1961 Plymouth Fury

The Plymouth Fury styling was harmony of motion, and Chrysler engineers did a wonderful job at creating a powerful luxury automobile that was roomy and comfortable. Ever improving upon the previous year's model, the 1961 Plymouths had improved brake design, push-button transmission, and torsion suspension.

New 'unibody' Plymouths were introduced in 1960 and for 1961, the cars received a reskin 'below-the-beltline.' The front wore a new pinched aluminum grille styling, sweeping character line around the headlamps, and the tailfins, which had been first introduced in 1956, were dropped. There were clean sides, a wide rear deck, and 'rocket-pod' tail lamps. Futuristic space-age styling continued to the interior with 'TeleView' ribbon speedometer, semi-square Aero-Wheel, and asymmetrical Command Bench seating.

The Fury was a sub-series of the Belvedere from 1956 to 1958 and was sold only as a white two-door hardtop for 1956 and 1957, and 'Bucksin' beige for 1958, with gold anodized aluminum trim. The 1975 Sport Fury was Plymouth's top-of-the-line model while the Fury, replacing the Belvedere, was second from the top. Body styles included a four-door sedan, wagon, and two-door hardtop and sedan. The Sporty was solely a two-door hardtop and a convertible. 1960 brought unibody construction and a new 225 cubic-inch Slant six base engine. V8 engines included a 318, 361, 383, and 413 CID with outputs that reached 400 horsepower.

54,215 Plymouth Fury's were produced in 1961, with prices that ranged from $2,575 to $2,970. The base overhead-valve inline six-cylinder engine with an aluminum block displaced 225.5 cubic-inches and had solid valve lifters, four main bearings, a Carter one-barrel carburetor, and delivered 145 horsepower at 4,000 RPM. The eight-cylinder engine displaced 317.6 cubic-inches and delivered 230 horsepower at 4,400 RPM. A four-barrel 'Super Fury' version of the 317.6 CID, priced at $158, offering 260 horsepower. A 360.8 CID Golden Commando engine had 305 horsepower, a 383 CID V8 with four-barrel carburetors delivered 325 horsepower, and a 383 CID V8 with dual four-barrel carbs had 340 horsepower. The 413.2 CID delivered either 350 or 375 hp depending on setup. All dual four-barrel engines were equipped with 'Sonoramic' tuned ram induction intake manifolds.

Performance options included power brakes, power steering, TorqueFlite automatic transmission, and Sure-Grip positive traction rear axle. Additional options included dual air conditioning with heater, Solex glass, Saf-T-Matic power door locks, push-button radio, Hi-Fi radio, Deluxe steering wheel, RCA automatic record player, wheel covers, clock, and more.

by Daniel Vaughan | Nov 2020