Anybody who has ever worked for a monolithic corporation of this type knows that there is a lot of interdepartmental and divisional competition. The guys at De Soto, Dodge, and Plymouth weren't about to sit idly by and let the Chrysler guys collect all the accolades, not to mention the bonus checks. When sales reports came out and they were dead last, top brass would want to know why. And the old standby "Chrysler stole the show" wouldn't wash. Kinda like "the dog ate my homework." There was a lot of midnight oil being burned at Plymouth, and there were rumors galore. What would emerge would nearly ruin Chrysler and the 300.


It was widely rumored inside the Chrysler offices that the board had voted not to have Plymouth build a special performance  model. Supposedly  the board  had also killed any chance of Plymouth building a specialty car to compete against Thunderbird or Corvette. Yet everyone knew that Plymouth had been vigorously pursuing a special unit codenamed "FA" to compete with  Chevrolet and Ford. It was thought that the term "FA" stemmed from a project car designed by Virgil Exner called the Firearrow, which was based on a Dodge chassis. (See concept cars)


New car time in the 1950s was  big doings. Dealers planned parties, entertainment, and other events to draw all the attention they could to their new models.  The 1955 models were gone, and the 1956 models were on their way. The car line chassis were exactly the same as the 1955 models; a re-skinning by Virgil Exner and  stylist Henry King made the 1956 models look all new. 

It is not known exactly how the decision to make performance models for Plymouth, De Soto and Dodge came about. It may have been badgering from the divisions, especially Plymouth, or it may have been a decision from the powerful Marketing Division to build them because of the floor traffic the C-300 model had generated. Lots of lookers, but not a lot of buyers meant one thing to them; the price was too high for the average Joe. Average Joe could buy a Plymouth or Dodge though, and who cared if Average Joe could handle a car that would do 130?  Not our problem; call the insurance company. Or the meat wagon. 

The people  at Plymouth knew that if they could generate that kind of floor traffic with a super car of their own, their third place in the production race would be guaranteed. It was hard to convince a board of directors that was in chaos or in bed with some of the Chrysler suppliers of this, however. They felt that Plymouth was the "family transportation" and a performance model was outside the Plymouth image. Little did they know just how far and fast Plymouth had gone with their project. The last thing on their minds was how many Chryslers got sold.

In February 1955, the Canadian Windsor plant had just completed a 29 million dollar engine forge building expansion, and they had the size engine Plymouth wanted. A  303 cubic inch polysphere head V-8 was being readied for the Dodge Royal and the Plymouth Mayfair in Canada;  it was the same basic 301 cubic inch engine introduced in 1955 in the Chrysler Windsor line as the "Spitfire."  This engine was not being made available to Plymouth in the United States. However, the NASCAR cubic inch limit for Plymouth's class, at that time, was 305 cubic inches. The perfectly sized  303 was the engine the Plymouth engineers wanted for the "FA" project. 

Sales people from Plymouth  made a trip to Windsor, Ontario. The negotiations to obtain the 303 engine from Canada weren't really negotiations at all; the sales people  in Windsor were practically drooling to have such a car.  However, the real problem  was getting the engine to the production line in Evansville, Indiana, without ChryCo's board being alerted. Actually it wasn't a difficult accomplishment, considering Chrysler was a company almost disconnected with itself. The left hand did not know what the right hand was doing. 

Suddenly, in the summer of 1955,  the whole Plymouth project had begun to unravel. The ChryCo board was onto the "FA" project, now renamed "Fury," and they intended to kill it. Many were downright angry, considering the upstarts over at Plymouth to be mutineers. They believed, and probably rightly so, that they had a secret den of plotters right in their own back yard. Anything that threatened the 300 was taboo at Chrysler.

The sales department fought back, and assembled  a very powerful coalition of dealers, suppliers, and stock holders to back the Plymouth project. The vote of the ChryCo board to kill the Fury was not taken. Instead, it allocated it to the status of an experimental project. This was probably better than if it had been allowed to become a regular model, because it opened up the company coffers to cash that would not have otherwise been made available. Virgil Exner weighed in on the Fury, giving it his full backing and blessing. Considering that Exner was considered the saviour of the company, this was all that was needed. Once the vote was taken, congratulations went all around, and the ChryCo board somewhat reluctantly, but with increasing fervor, jumped on the Fury band wagon. 


