OCEAN SPRINGS, Mississippi -- As tribute cars go, Glenn Ewing's 1974 Plymouth Gran Fury is something unique. The car is a former sheriff's deputy car from McNairy County, Tenn., where legendary sheriff Buford Pusser once patrolled the streets and the...
Warren Kulo. “Classic Tales: Glenn Ewing's 1974 Plymouth Gran Fury no ordinary tribute car.” Gulf Live (10 Oct. 2015) http://blog.gulflive.com/mississippi-press-news/2015/10/classic_tales_glenn_ewings_197.html
FULL TEXT October 10, 2015 at 5:00 PM
OCEAN SPRINGS, Mississippi -- As tribute cars go, Glenn Ewing's 1974 Plymouth Gran Fury is something unique.
The car is a former sheriff's deputy car from McNairy County, Tenn., where legendary sheriff Buford Pusser once patrolled the streets and the Mississippi-Tennessee state line.
When Pusser died in a car accident in 1974, the deputy who was driving the car Ewing now owns decorated it with tributes to Pusser, who was immortalized in the 1973 movie Walking Tall.
In addition to Pusser's name, office and birth/death dates, the car is adorned with bullet hole decals -- placed in the identical locations where real bullet holes were left in Pusser's patrol car during an ambush on Aug. 12, 1967 which claimed the life of Pusser's wife, Pauline, and left Pusser seriously wounded.
Perhaps the most striking feature of the car, however, is a large wooden stick attached to the cage in the back seat of the car. It is the actual stick Pusser carried during his days as McNairy County Sheriff and used to enforce his brand of tough justice.
Ewing bought the car in 2011 and had maintained it as a tribute to the legendary sheriff.
"I loved the movie when I first saw it," Ewing said. "I guess he's been a hero to me ever since."
The car is also autographed on both sides by Dwana Pusser -- Buford Pusser's daughter. Ewing recalls receiving an unusual phone call shortly after he purchased the car.
"We had a missed call when we got home one day," Ewing said. "My wife looked at the caller ID and it said "Buford Pusser." We called back and it was his daughter inviting us to bring the car to a car show. She had found out we bought it."
Buford Pusser became a legend for his brand of justice and his one-man war on crime and corruption along the Mississippi-Alabama state line. Although no one was ever tried for the ambush which killed his wife, Pusser would claim that Kirksey McCord Nix Jr. was behind the attack.
Nix is a well-known figure to Mississippi coast residents as the purported head of the infamous "Dixie Mafia." Nix was convicted of being a co-conspirator in the 1987 murders of Vincent and Margaret Sherry in Biloxi. Nix has never acknowledged his involvement in the ambush on the Pussers.
Pusser was immortalized in the cult classic Walking Tall, which was released roughly a year before his death. The movie starred Joe Don Baker, who signed Pusser's stick which is on display inside Ewing's car, along with Dwana Pusser and the sheriff who succeeded Pusser.
Several less realistic, less accurate sequels and remakes of Walking Tall have been made in the years since.
Ewing had the car on display on Robinson Street in Ocean Springs Saturday during Cruisin' the Coast. As might be expected, the car drew throngs of onlookers.
A 1974 Plymouth Gran Fury formerly in use as a sheriff's deputy car in McNairy County, Tenn., which was decorated by a deputy as a tribute to legendary McNairy County Sheriff Buford Pusser after Pusser's death in 1974.
