What do we know about Furies? Roman mythology tells us that the furies are first and foremost, definitely female. They are supreme beings that embody vengeance, the divine manifestation of the rage of the dead, according to some. You know that saying “hell hath no fury like a woman scorned”, that’s dead on when we’re talking about Christine. In short, you don’t mess with a fury. In automotive terms, a fury is a car that Plymouth first introduced for the 1956 model year.
The first Furies, 1956-1958 were derived from the Plymouth Belvedere, which I have a 1957 example of pictured here in white. They’re really the same car with different badges, because the Fury was initially more of a trim package available on the Belvedere rather than a stand alone model. That is why, but for some of the trim and badges, this Belvedere looks nearly identical to what a Fury of the same year would look like, and also, very much like the 1958 Plymouth Fury that Christine was.
In fact, it looks like this Belvedere is channeling a bit of fury itself. Check out those flames on the front.
The movie took a slightly different approach to Christine than King’s book. For starters, Christine went from being a sedan in the book to being a 2-door in the movie -which I think is a good move considering that it makes the idea of having a Christine replica that much more appealing for collectors, who nearly always prize a coupe over a sedan. Instead of being possessed by the vengeful spirit of Mr. Lebay, Christine’s previous owner, Christine is instead born/assembled an evil car. In the movie, we see Christine smash one of the assembly line worker’s hands in her hood, and later, off another employee who makes the mistake of smoking inside the car while it’s on the assembly line.
If you watch the movie, you’ll note that Christine is the only Fury coming down the assembly line that isn’t white. That’s because all Furies from 1956-1958 were offered only in beige or off-white with gold trim. This tells us that either Christine was just conceived by some magical, mythical evil that preferred red over beige, or that she was a custom order.
In the book, it is explained that Christine was custom car ordered to be painted Ford red -which might also account for why, later in the movie, the detective (who drives a late 70’s model Fury himself -they were popular as cop cars back then) confronts Arnie, Christine’s new owner, about how rare his paint color is when trying to question him about the grisly death of one of Arnie’s enemies. If you didn’t know about the beige thing, you might be wondering how on earth somebody could call red a rare color for that car, because it seems like a typical offering from a car manufacturer.
A 1958 Fury was available with either a 318 cu in. V8 with 230 HP and 340 lb-ft of torque (260 HP if it had a 4-barrel carburetor), or a 350 V8 with 305 HP and 370 lb-ft of torque. I would bet that Christine had the 350. Throughout the movie, we see Christine go through transformation after transformation. She starts out in really rough shape when Arnie first buys her from the brother of her deceased original owner, though in the book, Arnie buys direct from the owner who then dies. Arnie fixes her up like new, and from there, Christine goes on a murderous rampage, continually wrecking and rebuilding herself.
In the movie, it is said that Christine was the setting for the deaths of her original owner’s daughter, wife, and the owner himself. Of course, we see the maiming of the plant worker and the death of another worker at the beginning of the film, then the deaths of several people who have angered Christine throughout the movie, the most notable of which was the main bad guy, Buddy, who dies in a flaming heap on the road after being run down by Christine in fireball form.
I like to think of it like Christine was possessed by an actual ancient Roman Fury and bathed in the red rage of that deity from the get-go. Anyway, that’s just my wishful back story, and I’m in no way criticizing the direction in which Stephen King took his story, though my personal preference favors the movie adaptation’s version of events.
So, I don’t actually have a ‘58 Plymouth Fury for us to look at today from my personal photo files. The ’57 Belvedere is about as close as it gets, and really, you ought to be thankful that I didn’t take that in a different direction where I compared and contrasted the ’57 Plymouth Belvedere to the 80’s sitcom, Mr. Belvedere -just sayin’.
What I do have is this one measly photo of what I believe is a ’68 Plymouth Fury III convertible. So, 10 years newer than Christine. This one was at Ellingson Classic Cars a few months ago, but I don’t think they have it anymore. I don’t know the exact specs on this car, though there were a few options available on the Fury in 1968. First, buyers had their choice of several engines, starting with the economical 225 cu in slant-6 engine with 145 HP (I discussed the merits of the slant-6 in a post months ago about the Plymouth Valiant, if I’m not mistaken). An improvement over that was the 318 V8 with 230 HP. Then, there was the 383 cu in. “Commando” V8 with a 2-barrel carburetor and 270 HP. A step up from that would get the same Commando V8 with a 4-barrel and 330 HP. Above all of those was the 440 cu in. Commando V8 with a 4-barrel carburetor and 375 HP, which could provide plenty of fury for driving excitement. This being a Fury III, if I recall correctly, I believe it would have the 383 or the 440 under its hood rather than the slant-6 or the 318. By 1968, that whole “exclusively beige and gold” thing was long gone and more colors were available to buyers. I’m certain this paint isn’t original, but it’s entirely possible that this color, or one similar to it was an option at the time.
So, my dear readers, have a wonderful Halloween, and try not to anger the furies.
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