Soon the summer was over, and it was time for the introduction of the 1956 Chrysler lines. The 1956 Chryslers were beautifully face lifted. The 300, now the 300B, had a 354 cubic inch Hemi head V-8 that pushed out 340 horsepower. There was also an optional 354 cubic inch Hemi V-8 that put out 355 horsepower. De Soto too, had responded to the makeover in an artistic array of fins and lines. The new Adventurer was gorgeous.  Dodge showed the genius touch of Virgil Exner and Henry King. Maury Baldwin, who was a contemporary of Henry King, and responsible for designing the 1955 Dodge and Plymouth cars, had been reassigned to special projects, including the Fury.  Dodge had   the Golden Lancer, which was supposed to showcase the D-500 option. It was  lost in the shuffle because the D-500 was available on any model Dodge, even the cheapest, so it's late year introduction was overshadowed by the new Plymouth Fury.

The D-500 option consisted of a 315 cubic inch hemi head V-8 with 260 horsepower. It had mandatory options consisting of  heavy duty suspension pieces and bigger brakes, wheels, and tires. The recommended transmission was the Powerflite automatic. Just to clarify things, there were two 315 cubic inch engines that year.  One was a Polysphere head 315  that put out 230 horsepower with a four barrel carburetor and dual exhausts. This was the engine that won all the land speed records at Bonneville. Dodge broke, reset and made, all tolled, 196 records at the Bonneville salt flats with the 1956 Dodge.  This engine went 14 days at 92.86 miles an hour for a distance of 31,224 miles. This engine is not the same block as the famous 318, however. 

You have to pay close attention to Chrysler engines. From the point of acquiring Dodge in 1928, Chrysler had a myriad of engines, all nearly alike, except for cubic inch size. It was after the dual introduction of two separate 383 engines in 1959, the Dodge 383, which eventually won over as the better power plant, and the Chrysler 383, both separately produced, that confusion began.  1959 Chrysler owners  have to pay close attention to engine parts. The Dodge components, or later corporate components won't fit your Chrysler. 

The Poly head 315 engine was also the basis for Dodge's introduction of a  Police Package for 1956. It was the  first fleet buyers effort for the company, although De Soto and Plymouth had been famous for their fleet cars for years. Dodge aimed its new Police Pursuit package  specifically at the State Police and large Sheriff departments. The model was available in 2 or 4 doors. It had heavy duty suspension components that included anti-sway bars at both ends, along with reinforced body joints, braces, and seals.  11 inch De Soto brakes were included, along with a little known brake lining called, "non-organic." We call these metallic brakes today.  The recommended transmission was the Powerflite, although a heavy duty Dodge truck clutch and three speed standard transmission could be fitted. 

While California is credited  for its loyalty to Dodge, it was  the Missouri Highway Patrol that started with and remained absolutely loyal to Chrysler cars for patrol duties. In 1956, while California HP was still testing their 1956 Dodge Pursuits, Missouri HP had already put a fleet to work. Missouri had purchased 10 Dodge cars for their first unmarked patrols in 1953. They bought more, due to their excellent speed, handling, and economy of operation, in 1954. In 1955, they also bought some Dodge units for marked patrol. In 1956, 80 per cent of the Missouri HP fleet was Dodge, along with a mixed bid of a few Fords.

No records were kept of the purchase total of the 1956 Dodge Pursuits. Indiana changed their fleet to the 1956 Dodge.  California purchased 400 Dodge Pursuits along with 400 Pontiac Chieftains. Like most states, they tried to please everybody. The California experience with the Chieftains was mostly positive. However, the Dodge by comparison simply blew the competition away. When the second buy came along in late spring of 1956, Dodge Pursuits in the California fleet had proven so outstanding that an additional 200 were purchased. They were just like the first 400 with one big exception; they had the 315 CI D-500 Hemi engines in them. 

