A lot of the motoring public was shifting to smaller, more fuel-efficient cars in the mid-1970s. And yet there was still a market for large luxury automobiles. Case-in-point: the Chrysler New Yorker. It was as big as they came and the company built more than 62,000 copies in 1977, including the seller’s 2-door Brougham. This well-kept, low-mileage survivor should do a great job in spoiling you on the highway, as long as you don’t mind frequent stops at the gas station. Located in Columbia Falls, Maine, this beauty is available here on eBay for $17.995, or you can make an offer if you dare.
The ’77 New Yorker was little changed over the prior year’s model. Chrysler continued to promote “Torsion-Quiet Rides” with these land yachts, and the options were few since almost anything you can think of was already standard equipment. The St. Regis package added a formal Seneca grain padded vinyl canopy on the forward-half of the roof, opera windows, and color-keyed molding trim for roof and opera windows.
Engine displacement was capped at 400 cubic inches, which in the 1970s detuned fashion was good for 190 hp. These Chryslers had an “Electronic Clean Burn System with a Solid-State Spark Control Computer” which was a fancy way of saying that they were trying to reduce the amount of fuel these big cars were consuming. We’re told the seller’s motor starts effortlessly each and every time. How a car like this comes to have only 20,000 miles on it is not discussed, but it looks to have spent a lot more time inside than out.
The body is straight and narrow on this Chrysler and the paint presents well although there are a few chips as you might expect after 45 years. The vinyl top has no issues, nor does the big, expansive leather interior. If you still have any 8-track tapes lying around, you can play them in this car! The only thing that doesn’t work is that the power windows don’t go up or down and the seller is hoping to get that fixed. If you have the room in your garage for this beauty and are a fan of 1970s technology, maybe this Chrysler is the one for you.
I love the big luxo-barges of the 60s, and I loves me a Chrysler C-body. But it’s clear that the big 3 were milking the last of the 60s technology/engineering/tooling right to the bitter end.
And it might not have been so bad if they’d have preserved some chrome and some horsepower, and had less plastic and velour and outrageous pillow-y upholstery.
Those seats look like a coffin. I am near that reality, don’t need any reminders.
Wouldn’t mind being buried in That, but I already got a coupe DeVille coffin! Ha Ha
I was thinking the same thing; seats tufted like a coffin.
Hey Rex, didn’t mother Mopar still put 440’s in these in 1977?
Having spent some time in a coffin, these seats are far more comfortable!
Can I buy front seat to use for movie watching in my living room? Maybe transition it to coffin at appropriate time?
No AC?
Price drop on ebay to $15,295.75.
It has air conditioning.
“Auto-Temp” controls and that big twin-piston AC compressor would indicate presence of ac. Whether it works or not is not stated; maybe the seller is thinking of having it looked at, like the windows.
And the price drop is a common eBay tactic–start listing with a high price and then immediately reduce it to make suckers think they are getting a bargain.
Mr. Leahy would LOOOOVVVEE this one. Though the top needs to be chopped off..
Lol….Leahey and Bobandi can cruise down to their play 🎬 at the Blandford recreation center
Took my driver license road test with the four door version of this. Had to parallel park it. After that I could drive anything. Super luxury and boat-like ride. Nothing like these on offer today. I miss those old barges
A friend and I got in a bidding war over one of these in the early 90s, he outbid me and bought it for 450$. Most comfortable vehicle I ever rode in! I sure do miss the bargain base prices on used cars in the 70s through 90s!
Love it had a 74 New Yorker Luxury Barge . GREAT CAR
Writer needs to check his “facts”.
1) The top engine was the 440 V8, which came on this car.
2) It’s “Lean Burn System”, not “Clean…”
3) Even though this is a luxury car, as with nearly all cars of that era most everything was still optional. As seen in this page from the brochure, even on this car an AM radio cost extra!
https://www.lov2xlr8.no/brochures/chrysler/77chry/bilder/11.jpg
Writers on Barn Finds have their own “alternative facts”, lol. I’m quickly realizing this.
I’m also noticing that many of the commenters have an in your face attitude and don’t know how to offer constructive feedback, yet post comments highly critical of the authors, who I’m sure do their best to be accurate. I wonder if those folks would be so brash if they were talking person to person?
I come here because I like the style, substance, manner, and subject material featured here. Nobody is required to come to this site. I would guess that most authors would appreciate nicely worded corrections and/or additional data as most people don’t want to knowingly disseminate incorrect data.
It would be helpful if these in your face commenters would show some class and respect in their posts as I’m sure the nasty posts are more annoying to most of us than the occasional bit of incorrect information.
@ Brad460:
I couldn’t agree more with you. This is the main reason I have not yet taken the plunge in becoming a Member.
The old saying (I don’t know about you, but I am a little long in the tooth, so I know quite a few old sayings, lol) comes to mind: “If you can’t say something nice, don’t saying anything at all”.
The one thing we can all do is choose our attitude. Why not choose a positive one?
So, 2 comments out of 30 now make up “many”?
