1969 Fury I *Coupe* Police Patroller ?!?

[1972coronet]

WHOA ! What-ever is THIS bad boy ???? 

1969 Fury I two door coupe with A38 Conversion Package !! Never knew such an animal existed !

Its seller is calling it a Pursuit model --- with a 318 ? No way ! That's a Patroller with that engine ; a Pursuit version would have the 330hp 383 or 370hp 440 .

Never-the-less , a truly rare and unusual piece !

 http://smclassiccars.com/plymouth/135171-1969-plymouth-fury-police-pursuit-2-door.html

[espo]

This could be the real deal. The seller stated that the engine #'s didn't match and implied that the engine was not original to the car. The trim tag showing "special order" is but one tip off. The mechanical items  like the speedometer showing 140 MPH is a big indicator along with the brake drums. Most people creating clones usually don't get these items right. I think it would very uncommon for someone to order the base two door with the suspension and brakes seen here and I have my doubts that you could even get the 140 MPH speedo unless you were ordering through some state agency.  

[tim boyd]

3 hours ago, 1972coronet said:

WHOA ! What-ever is THIS bad boy ???? 

1969 Fury I two door coupe with A38 Conversion Package !! Never knew such an animal existed !

Its seller is calling it a Pursuit model --- with a 318 ? No way ! That's a Patroller with that engine ; a Pursuit version would have the 330hp 383 or 370hp 440 .

Never-the-less , a truly rare and unusual piece !

 http://smclassiccars.com/plymouth/135171-1969-plymouth-fury-police-pursuit-2-door.html

John.....that is very, very cool.  I wonder who is going to pull out their Galen Govier code books and figure out what the original engine was from the serial number/tag? 

TIM 

[1972coronet]

2 minutes ago, tim boyd said:

John.....that is very, very cool.  I wonder who is going to pull out their Galen Govier code books and figure out what the original engine was from the serial number/tag? 

TIM 

It's a 318 / 727-A combo ; the "F" in the 5th placement of the V.I.N. = 318 230hp ; the "E44" on the fender tag also equates to the 230hp 318 , and ; the "D36" = 727 TorqueFlite , Heavy Duty . 

Everything jibes ---- it's just such an unusual car ! 

P = Plymouth Full-Size

K = Police

2 = Two Door 

1 = Coupe ( 2 door ) / Sedan ( 4 door ) 

F = 318 two barrel 

9 = 1969

D = Belvedere Plant 

The second "SPECIAL ORDER" tag was applied to every police and taxi vehicle . If this were a Pursuit model , that other tag would also have "SPECIAL HANDLING" ; same goes for non-catalogued paint (however , this car is originally EW1 white , which is not a special order colour ) .

 

[Bucky]

Could it possibly been used by a detective, or supervisor?

[1972coronet]

58 minutes ago, espo said:

This could be the real deal. The seller stated that the engine #'s didn't match and implied that the engine was not original to the car. The trim tag showing "special order" is but one tip off. The mechanical items  like the speedometer showing 140 MPH is a big indicator along with the brake drums. Most people creating clones usually don't get these items right. I think it would very uncommon for someone to order the base two door with the suspension and brakes seen here and I have my doubts that you could even get the 140 MPH speedo unless you were ordering through some state agency.  

Chrysler would build a one-off car with the Certified Calibration Speedo ( 140 mph on big cars ; 120 mph on mid-sized , and on the 1976 Dart / Valiant police models ) , as it could be coded separately . Oftentimes when the police-car-spec codes were spec'd , the car's V.I.N. would have either an "L" or "E" in the 2nd-placement ( "L" = Low Price Class ; "E" = Economy Price Class --- translation : cheap-o , strip-o trim ) , and the "F" ( "Fleet" ) codes would be separately itemised on the fender tag and build sheet (except for , perhaps , Lynch Road Assembly --- their fender tags are vague at best !) .

I love the plain interior ; the rubber mats , cloth & vinyl seats ; the radio block-off plate ; the overall minimalism .

[1972coronet]

2 minutes ago, Bucky said:

Could it possibly been used by a detective, or supervisor?

That's not out of the realm of possibility . Typically , however , even Detectives were relegated to mid-sized vehicles ( e.g. , Belvedere , Coronet , etc. ) . Perhaps this car belonged to an agency whose officers were on the , shall we say , bigger-physique side .