Just a few more words about the Dodge packages; the brake system on Chrysler cars had been the Lockheed hydraulic units which were on the first Chrysler cars built in 1924. In 1956, Chrysler went to an across the board switch to a system of its own design. As usual, it was over engineered.

Each wheel had two brake cylinders. It was also a center plane design that allowed the brake lining backing to twist putting the lining in full contact with the brake drum, effectively increasing the brake sweep and power. When they were right, there was no more powerful brake system. However, they were a mechanic's nightmare due to their complexity  in adjustment.  Chrysler used a little known lining for its fleet cars. In reality, it was sintered metallic material, just as is used today. However, a little known company became a supplier to Chrysler after it's "Cyclebonded" brake linings not only out stopped, but refused to fade, at a torture test at the Chelsea Proving Ground. 

The only problem with the material was that when it was cold, it could be erratic and grabby, causing a regular driver some anxiety, whereas in general your fleet drivers could be easily trained to warm up the brakes  in the morning. After that, no special attention would be needed. Trying to educate the general public in use of such a material did not seem feasible to Chrysler at the time. 

As an example of how good Chrysler's brakes were, we need to take a look at the California Highway Patrol tests in 1956. The brake tests were to take the car through a maximum acceleration up to 70 miles an hour, then panic punch the brakes, attempting a maximum braking situation. Then without allowing for any cooling, the car would again be max accelerated back to 70. This was repeated 4 times in a row. After the 4th stop, the car was maximum accelerated to 90 miles an hour. Again, the brakes were punched in a panic manner. This was repeated 2 times in a row. Then the car was taken up to wide open throttle, as fast as it could go, and the brakes were slammed on. This exercise was repeated 4 times. The one and only car to pass was the Dodge. Granted the brakes were extremely hot, and had all sorts of funny smells, along with whiffs of smoke coming from them. But they refused to fade. The secret of the sintered metallic linings is that the hotter they got, the better they stopped. 


In California, Dodge faced Pontiac, Buick, and Mercury in 1956. Mercury was disqualified because it failed the brake test miserably. Buick too had lousy brakes. Pontiac was a little better, going through the 4 stops from 70, but was not able to hold on at the first try from 90. After Dodge had whipped its competitors with its four high speed panic stops, an instructor took the Dodge on the high speed chase course. In the entire length, there are at least 10 places where maximum effort braking is required, bringing the car down from a high speed, over 80 mph to a much lower speed of around 20 to 30 mph. The instructor ran the Dodge through the course without stopping 10 times in a row. The brakes never offered to fade, pulling the big Dodge down at a measured 25 feet per second, squared.  This is the same design found on 300s.

 On January 10, 1956, the Plymouth Fury was introduced at the Chicago Auto Show. 
It was a big show for Plymouth. And while it was being unveiled in Chicago, another Fury was streaking across the sand at Daytona Beach, Florida. It blasted the timers for a two way average of 124.611 miles an hour. Better, it took the standing mile at 82.54 miles an hour. Not bad for a  Plymouth that weighed 3,650 pounds. Everybody connected to Plymouth was excited. The coup-de-grace for Chevrolet and Ford had been born.

Sadly, it was not to be. Shortly after the speed had been sent to NASCAR for verification, Plymouth received notification that it could not compete in regular stock classes at Daytona Speed Week in February. The Fury had not been in production for 90 days. You cannot imagine the black haze that settled over the Plymouth division. Bill France was a name that would live, as Roosevelt put it, in infamy. He hung in effigy in several places at Plymouth dealers, assembly plants, and it was later shown for fact, at the Chrysler Headquarters in Highland Park. 

Plymouth executives fought back. Someone pointed out that the Fury had come from an "experimental" project, so why not run it at Daytona as a Factory Experimental? 
 Corporate seemed to accept the new determination in the Plymouth Division. There was some serious competition in the class; however, with a pure stock speed of 124 miles an hour tucked away, it seemed a sure thing that the Fury could best all comers. A suitable unit was secured, and its makeover began. 

