1971 Fury GT, Gold, Promo Car

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· called Castle Rock Chrysler Jeep Dodge Ram 720 – 465 – 2574. Spoke with Ronnie, customer service manager. Mr. Medved sold the dealership to Foundation Auto Group in August 2020. Mr. Medved did not keep any of the records from the previous auto dealerships. He is now only keeping the last 8 years of his own records. Unless a Mauro family member retained the records for some reason, she doubts that they exist.

Roger Mauro is deceased.

· Chance of finding new car sales records or window sticker is extremely small. Ugh!
 
Update
Body after a good wash. The top had some surface rust that I didn't want to spread. I used some spare aluminum paint and a foam brush to topcoat it and stop the rust until bodywork is done and a vinyl top can be put back on.
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left side quarter panel is definitely repairable. Previous owner wrote the 440. I guess Dan thought it would help sell the car.
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You may remember the right side door had to be replaced. I used the door shell and glass runners from a 1970 Fury PH 29. It had a large, wide strip of aftermarket body side molding. When removed it exposed some surface rust. I used a die grinder, scuff discs, razor blade paint scraper, rags to clean it up. I use some more aluminum paint just to stop rust. It does have a small dent just below the body line in front of the door handle.
Old door
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Is the car anywhere near ready for paint? No. Gary @Wollfen one of the best body man I've ever seen on this forum, recommended that the right side quarter be replaced. So I went to Georgia and bought a quarter NOS $1300, but I've been having trouble finding someone to work on the car. Hanging an 8 foot long metal quarter on a 51-year-old Plymouth C body is not a job skill that's easy to find. I may have a lead on someone but I'm not sure.
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Waiting
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Dutchman panel also needs some rust work. It doesn't look too bad and fortunately, because of low precipitation in New Mexico, the trunk floor is all right. This is an area where we've gotta wait until we've got a body man and then remove the rear window. Then we can see what's going on.
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I bought an NOS left side mirror from Bill FuryGT. This is a situation where it made no logical sense to install it except that every time I went past that broken mirror of duct taped to the window, it just grated on me. Finally I couldn't take it no more.
Old Mirror
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yes I need a new windshield too, but the rest of the glass is good!
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Remote
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Remote handle prior to removal. I used an awl to pop the bottom of it outward. The clip then just popped off. It really doesn't engage much thread.
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The studs for the old mirror run horizontal through the door shell. I could not get a socket and a ratchet on them because the glass is too close to the end of the stud. I had to use a 3/8 wrench and my left hand, sit on the concrete, and reach up behind the glass to get that little wrench on the 2 nuts. If you can do this without dropping the wrench in the door and cussing a few times, you're a better man than me.
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Remote reinstalled. Clip is a push on.
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New left side mirror installed. I also had to go over the window with a razor blade paint scraper, rags, and Bleache White to take the old glue off from the duct tape. Something inside me smiles every time I walk by that car and don't see that duct tape broken mirror anymore.
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Previous owners did not do anything about dirt from the farm plus dirt from 44 years of sitting. The dash looks a lot better after some serious cleaning, but it still needs more work.
Interior when I got the car
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Dash and instrument cluster after today's work
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Horn button came out nice except for the cigarette burn hole
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Instrument cluster flood lamp panel is bent,
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bezel has a few scratches but nothing that couldn't be cleaned off with some toothpaste
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Need to get in this area with a toothbrush. Like the front to rear speaker fader. Don't know if the car had a stereo multiplex option or not.
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The pedals were covered with mud. The gas pedal was covered to the point that you couldn't see the front of it. Anyway I was interested to see how they look. This is after a brush, soap and water, and scraping out ribs with a small flat blade screwdriver
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driver front floor is good
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I’d love to do the quarter replacement, on that car it would be a piece of cake. The hardest part will be the outer wheelhouse patch it looks like it’s going to require.
 
I’d love to do the quarter replacement, on that car it would be a piece of cake. The hardest part will be the outer wheelhouse patch it looks like it’s going to require.
Thanks, Matt. I wish you were closer. Maybe if the local guy doesn't come through, I have to ship the car to Detroit! Ben
 
I’d love to do the quarter replacement, on that car it would be a piece of cake. The hardest part will be the outer wheelhouse patch it looks like it’s going to require.
@detmatt Hi Matt,
in addition to the quarterfinal replace, there's also the front of the stub frame, which is bent as you can see below. My question is, can this stub frame be repaired, or does it need to be replaced? As you can see, whoever dragged the car around by the front of the stub frame bent it badly enough that the right front strut rod also bent. That worries me as to the symmetry of the front of the sides of the subframe.

All opinions are welcome. Gotta start somewhere. And a solid front stub frame is most important. Thanks! Ben
From below
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From Above
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If you’re sure that the damage up front is just from being dragged by a chain at some point it’s probably fine but I would do a thorough inspection of all of the mounting points for rust issues before going much further.
 
I had almost identical damage on a '73 NYB that I had back in the late 70's. Someone had obviously yanked it out of a ditch the wrong way.

The welds for the strut broke late one night on a dark road in the country. The girl behind me stopped and in the conversation, offered to follow me to the garage I rented about a mile away. Ended up dating her for the next two years.
 
If you’re sure that the damage up front is just from being dragged by a chain at some point it’s probably fine but I would do a thorough inspection of all of the mounting points for rust issues before going much further.
I am not sure. That is a guess based on the car being off the road since 1978 and the center of the front stub frame being pulled forward. It is possible that before 1978 the car was involved in a front end collision of some type, but I think the area would have been pushed backward. The car has been through at least 5 owners, a dealership, and then Dan.
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The farmer who drove the car in New Mexico until 1978 treated the car as a beater. When it broke down, he could've dragged it with a tractor to a point where a tow truck could take it to the gas station. It was sitting in the gas station parking lot and the station was being shut down. That's where the 1st owner - that Dan was able to find - bought the car in 1978.

According to Dan, when the car was in Colorado before it went to New Mexico, someone cracked the 440 block, which is how the 383 ended up in the car. The 383 that I removed, had a cracked head and had leaked anti-freeze down into cylinder #8 since 1978. The distributor was missing so mice nested in the front of the engine, and the engine was locked up junk. Also, the bottom of the car is still caked with New Mexico soil, as was the dashboard and interior before I cleaned it.

Given how the car was not cared for, it is amazing that it survived to this point. Who knows which owner jerked it around with a chain?

That history being given, my main concern is the bent right side strut rod. I'm concerned that if the car was pulled hard enough to bend the strut rod, the front of the stub frame might be out of alignment, which might throw the lower control arm out of alignment. I don't know how to tell. And I may need a frame shop to tell me.

I'll look for rust at the mounting points. Thanks, Ben
 
I have seen plenty of slightly bent strut rods on C bodies over time - I would estimate about 30% of the C bodies that have crossed my path have bent ones even when there is no evidence of frame damage of any kind. I can speculate what might cause them to bend but it would be just that.
 
Engine Pictures from a purchase I made.
1971 GT Scheduled production date 8/2/1970, so almost impossible to get a block with a matching or earlier stamped date.
Block code is correct. 1971 is G440
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Casting date is also correct
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VIN is later than 1971 GT 100266 but that is unavoidable.
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Engine and heads (below) have been off the road for a long time.
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I did buy the crankshaft with it, but that is tape wrapped in a box
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I got most of the other parts, including front brackets, AC compressor, etc. It's missing connecting rod's and pistons, some missing valves, exhaust manifolds. I have a set of 1969 440 logs, which are normally correct for a T-code 440 VIN.
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