RIDE OF THE WEEK: 1966 Plymouth Sport Fury

by Michael Golubiewski
Production Editor

Feel the ‘Fury’

For Rich Rynkiewicz of Nanticoke, restoring cars isn’t just a hobby — it’s a passion. Rynkiewicz loves “anything about cars. Anything from NASCAR to swap meets, car shows, from restoration to helping out in the pits at Mountain Raceway in St. John’s.”

He’s already restored two cars: a 1972 Plymouth Barracuda, which has won a first-place prize in the regional competition at Hersheypark and this week’s ride, a 1966 Plymouth Sport Fury, which was been restored as close as possible to factory condition.

The Fury was produced by Plymouth from 1955 through 1989. The 1966 Fury was the second model year of the second generation of the car and came with design and performance improvements. Plymouth advertised the Fury as “Plymouth on the move” and promoted the car as being “clean, tough, tight and a tiger on the road.” The mesh grill that came standard on the Fury in previous years was replaced by one of horizontal bars set within frames that gave the appearance of a split grill. In the back of the car, Chrysler moved the taillights to the upper edge of the trunk, in panels made to look similar to the grill on the front. The upper edge of the rear bumper features a widely spaced spelling out of P-L-Y-M-O-U-T-H (done similarly across the hood on the front of the car).

The Sport Fury version features a 440-cubic-inch, 8-cylinder engine that has a 10.1 compression, dual exhaust and a four-barrel carburetor that features a dual snorkel air cleaner to produce 365 horsepower. The 1966 also features a telescoping tilt steering wheel and four passenger seat belts with optional front shoulder belts. Another safety feature on the ’66 Fury is emergency 4-way flashers two years before they were mandated in all automobiles by the federal government.

The console between the front seats has a new automatic transmission lever (replacing Chrysler’s famous pushbutton drive) and a reverse lockout button on the top. Rynkiewicz’s Fury has won the Grand National Award in the Antique Automobile Club of America for this year and class. Not content with his work on the Barracuda — which will be featured in a future Motorhead — and the Fury, Rynkiewicz is currently considering restoring another automobile. When he does, I’m sure he’ll share the story with all Weekender readers.

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