[SfanGoch]

The detectives in NYC during the late '60s through the mid '70s all used Fury III 4DR land yachts. The tip-offs were the license plate numbers and the fact that almost every 4DR Plymouth one saw in the neighborhood was a cop car.  All of the plainclothes narcmobiles and detective squad Furys had plates which had a "KV" prefix followed by four digits (KV-5691, for example). They actually rotated plates; but, you'd always see the same plate reappear on another Fury III.

[Mark]

Neat car, but who's going to restore it with a two-barrel 318, and a non-original one at that?  Shove a four-barrel 440 in there, even if it's not original to the car as built.

[1972coronet]

31 minutes ago, Mark said:

Neat car, but who's going to restore it with a two-barrel 318, and a non-original one at that?  Shove a four-barrel 440 in there, even if it's not original to the car as built.

Or even stick a 360 in its place , 2 barrel and all ---- but with generous work to the heads , a healthy cam , etc.  

Even a period-correct 383 would be nice !

[1972coronet]

1 hour ago, SfanGoch said:

The detectives in NYC during the late '60s through the mid '70s all used Fury III 4DR land yachts. The tip-offs were the license plate numbers and the fact that almost every 4DR Plymouth one saw in the neighborhood was a cop car.  All of the plainclothes narcmobiles and detective squad Furys had plates which had a "KV" prefix followed by four digits (KV-5691, for example). They actually rotated plates; but, you'd always see the same plate reappear on another Fury III.

That's funny ! We could always spot undercover units , at least in the county areas ( the L.A. Sheriff's Office used to "repurpose" impounded cars , one of which was a 454-powered '85 Monte Carlo ! ) , whereas the city cars were rather sedate ; oftentimes , the habits of the driver gave them away in short order .

Now , where's my straw hat ? I need to toss it on the package tray shelf , park in the Lower East Side , and watch out for a 1971 Lincoln with French licence plates ! 

[SfanGoch]

Heh, Popeye wore a felt pork pie

So did Crazy Joe Gallo

 

[1972coronet]

I obviously got "Popeye" Doyle's hat mixed-up with the lyrics to I'm Waiting For My Man : , "...P.R. shoes / and a big straw hat..."  .

How about those 225-powered 1967-1968 Plymouth Fury NYPD cars in the garage scene in The French Connection !

Edited July 8, 2019 by 1972coronet

[SfanGoch]

Considering that they operate on traffic-congested streets, 225 HP was more than enough for the cops.  

[ChrisBcritter]

Odd that the ad copy seems to be a cut-and-paste from an eBay listing, but there are no matches for it under current or completed listings.

[SfanGoch]

Are you referring to the ad in SMclassiccars? It doesn't look like a cut & paste to me? Why would this car be listed in ebay anyway? Just curious.

[moparfarmer]

Our city police in Winnipeg had 1971 Plymouth coupes that were Police patrol packages with six cylinder engines..They were available..

 

[iamsuperdan]

Could get lost on that site! So many cool finds.

 

[OneTrickPony]

Some of the local PDs used Chief's cars set up like that for both police and fire departments. More "personal luxury" than pursuit.

[Muncie]

Hey!, Mom had one of those!

In the late 70's, we had it on it's second or third life.  It was an old state car. I don't believe it was a police car, probably a much more mundane office of government. There must have been at least two because it was a different color. I wasn't into decoding production codes so I can't tell you much about it.  I can verify that it was a 318 two barrel. 

[CapSat 6]

In speaking to a former Philly PD Policeman, he stated that they often got Slant 6 powered squad cars. His words: "we usually only ever needed a taxi in the city". 

The Philadelphia Police often experimented with smaller cars for patrol. Two-door Studebaker Larks, Ford Falcons, and the downsized Plymouths of '62-'63 were used as patrol cars back in the early '60's. 

The Philadelphia Police usually used full sized Fords or Plymouths from around 1966-1977, usually 2 doors until about 1970. Judging by pics I have found online, it looks like they used 2 door Plymouths in 1966, 2 door Fords in 1967-68, 2 or 4 door Plymouths in 1969, 4 door Fords in 1970, and 4 door Plymouths again in 1971-73. It was mostly 4 door Gran Fury Plymouths through most of the '70's, later, Ford Fairmounts and LTD's, and Chevy Caprices found their way into the mix with the Plymouths. They even tried Plymouth Horizons out in the late 70's (THAT did not last too long!). They might have also split contracts in some years, getting both Fords and Plymouths at the same time.

The bid would usually be for a bunch of six cylinder and small V-8 powered cars, with a few "Highway" units (that patrolled I-76 and I-95) equipped with larger engines. They really just needed to be tough and easy to fix.

