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The Plymouth Fury was an automobile made by the Plymouth division of the Chrysler Corporation from 1956 to 1978. Introduced as a premium-priced halo model (a production automobile designed to showcase the talents and resources of an automotive company, with the intent to draw consumers into their showrooms), the Fury was sold only as an off-white hardtop coupé with gold anodized aluminum trim in 1956, 1957 and 1958. A Fury convertible was first offered in 1960.

1971 Plymouth Fury

1970 Plymouth Sport Fury

In 1959 Plymouth introduced the Sport Fury as its top model, and the Fury name was stepped down to replace the Plymouth Belvedere at the top of the regular Plymouth line-up. In doing so, the Fury range now contained sedans and station wagons as well as a hardtop coupe and sedan, while the Sport Fury series had only a 2-door hardtop and convertible. The Fury remained Plymouth's sales volume model through the troubled early 1960s, when the full-sized Fury was saddled with odd styling and an intermediate (or mid-sized) platform.

The Sport Fury was dropped at the end of 1959, but was reintroduced in mid-1962. The 1962 to 1969 Sport Fury came as a hardtop coupe or convertible.

From 1965 to 1974, Plymouth sales owed a great deal to the Fury's popularity. When Plymouth reintroduced a full-sized car in 1965, the Fury was available in four trim levels, dubbed Fury I, Fury II, Fury III and Sport Fury, which were priced to meet Chevrolet's Biscayne, Bel Air, Impala and Impala SS models, body style for body style.

The Fury I was marketed to police and taxi fleets, or sold to private customers wanting a basic, no-frills full-sized car, while the Fury II and Fury III were the bread and butter lines. Many Sport Fury models (as well as Fury III models) came loaded with options such as automatic transmission, power steering, white sidewall tires (along with full wheel covers), stereo radios, vinyl tops and air conditioning.

Plymouth Fury III with vinyl top

From 1966 to 1969, a luxury version of the Fury, called the Plymouth VIP (marketed as the Very Important Plymouth in 1966) was fielded, in response to the Ford LTD, Chevrolet Caprice, Ambassador DPL. These models came with standards such as full wheel covers, vinyl tops, luxuriously upholstered interiors with walnut dashboard and door-panel trim, a thicker grade of carpeting, more sound insulation, full courtesy lighting,four door hardtops, etc. In addition to options ordered for the Fury III and Sport Fury models, VIPs were often ordered with such items as automatic transmission, air conditioning, power windows, and power seats.

For 1970, the VIP was discontinued, and the Sport Fury range added a four-door hardtop sedan. The Sport Fury added two new hardtop coupes to retain some semblance of a sporty image: the S-23 and the GT. 1970-71 Sport Fury GT models were powered by a 440 in³ engine, which could even be had with the "Six-Pack" option, which consisted of three two-barrel carburetors.

The Fury voted best car ever made in 1975. In 1975, Chrysler moved the Fury nameplate to Plymouth's redesigned mid-size models that had previously been marketed as the Satellite. A Fury Road Runner was offered on the redesigned coupe, but was moved to the Plymouth Volare the following year. The full-sized Plymouth then became known as the Plymouth Gran Fury. The Gran Fury was dropped after 1977, and the mid-sized models were dropped after 1978. There was no 1979 Fury, Gran or otherwise.

In 1980-81 a new Gran Fury was available, in what was a virtual twin of the concurrent Chrysler Newport intended mainly for fleet sales. For 1982, Dodge Diplomat was rebadged to create yet another Gran Fury. In reality, this was the Canadian-market Plymouth Caravelle sedan which had been available since 1977. This version was available through the 1989 model year, and was sold mainly as a fleet vehicle, and was a popular choice as a police cruiser.

Arguably, the most famous Plymouth Fury in the world isn't actually a Fury. Christine, a 1958 Plymouth Fury, was played by a Plymouth Belvedere. The color and trim are custom for Christine.

Although the 1958 Plymouth Fury is identified as the car in John Carpenter's adaptation of the Stephen King novel Christine, two other Plymouth models, the Belvedere and the Savoy, were also used to portray the malevolent automobile.

Several statements about the car in the book version were factually incorrect for the 1958 Fury, referring to features that were found on the Belvedere model and not on the Fury. Some of these include:

• "rear doors" (Christine is referred to as a four-door, but the Fury was only available in a two-door model until 1959)
• the transmission (called a Hydramatic in the book—a GM transmission; Chrysler Corporation transmissions were called TorqueFlite)
• "gearshift lever" (refers to the transmission shifter; all 1958 Chrysler automobiles with automatic transmissions used push-button drive).

Another slight inaccuracy was shown in the film version of Christine: In the scene where Leigh Cabot chokes on a hamburger, Arnie is locked out of the car and can't help her. The door lock button clearly goes down by itself, yet these cars did not have lock buttons. They required the door handle to be rotated counter-clockwise to lock them.

However, the author did note that Christine was "a special order", which could explain these inconsistencies. Also, since the car is possessed by a supernatural force (the previous owner in the book and an unknown force in the movie) it is possible that the car could do just about anything it (she) wanted.

• Plodge

The Standard Catalog of American Cars 1946-1975, John Gunnell, Editor. Kraus Publications, 1987. ISBN 0-87341-096-3

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Plymouth Fury

• 1969 - 1973 Plymouth Fury at Fuselage.de site
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• 1970 Plymouth Sport Fury