Hi, I'm currently restoring a 1958 Plymouth 120mph speedo head to "Christine" specs. I've already got the odometer to run backwards,now I just need a 150 MPH speedo head plate and matching transmission gear to make it complete. I remember seeing repro 150 MPH speedo head plates awhile back, can any one here steer me in the right direction?
For those of us that don't know, was the 150 MPH speedo a valid option for 1958, or was it something made up for the *Christine * movie?
Was it available only for the Golden Fury, or could it be had on the Belvedere and the Savoy as well? Just curious.
-Kirk Matheson
The 150mph speedo head was specific to the Fury model only. All other models came with the 120 mph speedo head. All Plymouths in 1958, from the top of the line Fury to the lowly Plaza could have been ordered with the 350 ci motor with the option of 2x4's Also contrary to movie producers and novelists, a 1958 Plymouth "Fury" DID NOT come in red and white . Buckskin Beige with gold annodized trim was the only way the 1958 Plymouth "Fury" was offered from the factory. The 1958 Plymouth Belvedere did come in red and white, but I guess the name "Fury" was more suitable to a demonic car than Belvedere, Plaza, or Savoy.
Remember, Stephen King is a Mopar enthusiast. He seems to have known the '58 Fury wasn't offered in red and white, which may be why he specified in detail in the novel that the red/white paint job had been specially ordered by the original owner, Roland LeBay. I'm pretty sure that bit of dialogue made it into the movie, as well.
What does not wash, though, is the bit in the novel where the car is described as having a "Hurst shifter". We know from other descriptions in the book that it has an automatic transmission, which would've been pushbutton-controlled in '58. Ergo, no Hurst shifter.
Unless a later owner converted...
I'm fairly sure Hurst never made a conversion shifter for cable-shift automatic Mopars.
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