There had been no real idea about cam timing, lift or duration. A Plymouth employee had a racing cam set up for a Chrysler engine, but would it work for the Fury? Telephone calls were made, and the special cam was placed in the hands of Greyhound Bus Lines for delivery to Highland Park. In the meantime, the Fury's heads were milled to bring the compression ratio up to 10 to 1. There wasn't any time to test the ports for flow. Had they been, as much later polysphere engine heads  were, there might have been a substantial increase in horsepower, perhaps as much as  20%.

A special Chrysler intake manifold was fitted with two huge four barrel carburetors. New exhaust manifolds were fitted to match 180 degree firings of the engine. It was like an extractor system without the blower. The camshaft arrived from North Carolina. Its dimensions were carefully checked; it was a huge disappointment. It would not fit the 303 profile. However, using the lobe pattern, a new camshaft was ground that would fit. 

Ten days before  Speed Week in Daytona, the tricked out Plymouth Fury rolled into the Michigan sunshine. The Chelsea Proving Grounds  had ever heard a Plymouth like this one; it boomed as it went through some break in miles and full throttle run ups. The standard three speed stick transmission never faltered or showed any signs of being stressed. The engineers were all agreed though, there would be  no top speed runs until Daytona. They knew it was a winner, and they were positive enough to leave Michigan feeling just that way. The one-model-only Factory Experimental Fury was loaded inside the cargo bay of a specially chartered DC-7 and flown directly to Daytona Beach. 

 As expected, the 1956 Chrysler 300B blew everything else off the beach, including the vaunted stock models of the Chevrolet Corvette and Ford Thunderbird. It set a two way record of 139.373 miles an hour. 

The De Soto Adventurer nearly committed the ultimate heresy by going faster than the 300B, however. It had a one way run of 144 miles an hour. However, it was noticeably slower going back the other way, at 120 miles an hour. Gee, I wonder what happened. That set an average speed of 132. Suitable for Chrysler's marketing arm and probably all that the conservative management at De Soto wanted. The big prize for De Soto was that it had been chosen to pace the Indianapolis 500 race on Memorial Day. Two replica models of the Indy 500 convertible pace car were at Daytona. Pictures of this car as well as the regular Adventurer and Fury models are in the Beautiful MoPars section.

The stock Dodge with the D500 engine posted a two way average of 128 miles an hour. Then the moment that Plymouth people had been waiting for came. Suddenly, glistening beautifully in the Florida sun, appeared the Fury. It seemed to just shine a little bit brighter than anything else on the beach that day. 

The Plymouth engineers fussed over the car for  few moments, Then Phil Walters took the Fury slowly down to the start of the timing lane. It was just a speck on the long white sandy beach. With its white exterior color, the Fury seemed to disappear into the sand.  And then, there it was, screaming over the sand so fast that  it was almost like a distorted picture. You couldn't quite focus fully on it.  The big engine roared like a low passing jet fighter. With a resounding boom and a flash of gold it was gone, the engine defiantly pounding out its deep staccato tune  better than any musical orchestra. The timers acted like they were in slow motion. Finally, the numbers rolled over. A gasp went through the small crowd, then it went into a loud cheer. One way... 143.596 miles an hour! The fastest Plymouth ever built in history. And even faster than the 300B. 

Reporters and writers broke into the Chrysler engineer group and handshakes and congratulations were going all around. Among the well wishers was Ormond Beach Florida resident Tom McCaHill of Mechanix Illustrated. 
Not all the attendees were elated, however. The Corporate executives from ChryCo's board were visibly upset over the Fury's speed being better than the 300. All the divisions had been warned early on about this, don't mess with the 300 image. De Soto had nearly got its ears pinned, but the attending De Soto management made sure that its second run was slow enough to keep the speed below the 300's. 

