1975 Plymouth Gran Fury III Brougham Demise?

[68PK21 440.6bbl]

We have seen this car listed several times a few years ago on Craigslist in central Florida.
I think someone went to see it but was vary vague in what he saw other than it was not worth the $5,200 listing price. The seller had the great idea that this was a very 'Rare' & 'Classic' and thought these pretty plain 4 doors even though it was a hardtop were worth much more than "Blue Book" with the car in "good condition" and "needs little work". This is the car that had the broken back window with properly 'staged' pictures.

May 2008 CL AD pics.

Roached door panel.

Welp it showed up on FaceBook for $2,000 around May of this year.
Notice the roached door panel.

FaceBook Listing.

The reality of "a little work" LOL "some rust".

At least it comes with a new back window which the glass it the least of the cars problems.
Notice the current seller appears to be a scrap yard and I'll bet it was bought for current scrap price.

Moral of the story, the estate seller of the 1 owner 'mother' car should of took a best offer of $500 to $1,000 because that is all that it is worth.


.

 

[CBODY67]

Is that "normal rust" on the C-pillar? Helped along by the vinyl top?

Just curious,
CBODY67

 

[twostick]

Is that not a 76? My Dad bought a new 75 Gran Fury and it had 4 headlights.

Kevin

 

[1970FuryConv]

Is that "normal rust" on the C-pillar? Helped along by the vinyl top? Just curious,
CBODY67

I think it's normal if the car was kept outside so the vinyl could hold water against the metal. Wonder what the trunk floor looks like? Wonder if there is a trunk floor?

 

[GregG48203]

"All Original": with Oldsmobile wheelcovers.

 

[CBODY67]

As I recall, on that generation the trunk "floor" is actually a bit higher than in prior generations, but with a deep well on each side. Which is probably where any moisture could accumulate over time. There should be a plastic plug on each side for drainage of the anti-corrosion bath the body goes through at the factory, though.

Thanks,
CBODY67

 

[68PK21 440.6bbl]

Is that not a 76? My Dad bought a new 75 Gran Fury and it had 4 headlights.

Kevin

I think there was a mid-season change in 1975 to the 2 headlight style of 1976.
Nope that's not it, from Wiki:
"Top-of-the-line Gran Fury Brougham models were treated to a new grille and new single-unit headlight design; all Gran Furys would receive this for 1976."
So 1975 bottom line Gran Fury = 4 headlights, 1975 top of the line 'Brougham' = 2 headlights.

Laff... the top of the list for the headlight search of course brought up all the new fangled fancy expensive ($100's) trendy type headlights. After scrolling down the list and seeing the button for 'another 60' listing I decided nope that's not it.

Did learn one thing thou, do you know that you can now control your headlights via 'Bluetooth'?


.

 

[68PK21 440.6bbl]

Is that "normal rust" on the C-pillar? Helped along by the vinyl top?

Just curious,
CBODY67

My take being that this car in the Central Florida area and a "MOM's car" is that it spent most of it's life up north before mom retired and came to Florida... or she could have been a beach-A-holic and came and drove on our lovely beach here in Daytona quite often.
I've seen many local rot boxes that don't fit the no rust Florida car status here.

Most all the rot around a windshield or back glass can be attributed to a sloppy quickie beat the flat rate 'hot knife' glass replacement job. Nick the pinchweld paint down to bare metal no matter how small and don't use pinchweld primer via the FSM instructions, whoa'la your going to grow rust which will lead to rot.

As I recall, on that generation the trunk "floor" is actually a bit higher than in prior generations, but with a deep well on each side. Which is probably where any moisture could accumulate over time. There should be a plastic plug on each side for drainage of the anti-corrosion bath the body goes through at the factory, though.

Thanks,
CBODY67

Yep my 1976/7 Gran Furys had big quarter panel wells, a lot easier to clean the 'crap trap' out than the slabside years but then people had more of a hankering for storing **** in there. I know on my 2 1977 PK41's I popped the large plugs out and rinsed all the accumulated crude out when I gave the car's it's first under-body wash. The 76 was so far gone (but not by today's standards) in the rot department I didn't bother.


.

 

[cantflip]

We have seen this car listed several times a few years ago on Craigslist in central Florida.
I think someone went to see it but was vary vague in what he saw other than it was not worth the $5,200 listing price. The seller had the great idea that this was a very 'Rare' & 'Classic' and thought these pretty plain 4 doors even though it was a hardtop were worth much more than "Blue Book" with the car in "good condition" and "needs little work". This is the car that had the broken back window with properly 'staged' pictures.

May 2008 CL AD pics.

