The Car Chrysler Forgot to Stop Making - My 1988 Plymouth Gran Fury 

Idk what I like better, the car or the swanky porn music, but you couldn't have found a better song for a video about a car of wanna be pimps in the 80s

Way back in the day I had a new 1982 Chrysler 5th Ave with 11 miles on it as a company car as an asst body shop manager. It had the same red interior but was more "luxurious" than the Fury and Diplomat. The silver paint and vinyl top was beautiful. I loved that car so much that I bought it at cost from the dealership where I worked when I went to work for Geico. I miss that car and other than a water pump and a/c compressor when it was well over 100k miles it never once gave me any trouble or left me stranded. Ahh...memory lane. Those were the days.

I own the Chrysler version of the m-body, and I did the ignition computer delete. I used the MSD ready to run distributor and a non-feedback Carter BBD carb. Timing can be tuned like any old school small block and it has made the car much more enjoyable to drive.

My dad drove a 87 Fifth Avenue and he never had a problem with it.Purchased new and drove it until 1998 well over 100,000 miles.. No problems with the lean burn system either.Only repair was the a/c compressor.

I worked at a Dodge dearler when theses cars was new,,it was a very good car to drive.

I drove it's cousin, the Dodge Diplomat for a few years in the late '80s - really liked that car; good power, handled well, no maintenance issues.

I used to build these cars in the St. Louis Missouri assembly plant. We switched to the minivan in 1986 so rest assured that I didn't touch this one.

Brings back good memories of an '87 Diplomat SE I once owned😀

That's a great car. 2 years ago I inherited a 1993 Plymouth Sundance that only had 15,000 miles on it. I put on new tires and had the oil changed and have put on 11,000 trouble free miles. It great for around town and I enjoy it.

Loved my 84' AHB equipped Gran Fury back in the mid 90's. That car you have is special.

Love those cars. My father had an 85 Chrysler 5th Avenue. Awesome riding car. Only real complaint he had was as soon as warranty was up. Transmission went out. Love that Chrysler 5th Ave/ Dodge Diplomat line.

Love your car. I am a mopar guy. All I own is Chrysler’s and Dodge’s. Looking forward to see what comes next with the Grand Fury.

Lovely looking car. I remember when this, and the Dodge Diplomat were on the market. At the time I didn't find either attractive to look at. But today, I long for cars like this. I look forward to seeing this back on the road and driving. :)

Very interesting video, you actually made an 80's car sound interesting! And I do agree, much better visibility and a better ride than today's cars. :)

Okay, You found a diamond in the rough. Now, spend $125.00 and honor the original owner by getting a new headliner. I can do it in an hour for $90.00.

Parents had a 1980 Plymouth Gran Fury with the E58 360 engine. Great car, lots of memories of that car!

I do appreciate this car. What a cool ride. I love old American 80s cars. The last of the rear wheel drives. Neat find

Back in the '80s my hometown police department used Gran Furys as police cruisers. They may have been out-dated, but our police loved them.

Awesome job on the movie! The lean burn problem with the car, will not go away. I remember my dad's 360 Chrysler was a turd, especially in very hot weather. I think we modified the distributer to work like a conventional one, and let the electronics control the fuel mixture. It made enough of a difference so it would run decent in all ranges without pinging so bad. For that year car, in NY all that is required for inspection is the system components to be on the car. No inspector would ever check if it has been altered. Keep a spare ignition resister block in the glove box. They blow like a fuse for no reason at the worst possible moment. Good luck with the car Chris. Ross

Chrysler: "Precision engineered!" Ignition module ::mounted directly above exhaust manifold::

Nice video. I remember riding in one of these furys back in the day, absolute plush ride! These cars were really good. Underrated by most people.

Nice pedestrian car, simple and reliable. It was a basic transportation hero to the working class and police departments everywhere...Oh, love your shot selection, nice camera work.

Used to have a Dodge Diplomat. What a tank! Keep balance resistors in the glove box lol

I had a 1993 Chrysler LeBaron. It was an outstanding car, so smooth, so comfortable and very easy on gas. 28 to 30 highway, about 23 in town.

I have always found it fascinating that for all the luxury aspects of cars like these back then no power windows or door locks this car should have come standard with both

Thank you for keeping the car original!

My first car was a classic, the 1955 version of your Gran Fury, a black & white 4-door Belvedere. It had a straight 6 230 c.i. flathead with 123 horsepower & a 3-speed manual overdrive transmission. Our next door neighbor (a WWI US Infantry Veteran) had bought it new & gifted it to me after he suffered a debilitating stroke. Nice old gent! Had a ball in that car. Engine ran very quiet, all it needed was a carb rebuild. Rear doors opened at 88 degrees so it was a cinch to load it with all my stuff & head to school at age 20.

