A summer car show at a lake resort village had an unusual entry in the form of a 1968 Plymouth Fury 2-door sedan that had undergone a serious attitude adjustment after Gerald Maat became its owner in 2015.
Gerald was searching for a first-generation Plymouth Road Runner when he “came across this car (’68 Plymouth Fury) and had to have it”, in his words.
Jim Sutherland
The car had been parked since 1979 and its previous owner was likely the Fury’s first owner, although there was no paper trail to confirm this information, according to Gerald. The big Plymouth had a Slant Six engine connected to a Torqueflite 3-speed automatic, but very few other options to add to the car’s luxury list, other than a factory AM radio.
Gerald is a self-confessed Mopar guy who had a Camaro Z-28 that he “replaced with the Fury”, to quote him. Initially, Gerald used the car in its stock form, but the Slant Six overheated under load so he decided to go in a completely different direction in terms of a powertrain.
The different direction was a beast mode 383 cubic-inch Chrysler big block with twin four-barrel carbs sitting on a tunnel ram intake manifold. The search for a tunnel ram intake was difficult for Gerald because they are very hard to find for 383 engines, according to him. He labeled the twin carb combination an “8-barrel” and celebrated the name with custom script on the Fury’s hood.
The big carburetors on the tunnel ram were tall enough to require some cutting on the hood so they could fit in the engine bay, a bold feature that gave the conservative Fury a completely different personality. Another change in the custom fit department occurred when Gerald swapped out the Slant Six engine mounts for big block mounts cut out of a donor C-Body Mopar.
The car has a 3:91 rear gear ratio that will roast the Fury’s rear tires upon request, particularly since Gerald added a 3500-stall converter to his transplanted 727 Mopar automatic transmission. The stall converter really “wakes it (the engine’s performance) up and makes it a lot happier”, in Gerald’s words. He calls the new engine’s performance “a little snippy”, a massive understatement in our opinion here at MyStarCollectorCar.
The trade-off with the low gear ratio is the Fury works hard on the highway if Gerald pushes it past its 60-65 mph (around 100 km/h) threshold and he finds 50-55 mph (between 80 and 90 km/h) makes the transplanted 383 happy, according to Gerald.
He added the car is relatively quiet inside the passenger compartment and most of the noise is heard by other drivers–mostly from its free-breathing exhaust system.
One of the most difficult pieces to find was a proper windshield for the 1968 Fury 1 two-door sedan because other Fury models from that year have a different design and will not fit. Consequently, Gerald was forced to buy a used windshield at a significant cost because of its rarity.
Nevertheless, Gerald is very happy with his investment in his muscled-out 1968 Fury 1-and who can really blame him?
Jim Sutherland
BY: Jim Sutherland
Jim Sutherland is a veteran automotive writer whose work has been published by many major print and online publications. The list includes Calgary Herald, The Truth About Cars, Red Deer Advocate, RPM Magazine, Edmonton Journal, Montreal Gazette, Windsor Star, Vancouver Province, and Post Media Wheels Section.
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