Rusty But Trusty

I never really liked 1970s American cars back when they were contemporary – they seemed big, wasteful, ponderous, boring, and they gave me motion sickness, especially sitting in the back seat with the hood ornament floating up and down on the swells all the way up front. Blech, thinking about it now still makes me feel a little queasy. Call it nostalgia, or the influence of Streets of San Francisco and the French Connection, but at this point I’ve grown to appreciate the design statement they were making back then. And after a lifetime of owning 4-cylinder cars, I have to admit I’m curious as to what life on the other side of the fence is like.

Ever since my fiancee moved up to Noe Valley, and I started walking past this pea-green metallic Plymouth Fury II pillarless coupe in her neighborhood (since sold/moved), I’ve had a particularly strong appreciation for the Furies. Compared to contemporary cars like the Ford LTD and Chevrolet Impala, these cars look really menacing, with fold-away headlights, wide & low grilles, slab sides, and obscene length. Nowadays, they look ridiculously big, even parked by full-size modern sedans and SUVs. Makes you wonder how people managed to park back when this was a more ubiquitous form of transportation. Let’s take a look at the first of two cars currently listed at our price point.

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