New here, introduction and story about my 1959 Sport Fury
Posted: Wed Jun 09, 2004 1:52 am
Ok I should say hi since I'm the newest member here. I'm very exited to have come across this site of other 1959 owners. I've owned a Iceberg white 1959 SF for about 5-years now. Its a survivor car with very little body work done. The chrome, interior, engine trans, driveline are all in-tact save for a engine rebuild at right close to 80K and a transmission replacement late 1960 - early 1961 (somewhere in there):shock: I'm going to be posting in the tech forum in a couple of days about some issues I have right now with how the car is running, parts I'd like to get, and I'll be posting some pictures of the car, but first the story.
In July of 1959 my dad needed a new car to drive since his last car was ran over by a large milk truck . He had a handful of cars, but only 1 was the daily driver and that was the late 1953 Ford Delux Vic. The other two cars were drag machines he built, 32 Highboy roadster, and I think a 40's Chevy coupe. Anyhow he needed another car, but had lost his license temporarily for racing. He contacted the manager, whome he knew from working at the local garage, of the Plymouth/Dodge dealer in Ogden. He told him to have the best looking car sent to his house with the best deal he could do. Within the hour the manager showed with a new 1959 Plymouth Sport Fury. It was Iceberg white, with bronze interior, V800 318 tqflt, dual rear antennas, radio, and heater options. The deal was $2,880 OTD. It was such a neat car that it convinced his good friend to get a Plymouth.
Shortly there after the car was used for everything from to and from work at the garag, towing the roadster to the track, and racing at the track/street when the roadster wasn't running right or broke! This led to the competition between friends in stock-automatic class. There are some good stories to go with this but that will come later.....
This hard treatment lead to the transmission failure in late 1960 and to the rather early engine rebuild at not quite 80K some years later. Fast forward to the early 1980's... The car had survived but had some "issues" the heads needed to be redone and with rust in the very lower sections of the body and underneath. The car was sent to a shop for the body "work". filler was used instead of new metal so by the late 90's it was a little shabby again with cracks etc, but the car was never in shows as my dad didn't think that anyone really wanted to see the "old bucket of bolts":o We tried to get him to put it in shows as it was all original and still looked really nice. He wanted no part of it at the time.
It wasn't until fall '99 I obtained a Cameo white 455 Superduty Trans Am and convinced him that the Fury really was something the crowds would like to see. That winter it went under the scope and the engine bay was detailed and painted, new tires, new brakes, the undercarrage was fixed better, new metal went into the body, the trunk linings were replaced, new dashmat, detailed the hubcaps, painted the wheels, chrome was polished, new material to replace the aged rear deck, all them little details that help, oh and a fresh coat of white. It still needs to have the front bumper straitened and a couple of peices under the hood need replacing, but over-all its one of the best "non-restored" cars around. During this time my father became increasingly "sick" of the car. As he put it, he was tired of looking at it. His intention was to sell it now that it was completed. I told him that he would be upset to loose that car after all these years and told him he should let it go to a family member.... Unfortunately I didn't have the money at the time, I had just picked-up and freshened that 455 T/A. So for a very small down-payment, a 32oz Diet Pepsi, he agreed to keep the car until I could finish paying for it. a few years several thousand $ and lots of sodas:lol:, we are about finished, still have a little to go, but won't take long now. So there we are... thats how I came to own a 1959 Sport Fury complete with tons of centimental value and good memories. I remember lots of times, riding around in it, thinking that push-button drive was so neat, and listening to the roar of that big V8. I really liked the swivel seat thing too...
Wow long story, sorry for that, I'll get some photos set-up in the next couple of days. I'm looking forward to getting to know all of you.
In July of 1959 my dad needed a new car to drive since his last car was ran over by a large milk truck . He had a handful of cars, but only 1 was the daily driver and that was the late 1953 Ford Delux Vic. The other two cars were drag machines he built, 32 Highboy roadster, and I think a 40's Chevy coupe. Anyhow he needed another car, but had lost his license temporarily for racing. He contacted the manager, whome he knew from working at the local garage, of the Plymouth/Dodge dealer in Ogden. He told him to have the best looking car sent to his house with the best deal he could do. Within the hour the manager showed with a new 1959 Plymouth Sport Fury. It was Iceberg white, with bronze interior, V800 318 tqflt, dual rear antennas, radio, and heater options. The deal was $2,880 OTD. It was such a neat car that it convinced his good friend to get a Plymouth.
Shortly there after the car was used for everything from to and from work at the garag, towing the roadster to the track, and racing at the track/street when the roadster wasn't running right or broke! This led to the competition between friends in stock-automatic class. There are some good stories to go with this but that will come later.....
This hard treatment lead to the transmission failure in late 1960 and to the rather early engine rebuild at not quite 80K some years later. Fast forward to the early 1980's... The car had survived but had some "issues" the heads needed to be redone and with rust in the very lower sections of the body and underneath. The car was sent to a shop for the body "work". filler was used instead of new metal so by the late 90's it was a little shabby again with cracks etc, but the car was never in shows as my dad didn't think that anyone really wanted to see the "old bucket of bolts":o We tried to get him to put it in shows as it was all original and still looked really nice. He wanted no part of it at the time.
It wasn't until fall '99 I obtained a Cameo white 455 Superduty Trans Am and convinced him that the Fury really was something the crowds would like to see. That winter it went under the scope and the engine bay was detailed and painted, new tires, new brakes, the undercarrage was fixed better, new metal went into the body, the trunk linings were replaced, new dashmat, detailed the hubcaps, painted the wheels, chrome was polished, new material to replace the aged rear deck, all them little details that help, oh and a fresh coat of white. It still needs to have the front bumper straitened and a couple of peices under the hood need replacing, but over-all its one of the best "non-restored" cars around. During this time my father became increasingly "sick" of the car. As he put it, he was tired of looking at it. His intention was to sell it now that it was completed. I told him that he would be upset to loose that car after all these years and told him he should let it go to a family member.... Unfortunately I didn't have the money at the time, I had just picked-up and freshened that 455 T/A. So for a very small down-payment, a 32oz Diet Pepsi, he agreed to keep the car until I could finish paying for it. a few years several thousand $ and lots of sodas:lol:, we are about finished, still have a little to go, but won't take long now. So there we are... thats how I came to own a 1959 Sport Fury complete with tons of centimental value and good memories. I remember lots of times, riding around in it, thinking that push-button drive was so neat, and listening to the roar of that big V8. I really liked the swivel seat thing too...
Wow long story, sorry for that, I'll get some photos set-up in the next couple of days. I'm looking forward to getting to know all of you.