That powertrain warranty was much needed. These things ate transmissions. The cop versions of them went through a couple per year.

A Gran Fury was the first car I ever drove. My parents had either an '84 or '85 model in dark blue with blue velour interior. Seeing the interior of yours took me back to being a kid.

It is funny how underrated these 80s body on frame cars are, I think they are great and really value for money and a good way to get into classic cars!

Love a red interior. Keep it original!

My car I had in high school was a 1986 Chrysler fifth Avenue so I have a fond place in my heart for M-body's.

Great video!! It brought back memories of my youth.... I rode many miles in the backseat of a 1988 Dodge Diplomat, which is a spitting image of this Fury. Interestingly enough.... we were having issues back then with the engine running well, due to all the emission garbage and the wanna be EFI system.....l do remember the car being smooth and exceptionally quiet though.

Great video! Thank you so much for keeping that lean burn system and keeping the car original. I know it can be a total pain but eventually once it's working properly it's smooth as silk.

My dad, the first new car he bought since 1968, was a 1985 Plymouth Granfury, his was the silver with the full dark blue vinyl top, it was a beautiful car, I learned how to drive in that car, and put most of the miles on it, he drove his 68 Plymouth 2 door Plymouth Belvidere to work every day, I miss the gran Fury, but still have the 68, shows how much better the 68 was built as compared to a 85, the 85 had all the power options, it was more like the 5th Ave then a gran Fury..... Glad to see you still have one on the road, I also had a 82 Cordoba full options, and the first thing I did was buy the leanburn / computer bypass.

try a colder firing spark plug like NKG it might help with the misfire/timing problem it might NGK

This vid is oddly satisfying. I can't believe I made it all the way to the end. Good job man 👍

Nicely done video . Refreshing to see a forgotten car cared for and fairly evaluated. I had an 83 Cordoba on the road for many years it was a beautiful smooth ride . Extremely dependable . The one thing that did break was the lean burn developed a big of idle , ironically it happened just when the clock rolled over to 100 k.

Now you show me, after I bought my 88 IROC-Z convertible!

Great video, I remember seeing these everywhere back in the day.

You're totally right. This Gran Fury mid side sedan stop making in 1989 as well as the Dodge Diplomat. That kind of car won't be back anymore. They both were popular in its time, even as Police Cruiser in USA, and many other countries

This car is found literally in every b movie car chase

I had an 84 Dodge Diplomat, which was basically the same car as the Plymouth Fury. I don't know why, but I really loved that car growing up. I remember the police cars in New York City were Plymouth Furys. I dropped a high compression 360 with a Crower cam into it, and ended up busting the rear end.

I got to drive a a Chrysler Fifth Avenue fairly regularly as a courtesy car at a rental place in '88, and I loved it in all its button tucked, Landau roofed, wire wheel covered, chromed glory. The engine had a ton of torque and the car was smooth and quiet and rattle free as you say.

I have an 85 & 88 Gran Fury, plus a 1988 Diplomat and an 85 %th Avenue. I removed the electronic lean burn system & installed a non computer controlled Carby and HEI Distributor with vacuum advance to 3 of them (so far). I left the electronics box on the air cleaner for show but it's not connected. On my 88 Police model the ELB electronic are under the dash, not attached to the air cleaner. On any model, you can remove all the electronic control wiring harness (which i did) as it's an add on to the main harness. If you do this, you will be happier, the car will be far more reliable & better to drive. By the way the ELB electronic controller and wiring was added to this model in 1979 or 1980, that's why the electronics harness can easily be removed. Really nice cars to drive and I like the styling too.

My Dad had two 5th Avenue 86 and 87

Its interesting how my perspective of these old cars changes as I watch videos like these. I'd like to have one!

Chrysler M bodies are so beautiful and that 318 lasts for ever.

My father had the Chrysler Le Baron version of this platform. It had all factory options except AC. The power leather seats were the best I've ever sat on. The Lean Burn module was a nightmare but my father knew an electronics guy who replaced a few heavy duty transistors that were not heavy enough. After that there were no more issues with it. My father, a mechanic by trade, also put a 4 barrel carburetor and dome, larger tires, as well as a dual exhaust on it. Performance and handling improved greatly and mpg did not at all suffer. I was thinking about buying it but he traded it before I could. I regret that I missed out on it.

There’s something funny about seeing all those K Car parts bolted to a very ‘70s road boat.

Great video. A lot of fun as usual. Thank you.

