Another Holy Grail C-body Resto Starts Here; 1970 Sport Fury S/23 "N" Code 383 4bbl

SportFury70

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Hi everybody,

I wanted to especially document but also share the very soon to be restoration of my stepdads factory 1970 Sport Fury S/23 "N" Code 383 4bbl. Now I know what you are probably thinking, "what about the '67 Sport Fury convertible project?." That project is still ongoing, the car is still at our body and paint friend and has been there for almost a year now. An update will be coming on that hopefully soon. Now I know what you also are probably thinking, "why are you restoring the S/23 it's beautiful already from the pictures you post of it." Well it's nice and show worthy but it is NOT perfect by any means, the right side has what my stepdad calls "automotive chicken pox" meaning flaking paint dots on the right side door and cracking paint in other places on the car because the current paint is lacquer which is 30+ years old now. It also has paint runs in it which you can't tell by pictures but when you look at it really close you notice it, I tried getting pictures of this up close which I will post here. The problem areas are mainly in the quarter panels though. The reason we are restoring the car is because my stepdad was never happy with the current paint job when he had it done 30+ years ago and mainly because we won the "Favorite Mopar" trophy last year in 2021 at the Adirondack Nationals Hotrod/car show in Lake George NY with the car, and we are planning on taking the car back this year in 2022 so we want it to look better.

So far a new S/23 stripe kit was bought from Phoenix Graphix (thank you fellas), and the car has been brought to my stepdads other friend yesterday who he has known since high school who is also a body and paint guy. For those who don't know this car is 1 of only 689 originally built, and is one of about I wanna say 12 and 1 of I wanna say 2 DY2 Sunfire Yellow S/23's known to exist on the SportFuryS/23&GTRegistry. Here is the history of the car and member @FURYGT can also add to this if he would like to as he has known my stepdad since high school and has also driven this car, or member @1968Chryslers can also add to this if he would like to as he has known my stepdad for about 15-20 years......

- The car was built on 10/15/1969 at the Newark DE assembly plant, and is 1 of only 2 known to exist from that plant according to Mr. Galen Govier who decoded the cars fender tag back in 1998.

- The car was a new off the lot purchase from New Britain Chrysler/Plymouth in New Britain CT by an elderly couple who wanted a 2-door with air conditioning, who did not at all if it was rare and special

- The car was stolen from the original owners wife while she was at work and recovered in a parking garage in Springfield Massachusetts.

- The car has a 1971 warranty block in it because the original engine blew up with only 2,500 miles because of a thrown connecting rod

- My stepdad bought the car for only $500.00 back in about 1983 from the original owners because the reverse band was broken. He was into the Furys at the time and saw it in their garage and knew it was rare and special because he never heard of one, and told the owners "if you ever wanna sell it let me know". t is the 3rd ever C-body my stepdad ever bought

- The car has 2 build or broadcast sheets but sadly no other paperwork besides authenticity paperwork.

- The car has been restored twice already, once by the original owners and once by my stepdad.

- The car has won many prestigious awards such as a Galen Govier Top 10 award at the Englishtown Mopar Nationals, a Presidents Pick at our local Mopar Expo show, a Favorite 50 at Lebanon Valley Dragway, many 1st places including in Carlisle, Featured on our local Mopar car clubs dash plaque, and Favorite Mopar at the Adirondack Nationals.

New stripe kit here.....
Phoenix Graphix 1970 Plymouth Sport Fury GT Decal Kit

Old car show pictures of the car, starting with 2003 at the Englishtown Mopar Nationals in NJ. (ALL photo credit (except the last 2 photos) is courtesy of Moparts.com).....
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Mopar Nationals 2005, Englishtown NJ.....
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Carlisle 2007.....
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Friends Local Cruise Night 2009.....
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Adirondack Nationals 2021, (photos taken by me)......
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The plan is to have the car restored and back together in time for Carlisle this year as it is currently registered and since we are taking "The Great Pumpkin" our 1970 Fury III 4-door hardtop anyways. My personal plan is to document the restoration here when I have time.

I hope you join us along for the restoration of this rare and rambunctious C-body!
 
Engine bay pictures and one interior picture. The engine bay will NOT be getting restored because it is original paint on the firewall according to my stepdad, and the interior will be getting a little overhaul. It will (eventually) definitely be getting a new carpet as you can almost see the floor in the back, and new front seat covers as they are coming apart because both are original to the car.....
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Hi everyone,

I got an update on the S/23 resto..... see I told ya we're just gettin' started. Since my last post chrome has been taken off the car including the back bumper, both quarter panels have been mostly sanded to bare metal, and both doors were started to be sanded down to bare metal. My stepdad and I went to his friends/paint and body guy yesterday to drop off a spare trunk my stepdad had for the car, because the original one on the car has some bondo in it and it was starting to crack before being sanded down. (See my pictures in a later post of the new trunk.) While there while my stepdad and his friend were talkin about further plans for the car, payment, and talkin about the new trunk I snapped some current progress pictures of the car where the major problem areas are in the quarter panels. My stepdads friend says when he started sanding down the quarters there was a bunch of bondo that was a 1/4" thick. He also said that he is gonna pull the quarters out to where they are even in the end then primer them.....

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Here are some pictures of the new trunk; it is white and came off a Gran Coupe that came from Haynes & McGill in Bridgeport. It has a little surface rust on it on "the back" where you are not gonna see it BUT it will obviously be fixed anyway.....

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This is all for now on the S/23, more to come soon.....
 
Hi folks,

I got an update on the S/23 restoration. To get to the back of the quarter panels to straighten them to the best they can be, the back seat and door panels or cards had to come out. This happened about when the trunk lid was brought over to our body and paint friend at this point about 1 or 2 weeks ago, the pictures however were taken the last time we were over his shop a few days ago this past Monday. The front door panels or cards were also taken out.....


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Here is THE latest update on the S/23:

The straightening of the quarter panels has begun. To assure the quarter panel measurements and thickness are correct, we brought "The Great Pumpkin" or our 23,000 mile FK3 Burnt Orange 1970 Fury III 4-door hardtop over the shop this past Monday to keep until the quarters on the S/23 are done, measured, and primed......

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THE latest update (from this past Monday) continued:

Here are some pictures of the quarters being started and pulled out to be correct; and this is only the start of it. There is PLENTY more to do on them. These pictures were taken this past Monday.

This is all for now, more to come soon.....

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