My brother recently purchased a Ford Thunderbird that he affectionately calls the “Thunder Couch,” and I believe that term applies here as well. Sure, a 1993 Chrysler New Yorker 5th Avenue doesn’t exactly scream “thunder”, but it is a couch on wheels for sure. This Chrysler is from an era whereby wafting down the road on tufted seats was a key demand of Chrysler customers, and this New Yorker doesn’t disappoint in this regard; it even has hidden headlights as a true “homage” to the Lincoln Continentals the first owners likely drove when they were far younger. Find the New Yorker here on craigslist with the optional 3.8L V6 for $5,950.
While this is not necessarily a collectible car, it is certainly one you do not see anymore. There was a point in time when a New Yorker like this was as common a sight as any other retiree ride, from the Lincoln Town Car to the Ford Crown Victoria. The New Yorker seemingly disappeared from the automotive landscape while the Town Cars and Crown Vics continue to soldier on, with many of them still in active duty today. The looks were not a selling point, in my opinion, but none of these cars were exactly glamorous. Perhaps it was because the New Yorker so obviously shared many qualities with the Dodge Dynasty that it didn’t feel like as much of an upgrade to car shoppers versus buying a Town Car. The 5th Avenue at least enjoyed a longer wheelbase than the standard model.
The tufted leather seats are perhaps the clearest indication that your luxury car hailed from the early 90s. I briefly owned a 1985 Toyota Cressida, and it was covered in tufted leather from front to back. No offense to anyone who loved this era of luxury car styling, but I’m grateful we’ve moved on as a society (though it would be mildly hilarious to see a manufacturer bring this style back to life.) The interior of this 5th Avenue is in excellent condition, with no obvious damage aside from some wear to the driver’s side seat cushion and armrest. The dash and wood trim are both in great shape and the same goes for the leather-covered door panels.
This 5th Avenue enjoys the upgraded 3.8L V6 engine over the standard 3.3L mill. However, don’t get too excited: the bigger engine only got you three extra horsepower for a grand total of 150. But really, who is attempting to break a land speed record in a car like this? The back seat in this car looks practically unused and I’m sure it has some sort of period-correct stereo from Infiniti or Mark Levinson inside. This would make an excellent cruiser or a luxurious daily driver if you’re not concerned about it becoming a collector car (it won’t.) Find a better one!
My parents had a ’91 New Yorker similar to this, only on the shorter wheelbase. The car was dark blue with a dark blue vinyl top, and a dark blue leather interior. Unusually comfortable and a good car for the highway. The “Ultradrive” electronic transmission was its achilles heel. That got recalled numerous times.
Looks like it needs an alignment; notice how the front tires are “bowed out” in several pics…the ad is confusing, miles listed are 79k and 83k, and is it priced at $5950? The ad on CL says $7950 firm….something is fishy here
That’s some serious positive camber! Maybe some kid was trying his hand at drifting and smacked a curb in Gramp’s old Chrysler?
Fwd drift Bick ? Lol maybe 🤔
Sure you can Stan. You can do it with the E break going in reverse. You can also put trays under the back wheels and do it that way. Some little rascal may have figured out a way here! Until the laws of physics overtook his driving skills.
I have a thunder couch in my living room. It usually doesn’t thunder though unless I eat some beans first.
lol!
Cheap flipper trying to make big bucks here. Be prepared for the little old lady story and the “I have another person interested but I prefer to sell it to you” “price is firm but make me and offer, the worst can I said it’s no”
20 or so years ago I borrowed one of these from a friend to drive into NYC. He had paid $300 for, got it from a dealer he did work for, who got it as a trade in. It was the most comfortable, quietest car I have ever driven. It was red with red velour tufted seats and felt like you were driving on cloud. It had the same 3.8 motor and it never missed a beat. I think Chrysler sold so many, because if you drove one you would want one.
I never liked this car. My father-in-law had several of these over the years, and I hated driving them. When he passed on, I had to drive my mother-in-law to a lot of her doctor appointments, beauty shop appointments, etc and she wanted me to drive “her” car. I did a couple of times just to please her, but then I switched over to my Honda Accords… she decided she was actually more comfortable in the Accord and it was definitely easier for her to get in and out of the Accords. I would never, ever buy this car.
This was the last nice body style Chrysler ever made. My parents had one in Ice Blue with the crushed velvet interior. The mistake, in my opinion, Chrysler made was to put that more plush and insanely comfortable interior in the Fifth Avenue, while not using the pillow-top button-tufted seats in the sister Imperial model. I love my Imperial, and as I said once before, I can drive it for 12 hours through without tiring, and it’s the most comfortable car I’ve ever driven that gets more than 10 mpg… but the tufted seats would be an improvement. This one’s a beauty, but I’d like to have one with the digital dash, just for variety. These cars aren’t meant for speed or horses, they’re meant for comfort and luxury. Please don’t compare them to today’s Japanese pocket-rockets. A dealer friend of mine who passed away about 15 years ago couldn’t keep these things on the lot back then. When Chrysler ended the Dynasty/New Yorker series, his customers snapped up ’93 leftovers as fast as they could. He had a lot of folks come back in the mid-90s that didn’t know the line was discontinued, and they were mad when they found out. No, friends, these are for guys like me who DO want their father’s Oldsmobile (or Chrysler).
These cars had nowhere near the popularity of the Town Car, Grand Marquis, or Crown Victoria, all of which gave you far more comfort, were substantially bigger and roomier, AND gave you rear-wheel drive and V8 power.
The styling of these just always looked awkward to me. But they did sell a lot of them. Mostly to people over 65.
This longer wheelbase did look a bit more proportional than the other models that had the same overhangs on a shorter wheelbase – the New Yorker Salon and Dodge Dynasty. FWIU for production-line reasons they eventually shared their wheelbase with the much smaller first-gen Neon which had much shorter overhangs and benefited from that.
Dad bought one new in ‘91. My mom said that dad told her I would be “green with envy” guess what? I was not.
These “ARE “ Collector Cars. Wanna know why? Because these Chryslers,the 5th Avenue and the Imperial were the very last American, traditional, luxury cars with tufted leather or velour interior going way back to the beginning of luxury or even just standard interior on cars at the turn of the 20th century. The “ONLY “ car to offer tufted leather or cloth in 1994 was the Chrysler LeBaron Landau. I bought one for my mom. I checked it out and it’s true. No other American car had interior like this. These beautiful cars were the very last of this type. They also drove like a dream and had “THE “ most legroom in its class. Go ahead – check it out…….
Really, the last car of this type was the 2011 Lincoln Town Car. But with tufted pillow seats? Yeah, this could be it, though the 1996 Fleetwood and Roadmaster were pretty close.
Yup, if you look at the interior of a ’96 Roadblaster or Fleetwood, the seats, if not quite pillow tufted like this, are very much in the same ballpark.
Buick LeSabre Limited, Park Avenue, and Road Master had the “Pillowed” or “Tufted” seats until 1996.
These were the poor man Lincoln Town Cars & Cadillac Sedan DeVilles of the day. Nice….but…not Kobe Beef.
Yeah I’m thinking that 4.6 town car with cobra parts on the 4.6 would get my vote & money one day . I love my Ram truck so not hating the brand just front wheel drive & other different components , tufted seats ?