Plymouth Gran Fury

Plymouth Gran Fury
Production period:	1975-1977 1979-1989
Class :	upper middle class
Body versions :	Sedan , station wagon , coupé
Previous model:	Plymouth Fury

Plymouth Gran Fury was the name of three different models of the US automobile manufacturer Plymouth , which were produced in the years 1974 to 1977, 1980 to 1981 and 1982 to 1989. The Gran Furys were the largest models of the Plymouth brand in those years.

Plymouth Gran Fury (1975-1977)

1975-1977

Production period:	1975-1977
Body versions :	Sedan , station wagon , coupé
Engines:	Petrol engines : 5.2–7.2 liters (108–153 kW)
Length:	5649-5751 mm
Width:	2027 mm
Height:	1374-1445 mm
Wheelbase :
Empty weight :	1844-2254 kg

Background: Badge Shifting

The name Gran Fury first appeared in model year 1975 as an independent model name for Plymouth's full-size vehicles . These cars were sold as the Plymouth Fury until 1974 . Since Plymouth as part of a Badge shifting process called the name Fury 1975 to the previously Satellite -called mid-range model rendered, to increase its prestige, the biggest brand vehicles had a new name preserved. The choice fell on Gran Fury. This term had been used since 1972 for a particularly high-quality equipment line of the Fury models; from 1975 onwards it was the name of the entire series.

technology

The first generation Plymouth Gran Fury was based on the Chrysler Group's C platform . It was technically identical to the sister models Dodge Royal Monaco , Chrysler Newport or New Yorker and Imperial LeBaron . The car used a self-supporting body called "Unibody", which had a subframe.

The Gran Fury was available as a two-door hardtop coupé, a four-door hardtop sedan and a station wagon. The coupe and sedan had a wheelbase of 3,086 mm; the station wagon, however, like the more expensive Chrysler Town & Country, used a 3,150 mm long wheelbase.

The body was largely identical to that of the Dodge Royal Monaco, but had an independent design in the front area. From 1975 onwards, all Gran Fury had individual round headlights; the twin headlights that were available until 1974 and still used in the sister models have been deleted without replacement.

For the Gran Fury from 1974 to 1977 only eight-cylinder engines were provided as drive. A 5.2 liter eight-cylinder engine with an output of 150 SAE -PS served as the basic engine . Engines with 5.9 liters (170 to 190 SAE-PS), 6.6 liters (175 to 195 SAE-PS) and 7.2 liters (185 to 215 PS) displacement were also available.

The Plymouth Gran Fury was the cheapest of Chrysler's full-size models. A four-door Gran Fury with standard engines was offered in model year 1976 at a price of US $ 4,349, the most expensive model in the range was the Gran Fury Sport Suburban with three rows of seats, which cost US $ 5,761.

production

The Gran Fury was selling poorly. This is mostly attributed to the effects of the oil crisis , which led to an increasing demand for smaller, more fuel-efficient vehicles. The Gran Fury, like the other models on the Chrysler C platform, failed to meet these requirements and was considered the wrong car for the time. In the 1975 model year, 72,801 Gran Furies were built, 39,511 in 1976 and 47,552 in 1977.

At the end of the 1977 model year, Plymouth ceased production of the Gran Fury. Plymouth did not initially have a replacement model in the full-size range, so that the 40 cm shorter Fury, based on the B platform, was the largest vehicle of the Plymouth brand in the 1978 model year. For model year 1979, this series was also canceled without replacement. Since Plymouth initially had no derivatives of its own from the larger models of the M platform ( Chrysler LeBaron and Dodge Diplomat ) R platform ( Chrysler Newport or New Yorker and St. Regis ), the brand's 1979 model range only consisted of the small car Horizon and the compact model Volaré . Only in 1980 did Plymouth offer a larger model again with the second generation of the Gran Fury.

gallery

From 1975 with two round headlights: Plymouth Gran Fury Sedan
Plymouth Gran Fury Hardtop Coupe
One of the largest station wagons from American production: the Plymouth Gran Fury Sport Suburban

Plymouth Gran Fury (1979-1981)

1979-1981

Production period:	1979-1980
Body versions :	limousine
Engines:	Petrol engines : 3.7-5.9 liters (67-97 kW)
Length:	5593 mm
Width:	1971 mm
Height:	1384 mm
Wheelbase :
Empty weight :	1595-1644 kg

One year after the sister models Dodge St. Regis and Chrysler Newport or New Yorker , the Plymouth version of Chrysler's new (and last) full-size generation appeared again under the name Gran Fury. The vehicle was a variant of the Chrysler R-Cars .

