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Expert 5K+
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Location: Newark, Texas (Fort Worth) |
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Plymouth-Other-Fury-1958-Plymouth-Belvedere...
Here is an immaculate and fully-restored 1958 Plymouth that I acquired recently from the widow of the man who purchased it back in 1999. The car was sold to him as a 1958 Fury, with a full complement of Fury trim and badges. It even has the 318 cubic-inch, dual-quad engine. But, it turns out the car is a Belvedere that was modified into a Fury clone. It uses an automatic transmission with a push-button selector mounted on the upper left side of the dashboard, and two astute eBayers noticed in my prior listings for this car that the transmission only had one button in the lower section of the selector quadrant - indicating a 2-speed "Power-Flite" rather than the 3-speed "Torque-Flite" transmission that a Fury would normally have. This started a search to determine why the car did not have the correct transmission. It led to the discovery that this car was originally a Belvedere that was modified at some point into a very convincing clone of a Fury. I have to imagine that a former owner must have stumbled across a Fury in a scrap yard with its appropriate parts intact, and the swap was made. Records from as far back as 1987 list the car as a "1958 Fury." But this car IS NOT A FURY.
The Fury was Plymouth's top-of-the-line offering for 1958, and the company only built 5,303 of them for '58. Very of those still exist today. Each could be identified by the "Buckskin Beige" exterior color accented with anodized aluminum gold trim along the sides. The former owner of this car, unaware of its history, gave it a "blank-check" restoration by a professional shop in San Diego. The process lasted three years, dictated by attention to detail and spare parts availability. In other words, this was not a quick or cheap job to sell it down the road; the car was a "keeper" and was restored as such: it was fully disassembled, the body was stripped to bare metal, and any damaged areas were repaired before being refinished in their original color. The chassis was stripped and repainted, with every corresponding system rebuilt/ renewed as necessary, including suspension, shocks, brakes, cooling, transmission, engine, low-restriction dual exhaust, etc. Fresh upholstery was installed, including carpet, dash covering, seats, door panels, headliner, soundproofing, and weatherstripping. All interior and exterior chrome was replated and new Michelin radial tires were installed. Since the original drum brakes were considered marginal for a car this powerful, front disc brakes were added, along with a Sirius satellite radio system that works in conjunction with the original radio, augmented by a more powerful speaker in the dashboard and rear deck. Since its restoration, during which the car's odometer was reset to zero, this Plymouth has only been driven some 2600 miles, usually on its way to or from a car club event of some type, or just fun cruising on the local southern California back roads. The car is licensed and registered in California; the Hawaii plates in the photos were used just for their aesthetics. When it's not on the road it resides in a dry garage under a car cover. It has not been smoked in, and there are no peculiar odors or unusual things to report. It is simply a gorgeous example of a rare automobile that runs and drives superbly. It receives positive comments whenever it is displayed. It has just had a full service, and it is being offered at a price well below its restoration cost.
The widow from whom I acquired this car, who knew my purpose was to assist her and resell it, has been remarkably accommodating. When I discussed with her the fact that research proved this car was a Belvedere rather than a Fury, she agreed that we would adjust what I still owed her for the car based on its selling price. I am therefore relisting it with a major price reduction to reflect its true provenance. The listing price reflects book values for a nice '58 Belvedere. Think of it as one of the nicest Belvederes in existence, or as an amazingly-cherry "almost a Fury" at a half-price. Either way, opportunity is knocking.
Anyone with questions is welcome to contact me at (858) 442-7917.
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Exner Expert 19,174 posts. Neil passed away 18 Sep 2015. You will be missed, Neil!
Posts: 19146
  
Location: bishop, ca | What an honest description.
How were the 1958 318 fury engines stamped; LP2-S ?
The 350 Fury B blocks were simply L350-1xxx, right?
The 58 318 V/8 Belvederes were stamped LP1-H, right?
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Expert
Posts: 4051
Location: Connecticut | This car is missing the VIN tag on the A-post. Aluminum trim on dash is from a '57. Apparently, lots of bondo in the eyebrows. Contrary to the seller's description, torqueflite was optional on the Fury. Also, if you're going to go through the trouble of building a Fury clone, why not swap in a torqueflite and add p/s and p/b ? Ron |
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| How rare would a 1958 Belvedere be with a factory 2-speed Power-Flite? I can't say that I've ever seen one while attending show for the past 15 years. The seller doesn't mention any rust or body damage and the photos do a nice job of showing what appears to be a super clean car. |
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Expert
Posts: 4051
Location: Connecticut | 927198 - 2014-04-11 10:00 PM How rare would a 1958 Belvedere be with a factory 2-speed Power-Flite? I can't say that I've ever seen one while attending show for the past 15 years. The seller doesn't mention any rust or body damage and the photos do a nice job of showing what appears to be a super clean car. Not rare at all. Just depends on whether the buyer wanted to pay the extra bucks and get a better tranny. Calling a car 'rust free' can mean that the car was 'repaired' with fiberglass patches and bondo. Not saying that this is the case with this car, but there is noticeable bondo in the eyebrows. Ron |
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Expert
Posts: 2312
Location: Arizona | In what photo are you seeing this bondo? |
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Expert
Posts: 4051
Location: Connecticut | jimntempe - 2014-04-12 1:18 PM In what photo are you seeing this bondo? Look at the close up photo of the front end. Note how poorly the aluminum pieces fit under the eyebrows. Ron |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 827
Location: tailFinland | Im not seeing bondo. I see a very nice car. Besides every resored car has some bondo, you just can do it with out it. and it does not mean that you fabricate eyebrows out of it. |
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Location: The Mile High City | Ther could be a variety of reasons for the poor fitting. I think the description of the car is accurate: all the fun of a Fury at half the price. Nice car.
The flywheel is supposed to have some sort of cover / screen, right? |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 322
| The bell housing has been cut open. |
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| Those "aluminum pieces" pieces under the eyebrows are just that: Aluminum. They can easily warp and be deformed over the years and it's tough when doing the body work to get that fit/finish correct. The car isn't being presented as a #1 factory-correct car, but a well-preserved and appointed driver. As Adventurer 60 mentioned, almost every frame-off restoration has some bondo, or other, body filler in it. Its one of the easiest ways to smooth out the long panels on these cars. Doing the actual metal-work to perfection will eat into your labor costs and result in a car that's over-restored. I think the front eyebrows are clean, but before bidding I would definitely have a friend or myself inspect the car. |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 444
Location: North of the 49th | d500neil - 2014-04-11 7:11 PM
What an honest description.
How were the 1958 318 fury engines stamped; LP2-S ?
The 350 Fury B blocks were simply L350-1xxx, right?
The 58 318 V/8 Belvederes were stamped LP1-H, right?
All Fury 318's in '58 were stamped FLP and came out of Mound road assembly.
I must admit the guy was honest enough about the car and the car is pretty but being an owner/restorer of one of the real Furies there is tons of stuff that could be improved upon/changed etc. on this car but at the least the bell housing inspection plate could have been located or made and installed...and one of the horns has a dent which would bug me. Overall I'd say its a nice car with much merit! |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 726
Location: Some Island called Prince Edward | I can't imagine someone going through all this trouble to make a Fury clone only to use rotted front fenders instead of a rust free pair. So, having said that I'm hoping it's just a case of slightly deformed eyebrows that we see.
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Expert
Posts: 2312
Location: Arizona | As Rodney Dangerfield would say "Tough crowd, tough crowd!!! My wife and I were happy for twenty years. Then we met. |
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1958 Fury Clone (NOW!)
