Learn more about some of the best looking, "huge" Chryslers, Plymouths, Dodges and Imperials ever produced, including the: 1. 1969-71 Chrysler 300 2. 1972 Plymouth Fury 3. 1972 Imperial 4. 1972 Dodge Monaco 5. 1970 Plymouth Sport Fury
I own a 1970 chrysler 300 2 door coupe in white, black vinyl roof, bucked seats, interior in black. 440 TNT ,sure grip 3.23 rear Man i love every second that i spend in this car
My 71 had the never-available tnt 440. It had to have been a goof or a special order car. It's numbers matching and I have the build sheet. Also has the rare trailer tow group with the huge trans cooler.. 3.23 sure grip and 7 leaf rear springs... its an oddity
@@tonychasey7990 that's very nice Mine has the 7 leaf spring too, as well a rear defroster and heat and to top it off i do have km/h instead of mp/h on my speedometer
My Dad has my Grandmother's 1974 Imperial LeBaron Coupe. The car is huge, but certainly a beautiful car with a gorgeous interior. The exterior paint is Moonstone (Grayish Beige), with a Parchment (Vanilla Envelope) interior and full vinyl roof. The color combination is beautiful and the car is brand new. It has an original 19,000 miles on the original 440 c.i. engine and a factory Steel Sunroof. Not a ding, dent, or scratch inside and out.
I had a 1973 Plymouth Fury back in the early 80’s. It was the size of a cruise ship and got about 6 miles to a gallon. When I floored it, I can actually see the fuel gauge going down and smell the gas going into the carburetor. What a car!😂
I was so fortunate that Dad purchased a ‘70 - 300 sedan. My recollection was it had the 440 TNT. Every Friday night it was about getting to the cottage in under 2 hours. That 440 was exercised!!!😅
@bobtepedino5661 Your reply to me doesn’t appear on the thread but I got the notification. I clicked the link and to my surprise it worked but RU-vid wouldn’t let me reply directly. (They don’t like links for some reason.) That Cord is a beautiful car. I screenshot it. Those must be the Woodlites you mentioned. I see what you mean about the 72 Imperial parking lights being reminiscent of them. Also, thanks for the compliment. I have had some strange comments about my username from people who don’t seem to get it. That’s half the fun sometimes.
Oh gosh, now I will be floating on air the rest of the day...my favorite big cars ever! We had a 72 New Yorker, neighbor had a Grand Fury, down the street was an Imperial...I still think the styling is retro-futuristic and handsome as anything...hidden headlights always a huge plus. Thanks for this feature!
My first car I purchased when I was 19 years old was a Chrysler 300 with the 440 4 barrel carb. Beautiful Green 2 door with the Landau too. I bought it from the wife of a Dr. who had just passed away for $1,100. It had 10,000 miles in it. My goodness was it beautiful. My favorite vehicle I have ever owned.
My Dad had a 1971 Chrysler Town & Country and it was a beast. It had its gremlins though. Undersized radiator which needed to be removed and flushed every 2 years, starters were an issue and lastly, because of the torque, the left engine mount would routinely break. Other than that, we loved it. It was a handsome car. I learned how to drive in it.
As a teenager in 1983, my parents bought me a 1971 Chrysler Newport coupe to drive. It had the 360-2bbl engine, 3.28:1 rear end axle white with black interior it was a rock solid cruiser and drove great . I remember once I was in a accident with my neighbors Ford Fairmont station wagon, our driveways were exactly inline across the street, we both went to back out of our driveways at the same time and both looked the street was clear and hit each other. The Fairmont had it's rear door and quarter panel caved in pretty good. I got out of my Newport to see what damage was on my car and absolutely nothing, just a red paint mark on the rear bumper that wiped right off. It only got 9 mpg and as a 19 year old I couldn't afford to gas that car up all the time so I sold it. Great car, great memories.
1970 Sport Fury with the hidden headlights has always been my favorite of these style cars....I remember racing one in Florida back in '90 on Spring Break! He slighty took my Camaro at a roll.
I used to have a green gran fury and once in a while a passenger would get in the back seat and ask me what happened to the "d" on the C pillar. I miss those days.
@@WalkiTalki lmao. I actually fell in love with the 72 Fury by missing out on purchasing a green one when I was 16. They look good in green, or in any color for that matter lol
Saw a 70 300 Hurst in person for the first time a few days ago. I was blown away by how large that car is, but also by how good it looks. I have a 59 LeSabre hardtop and 77 LeSabre Sport coupe and the 300 Hurst almost makes them look small. I think the elongated trunk of the 300 helps exaggerate how big it is.
