1960 Plymouth Fury Convertible

The first limited-edition, high-performance Plymouth Fury was introduced in 1956 and was basically a junior version of the Chrysler 300. When first introduced, they were available only in off-white with a gold-anodized body-side sweepspear. Other colors would appear during subsequent years.

Legendary designer Virgil Exner was the man responsible for this new styling, known as the 'Million Dollar Look', and would be used throughout the lineup, including on Plymouths, Dodge, DeSoto, Chrysler and Imperial cars for 1957. Another standard for 1957 was Chrysler's now familiar torsion bar front suspension and three-speed TorqueFlite automatic transmission.

In 1960, the Plymouth Fury was the top-of-the-line model in the companies' lineup. This example came painted in red and white with a white convertible top. It has a dealer transfer form showing that the car was originally titled in California in 1960 with black plate NVW-446 and transferred to another California buyer on December 2, 1963. It has spent most of its life in California.

This car was given a ground-up restoration including refinishing at George Barris's paint shop along with chrome, interior and mechanicals. It is powered by a numbers-matching 318 cubic-inch V8 engine with solid lifters producing 230 horsepower. There is a three-speed TorqueFlite push button automatic transmission and four-wheel power-assisted drum brakes. Power steering, power top, 'Aero' steering wheel, RCA Hi-Way Hi-Fi record player customized to an AM-FM CD player, front wheel-well opening stainless steel splash guards, and new Coker wide whitewall tires on Kelsey-Hayes chrome wire wheels are fitted to this example.

This 1960 Plymouth Fury is one of only 7,080 convertibles built for 1960.

In 2009, this Bentley S2 Continental Drop Head Coupe was offered for sale at the Sports & Classics of Monterey auction in Monterey, California presented by RM Auctions. The car was estimated to sell for $90,000-$120,000 and offered without reserve. The lot was sold for the sum of $66,000 including buyer's premium.

By Daniel Vaughan | Dec 2009