1961 may have been the first year of President Kennedy’s “New Frontier,” but at the Chrysler Corporation, 1961 marked the last year of Virgil Exner’s finned “Forward Look” styling. For 1962, the now-outdated fins would be gone and the rest of the styling was a bit of a holdover until the all-new Chrysler could be introduced for the 1963 model year. The New Yorker continued to be the top-of-the-line flagship model and here’s one of only 5,862 4-door hardtops produced for the 1961 model year. It’s in remarkable, highly-original condition, located in Wenatchee, Washington, and listed for sale here on Facebook Marketplace for $22,000. A tip-of-the-hat to T.J. for sending this cool old Chrysler our way!
The seller describes this car as “solid and always garaged” and it looks it. The New Yorker appears to be in great shape for a 65-year-old car and I’m not spotting any rust or other issues. Although Chrysler offered 20 paint color options (many in beautiful metallic finishes), this solid-color Tahitian Turquoise with an Alaskan White top paint choice looks a bit “Fifty-ish,” but it’s still very attractive. And the seller says the paint is original. The chrome bumpers, glass, trim, and those gorgeous wheel covers completes the package nicely. Styling wise, the ’61 Chryslers featured slanted quad headlights and a new grille upfront and a new ribbed deck lid.
The white-and-black interior is luxurious and appears to be in great shape. The front seat upholstery is new and the space age, three-dimensional AstroDome control center has been restored, as well as the car’s radio and clock. The New Yorker is also equipped with factory air conditioning, Automatic Auto-Pilot cruise control, power windows, seats, and locks, and the full-width black padded dash looks very good and isn’t cracked.
Under that long turquoise hood is a legendary 413-cubic-inch “Golden Lion” V8 that was rated at 350 horsepower at 4600 RPM when new. Check out the cool lion detail that’s part of the front door side trim. The theme continues under the hood as well with a gold air cleaner and lion decals on the valve covers. The seller says there’s 94,000 on the 413 and I’m assuming they’re original miles given the condition of the car inside and out. The pushbutton 3-speed TorqueFlite automatic transmission has been rebuilt as well as the front suspension and brakes.
The ’61 Chrysler New Yorker was a luxurious, comfortable highway cruiser that cost around $4,260. That equates to about $50,000 in 2026 dollars. This example is quite a time capsule and the nicest, most highly-original New Yorker 4-door hardtop we’ve ever featured here on Barn Finds.
I suppose the eternal question will be, how could these unusually styled cars be such a hit? The only thing I can figure, is people were so enamored with Chrysler products, obviously it didn’t matter what they looked like. While this car was aimed at upscale buyers, a ’61 Newport wasn’t that much different, and at just under $3grand, almost 60,000 went with the Newport. While I can find no connection between the “canted” headlights, and any Asian influence, it was a short lived feature. Apparently people had enough of the “Forward-Look”. Non-FB members can’t see the instrument cluster, that was never rivaled by any car maker. At night, it’s downright trippy. ’61 Chrysler Newports came and went, but someone saved this car because it was so unique. What a car!!
I love this car, but I have two old cars already. According to the boss, I’m at my limit and I would need to sell one before acquiring another. lol
I was young when the 61 showed up in our driveway. I would sit in the driver’s seat and pretend driving it, and up to a ‘Supercar’ traveling through space. And then it was gone. On a trip to NYC to see a show, it was stolen from the parking garage. The next car was a 62 4 door Pontiac. But a year later my father also picked up a 61 Newport convertible. He must’ve like the style as much as I did.
Nice looking car, this and its Chrysler Corp. stablemates were pretty much the last examples of “space age” styling that so enamored us in the ’50’s, although Cadillac wouldn’t be able to give up the fins for a few more years.