Then the big Fury started back. The Plymouth boys took note of the displeasure from the Board, but went ahead anyway. Surely this would be the run to beat all other runs.  Again, it seemed fate would not allow it to be. Halfway through the run up, approaching the timing lane, the engine started to die. Phil tried every trick he knew to get the engine to pick back up, to no avail. It broke the timer at 129.119 miles an hour. Fearing the worst, Plymouth engineers hurried to examine the car when it came back to the pits. What they discovered was that a defective fuel cap had caused a vacuum in the fuel tank and starved the engine for gas. The next day, with a new cap, and of course without NASCAR sanctioning, the big Fury roared through the timer on a third run at 147.236 miles an hour. On the return trip, it broke the lights at 149.124 miles an hour! It was an unofficial average of 148.180,  good enough to hold the record.  However, Officially, Bill Stroppe in a Mercury set the new 1956 Factory Experimental record of 147.260.] 

Plymouth's performance achievement was not advertised. The ChryCo board came down with a vengeance; advertising money for the lunatics who had built the Fury was pulled. Instead, the division was continued to be characterized as the value leader and family transportation car. Several dealers  were set to put out their own advertising, but people   from Highland Park warned them off. It was being said that anyone stepping up to show Plymouth in a performance light would begin to suffer delivery and parts shortages. Even at that, 4,485 1956 Fury models were sold at $2866 each. That was quite an achievement when held up against a 9 month run (Jan. to Sept.) for the model. It outsold the 300B, which only managed to move 1,103 units and easily outsold  De Soto, which managed an output of only 996 Adventurer models.  The sales achievement was  was enough to get the  ChryCo board's attention. No further sanctions or temper tantrums were taken out against the upcoming 1957 model. It seemed that in the corporate world, money was indeed the bottom line.

Official or not, notice had been served. Chevrolet and Ford would never view Plymouth in the same light again. It had styling looks, and plenty of performance. Little did they know what Virgil Exner had in store for GM and Ford in 1957! 

There were some notable achievements that went Corporate wide in 1956 besides all the seeming emphasis on performance. All the lines got center plane brakes with the duo-servo set up. A larger vacuum booster for the power brake system made brake lockups a matter of fact on all lines. All the cars got 12 volt electric systems. 

Push buttons replaced the dash lever for control of the Powerflite transmission. They were a constant source of controversy, which frustrated my father and anyone that understood how the device worked. The lever through the dash was simply replaced by a series of push buttons set in a small box at the left side of the dash. They had absolutely nothing  to do with the reliability of the Powerflite. All they did was work a cable that directed the oil flow in the transmission. They were absolutely simple and positively trouble free in operation,  yet you couldn't  convince some people that  the push buttons gave them more direct control over the operation of the automatic transmission than the convoluted contraptions put on by some divisions of GM and Ford. Levers and ball jointed bell cranks that got full of dirt and bound up to the point you couldn't move the stick on the column.

The 1956 Fury production engine was not the same one that had run at Daytona. That particular engine probably would have been too radical for every day use. Instead, the 303 was fitted with 9.25:1 compression, a milder cam, and a single 4 barrel carburetor. The engine produced 240 @ 4800 RPM and torque was 310 @ 2800 RPM. It performed adequately on the street, and paved the way for Furys to come.

At year's end, Plymouth division had suffered a loss of production, putting out a total run of 571,634 units, a  far cry from the 705,000 of 1955. It represented about a 20% loss.  Chrysler sales were down by nearly 30 per cent.  De Soto however, seemed not to be affected by the national downturn in sales. However, as Christmas was nearing, there was no time to feel sorry. The 1957 models had been introduced on October 30, 1956. Chrysler was flying high, and Plymouth was leading the way.

The Fury was now established firmly as a lower priced performance alternative to the Chrysler 300, which although America's most powerful production car, never seemed to quite shake off the association of the stodgy old man's car image Chrysler  had acquired in the past. Most Americans who wanted to tear up the highways couldn't afford the 300, but they could afford the Fury, a testament to the determination of the Plymouth Division. For one brief moment, the Fury dimmed the 300's light, but it could have been worse. It could have been a Ford or Chevy!

Some 1956 Fury Pictures

The 1957 Plymouth Fury