford this one but if I ever found one in the poor mans category I d be all over it.
Guy in my hometown in N. Mn.
bought one of these new. I think his had a one color brown fabric interior, but same color exterior. Can’t recall if his had the hideaway headlights or not.
Regardless, cool looking style and those hideaway headlights make the look.
My 2nd car was a 70 Alpine white Fury 111 4 door – 318 with all power options. I loved that car! This car is awesome!
This would make a great companion to a 70 Chrysler 300H!
Looks like a very clean car. Love the hideaway headlights. Probably not a bad price for a car so we’ll preserved.
Looks like a car I saw on Mannix and MISSION: Impossible
That is one sexy car!!
I had a ’72 version of this car in metallic gold. I loved the hidden headlights so much; I would keep the lights on the shut-off timer feature so I could stand in front of the car and watch them go off and the doors close before I would go in the house. It was also the first car I remember that had a light in the outside keyhole.
Got to strip one at a salvage yard in early 71. Was a 70 with 440-6pak with 2900 miles. Rear bumper was about even with rear axle!!!!
Yea I have fond memories from two Fury’s. One I owned I bought in 75, that was a 70 Colorado Highway Patrol Sedan, with pillar posts. It was a Fury I, stripped of all luxury items with only an AM radio, but plain vinyl bench seats with the rear being covered with a very durable material, plus the divider between the front and rear seats, that I was able to remove from the roll bar! The best was underneath the car! HD suspension and disk brakes, rear sway bar, power steering and brakes, but the best was a honking 440/4 brl Police package with dual exhaust, plus HD Torque Flite trans into a 3:09 posi rear that helped tremendously in snow and mountain roads. I added a couple leafs in the rear that lifted it an inch, plus cranked up the torsion bars to lift the front about the same. Along with the biggest tires I could find, two sets actually, one for winter, 4 Firestone Town&Country mud/snow tires all around as big as I could fit on the front and rear, plus a second set for both front and rear without studs in the months they were not allowed. My buddies and I took that big car places 2wd trucks dared not go! All over The Rocky Mountains on weekend road trips! The second was a coupe like above a friend owned later in Rhode Island, he bought off a friend of his Dad, who was the original owner and ordered it special to tow his Airstream all over. It did have well over 100,000 miles of hard heavy towing, hard to tell exactly with 180,000 showing overall. But the guy said they covered every state on a coast, around the Great Lakes and up to Alaska. That car was a 71 Fury III SE luxury Coupe, that was loaded with about every option available, including a 440/4 brl dual exhaust with Posi and factory towing package. In light blue with dark blue top and interior with hd vinyl. We removed the engine and trans. That he had balanced and blueprinted and the trans rebuild with a shift kit. That car was such a sleeper with the 3:55 rear end he put in it. That would bury the speedometer easily running up to 4,500 rpm’s! Cruise at 70 at 2,500.
I had no idea these came post/no post. Very interesting!
The ‘70 was post only. ‘71 on were no post
I bought a 70 Tor Red with burnt orange interior bucket seats and an automatic with the console 383 4 barrel duel exhaust and the reflective strobe stripe off the original owner and his wife somewhere late 70’s it was such a beautiful car, problem was a week before I got it they got rear-ended pretty bad I still bought the car paid $200. bucks, I didn’t have the knowledge to fix it back then so I drove it into the ground, I wish I would have kept it and fixed it later on in life cuz I’ve never seen one like it!!!!
I just thoroughly enjoyed the write up and all the comments. Love the car and thinking about mortgaging the house to buy it 😆….
I mentioned a day or so ago in the thread about the Rapid Transit Barracuda that there was a Fury that was part of the Rapid Transit System – Sport Fury GT – that featured a choice of 440 4 barrel or 440 6 barrel. They couldn’t have made many of them. This is as close as I’ve seen.
Here’s a pic of the entire Rapid Transit System lineup for ’70.
This car is for sale again in Ohio on Craigslist
Sorry it’s on Ebay