The seller reports that this 1987 Chrysler Fifth Avenue has traveled just over 38,000 miles over the last 37 years, which is an average of just over 1,000 miles a year. It looks great in the photos and the interior will make you openly weep like a child it’s so beautiful. They have it listed here on eBay in Washington, Utah, there is no reserve, and the current bid price is $4,250.
Chrysler offered the M-body Fifth Avenue for the 1982 model year until the 1984 model year as a top-end package on the New Yorker. From 1984 until the end of the 1989 model year, they would be known as Fifth Avenue, its own model. They would be the last rear-wheel drive examples of this ultra-luxury car for Chrysler. The name would come back, but as a front-wheel-drive version of the K-body cars – although elongated and otherwise tweaked. This was it for folks who must have power supplied to the rear wheels of their luxury cars.
Two-tone paint was an option for 1987 and it was also the final year for the optional alloy wheels, but this car has neither of those. Black may be a more luxurious color, or tone, for a luxury car, but I like white cars and would be perfectly fine if this car were sitting in our garage. The seller’s parents bought this car new and, sadly, the last one passed away in 2021 so it’s been parked outside since then. At $15,482 when new ($42,000 today), this wasn’t an inexpensive car but vehicles have sure gone up in price, haven’t they? It’s hard to buy a new family sedan today for $42,000 in the trim level that most of us want, let alone a top luxury car.
The seller says that although it has incredibly low miles, it does have a couple of issues outside, including a small ding on the rear passenger door. The interior looks nice but those gorgeous seats are crying out for some leather food. Please feed them ASAP! Sitting outside in Utah for three years may have played a role in the front seats looking a bit dryer than normal. The back seat looks perfect, but there’s a small issue with the headliner by the rear window starting to pull away.
The engine is Chrysler’s 318-cu.in. OHV V8 with 150 horsepower and 265 lb-ft of torque when new. It sends power through a three-speed TorqeFlite automatic to the rear wheels. It reportedly runs well but may have the original belts and hoses so those should be changed due to age. This looks like a winner to me and with no reserve, it’s moving on to the next owner in a little over a day. How much would you pay for this Fifth Avenue?
Definitely a bon marche! Had 83 and 85 Fifth Avenues. Mine had plush velvet interiors (which I prefer). Easily held their own with other upscale vehicles I have owned. Formal limo look styling, comfortable, luxurious, smooth riding and reliable. This was one of the best revisions of an existing platform ever. The only issue might be the cloth covering the interior center post. Recently saw another Fifth on line showing duck tape over it. My 85 had that problem. But could be handled. If this was closer and I were younger, I’d be bidding right now! Jon R, can’t wait to see your comments! For me these are the LAST real Chrysler Luxury Sedans! 🏆
You want it, you got it.
A good friend of mine living in Poulsbo, Wa. picked me up at the ferry port in a 5th. Ave. Grey with grey velour interior just like this one
This was ’93 but it was a model just like this one.
As quiet as could be.
Gotta send a salute off to Sonny, a friend for 43 years until his passing on ’22.
Very comfy seats, very terrible electronic speed control.
Speed control is mechanical, vacuum actuated.
I want it, for those seats!
Little bit of trivia: This, and the Dodge Diplomat, were, by this time, made in the AMC main plant in Kenosha. Even before Renault put its American captive-company up for sale, they were trying to figure out how to use space left empty when their own passenger-car lines were abolished. Chrysler, running space and lines at full capacity, offered them a deal: Manufacture the M body cars in your plant, for some of our coming-back money.
I don’t know if Chrysler workers or machines went with it, but it must have worked out. Better than transplanted Rabbits, from Wolfsburg to Westmoreland, PA, worked out.
Considering a bid. My last chance for a V8 compact…only trouble is, I don’t need it at ALL.
Thanks, JPT, the M series Chrysler, was one of the last passenger cars to come out of Kenosha. A Dodge Omni was the absolute last in Dec. 21, 1988.( Merry Christmas, folks, you’re fired.) It was pretty clear what Iacocca wanted from Kenosha, the Jeep, got it and left. There was no love for Chrysler in Kenosha.The plant continued to make Jeep motors until 2010. The Kenosha employees were making around $32/hr. including benefits. Chrysler also had a plant in Mexico making the same motors, for $7.50/ hr, probably no benefits. Chrysler begged the union to make some cuts, but they stood fast. In August 2010, Chrysler pulled the plug for good, ending 108 years of automobiles in Kenosha. Today, not one reminder that at one time, they were the #4 car maker in America.
The Kenosha plant was also the home of NASH. Strange how both Fifth Avenues and NASH AMBASSADOR, like the Kenosha plant are now just memories. Iacoca, often credited for saving Chrysler, IMO was a jerk.
That was a long, drawn-out process…and as a young car buff, I was paying attention. Like so many others, I had high hopes for the Alliance…it hadn’t yet sunk in that Renault had never succeeded in the US for a REASON.
The death of AMC was slow, painful, and mostly self-inflicted. It fell on Iacocca to strike the death blow, but that was symbolic.
AMC 2wd cars were already gone. The Eagle had been reduced to just the former-Sportabout wagon, and it was being built in numbers similar to Studebaker in 1965. A slow dying process, IOW.
