1964 Plymouth Fury - A Maximum Effort

Plymouth set the automotive world on fire when they released the newly designed '64 model. Although the new car shared much of the '63's styling theme, the '64's obvious refinements provided a touch of added convention with pop style. The excitement continued under the hood where buyers could opt for engines flexing several variations of big power. The new front grille and V-shaped fender points complemented the unique hardtop roofline with its supporting bold and triangulated C-pillars exceptionally well. the new body style was more aerodynamic than the '63s were. At the '64 Daytona 500, the slipperier Plymouth with its tremendous performance captured the number 1, 2, and 3 race finishes with Richard Petty holding the lead. It was a first-time win at Daytona for Plymouth in many years. Most everyone from racers to the buying public loved the '64's styling, engineering, and performance.

Like many Mopar guys, Paul Dunham has always admired '64 Plymouths and, especially, the Sport Fury. It was 30 years ago that Paul, then a 16-year-old, bought his first '64 Sport Fury from his brother Bob. Back then, he enjoyed the following four years rowing the factory four-speed and wrenching on the 383 engine. By the early '80s, his responsibilities had grown and he sold his '64. he spent the next two decades developing his upholstery business (Classic Touch in Lancaster, California) and fulfilling family obligations, but always longing for another Sport Fury.

By 2004, Paul's business was running fairly well, and with the help of his wife, Monica, his life with his five kids was fairly stable. Just about then Paul realized he could finally afford the time for a little automotive diversity-a '64 Sport Fury. But he thought finding one so many years later would be a challenge. That was until one day he picked up a classifieds paper and thumbed to the antique car section. There he found an ad that read: '64 Plymouth Sport Fury project car, MUST SELL, $2,500 or ? within minutes, he had the seller on the phone and was headed out to take a look. Once there, he saw that the old Plymouth needed some sheetmetal work, another door, a few trim parts, and it didn't run, but he knew he could transform it into his dream car with some dedicated work. So with a little tire kicking, Paul bargained the selling price down to $1,100 and that afternoon had the project car home.

With his rare find in his garage, Paul spent the next several hours surveying the car and came up with a rigorous game plan to make this B-Body better than new. To achieve his goal, he decided to purchase many of the needed parts from swap meets or on eBay and secure a donor Plymouth to serve as an on-hand parts car for any needed sheetmetal. But most importantly, he'd make certain that all the work performed on the '64 Sport Fury would strictly adhere to concourse quality.

Within just a few months, Paul's eBay shopping spree began to pay off with rewards to complete his inventory of Sport Fury trim. Then one afternoon while running an errand in an old part of town, Paul got lost. When he turned around, he found the perfect candidate to serve as a donor Plymouth in a dirt lot. Although it was nothing more than just a rust-free and straight Belvedere, it had the needed panels to renovate his Sport Fury. for the paltry price of 100 bucks, the seller was glad to have someone move the non-running old car off his property.

Now with his game plan coming together, he set out to perform what would turn into his greatest challenge-achieving concourse quality. Most old cars wear more than one coat of paint and carry a few body issues, and Paul's Plymouth was no exception. Since his plan called for mirror straight black paint, the car needed to be media blasted and then sent to a quality paint and body shop. Once the media blasting was completed, the car was taken to the first body shop, where the body man quickly lost interest after discovering just how serious Paul was about high quality. Two painters later, Paul finally found the right guy, who made the body perfectly straight and then sprayed on generous coats of jet black PPG.

While all of this was going on, Paul sent out his taillights for replating and ran into more difficulties when the chrome shop damaged his cores. To find replacements, he spent months online and finally collected another set of viable taillights. Finding those items was especially challenging because the needed cores are unique to only Fury and Sport Fury models and are prone to pitting. After several months, the taillights and all the other chrome items were replated to meet his unwavering standards.

Since Paul's expertise is upholstery, he performed most of the interior renovations himself, using seat and door panel kits from Legendary Auto Interiors. The aging dashpad was handed off to Just Dashes in Van Nuys, California, where the original pad was reskinned with a special vacuum process to closely match the factory appearance. Special attention was given to the entire instrument housing where G Car Plastic Grille and Trim renovated the chrome plastic instrument bezel to a better-than-new appearance. Next, the factory instruments were recalibrated and refaced at Redline Gauge Works to exceed new condition.

Paul's objective also called for glistening exterior aluminum and stainless trim to bounce shine off the deep black paint. To fulfill this goal, he collected every molding, grille section, and headlight bezel and sent them to the King of Trim (kingoftrim.com) in North Hollywood, California. There they were straightened, buffed, and renewed to shine better than ever.

To power his Mopar, Paul pulled a 440 from a worn out '67 Chrysler, disassembled it, and delivered it to Adams Metallizing & Grinding Machine Shop in Lancaster, California, where it was cleaned, decked, and bored. Paul and his buddy Bob Stagg assembled the short-block with a large by huge hydraulic Comp Cam, Eagle 4.25-inch stroke forged crank, JE forged .030-inch-over pistons, and a Milodon pan and oiling system. The longer stroke 4.25-inch Eagle crankshaft and .030-inch-over slugs yielded 505 torquey cubic inches. Then they topped the works off with a set of Edelbrock RPM aluminum cylinder heads and a reproduction cross-ram Max Wedge intake with two Edelbrock 750 carbs. For free exhaust breathing, Paul added a set of tti 2-inch headers and a TTI 3-inch exhaust system.

With almost three years dedicated to the build, the completed car was almost in sight. Once Paul and Bob had the engine in the bay, Paul reinstalled all the shining body items, chrome, interior, dash, glass, and electrical to the body. Then he added a full set of American Racing wheels. The Mopars at the Strip event in Las Vegas, Nevada, provided added motivation to finish the few remaining details. After many late nights and weekend hours, the car was finished just days before the big event.

By the end of the Mopars at the Strip weekend, Paul had won First Place in the '62-'67 B-Body Restified class. With that trophy on his mantle, he has continued to drive his Sport Fury to lots of shows and weekend cruises. His Sport Fury also encored by winning First Place at the Spring Fling in Van Nuys, California. The Sport Fury delivers plenty of performance, too. The mammoth 505's huge torque levels deliver rapid full-throttle blasts.

Paul tells us the most rewarding part of his whole Sport Fury experience has been listening to the tremendous comments from folks who stop by to see the car. Yes, it took a maximum effort to build this car, but it has paid much bigger dividends in appreciation.

Fast Facts
'64 Plymouth Sport Fury
Paul Dunham
Lancaster, CA

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