@@RareClassicCarsWeren't paid attention to because teenagers were looking at Vettes and Camaro's and those with a bit more maturity, that Cutlasses and formula Firebirds. My God are those 300's a car to behold. I grew up in a '69 Newport and my first car at 19 was a '71 Challenger R/T w/440. I had no idea what a rare bird I had. I just knew it was fast as hell. I'll be 60 soon and haven't driven a car that could light those tires up since I owned the R/T. With all these strong cars coming out now I'm torn as to what one to purchase. Another Challenger that's best going straight but can do an 11sec 1/4 or a low, gripping Vette sporting almost 5-600hp. Was fixed on the Mopar but these Corvettes are simply gorgeous. $65,000 to spend for a slightly used something. Somebody give this aging guy a direction. Please.
Me too. I specifically remember a red 1969 300 convertible (with the block lettering "Three Hundred" on the rear quarter panels) that was usually parked on the street near my elementary school in the early 1970s.
I've got a 70 300, I painted it white and gold, added cragars, and put the huge HURST decals on the rear quarters just like the Linda Vaughn special, a base white interior, and I actually put a hurst shifter in mine, everywhere I drive it, people are baffled, I put the correct parts on it, the questions keep coming, I have good taste.
If you ever watch the Steven Spielberg movie, The Sugar Land Express, many full size Mopars were used by the Texas Department of Public Safety. A 1973 Dodge Polara was the patrol car that was commandeered by Goldie Hawn and her boyfriend and suffered from the styling changes that were required by the bumper standards. A few 1972 Polaras were in the movie, a blue under cover unit being driven by the Troopers captain and was also featured prominently in the movie. The grill and bumper treatments were cleaner and combined an egg create grill with a semi loop bumper and fixed quad headlamps. The movie has a nice representation of domestic autos from Chrysler/Dodge, Ford and AMC as law enforcement vehicles of the era and is one of those movies you can watch over and over.
I love a '72 Polara, the original Walking Tall has a few good chases with them. So ugly they're just mean. I'd be pleased as can be to have an E58, E68 or E86 in a clean one.
I have a soft spot in my heart for these cars, especially the ‘70 Monaco. I grew up and learned how to drive in one. I appreciate the honorable mention for the reverse lights. It was a handsome car I regret not buying from my parents.
Wow what beautiful cars. My grandfather had the Chrysler 300 a hardtop with the 440 TNT. My dad had a 70 and 71 Newport at the same time. My favorite is the Plymouth Sport Fury. Thanks for covering these beautiful cars.
My uncle bought a new '69 Fury two door (green exterior/318) after his '68 GTO was stolen. I remember him discussing the fuselage styling with my dad back in the day. I always thought it was a good looking car. Thanks for the memories!
The wrap around bumpers really set Mopars apart from other manufacturers. I like that they made the ends of the bumpers flush with the sides of the body ...it made the cars look very sleek.
I had a 1970 Dodge Monaco for a winter beater, 383 2-bbl, great car. I loved the looks, even if it was a 4-door version. The 2-door '70 Monaco looked great from all angles, from the double headlights and loop chrome front bumper to the beltline to the mean-looking taillights and clean rear bumper, with the aforementioned slitted reverse lights positioned above the rear bumper.
When I was a kid, my mother had a '72 Fury III with a 318. We had that car for many years. It had 250k miles on it when she traded in in for a Horizon. That Fury was the best, most trouble free car we ever owned. It was burning oil pretty bad toward the end, but I still would see it around town for about a year after we sold it.
The best thing about cars from this era is you can easily do modifications to get more power. And you can also remove bumper guards and other things like that to improve the looks. Some exterior modifications are easier than others. But compared to modern vehicles. Cars from the 80s and earlier are relatively simple to modify to be whatever you want
I use to have a 1969 Chrysler 300 Conv. with a 440 4brl carb. Loved that car and got many looks with it. It was a bright scarlet red, a real eye catcher. My favorite Plymouth was the 1969 Plymouth, Loved the square front and rear end look.
A 16yr old today would be looking for the "park assist" button. Lol. Back then, we needed actual driving skills to pilot and park these land yaughts. I learned to drive in a '77 New Yorker, and, yes, had to parallel park it. It was like docking the Santa Maria.😂
My first "real" car was a cream colored 1969 Chrysler Newport four door sedan with a 383 cu. in. engine. I bought the car from a dealer in 1977 and paid $300.00 for the car. Quite nice for a first time car, sadly I was not to have it very long as one night I was out driving it with some friends and a drunk driver crossed the center line and hit my car nearly head on. The car was totaled but none of us got hurt.
💯 agree on your #1. It was very difficult in this era to get an attractive aesthetic on the front and rear of the vehicle, not to mention ones that complimented each other. 👍🏼
@Smarzie7769 yes and no: they were available on some higher-end cars, and were used by a number of coachbuilders on custom bodies. Auburn was one of the manufacturers that offered Woodlites as optional equipment. They were however, not exclusive to any single marque, and could be purchased aftermarket as well. I imagine they were not inexpensive to buy.