Nobody wanted AMC. No other automaker, anywhere, offered Renault anything for it. The cars stopped selling. The only product they made with demand, was the four- and six-cylinder engines, and only for Jeep (and later Dodge Dakotas).
Even the manufacturing space. Bramlea was about to open up – a brand-new facility, which Kenosha could not compete with in efficiency. The Omnirison and Diplomat were dead by this time.
There was no rational reason to keep Kenosha open. The plant was old and the layout obsolete – it would have had to have been completely rebuilt, and with Bramlea opening, there wasn’t the need.
It’s sad, but it happens. It happens to ever area that has an auto plant. They open, then decades later, work is shifted away, and eventually, most of them close as obsolete plants.
This Fifth Avenue is definitely NOT a compact. Although shorter in length than Cadillac and Lincoln, it’s still a substantial rolling living room! Comparable to Mercedes in size, I’d take the Fifth any day!
I like the formal appearance of these cars, and I LOVE those pillow-top seats. Why luxury cars of today come with the same seats as budget cars is a question I’ve had since the late 1990s. You can drape leather over hard foam to make it look expensive, but without springs and softer foam, it’s not comfortable. My only problem with this car is the weak 318 and whatever problems one might have with the electronic ignition system, which, as mentioned above, can be problematic. I don’t know enough about it to say for sure. Then again, this car won’t be someone’s every day car, it should come out on weekends for enjoyment only. I hope it finds a good home.
My 83 and 85 Fifth Avenues with 318 always had plenty of power for me. The 318 was proven to be virtually indestructible. And yes, this car deserves to be cherished as the last of Chryslers REAL luxury sedans. As for today’s interiors, like everything else built today, it’s a matter of cheap POS, basic crap being passed of as Luxury!
Basically a comfortable rolling 🚗 saloon. Great seats and all the interior appointments. Id throw all the HD cop car parts on from the Diplomat and a dual exhaust then drive the wheels off this 5th. avenue.
My wife and I special ordered (remember when you actually DO that) a 1986 5th Avenue. It presented zero problems, so much so that when a new surgeon moved into town with him leaving the US Army they arrived without a second car. My wife and I loaned the 5th Ave to his wife and she refused to give it back saying ‘name your price.’ lol
Nice car and a splendid write-up, Scotty. It might get some laughs, but I’ve recently been thinking about one of these or a Granada-based 1977-80 Lincoln Versailles as an interesting luxo-sleeper to replace my perpetually computer-hamstrung 2006 BMW 750Li. Picture this with a warmed-up Magnum 360 managed by a Holley box controlling EFI and the spark, pre-CPU 4sp AOD, 3.23 gears, cop suspension, etc. Maybe even late-model Chrysler 300 IRS? Anyway, just a pipe dream, but I like the retro luxury in a not-too-huge RWD platform (300 lb lighter than a modern 300). That red leather is gorgeous. Fit slightly larger sticky tires and keep the hub caps and quiet single 3 inch high-flow exhaust. Nobody would need to know you had 350+ HP. Thanks for showing us this one, SG.
Had a 86 Fifth Ave. ,Silver,Gray Leather, 318. Hell of a nice car! Rode good, reliable and 22 mpg. A great car!!
I had a similar 87. Comfortable, reliable, and reasonably economical. This one is a real bargain at anything under 5 grand.
Lovely looking car. I remember when the Chrysler 5th Ave., the Plymouth Grand Fury and the Dodge Diplomat were offered. I find this generation more attractive than what’s offered today.
Once again Rick I must agree with you as you probably expected. My ’87 Fifth Avenue always gets admiring questions and glances when I drive it, even to the grocery store. People are amazed at the leather seats. This car is NOT a floater; it’s stable and composed and very quiet going down the road. As I’ve stated many times it drives better than most new cars, especially the “blob” crap.
Just last week I saw a white (with blue roof) in a grocery store parking lot. Waited quite a while for owner to return to no avail. First Fifth sighting in many🌙 moons. Probably fortunate or I might have made an offer. At this point, a second car is unfortunately not practical. As usual great minds drive the same roads 😌
If you like this particular Fifth Avenue. It’s a very good deal for the money. Beautiful color combination and low miles this car has years of driving life. These cars were pretty reliable and most people that had one liked everything about this car. Nice find.
I had an 87 Gran Fury police pack with a 318-4bbl. Ran down the road well. The seats were flat vinyl, had no side support, and I could bounce out of that car after 12 hours with no back aches. I added cruise and a stereo in and ran the wheels off it.
I personally like the ’92 Fifth Avenue that Scotty recently featured better than this one. This one just screams Aries / Reliant with pillow top seats to me.
And that one sold for a hair over 4K and this one is at 5K now. Yes, it has lower mileage, but the 93K that was on the ’92 were easy , well cared for miles.
My Aunt may she RIP had a 1977 Diplomat 318 V8 all red with landau vinyl top velour interior identical dash to this 5th avenue and Electronic Spark Control they called it in the late 1970’s was a very nice car.
I babysat her car when she was RV ING for months cruising with my buddies and giving that 318 V8 a workout which smoked the tires sometimes was a fun cruiser.
Auction update: this one sold for $5,400!
A true Bon Marche! Hopefully the new owner will give it the care it deserves!