Although the new Gran Fury was a few centimeters shorter and narrower and several hundred kilograms lighter than its predecessor, it sold extremely poorly, as fuel-intensive cars temporarily went out of fashion in the USA in the wake of the so-called second oil crisis in 1979.

A 3.7-liter in-line six-cylinder, a 5.2-liter V8 or (only in model year 1980) a 5.9-liter V8 did their job under the hood, each paired with the TorqueFlite three-speed automatic transmission.

At the end of the 1981 model year, the Gran Fury, like the other group models on the R platform, was discontinued and replaced by a smaller model of the same name.

22,319 units of the R-Gran Fury were built in two years.

Plymouth Gran Fury (1982-1989)

1982-1989
Plymouth Gran Fury (1986)
Production period:	1981-1989
Body versions :	limousine
Engines:	Petrol engines : 3.7-5.2 liters (67-130 kW)
Length:	5225 mm
Width:	1885 mm
Height:	1405 mm
Wheelbase :	2860 mm
Empty weight :	1484-1630 kg

The third Gran Fury appeared in the 1982 model year. Except for the emblems and a few details, it was a completely identical parallel model of the Dodge Diplomat .

The Plymouth Gran Fury was based in this version, just like the Dodge and the Chrysler Fifth Avenue offered at the same time, on the M platform , which had been introduced in 1977 and was an extended version of the F platform ( Dodge Aspen or Plymouth Volare ). The M platform was initially only used in the USA for the mid-range models from Dodge (Diplomat) and Chrysler ( LeBaron ); a Plymouth version did not initially exist on the US market. In Canada, however, the M-Body was available as the Plymouth Caravelle from 1979 . When, at the beginning of the 1980s, after the deletion of the full-size models (R-Body) and the intermediate models (B-Body), the M platform vehicles had become the largest series of the Chrysler Group, there was now a need for an inexpensive design next to the high-priced Chrysler models and the mid-range Dodge versions. A Plymouth version was launched in 1981 as an entry-level, fleet or government model.

Stylistically, the Gran Fury took over the front part of the Dodge Diplomat in its second version, used from 1980. While the Dodge front was adapted to the front section of the Chrysler Fifth Avenue from 1984 and in the course of this u. a. took over the turn signals arranged above the headlights, the Plymouth kept the original design until its end of production.

The development went in parallel with the Dodge Diplomat. Up to and including model year 1983 there was either the well-known 3.7 l in-line six-cylinder or the 5.2 l V8, from model year 1984 only the latter was available. The TorqueFlite three-speed automatic was always on board. Especially for the police, the Gran Fury was also available with a 5.2 liter V8 with four-way carburetor and 167, later 177 hp.

The Gran Fury, like the diplomat, only experienced minimal changes in details until 1989.

The third generation Gran Fury was not a successful model. A total of around 108,000 pieces were produced in eight years. Both the expensive Chrysler Fifth Avenue and the Dodge Diplomat were sold significantly more frequently.

swell

Albert R. Bochroch: American Cars of the Seventies . Warne's Transport Library, London 1982. ISBN 0-7232-2870-1
Flammang, James M./Kowalke, Ron: Standard Catalog of American Cars 1976-1999 , Krause Publications, Iola 1999. ISBN 0-87341-755-0
Richard M. Langworth: Encyclopedia of American Cars 1930-1980 . New York (Beekman House) 1984. ISBN 0-517-42462-2 .

Web links

Commons : Plymouth Gran Fury - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

↑ Chrysler carried out a similar name shift for the Dodge brand, which is also part of the group: Here the top model, initially called Dodge Monaco, was renamed Royal Monaco in 1975 , while the model name Monaco was transferred to the mid-range models previously known as Coronet.
↑ Data from Langworth: Encyclopedia of American Cars 1930-1980, S: 581 f. The performance of the engines varied from model year to model year; it was primarily dependent on the requirements of the emission protection laws.
^ "Incredibly ill-timed". See Langworth: Encyclopedia of American Cars 1930-1980, p. 566.

[1] Chrysler carried out a similar name shift for the Dodge brand, which is also part of the group: Here the top model, initially called Dodge Monaco, was renamed Royal Monaco in 1975 , while the model name Monaco was transferred to the mid-range models previously known as Coronet.

[2] Data from Langworth: Encyclopedia of American Cars 1930-1980, S: 581 f. The performance of the engines varied from model year to model year; it was primarily dependent on the requirements of the emission protection laws.

[3] "Incredibly ill-timed". See Langworth: Encyclopedia of American Cars 1930-1980, p. 566.