Literally my favorite American cars ever - the C Body fuselage Chryslers. Stunning, badass vehicles. I vacillate about my favorite regularly…Thanks for this video, Adam!
1968 Newport sedan - the family car my girl friend would triple digit bomb down two lane blacktops in the Yoop back woods. Or the 1971 Barracuda. My dad had one, but it only had the slant 6. Still, the teenage me got it up to 105 one crazy night!
I love them too, and even figured out how to do a 'back yard rebuild' on the servos, and make the covers close down, on my old '68 Cougar. The 'open seal' is inside and usually never fails, while the 'close seal' is retained (via a staked-in retaining ring) to the top of the canister, where it is supposed to seal against the actuator shaft. The seal also has a bellows style boot. The seals degrade and the shafts get pitted. I got some intact 'close seals' from a 1980 T-bird in a junkyard, and tried to JB Weld the pitting..
That printed "THREE HUNDRED" on the rear quarter panel just strikes me as Chrysler's polite way of printing "F*** YOU" on the side of their car. Truly striking.
If I’m not mistaken, the guy who made the decision to spell it out instead of using “300” digits was reamed by the bosses because it cost an extra 18 cents per car to drill the holes for all those letters. By 1969, Chrysler was already in the hands of the bean counters making cuts everywhere.
Great video!! I have owned seven "fusey" era Mopars Including a '72 Monaco and a '69 Chrysler 300 ragtop and loved them all. My number one favourite was the '69 300 followed by the '72 Monaco. The only negatives, IMO were their rust issues and the somewhat 'plasticky' interiors, compared to the previous generation. I love your channel!
I'm happy to see some more Mopar content from you, Adam. I, too, LOVE the look of the late 60s, early 70s fuselage Mopars. Some of the best looking, timeless designs to EVER come out of Detroit in my opinion. The Monaco of that era is one of my dream cars. They got the styling just perfect. They are some of my favorite looking cars. Great content as always Adam. Keep it up!
My Dad bought a 73 Fury III 4dr. Hardtop. It was turquoise with a white vinyl roof. Impossible to lose in a parking lot. It became my second car. I loved the signal indicators on the fenders. The radio on the dashboard was difficult for adding a cassette deck though. I loved that starship.
Adam, I would equip a 'Fuselage' Fury with a Slant 6 and go into the taxi business. For family duties it would be hard to beat the Suburban wagon with a 383 2 barrel. When a sensible level of luxury is the priority, a nicely optioned Newport with a 383 2barrel will do the trick. The idea of paying the extra dough for Premium fuel would not have appealed to me any more in 1969 than it does today. 😉😉😉
That 383 2 barrel engine was standard on the Newport and was offered as optional equipment on many Dodge and Plymouth cars as well. It provided plenty of torque to move the heavier cars well despite its short stroke (3.375"). It was one of the best designed engines Chrysler ever produced.
Dear Adam: A great video on the fuselage Chrysler products. I owned a 1969 300 hardtop sedan for many years. White, with a black vinyl top and a black vinyl interior. It had four-wheel power drum brakes, which worked really well. That 440 c.i. plant always wanted to go faster, and 90 miles-per-hour was that cars' natural speed. Divorce forced sale, and it was actually exported to Switzerland. My oldest son is still mad at me six years later for selling that. He's not wrong. Maybe I should have gone to Ramen noodles three times per day instead of just twice... -RDM
One of my favorite cars was my 1972 New Yorker Brougham. A beautiful car. I was working for a Chrysler-Plymouth dealer at the time, so I could order my 2dr coupe with the Dealer Demo Pack option, an option that included every possible option, and when there were multiple versions it would include the best of them. It was big, the trunk actually could carry more stuff than our Vega station wagon. We used it to tow a medium sized house trailer, and with the combination of its mass and the torque of the 440 engine you almost had to look in the mirror to see if the trailer was still there.
Watching your RU-vid channel has given me a new appreciation for Chrysler! I've only ever thought of them as worth nothing more than taxi cabs and cop cars! You do important work educating the public with this awesome era of American automobiles!
Had a 1970 Newport convertible back in '83 and bought a 1970 300 coupe for parts just to swap the hidden headlight front styling. I would loved to have the Hurst edition of the 300, but even back then they pretty rare and expensive.
At 15 (1974) my parents bought a new Cadillac Sedan de Ville. BUT my dad wanted an Imperial. Mother was born & raised in Oklahoma in the middle of the Depression and was determined to have her status symbol (they were both school teachers in SoCal. Lol). As a soon to be driver, nothing was more cool than the new Eldorado convertible in the showroom. BUT... I DO remember the Imperial had a far better ride and interior (quieter) and I often wondered how things might have been had we bought one. Neither car is seen much at all anymore. Great video!
