A 1959 Plymouth Sport Fury and the Date that Ended Badly

A contribution from Ed -- Very Funny Story!

The Date That Ended Badly

The back-story first.  My '59 Plymouth Fury 2 door coupe had the optional swing-out front bucket seats (photo attached of what they looked like).

The one on the passenger side didn't operate properly as the under-seat spring mechanism had broken at some point.  But my step-father -- always inventive -- said that he would fix it for me.  Unfortunately, he put a really taunt heavy-duty spring in the mechanism.  I trusted his judgment and never thought to test the seat to see how quickly the seats would "spring out" to the side after the repair.

But now the rest of the story: Clearly, not a young girl's dream in college, I had all of two dates with young women.  The second one ended in a bad way courtesy of the swing-out front seats in that then six year old Plymouth Fury.  My senior year in spring 1965, I took a young lady to a movie in town and afterwards drove her back to her dormitory.  Thinking that it might be the gentlemanly-like thing to do, I stopped the car in the dorm's parking lot, got out of the driver's seat, and went around to open her passenger door for her.  Good move, right?  Remember, there were no seat belts in those cars back then.  And let me add:  She was a petite young lady, likely no more than 95 pounds.

But then wanting to be a show-off for some reason (young men are like that), I said to "Mary" (long since forgotten her real name)........

"Hey, press that lever on the side of your seat."  

She did and immediately the "heavy duty" replacement spring that my step-father had installed abruptly swung the seat to the side, literally ejecting my date onto the pavement in the parking lot.  She was fine, of course, after I helped her up, but it was clear that a "good night kiss on the cheek" was not to be in the equation that evening. 

The tales our cars could tell, if they could only talk !!  Somewhere there's a "Mary" that likely, now in her older years, recalls a date gone wrong with a nerdy guy.