1963 Plymouth Sport Fury

Work in Progress

Paul writes: When I was a kid back in the late 1960's my neighbor was a mechanic who sold a few cars on the side. I bought my first car from him, a 1959 4 door Plymouth Belevedere. But he had a car that I lusted after but couldn't afford: a 1963 Sport Fury with a hard running 383. He eventually sold the car to another local guy who just trashed it!

So all these years later I was driving down the street in Omaha, NE. one day and spotted this '63 Sport Fury for sale which was almost identical to that one that got away back then. I bought the Plymouth for what I considered to be a good price. And now I have the Mopar I've been wanting for almost 40 years. I LOVE IT!

The previous owner made the following mods: Original 361 replaced with 440 4 bbl. 280* Isky cam 727 transmission w/ manual shift valve body 430 SureGrip

So far I have replaced the rusty trunk floor, patched rust in the front floor pans, replaced the carpet, reupholstered the door panels, installed new Super Stock rear springs, and replaced the right side vent window assembly.

Major work still to be done is to tackle the rust in the rear 1/4's and front fenders and then paint.

I'll probably change the rear gears to something a little more streetable.

Update November 30, 2009

To update work on my 1963 Sport Fury: The Plymouth sat in the garage most of the summer of 2008 while the engine was being rebuilt. I bought the Plymouth with a 440 with stock 906 heads and a mild Isky cam. I found out the 1974 block is bored .030 over and with the pistons more than .100 down in the hole: there was a lot of room for improvement. My original plan was to do a modified Old Faithful build, but at the time the TRW six pack pistons were not available, as they were in the process of moving their production to India. So I opted for a KB hyer-eutectic piston with a lower pin height to give me the higher compression I was looking for. This along with a little porting on the heads made a world of difference.

Then in December 2008 I sent the Mopar to the body shop and got it back in late August 2009. The young guy did a great job on it, putting in over 260 hours, which equals $$$$$$$$. But I was very happy with the results. I spent 40 -50 hours polishing all the trim before re-installing it, and only got the Sport Fury back out on the road in November 2009.

So after owning the Plymouth for 5 years the major projects are done, with only a few smaller ones left to do!

Contact Paul:

Thanks, Paul!

Good choice.

The top-of-the-line 1963 Sport Fury is a beauty!

Quite a head-turner  

Gary H.

July 10, 2005; revised November 30, 2009