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This 1959 Plymouth Fury is a super cool 50s cruiser with performance upgrades and the iconic Forward Look! By the mid-50s, the design and styling of Chryslers post-war products had stagnated, evidenced by a significant sales decrease across all of its brands. Plymouth, the biggest seller in Chryslers lineup, suffered a nearly 40% decline in sales for the 1954 model year and the Chrysler marque dropped from third to fifth place among the largest in the American automotive industry. It was safe to say that Chrysler needed a major shake-up and thats exactly what they did. In 1955, now-acclaimed automobile stylist Virgil Exner took over as Chryslers design chief and ushered in an era known as the Forward Look era. The Forward Look style took significant inspiration from the growing aviation industry and the new-look Mopars featured futuristic, aerodynamic designs that consumers were craving. While Chrysler spent approximately $250 million in 1955 for the re-tooling and re-branding efforts, the exorbitant expense was well worth it seeing a nearly 90% bump in production across all of its lines and Plymouth alone experienced a bump exceeding 85% which was good enough to move out of fifth place and into fourth. As the second half of the decade progressed, Exners Forward Look designs became even more aircraft inspired with the addition of large tailfins in 1957 along with changes to the grilles that gave them almost a jet intake type of look. Around the same time, Plymouth debuted the Fury as a performance-oriented sub-series to its premium Belvedere line with sales in 1957 and 1958 exceeding the initial debut sales of 1956. By 1959, the Fury and its even higher-trimmed higher-performance version, the Sport Fury, were spun off as their own separate series now sitting above the Belvedere and atop Plymouths passenger car hierarchy. Perhaps the most notable distinction between the standard Fury and the even more upscale Sport Fury was items such as a V8 engine and swivel-out front seats were included as standard equipment. Additionally, the 1959 Plymouth Fury was considerably redesigned from the previous year models. Up front, upgrades included a new-look split eggcrate-style grille made out of anodized aluminum and the front fenders were also modestly re-shaped. Down the sides, the beltline trim was also restyled with the Sport Fury sporting a special enlarged side spear comprised of anodized patterned aluminum flanked by a pair of chrome strips with the upper strip curving upwards creating a larger section that followed the shape of the tail fin. The side spears were also accented on the rear quarters with a large colorful Forward Look medallion positioned at the end. In the rear, the tail lights were also redesigned for 1959 with a new oval design replacing the circular design from the previous year. Also, one of the most iconic design elements on the 59 Sport Fury was the inclusion of the Rear Sports Deck complete with the faux tire decklid element that gave the 59 Fury a truly distinguished look. The interiors for the Sport Fury were, as one could expect on a top-of-the-line model, highly trimmed out. Of course, major interior highlights included the aforementioned swivel out front seats, the transparent see-through steering wheel, along with a new-look dash and instrument cluster among many other things. Due in part to the gorgeous new design, Plymouth produced 17,867 Sport Fury hardtops which made up approximately 4% of Plymouth 1959 total production. This particular example comes to us from southern-based collectors who clearly enjoyed crusing around in the Forward Look 50s cruiser. Powering this 59 Plymouth Fury is an upgraded 440 Cubic Inch V8 engine fed by an Edelbrock single 4 barrel carburetor. The 440 V8 is backed by an upgraded 727 TorqueFlite Automatic Transmission that is shifted using a Lokar floor-mounted shifter. Exhaust exits the 440 powerplant via a dual exhaust setup that generates a