PB 308 new page 14-18.indd - Plymouth Club

LANNY KNUTSON PHOTO
for-Plymouth 360 cubic inch
motor–very peppy for a two-barrel car.
Pretty much the only change for
1971 in the Plymouth C-body is found
in the grille and taillights. By 1971 over
80% of the Furys had air conditioning,
and 98% were automatic transmissionequipped–no
wonder there.
How many Cbodies
have
you known to
have fourspeedtransmissions
after
maybe 1966
or even a
three-speedon-the-column
as did my ‘70
Fury III.
Likewise 98%
had power steering and 75% came with
power disc brakes, while 74% were getting
tinted glass all around and 60% got
vinyl roofs. Things were getting fancier
for the C-body crowd.
I owned the very nice ‘71 Fury III
two-door hardtop back in 2008 for about
six months until I sold it on my sister’s
classic car auction sale. It had come to
Minnesota from San Diego, California,
and was a rust-free car. The nice young
man who brought it back from
California had installed 15-inch allchrome
(no trim rings) Plymouth-type
Road Wheels with 275/60 tires on the
back and smaller tires up front to give it
a proper “rake from the ol’ days.” It
was fun to drive with its power steering,
power disc brakes and air conditioner on
top of 360 engine with a two-barrel carburetor.
I loved it but sold it and two
other collector cars in order to buy a
new Dodge Challenger R/T, which I
drive to this day.
Speaking of these ‘70 C-body
Plymouths, my cousin Dennis bought a
new Gran Coupe in March of 1970
when they came out. It had the 383
cubic inch, 290 horse engine as did my
70 Fury III. My brother Al bought this
car from him when it had become a
$1200 used car.
I’d best quit my musing by letting
you know that 375 Sport Fury GTs were
built in 1971. That was the last year for
them. I will talk more about these cars
down the line.
Please do not forget about my collector
car auction on June 11th at
Adams, North Dakota, by VanDerBrink
Auctions. Look it up and you’ll find
that my buddy Terry’s ‘69 HEMI Road
Runner – totally restored – has now
been added to the sale. Come over, it
1970 Sport Fury GT: Kjell Egil Mandelid, Voss, Norway
will be fun. Call 701-331-9092 to ask
me about it or visit vanderbrinkauctions.com
for video, pictures and inventory.
THANKS.
-- CLIF NELSON
clifn01@gmail.com
-46-
LANNY KNUTSON PHOTO
Plymouth Miniatures
continued from page 44…
includes our ‘67 Fury taxi and a couple
other MOPARs but no other
Plymouths. On looking over our
Plymouth, my conclusion is that JL
did a satisfactory job in casting our
little taxi and optioning it with an
opening hood. While I have not yet
found a “loose” version – only packaged
ones – I assume that the V8
engine under that hood is detailed.
The interior is tan, which quite likely
resembles the original color of vinylcovered
taxi seating. Other details
include a factory-painted grille, front
and rear photo-etched FURY II badges
on the lower front fenders, windshield
wipers, a taxi topper with RED &
WHITE in small letters and full-wheel
chrome hubcaps with blackwall tires.
Needless to say, this is a Red &
White Cab Co, Inc-owned vehicle, as
viewed on the rear doors. A phone
number – DL-4-8400 – appears on the
front fenders. I do not recall any Red
& White cabs or the phone prefix letters
from any of my travels, but
maybe some of our readers do. If so,
please let us know. My suspicion is
that Johnny Lightning fashioned this
cab after a real one somewhere, someplace;
and, as always, my curiosity is
biting at me. Help me out, if you
can, with my taxi quest.
The price of cab fare at Wal-Mart
where I found mine was about $2.97,
not bad when you consider all that
you are getting, including some serious
Plymouth diversion. The JL
taxis can also still be found on eBay
for the same price, but you will also
have to pay shipping charges. If you
want to really save some cash, you
may want to check out a flea market
and I’ll “betcha” you just might get
lucky and find your Fury II cab for
about $1.00, a pretty cheap rate for a
taxi ride, “you gotta admit.” I guess
what I’ve been hammering on here is
that our little Plymouth Fury II Taxi
can be found in many places without
much of a hunt and, most of all, you
will have a lot of fun bagging it and
bringing it home to rest in your
Plymouth trophy case.
-- Bill Brisbane
williamb@helicon.net