Dad had a company owned '69 Fury II, not the prettiest of the fuselages, but an absolute glutton for punishment. We poured a long, looping driveway on our new house, abusing that car with thousands of lbs. of crushed stone and cement in the process. It was unbreakable, and I visited the town recently to note the drive still looks presentable, 55 yrs. Later.
4:40 our Fury Suburban wagon had that front grille, which set that car apart from all the other station wagons of the time. It was like a Charger wagon to me. We had problems with the rear axle and suspension that they never could get sirted out fully, according to my dad.
I graduated highschool in '73, and our driver's ed' cars were '73 Plymouth Fury's with 318 2bbl and Torqueflite trannies. I still think Chrysler did the best job of incorporating the 5mph bumper standard among the Big 3. I was horrified by the 'chrome-plated crossties' and slab-faced front ends employed by GM and Ford. AMC also deserves honorable mention for '73 bumper styling, except for Gremlin and Hornet. Excellent content as always, thanks for sharing these lovely cars.😁
Completely agree! Chrysler did a great job of stylizing their bumpers. Ford was the worst. All of their bumpers looked the same. I used to call them Ford's 'loading ramp' bumpers!
I was never a fan of the fuselage MOPARS, but they are growing on me. The ones I don't like at all are the early 60s Plymouths and Dodges that you mentioned here.
Grandpa had the 73 Monaco. His was a beautiful dark blue. It leaked like a sieve and had significant initial quality issues, but once those were ironed out, it lasted forever. (Unfortunately, longer than him, he only lasted until 1974)
I like the 70 Sport Fury and the 69 to 71 Chrysler 300. I think they look awesome. The ones with dual exhaust also had a nice big block rumble going down the road. My first car was a 70 Sport Suburban and it was just great, very reliable and the front looked cool with the hidden headlights. The 383 in it was sweet - never met anybody who didn't like their 383. The car was $275 and I drove it for years. Now a battery and the oil and filter cost that much.
Why do I like these fuselage design and era in Chrysler? 70 to 72 for me. I think it's a mental illness. 😂 i adore the 64 to 66 Imperial convertible, and the 72 sporty 2 door Imperial le baron. I forgot the 72 monaco. The 72 Imperial 2 door or a 65 or 66 Imperial convertible is on my short list, btw.
For my first car (back in 1976), my dad wanted me to buy a 1970 Dodge Monaco. He was allowed to drive it home to show me. I looked at it and said NO WAY! That thing was a monster…… just so enormous. I ended up buying a 1973 Buick Apollo. That car was smaller but was a major lemon🍋☹️
I had a 1972 Plymouth Fury 4 door with the hide away headlights. This was by far my favorite car. It was equipped with a 360 2bbl 727 transmission. Unfortunately, it ended in an accident on a snowy day, and I was unable to acquire the parts needed to repair it within the time I had. I was 19 years old then, and had nowhere to store it, and against my will it was sent to the scrap yard. Beige with green interior and high back bench. There isn't a day that goes by that I don't miss that car. I do so wish the situation had been different. What Erks me most is that all it needed was a doghouse and a radiator, the frame and everything else was completely intact, and the engine still ran perfectly. The doghouse was damaged from hitting a tree due to the snowy conditions, and the fact I was heading down a hill with a curve at the bottom. The only thing fortunate was that the tree saved me from ending up in a creek. The consequences of being young. Great video, thank you for sharing.
If I ever was to be in to full size cars, Chrysler's had the style. Your selections are pretty spot on. I'm an open air car guy so convertible 300. My dad influenced my vehicle purchases for my first three cars, B body sculptured Chevy's which lost it's style points in '71.🏁🇺🇸
I would say the 69 Fury (too stubby fron and rear) and to a lesser extent Polara/Monaco aren't quite winners, but the rest of them through 72 were generally handsome beasts. The 72 re-roof on the coupes lacked some the pizazz of the original. Always loved the very underrated 72/73 Monaco front end. I have to hand it to Mopar on the hidden healights - for conistency across the C body line, they probably had the best treatment on one basic body shell on multiple car lines across several years of any.
Had the privilege to drive a 1972-3 era Monaco station wagon SE version, loaded, power windows, locks, etc. as a teenager. Still would rather have an 72 Imp. though.
I worked for a Chrysler-Plymouth dealer from 1968-70. We noticed that the 1969 models got about 2 mpg better gas mileage than the 1970 models. This was due to emissions-related changes to carburation and ignition timing. The vacuum advance was altered from 1969 to 1970, resulting in lower power output and higher fuel consumption. How this reduced emissions is hard to fathom, but I guess it made sense to the engineers at Chrysler at the time.
