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 HOW IS WAS IN 1956 OWNING A FAST MOPARJump to page : 1 Now viewing page 1 [50 messages per page] | View previous thread :: View next thread |
| Forward Look NON-Technical Discussions -> 1955-1961 Forward Look MoPar General Discussion | Message format |
Ron |
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Extreme Veteran Posts: 303  Location: Harrisburg, Penna | In my junior year of high school I had three jobs, I passed papers right after school, then my dad drove me to Weis Supermarket where I worked Monday thru Friday evenings and then my dad picked me up later after work. On Saturday and Sunday I worked at the Barbeque Cottage, a drive in restaurant with car hops. The restaurant was like " Mel's Restaurant" in the movie "American Graffiti". My dad would drive me to that job and then pick me up after work on the weekend. ( 1 to 1:30 AM ) One day he said, " I am tired of being your private chauffeur. You're making good money, so I will help you buy a car and you can drive yourself to and from work!!!! In late 1956 I bought my 56 Plymouth Fury. My dad co signed for the financing. It originally was bought for a surgeon's wife who liked it's color and traded in her Crown Imperial on it. Her husband the doctor traded it in on a Mercedes 300 SLR Gull wing. He said his wife was used to the big heavy Imperial and every time she stepped the Fury down it would throw her back in her seat and squeal the tires. ( Stubborn older woman with a heavy foot) The Mercedes dealer gave him the wholesale price for the Fury because he specialized in Foreign cars. I bought it off the back lot at below wholesale price. ( Dealer made plenty on the SLR Mercedes he sold the doctor. My dad always bought Chryslers and Dodges. So I grew up as a Chrysler Products guy. However I hung out with all Chevy and Ford guys who were really into racing. If my buddies got Mallory ignitions, I got a Mallory Ignition. If my buddies got a 4:11 rear end, then I got a 4:10 rear end. If they got racing tires then so did I. Before Posi traction and sure grip we had our spider gears in the rear end welded together so we had locked rears. When my buddies went to multiple carbs so did I. Being the only Mopar guy they teased me and broke my back a lot until I started beating them all. Then things changed. I got better at tuning a car than they were and I got a reputation a little bit like the Fonz in "Happy Days". Now for the part you will not like-----Plymouth had it first V 8 in 1955. In 1956 the factory bored it out to 270 cu inches and a 277 cu inch. They were not very fast compared to the Ford V 8s that were around forever or the 265 Chevy power pack engine. In 56 the Fury was Plymouth's first fast high performance car. Most of the Chrysler 300's, DeSoto Adventures, Dodge D 500s were bought by older people. When I would meet up with any other Chrysler High performance car owners, the only thing they could tell me about their car is ---" It has the standard motor or It has the big engine. Horsepower, rear end ratio, transmission gearing ----they knew NOTHING about these things and if they did run the cars now and then they would get beat most of the time. I was FORCED to face the fact that the Ford and Chevy guys were right---most of the Chrysler product owners---- WHEN IT CAME TO RACING were nerds. Having a fast Chrysler product on the drag strips made me stand out with the other cars in competition. The Ford and Chevy guys had to respect a guy who's car could blow their doors off. After years of racing Mopar's, 56, 57,58, 59,60 Plymouth Fury's, Dodge 500's, DeSoto Adventures and Chrysler 300's I accumulated more then 200 Competition Trophies and broke about 20 class records at different drag strips. Later, I switched from drag racing to collection show cars. Big business ($$$) had started to take over drag racing and to build the attendance up they made so many classes, stick and automatic, that almost everyone could win a trophy. I did not want to get a sponsor and run professionally, so I made the change to collection High Performance Mopar's as show cars. The last three really fast Mopars I raced at the drag strips were three 1970 SuperBirds, 440- 4 bbl, 440-6 pac and 426 Hemi. After that, I occasionally went to the drag strips and won a few more trophies, but nothing very seriously like the early days. Ron Allyn Swartley PS. The Chrysler (Mopar) guys started to get educated a little when ram induction came out in 1960. Then in 1962 the new body style and the 426 maxi wedge made everybody notice Mopars!!!! However, a whole new breed of Mopar guys were born when the Plymouth Road Runner, Dodge Super Bee hit the dealers' showrooms. ( Many of this new Mopar breed were X Chevy and Ford guys!!!!!!! ) (RAS56Fury01 50%.jpg) (THE LEGEND 111 IMP BEST.JPG) Attachments ----------------  RAS56Fury01 50%.jpg (31KB - 314 downloads) THE LEGEND 111 IMP BEST.JPG (174KB - 378 downloads) | ||
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| MOPAR-TO-YA |
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Expert 5K+ Posts: 5139   Location: cornpatch county, Southwest IOA | |||
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| Doctor DeSoto |
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  Location: Parts Unknown | In 1977, driving a finned Mopar was something akin to tattooing a swastika on your forehead. Pretty much spelled "loser" to the average person. Did it anyway.  | ||
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| GaryS |
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Expert Posts: 1207  Location: Ponder, TX | |||
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| d500neil |
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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 | |||
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| rbmain |
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| Ron |
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Extreme Veteran Posts: 303 Location: Harrisburg, Penna | HOW MUCH DID I PAY FOR THE 56 FURY BACK THEN? That is a good question, if my memory serves me well I seem to remember the Fury was used had about 7,000 miles on it and the foreign car dealer sold it to me for what he allowed the Doctor on the trade. I think it was between $1600 and $1900. The dealer that specialize in on German and Italian cars could not wait to sell the white Plymouth sedan as he called it. At that time being a teenager I was only concerned on what the monthly payment would be!!!!!!! Four days short of 40 years from the day I traded it on a 59 Sport Fury with Golden commando engine, I located the car and bought it back. It had been through 3 owners and was completely restored. Shortly after buying it back I drove back to the little Rossville,Pennsylvania foreign car dealership where I had originally bought the car in early 1957, and took the photos shown below. I don't remember them selling Triumph's back then. Ron Swartley ( 56 Fury at original Dealership.jpg) Attachments ---------------- 56 Fury at original Dealership.jpg (135KB - 292 downloads) | ||
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