Philly PD cars were red until about 1967, then they went to red with white roofs. Once Frank Rizzo (former Police Commissioner) became mayor around 1972, one of the first things he did was switch their paint from red to blue, the blue they used was a lot like Petty Blue, but supposedly was mixed in a special reflective formula. Everybody in Philly up until then called them "Redcars", which Mr. Rizzo supposedly despised.  

I know I'm going off topic a bit, but I think that the history of Philly's "Redcars" (many of which were Plymouths), and their experiments with alternative models geared toward economy, is pretty interesting.      

[1972coronet]

Frankly , I was just surprised to see that there was a coupe (colloq. , "sedan") version of the Fury (or any C-Body for that matter) . I'm well aware of the two door hardtop Fury ( et al. ) , but a fixed-quarter glass ( 'Quarter Light' ) , "21" body-style is news to me . I can only imagine that these coupe models started , if you will , as 2 door hardtops ( body-style "23" ) , then had the glass fixed-into position , and a block-off cap / plug over the spot where the window handle would've been . Truly , that's how a certain number of 1970-1971 Barracuda and Challengers could be ordered : economy models whose V.I.N. was "BH21" ( Barracuda Coupe ) and "JH21" ( Challenger Coupe ) .

My uncle ( L.A. Sheriff's Office : Detective , Ret. ) told me that many of their fleet were 2 door coupes ; those were used in patrols . Then there were the pursuit vehicles ( LASD and LAPD had jurisdiction over in-town freeways back in the 50's and 60's ) , which typically received the hottest engine available ( within reason --- no Hemis , L-78's , 428 CJ , etc. ) . One of the pursuit cars he drove when he had patrol duties on the Long Beach Freeway (present-day I-710 ; formerly SR 15 / SR 7 )  and Imperial Highway ( SR 90 / SR 105 [unsigned] ) was a 413-powered Dodge coupe . He said , "Quickest and fastest car in the fleet --- but the brakes sucked ! One hard-stop from 60 mph or greater , and those brakes were trash for a while afterward . " 

[ChrisBcritter]

John, did he say what year Dodge coupe it was? I can imagine some model builders salivating over the idea.

[1972coronet]

2 hours ago, ChrisBcritter said:

John, did he say what year Dodge coupe it was? I can imagine some model builders salivating over the idea.

I believe it was a '62 or '63 ( he started as a Deputy in 1961 , 1962 ) . 

[tim boyd]

On 7/8/2019 at 10:33 PM, 1972coronet said:

Frankly , I was just surprised to see that there was a coupe (colloq. , "sedan") version of the Fury (or any C-Body for that matter) . I'm well aware of the two door hardtop Fury ( et al. ) , but a fixed-quarter glass ( 'Quarter Light' ) , "21" body-style is news to me . I can only imagine that these coupe models started , if you will , as 2 door hardtops ( body-style "23" ) , then had the glass fixed-into position , and a block-off cap / plug over the spot where the window handle would've been . Truly , that's how a certain number of 1970-1971 Barracuda and Challengers could be ordered : economy models whose V.I.N. was "BH21" ( Barracuda Coupe ) and "JH21" ( Challenger Coupe ) .

 

John...more interesting C-body tidbits about this  2 door sedan bodystyle (I suspect you already know most or all of the following, but for others who are less familiar with the fuselage era C-bodies):  The two door sedan was in the 1969-71 Plymouth Fury product range as Fury 1 and Fury 2 trim style choices.  The same roofline was also available in the Fury 3/Fury Sport/Fury Brougham trim levels as one of two different  2-door hardtop roof choices.   I believe but cannot confirm that the roof sheetmetal itself (but not the supporting structure) was shared with both the Plymouth and Dodge C-Body 4 door hardtop bodystyle for those years.   

Further, this bodystyle was introduced as a new 1970 1/2 mid-year "Gran Coupe" which was basically a Fury II 2-door sedan upgraded with some Fury 3 content, the Fury Sport/Fury Brougham Hidden Headlamps, and the infamous "paisley pattern" vinyl roof and interior seat upholstery (for those of you not familiar with this, it sounds awful but actually looked pretty good and was a good value that year for the full size car buyer). 

While I don't know for sure, I suspect you are exactly correct in your supposition about how the Sedan (vs. hardtop) body style was "created".  That is exactly how my '74 Road Runner E58 "Coupe" was configured.  In fact, if you upgraded to power windows in a Road Runner in 1973-4, it "magically" became a true hardtop as the rear windows rolled down (i.e. no B-pillar post in either window configuration). 

TIM    

Edited July 10, 2019 by tim boyd