No a/c, unusual even in the late 80's

I never cared for those cars when i was younger but i do appreciate this example and i think i'm coming around especially as time passes harder to find nice ones in this shape. Great color and just the right amount of chrome. I've always preferred the box Caprice and LTD Crown Victorias of the 80s. This is a nice little mid size car.

Nice car. But too bad Fascist government CAFE standards forced all of the American car companies to gimp all of their cars and this is a prime example of it.

Ok, now I need to add one of these to my fleet

Thank you for showing the Grand Fury. I a 1989 Dodge police .

Dodge Diplomat was my first car - 84 :) - it was fun, smooth - moved well enough for me - sadly it had lots of body damage, paint pealing etc. The one you found is absolutely pristine.

No air conditioning, deal-breaker.

Great videos in a great channel. Smart, articulate funny and insightful analysis and very good views of the car. And I love the soundtrack. Kudos from Europe!

I had a 69 Fury III. It was a living room on wheels. I loved that car. It was the party car in high school. Those were the days.

Cars like this have mostly disappeared off the roads in america. Always happy to see someone keeping them on the road and out of the junkyards.

Transitional times are the dark times when it comes to Automotive Technology. Generally in the 80's you were going from Carbs to Fuel Injection why'll also figuring out how to make power again despite emission regs. Truly a dark time for performance and reliability in vehicles that still should have been simple designs. NOW we are transitioning from normal cars to semi self driving and eventually full on self driving vehicles, cars now park themselves and drive the highway with no input from the drivers, I hope the teething issues go smoother than the 80's fixes lol. Great video, great music, and cool old car ya got there!

My dad had a Plymouth Fury when I was about 14 -15 yrs old. Um pretty sure it was a former police car. I remember it being very basic. But man that car was fast. The ol man wasn't one for speeding at all. But once while we were out in a father/son day he says "Watch this." And he stomped in the gas peddle and we were doing 90 in just a few short seconds. For a 14-15 yr.old that wad pretty impressive. It also played a part in my being a "car guy". Over the years I've kept an eye lout for a car like that one. Is love to restore it as a keepsake of my dad. But great video man. I appreciate your appreciation for that sort of mind set. Keep the great content coming.

I remember working on those cars back in the 90s when Philadelphia transferred over to the Caprice and Crown VICS theystarted getting rid of those cars we put on believe it or not put C clamps on the lien burn system on the side of the air cleaner crush it down and let it short out and theyStart Write up used to be able to pick those cards up at police auction for for 500 bucks a pop and then we do demolition derby with them fun memories

I had an 85 Dodge Diplomat with the 318 engine. Loved it and got over 300,000 miles. Almost the same as the Plymouth. Only problem was that electronic fuel control.

Jeff Bezos...what are you doing!!?? Shouldn't be driving a Bentley or something??? LOL

Love the quasi-pimp cruising tune! For this particular car... that seems about right.

A real panty dropper...drip,drip..😏👊🏻

i had a new 1984 ply a lot like yours. turn switch had to replaced under wanerty. the intake manifold had crack. a vacuum leak. i replaced it w/ Edebrock. and put the Direct Connection ignition on it. then the spider gears went out. JUNK JUNK JUNK.

Great video, Chris. I think all I would do is replace the headliner and remove the rest of the protective side trim. Maybe even the gran fury emblems. Just to see how many people have a clue what it is. I never realized how far ahead of the curve Chrysler was with computer controlled engine management. Ford and GM didn't have anything near that in 88. Thank God, but still. 😀

Has the exact same dashboard as my grandmother’s 1978 LeBaron. When she got rid of that, about 20 years ago, it still looked like new. Had the opportunity to drive it a few times when I was a teenager and absolutely hated it. Made my parents’ Oldsmobiles feel absolutely space-age in comparison.

That car is better than any new car you buy. Nice video 👍👌👌

Most people kept a hammer in the door so they could wack the that lean burn control computer when it wasn't functioning properly. Fixed it everytime.

I had the Chrysler Fifth Avenue version of this Plymouth. I ditched the Lean Burn ignition; it would go into "limp mode" quite often which meant it would barely run. So I converted mine to points. It ran like a champ. Today, you can convert these Lean Burns to electronic ignition, but the conversion kits weren't readily available back in 1995 when I had my Chrysler. Nice Plymouth, trash that Lean Burn ignition and you'll appreciate this car even more.

I’ve got an 81 that Had the leanburn removed. Now it’s just a regular distributor. It might not be 100% original but it makes it so much more efficient

Such a cool video! Gotta love 70/80s land yachts. So much character

In a similar way, this car reminds me a lot of the 1988 Buick Electra Park Avenue sitting in the driveway right now. 80s cars were absolutely beautiful driving machines. We will never have cars like these again.

