Plymouth lovers are an odd lot....  

Just what dysfunctional upbringing does one require to develop that admiration for quirky design and features that define the classic 1950-60's vintage Plymouth genre....or the outrageous "in your face" muscle of the late 60's and 1970's?

Most Plymouth fans can likely trace the growth of their fondness for this nameplate as it grew from their earliest years.  It helps if you came from a family that just seemed to always buy the oddest cars.  No doubt there are a lot of Mopar fans out there who have surpressed memories of the four door family DeSoto or Packard or some such thing.

I know where my fondness started, though interestingly it wasn't with a Plymouth.  It was 1964, and my dad traded in his '56 Ford for a '64 Rambler Classis 660.  White, with a red plaid interior.....I remember some of the quirky aspects about this car....the front seats could fold down flat to create a bed that covered the entire passenger compartment....and the curious words "Weather Eye" were emblazoned below the speedometer, though I could never figure out just what that was supposed to mean!

Now in an era of big cars, Rambler was swimming against the current.  Compact and economical, it was more on par with the smaller offering such as the Ford Falcon or the Chevy II.  It was a truly different sort of person that bought a Rambler.

Our family's next car was our first Plymouth....the '69 Fury that is the focus of this site.  Purchased new, I remember the day when I was 10 years old and we drove it off the lot.  The smell of new plastic, fabric, and carpet is something that I'll never forget....that and all the space.  This was no Rambler!

Dad drove that for 5 years......then gas prices began to soar (though I wish we were only paying that amount these days!).  So in 1976, we started shopping for something new.  Now imagine this.  I'm 16 years old.  We going car shopping.....I drool over Demons and Dusters at the Chysler dealerships, but Dad opts to stop in at the AMC dealership on the way home.  OK, I figure.....there is one mean looking Javelin, and even a Hornet "X"......but no.  What happened was the worst thing that could happen to any 16 year old in 1976.  He bought a  Sienna Oranage GREMLIN! 

That was the car with which I learned to drive....a three speed on the floor, a sluggish 252 cu. in.  6 cylinder, an all vinyl interior (not pleasant in the Canadian cold)...  The only beneficial thing about this car was that the clutch / tranny were so touchy, that if you had the ability to drive that standard, you could drive anything.  I went to my high school graduation in that Gremlin.  Oh, the humiliation.

It all got a lot better a few years down the road.  My first car.  A 1973 Plymouth Valiant Scamp.  2-door, red.....an indescructible 225 under the hood.  That car was so light that a even a slant six had enough pep to make it fun to drive. It wasn't fast, but it made up for it in being economical, and looking pretty darn good.  Those cars were versatile - good for grocery shopping or teen age cruising.  The thing to do back then was to jack it up and put on some custom rubber and rims.  The car had the typical saggy leaf springs, so I had them re-arced and put in an extra leaf to stiffen up the suspension and bit. G70-14's on brushed aluminum slots took the place of the stock rims and hub caps. Those small modifications made the difference. 

I kept replacing parts and kept it on the road for 225,000 miles.....drove it literally until the wheels fell off, and sold it to a wrecker in NE Ontario for $50. That car gave me tremendous service, but it was time to move on.

Also around the time my that I acquired my first car, my Dad bought a '79 Dodge D50. I got to drive it a few times when I managed to make it back to my home town. In my mind, is was not a true Chysler product, just a rebadged Mitsubishi....but it was kind of a fun thing to drive now and then.  Lots of zip, which made up for its complete lack of comfort.
 

 

At right, the Valiant, the D50, and the (ugh) Gremlin.
 
 
 
 

A short word here about the only GM product I drove regularly - a 6 wheel drive Canadian Armed Forces  "Deuce and a half".......you've never truly off-roaded until you've mowed bush with one of these babies!

 
 

The death of the Newport saw me leave the Chysler/Plymouth  fold for a while.  A brand new '86 Tempo was next.  Lasting 14 years and over 350,000 km with virtually no major repairs, that car didn't owe me a thing when I finally gave it away a short time ago.

Now, when the kids come along, what do you need....a mini van, right?  And what are you going to get?  Magic wagon.  So next in line was a 1991 Plymouth Voyager.  A pretty basic model, but a perfect family vehicle.  It came with the usual minivan options: air, tilt, cruise, plastic dinosaur jammed in the ashtray, and crumbs from Happy Meals ground into the carpet. It served us well until it met a deer at highway speed (the van, not the deer)....and well, dead deer, written off mini van, end of story. I'd have liked to see the deer try that with the Newport!
 

And so now I've come full circle, resurrecting the '69 Fury to cruise the highways once more.  I've wandered again from the Chrysler family, purchasing a F150 4X4...preferring that over the Dodge Ram.  If only Plymouth made trucks, as they did a long time ago (little known fact).
 

But alas, Plymouth is to be no more....its nameplate gone the way of "DeSoto" and "Fargo Trucks".  Although any time you see a PT Cruiser going by, don't try to tell me that it isn't a modern version of the 1939 Plymouth!
 

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