Chrysler ’s breadwinner learned a hard lesson in the early 1960s that might be summarized by paraphrasing an old proverb : " If you ca n’t beat ‘em , rejoin ‘em . " Plymouth quickly regroup and come up with the 1965 - 1966 Plymouth Sport Fury and VIP .
Plymouth ’s shrunken 1962 standards were no sale match against full - size Chevys and Fords . Neither was their oddball styling , though that became more Russian Orthodox for 1963 - 1964 .
But by that time , a raw squad of designers and manager had seen the errors of their predecessor ’s way and had decided to put the mainstream Plymouths back into the mainstream – with a vengeance .
The result was a hugely successful furrow of " Roaring ' 65s . " Not only was it the large-minded lineup in Plymouth chronicle , it featured true full - size automobile for the first time in four old age . Fittingly , those fresh bighearted ones were call off Fury , a name conversant from recent top - blood Plymouth .
Motor Trenddescribed the new order this mode : " If corporation executives felt nervous about Plymouth ’s lost market penetration – if they blamed this expiration on the car ’s looking a little different – they need concern no longer . Their designers have capably take up most of the clichés that helped their rivals . . . .
" [ T]here ’s a veritable kaleidoscope of four freestanding trimness combinations ( Fury 1 , II , III , and Sport Fury ) . . . plus last yr ’s basic body with a tasteful new expression to fill the intermediate - size of it ( Belvedere ) need . . . . "
In size and appearance as well as target marketplace , the reborn big Plymouth was both Chevy Impala and Ford Galaxie . It precisely duplicated their 119 - in wheelbases ( 121 for Fury Plough ) and arrive within fractions of an inch of their other dimension .
Model choices were standardized , too . Fury I and II were available in two- and four - door sedan chair and four - door wagons . Fury III take out the two - room access but added a hardtop sedan , hardtop coupe , and convertible ; the last two repeat as bucket - seat Sport Furys .
Go to the next page to larn about 1965 - 1966 Plymouth Sport Fury and panjandrum styling .
For more data on motorcar , see :
Continued
Styling for the 1965 - 1966 Plymouth Sport Fury and VIP somehow flux 1965 Ford and Chevy . Of course , Elwood Engel and his Highland Park design crew could n’t mayhap have see those cars in advance , yet they came up with stacked quadriceps headlamps , as on Ford ’s Modern 1965 face , and Chevy - style back dialog box with individual ( I , II ) or forked ( ternion and Sport Fury ) taillamps .
If resolutely inoffensive , the raw Plymouth Furys at least looked good . More importantly , they look sufficiently different to debar ruinous gross revenue conflicts with the 1965 Chryslers and older dodging build on the same new C - torso program .
That cornerstone persist of unibody design but with a front subframe as in 1960 - 1961 ( for easier haphazardness and palpitation dominance ) , not full - building block mental synthesis as on Plymouth ’s 1962 - 1964 " monetary standard . "
Powerplants were the common corporate array , ranging from 225 - cid Slant Six through 318 and " Commando " 383 V-8s up to a big 426 chock with 365 horse . Three - on - the - tree manual was received , but Plymouth Fury vendee by and large opted for TorqueFlite reflexive , which now lost its hallowed pushbuttons for a conventional column shift .
Motor Trendmourned the pushbuttons ' passage , the upshot of a merchandising bailiwick . " We ’ve never talked to anyone who ’s beat back with buttons who ’d manage to go back to the editorial - mounted lever . level - mounted , yes – but column , no ! At least the TorqueFlite has n’t been commute . It ’s still the most positive shifting of any automatonlike on the market . "
As in every year since 1962 , the Sport Fury was Plymouth ’s trashy flagship , with stock 318 V-8 and buckets - and - console cabin . But the 1965s trade better than any Sport Fury before .
The $ 3,209 exchangeable , the class ’s dear Plymouth , almost doubled in sale over 1964 , while the $ 2,960 hardtop increased 160 percent to become the fifth best - selling Fury model . Symbolizing these winning ways , a ragtop Sport Fury paced the 1965 Indy 500 , the first Plymouth so honored .
Plymouth scored another first for 1965 : record model - year yield of more than 720,000 units . importantly , the Plymouth Fury line generated almost half of that total . Plymouth ’s 1966 model - year sales were low , volume ease to just under 684,000 as the industry took a breather after super - spicy 1965 .
Furys received a minor facelift for 1966 , with a slightly fussier stock split - theme grille and back panel . Changes were otherwise few , but front / rear seatbelts , padded dash , and " guard " inside room access handle appear at Washington ’s insistence , and a unexampled wedgehead 440 V-8 replace the 426 as the top power choice , ( though it had the same rat ability ) .
The ragtop Sport Fury remained top - of - the - ancestry in price , but the prestigiousness Plymouths were the newfangled Fury VIP hardtop coupe and saloon . place forthright at the previous year ’s unexampled Chevy Caprice and Ford LTD , they come with woodgrain dash clipping and bodyside moldings , cloth or tufted - vinyl upholstery , and swiveling rear version lamps .
sale were n’t cracking - Caprice attracted something like 25 times more - but sufficient enough that the Fury very important person would hang around a few years , though not as long as the Sport Fury .
Check out our net section to see specification for the 1965 - 1966 Plymouth Sport Fury and VIP .
1965-1966 Plymouth Sport Fury and VIP Specifications
feature straight full - size cars for the first clock time in a few year , the 1965 - 1966 Plymouth Fury offer the broadest card in the automaker ’s history . determine specifications for this successful railway car below .
Specifications
railway locomotive : all ohv V-8 ; 318 Criminal Investigation Command ( 3.91 x 3.31 ) , 230 horsepower ; 383 cid ( 4.25 x 3.38 ) , 270/325/330 HP ; 426 Criminal Investigation Command ( 4.25 x 3.75 ) , 365 H.P. ( 1965 only ) ; 440 Criminal Investigation Command ( 4.32 x 3.75 ) , 365 horsepower
Transmissions:3/4 - speed manual , 3 - hurrying TorqueFlite automatic
Suspension front : upper and down in the mouth A - arms , longitudinal contortion legal profession
Suspension tail : live axle on semi - elliptical leaf springs
pasture brake : front / rear metal drum
Wheelbase ( in.):119.0
weight unit ( lbs):3,715 - 3,780
Top velocity ( mph):105 - 120
0 - 60 miles per hour ( sec):8.5 - 10.5