View attachment 403512

View attachment 403513

View attachment 403514

Roached door panel.
View attachment 403515

Welp it showed up on FaceBook for $2,000 around May of this year.
Notice the roached door panel.
View attachment 403516

FaceBook Listing.
View attachment 403517

The reality of "a little work" LOL "some rust".
View attachment 403518

View attachment 403519

At least it comes with a new back window which the glass it the least of the cars problems.
Notice the current seller appears to be a scrap yard and I'll bet it was bought for current scrap price.

Moral of the story, the estate seller of the 1 owner 'mother' car should of took a best offer of $500 to $1,000 because that is all that it is worth.


.

I was the one who went to see it... IIRC, I posted a number of pictures showing the trouble areas and think I described them at the time. I love the colors this car once was, but the interior was already baked. I do recall treading lightly, because I had referred the owner here and didn't want to slam her and piss her off in case somebody else wanted to work with her.

I also had a discussion with both her and the person she had show me the car regarding its true value and condition. Both seemed to believe that I was full of poop, because some yahoo who worked in some NC race shop had told them how valuable this car was. She honestly felt that she was giving a very fair price at $5200 and that with the "little" work required this car would be worth so much more.

If you find my old post, I'm pretty sure I included the duct taped seat upholstery. I think I told her I'd value the car at around $1200 at the time, and I'd put up a grand to save it and see if I could rehome it. I think my write up of the car and her insistence on the price may have scared away the one or two interested parties. They didn't have a working battery in the car, and I told them that didn't matter for me... it was complete and sat long enough to need a good going through.

Thank you for putting this one back on the radar, JIC someone here has interest. She was selling the house too, so I suppose the car was disposed of to complete the sale. The lady I spoke to was very sweet, but in NC and delusional about the value thanks to her trusted "expert" friend.

 

[68PK21 440.6bbl]

If you find my old post, I'm pretty sure I included the duct taped seat upholstery.

For the love of gawd I searched an searched and searched and cud'init find anything.
Searched several different ways, brougham, no brougham, fury no gran fury.
NOTHING! I think I posted it once, then it got a repeat, but who knows where it went.
I basically use what is in the CL AD title, but I've been touching them up lately.

I did come across many humorous comments in the posts going way back to the 2013/4 era.
"Flipper fail"
"Can't tell because the picture was taken from mars"
"Once a car is in a flip it is forever in a flip"
"And resold it for 4,800.... c body economics......"

 

[1970FuryConv]

As I recall, on that generation the trunk "floor" is actually a bit higher than in prior generations, but with a deep well on each side. Which is probably where any moisture could accumulate over time. There should be a plastic plug on each side for drainage of the anti-corrosion bath the body goes through at the factory, though. Thanks,
CBODY67

This is from a 1970 Fury (parted); I had with rot in the same area. I guess her trunk floor wouldn't have looked the same?
Above

Below

Sub frame didn't look very good either

 

[rapidtrans]

Is that not a 76? My Dad bought a new 75 Gran Fury and it had 4 headlights.

Kevin

The Brougham model received a unique grille with two headlamps.
(Dad worked on design of this front end.)
A base Grand Fury got a different grille, I believe carried over from 74, with quad head lamps.
The Fury model was a B body in 75.

 

[PeugFra]

(Dad worked on design of this front end.)

Hey, that's extremely interesting! Could you tell something more about your father's work, either here or in the Formal Styling thread? What period did he work on Chrysler-Plymouth design, under whose supervision, in which studios, what did he work on besides the 1975-1977 Gran Fury front clip? So many questions ...

I tried to contact Jeffrey Godshall twice (email and snail mail), but never had a reaction.

 

[rapidtrans]

Hey, that's extremely interesting! Could you tell something more about your father's work, either here or in the Formal Styling thread? What period did he work on Chrysler-Plymouth design, under whose supervision, in which studios, what did he work on besides the 1975-1977 Gran Fury front clip? So many questions ...

I tried to contact Jeffrey Godshall twice (email and snail mail), but never had a reaction.

Dad worked from 53 till 79 in body gesign.
Much of the story can be followed in my two photo garages called “When they were new”.
His body design group worked with stying to actually figure out how to build their designs. Specifically in the “Front End Group” from the cowl forward sheet metal. Particular challenges he did mention were the huge near flat Imperial hoods. Or the 70 Coronet bumper as styling wanted the separate loops. Dad’s group had to consider how to fabricate then assembly on a moving line. That big Grand Fury Brougham grill was significant due to its large flat surface. That won some acclaim as the largest use of that material in the industry. Dad never mentioned working with the Big Name stying heads but many of the stylists were friends and lived in our subdivision. Stylists often mentioned in “Collectable Automobile” magazine like Mr Mitchell, Mr Swartz and Mr Kornmiller all were neighbors whose kids we grew up with.

 

[PeugFra]

For my reaction, see the Formal Styling thread.