It's a pretty safe assumption that most people's obsession with 1958 Plymouths started with Christine.
A fictional horror story written by Stephen King, later produced into a movie, Christine is about a possessed 1958 Plymouth Fury that won't stop at anything to avenge and control her owner. Arnie Cunningham, played by Keith Gordon, is a nerdy highschool student who never had many friends nor luck with the ladies. He falls hard for a rusty, old 1958 Plymouth with a troubled past named Christine. Against his parents wishes, Arnie fixes up Christine to showroom condition only to have her demolished by some highschool delinquents. It is then when Arnie learns of the demons inside Christine. Able to fix herself back to new, Christine goes on a violent rampage seeking out and destroying each one of her attackers one by one. She attacks anyone who crosses her path including Arnie's girlfriend, Leigh Cabot, played by Alexandra Paul. In an attempt to save Arnie from Christine, Dennis Guilder, Arnie's best friend played by John Stockwell, and Leigh devise a plan to destroy Christine. After an intense battle between man and machine during which Arnie tragically loses his life, Dennis and Leigh prevail over Christine and her lights are extinguished forever....or are they?
Christine's sinister radio always playing old songs
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Sitting in LeBay's backyard
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Photo courtesy of Columbia Pictures
Christine in ruins
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Christine shows Arnie her ability to fix herself
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Christine attacks Moochie
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Christine gives chase, flames and all!
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Photo courtesy of Columbia Pictures
Photo courtesy of Columbia Pictures
Photo courtesy of Columbia Pictures
The final showdown
Photo courtesy of Columbia Pictures
Several sources indicate that at a cost of around ten thousand dollars each, nearly two dozen 1958 Plymouth Furys (along with Belvedere and Savoy 2 door hardtops converted into Furys) were restored only to be demolished in the making of the movie. Though these statistics may be upsetting to some people, the cars sacrificed in the making of the movie actually rekindled the popularity of the long forgotten 1958 Plymouth. Following the release of the movie, 1958 Plymouths became hot property and Christine clones slowly began popping up all around the world, thus propelling the movie and story of Stephen King's Christine to cult status. In many ways, Christine has saved many 57/58 Plymouths from certain death that otherwise would've been doomed to be crushed.
Although advertised as a Fury, Christine retained more features common to that of a '58 Belvedere than anything else. Exterior-wise, Christine didn't bare the trademark '58 Fury Buckskin Beige paint nor the gold anodized aluminum side trim and grille. Her interior was completely custom and was never available to '58 Furys from factory. Her engine; a dual, four barrel carb, 350 cubic inch Golden Commando V8 was one of the two engines that were available to Furys in 1958, but also came optional in Belvederes and Sport Suburbans. However, Christine's engine was painted in custom colors with chrome plated air filter canisters instead of the original gold painted canisters. Christine's 150 mph speedometer was one feature that remained exclusive to the '58 Fury.
