Check out a cruise night, car show, or even the latest offerings from Detroit, and you'll get the picture that station wagons are hot. But are they musclecars? Dan Goldhardt thinks his latest Rare Find is. It's a '63 Plymouth Fury station wagon that's able to haul nine passengers.
He admits, "It'd be a stretch calling it a musclecar, but it does have the 330-horse 383 engine. I would say it's in the muscle era, and it certainly has a muscle engine."
He speaks of the 383, which has powered this wagon for 122,000 miles and still runs, though it's "tired." Dan continued, "It starts rights up. You turn the key and in two cranks she's running."
Dan first found the car on eBay. when the bid topped out at $3,100, it didn't meet reserve. Dan waited a few days and then found it listed on another site. Dan called the man and told him he was the guy on eBay trying to buy the car. The seller was building a house and told Dan his rock bottom price was $3,500. Dan agreed. He made the deal and had the Fury shipped from Arizona to his home in Columbus, Ohio. Dan told us, "I don't know where he found it, and I don't know how it got unearthed there. It was originally sold at Phoenix Auto Sales."
The engine is original for the car, plus the numbers from the original warranty card from the original owner came with the deal. Dan owns a number of traditional Mopar musclecars, so what excited him about the wagon?
"First of all, I was excited because it was a big-block car with A/C. A 383 four-barrel engine in a station wagon is unusual. it's an automatic with power steering, power brakes, and it hauls nine people. It's a pretty unusual package. The guy who sold it to me said he had a conversation with Mr. Govier, and it's a one-of-one. But I can't verify that," Dan told us.
Other options include a power tailgate window, factory wind wings, and roof rack. Wind wings are handles that help passengers step into the rear facing back seat. Dan says wind wings are also designed to keep the back glass clean and to keep carbon monoxide from coming into the vehicle.
Dan is elated with his new project car. The paint is still original and not all that bad, but the upholstery is pretty rough. Arizona cars are typically rust-free, but the sun bakes the rubber parts and upholstery, causing them to age prematurely.
According to Dan, "Wagons are coming on. I see more and more of them, and people are starting to figure out that they are really neat. I am going to paint it, and it needs very little bodywork. I am going to take it apart and go through the brakes, the transmission, and things like that, but that's just for my own benefit. It actually drives decent right now."
Rare
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