OK this was a great video to stumble on. You are a man of fine taste I can see right away. A Corvair in your garage. A Crown Vic in your driveway. Subbed.

I had a work car, 1980 Ply Gran Fury Police package with the lean burn. At about 85,000 miles it starting going into limp mode. Shop couldn't figure out why and didn't want to throw parts at it (at about $1000 a crack) so the car went to auction. Other then that it was a fantastic car, one of the best big American cars ever built. It was the full size rather then your "camry sized" one. But we also had these "little" fury's and the Dodge versions were really good.. The aspens were not as nice and for some reason the aspens wandered all over the road whereas the Dodges tracked straight.

Great car!! I drove one of these a long time ago. If you really enjoy it you should fix the headliner and please dump the igniton. You guys in the US really have a lot of cheap options to do this. A great looking(dont modify a thing) and driving car would be the best tribute to the original owner...

I appreciate your appreciation. The 'Daily' cars need love the most.

I drove one of these as an unmarked highway patrol car. Even with the beefed up police specs, that electronic spark control system had a very nasty habit of causing the engine to stall out at the worst of times, IE. in pursuits, mid arc of a hard u-turn or basically any time that was likely to send you to meet your maker. I hated them for police work but they did make pretty decent family vehicles. Great to see such a nice example has survived.

Very nice and beautiful car ever!

All the glitz that you can ever ask for!

I remember that car! My friend had one in brown with a tan interior. The radio was broken. So, we used to drive around with a boom box on the center arm rest. And yeah, the head liner was falling down too.

I love the tufted ceiling. ;-)

Reminds of of my 86 Mercury Grand Marquis LS. Nice ride.

i love these razor-sharp edges of that design era,

Looks like my friends 1981 Diplomat we rode in to school in 1998-1999

Keep it up you are the man! 👍 I'm very happy with my Fifth Avenue which is virtually the same car is my daily driver. However, if you want to get rid of the miss firing get rid of the lean burn computer system the only way you have to fix your problem like i did with my Fifth Avenue. I know you want it original but you can keep it original just getting rid of the computer doesn't hurt it's originality at all. Like i did, just cut down the catalyst, put a holley 4bbl 600cfm carb advance the timing 4° degrees and you will see the difference in HP. I don't give 2 cents about gas mileage i just want a High Performance Daily driver, also the Fifth Avenue came with a 8.3/4 rear end mine have a factory 354 Dana in it! I was amazed that was the '69 Charger was equipped with.

Yess new videos from you. I have been waiting, Love the content. Ps it reminds me of my 89 Lincoln lol similar in a few ways looks like a fun cruiser

The headlining in the roofs of those Chrysler cars of that body type were notorious for falling, but you're right, they were like a small living room on wheels.

Loving the Grand Fury. Malaise era goodness.

I always liked the styling of the late 80's Grand Fury. I used to own a 1987 Chevrolet Caprice Classic Brougham with the same kind of magenta felt interior of this Grand Fury. So many similarities. It had a 305 and was smooth as glass. I sold it to middle eastern man who exported V8 rear wheel drive cars to Saudi Arabia. Had was and is cheap in SA. 25 cents a gallon. They couldn't care less about gas mileage.

My 83 cordoba came with lean burn and i got rid of it for a hei based ready to run system. If you actually plan on getting rid of the lean burn, that would be ideal. Dont mess with the old chrysler ignition system.

Thats honestly a nice car. I made some money working on those back in the day. But a very smooth ride!

I worked at a big Chrysler/Plymouth dealership at that time this car was new. The majority of these made went into police service and were not what the public could buy. When the New Yorker was redesigned for 88, the Gran Fury just seemed to disappear from the earth.

l miss the Gran Fury. I remember when these cars used to dominate the NYPD fleet of police cars.

I had two Dodge vans. 87 and 90. Chrysler did a really big improvement in 90 on electronic ignition. The only piece of that puzzle that then needed replacement every 20 to 30 thousand was the oxygen sensor. But the 90. The 318 2 bbl was running with power like it was suppose to. I understand the idea of keeping it original. But if your going into making it a driver. Go with the conversion. You will still have the bones of original. Good story.

Long term (maybe even short term) you'll save money and headaches by tossing all that electronic crap in the trash and just putting on a new carb and distributor. There's nothing quite as much fun as having Chrysler "electronics" fail while on a nice country ride with the family. Except when they decide to stop working on the highway, with traffic flying by at 70mph. Oh wait, that's just terrifying.