And what does being a member have to do with the type of comments that are posted here?
This is a forum where people are free to express their opinion, as long as some basic guidelines are followed. Sure, there are some comments here that I can do without, but the majority of them are supportive and positive.
@ PRA4SNW
Being a member is a financial commitment (however small) I would not want to make to a website I might tire of due to the negative comments I sometimes read. If that happens I would start searching for other classic car websites that might be more to my liking. (It hasn’t yet reached that point). I realize that there are no perfect websites out there, but perhaps there might be more positive ones. (I can’t speak to Brad460’s comment about many of the commenters, however I don’t believe he was necessarily speaking about just this particular thread).
WE had a 76 New Yorker coupe. 440 no lean burn removed catalytic converter ran great built like a concrete block. was fast reliable and a very good road car. Best leather ever. This is a lot of car. and lean burn easily removed.
I presently own a ’78 New Yorker St Regis Coupe. Inferno red (one year only color) last year for the body style, 440, plus mine has AM/FM/CB and a power sunroof. My friend bought it new as he was an electrical engineer at Chrysler Outboard in Hartford WI. It was a factory executive car and I remember the day he bought it home.
Pete that sounds like one beautiful car! Can wenm see a pic or two?
This is from Forcbodiesonly.com early pictures as I had the add-on side moldings removed.
https://www.forcbodiesonly.com/mopar-forum/threads/1978-new-yorker-st-regis-coupe.5457/
“Inferno Red”, wasn’t that a Pinto color? (groan!)
Wouldn’t mind being buried in That, but I already got a coupe DeVille coffin! Ha Ha
I own 3 of them 2 1978’s and a 1976. My 76 has only 19,000 miles. Light blue, a darker blue top and the blue leather interior. When I die, I’ll have to be cut in half so half of me will be in the New Yorker and the other half in my 1969 Plymouth Road Runner convertible.
Practically every car, IMO, looks good in a pale yellow. Not mustard yellow or canary yellow, but a nice pale yellow. My ’76 Coupe de Ville was a pale yellow, even though GM and Cadillac called it green.
This is an impressive automobile. This actual design was the Imperial a couple of years earlier before Chrysler axed it. Suddenly it became the New Yorker Brougham.
Yellow Cadillac … reminds me of one I sold in 1984 to a guy who had a 1980 model … he heard they were down-sizing for 1985 and wanted to order the larger one while he could … he wanted it in Yellow with a Green vinyl top and green leather interior, which wasn’t a factory option but could be special ordered … we ordered it but with a $5,000 non-refundable deposit in case we had to re-paint it if he changed his mind … he loved the new car – it was the same color combination as the one he had …
@ Jon.in.Chico
Yellow is a very tricky color to match with, interior and top wise. Obviously white is the best go to, followed by black, but it just looks like a giant bumble bee. The yellow has to be pale.
My Cadillac had a saddle color interior. Beige would also work. I believe the car was originally offered with a green half vinyl top. By the time I got the car, that had been changed to dark blue.
Yellow cars with green interiors and tops, actually turn me green as green is my least favorite color and yellow and green just makes lemons and limes. But to each his own I guess
62,000 copies of these were sold in 77, yes, but Aspen/Volare sales for that year totaled 600,000. 150,000 were coupes.
The writing was on the wall for these large coupes, but kudos to Chrysler for continuing the model line for so long.
Look at those seats! No problem driving across country in comfort! Beautiful!!!
This New Yorker is a nice land Yacht, just off a few years IMO. Much prefer an earlier 70-72 Mark 111, or late 60s Mercury. Still a great find.
Those Lean Burn systems were troublesome from day one. I had a 79 LeBaron that ran beautifully at first, but when that system went bad it cost me a carburetor or catalytic converter every three months. I traded it in for an 84 Chrysler E-Class 4 cyl. sedan and was happy with my decision. The dealer sold my car to someone up the block from me and she kept for about six months and got rid of it very quickly. I had a client who owned a Chrysler dealership and even he told me to look into another brand of car.
Nice car Chrysler has always tried to stay ahead of the GM’s big three- Cadillac, Buick and Oldsmobile and for me has always done a good job. This New Yorker is just an example of a fine large luxury vehicle. Lee Iacocca would’ve been proud.
*** Originally ORDERED with a green vinyl half top
This is just a beautiful car and reminds me of all the Chryslers my grandparents and their friends owned in the 70’s. No other car rode as nice. If I had extra garage space I would grab this! Love the yellow, wish you could find this color on today’s cars!
This is a nice pale yellow color. GM, Ford, Mercury and Chrysler all had some great colors back in the day that they sadly retired. Tiffany Blue is another such Mercury and Ford color that they offered in mid sixties that they no longer produce.
That’s true, many people commenting are more interested in nitpicking and arguing than just enjoying the great cars this site. But for the most part I find the majority of comments positive and informative.
We are working on cleaning up the comments. It just takes everyone being constructive and not using the comment section to complain about unrelated things.