If you’ve ever watched the television series Trailer Park Boys then certainly the trailer park supervisor Mr. Lahey comes to mind when you see this New Yorker! Though the car used in the TV show is (spoiler alert) eventually destroyed, it started out as a very clean example much like this one. Fortunately, this New Yorker is still in original and mint condition! It has been in storage for 30 years and only racked up 22,500 in its nearly 40 years. Find it here on Craigslist in Wisconsin with a pretty reasonable $5,800 price tag! Thanks to reader Matt W. for finding this sweet survivor.
Just look at that interior! It isn’t quite rich Corinthian leather, but it’ll have to do. If you’ve ever wanted it to feel like you’re sitting on your living room couch while driving your car, this is likely your best shot at that happening! This Chrysler was built at the peak of land-yachting and boy does it show. While this may just look like an “old person” car to some people, to folks like me it looks like a well-preserved example of a fine automobile. I would daily this until I couldn’t drive anymore!
Though there are no pictures of the back seat, or the engine, the seller did get a couple of good shots of the front of the passenger compartment. Clearly, this car has been stored somewhere other than a barn with holes in the roof as the interior is free of stains, cracks, rips, mice, etc. I’m not familiar with the brand on the box that sits on the floor, but I can’t help but think that removing it would help the sale of this car! Parcels on seats, floor-mats, and pretty much anywhere other than the trunk are one of those things that is very irritating to see, as I am a fan of clean cars.
In this picture, you’ll note what is presumably the original dealer badge. While some people hate dealer items and have them removed when buying a car, I think an old car like this still wearing a dealer badge or sticker is really cool! It just adds even more to the survivor status of this Chrysler, and really makes it feel like a new car. I sincerely hope this car falls into the right hands, and with a somewhat niche market I’m sure it will. Would you daily it or baby it?
No cheeseburger stains!
The upholstery in these always made me think I was riding in a casket.
I’d baby it….
is that the l o n g e s t car made?
The longest passenger car ever built not a limo or custom job, that I could find, was the 1975 Cadillac Fleetwood Seventy-Five. It has a total length of 21 feet or 252”. General Motors manufactured it and was classed as a full-size luxury car.Dec 1, 2014
Boaty McBoatface
Sh@t storm.
Oh Hell Yah.
If you’ve never driven one try it.
Quick No. but you will not find enough road to run out of motor they pull for ever. MPG don’t ask or you can’t afford it.
If these had the lean burn and smog carb,remove it for Mopar Orange box and vacuum adbanced distributor and add a better carb,then you will gain 50 hp..Duel exhaust with high flow manifolds another 10..
These also had 2.21, 2.45,2.76,2.94 and the rare 3.21 axle ratio in the 70’s !!!
I dyno’d this in the 1990’s with a 55,000mile car,thats the gain it got from a 1977 with lean burn then removed ! 53 hp gain !!!! Even 318’s and 360’s and 400’s were similar results !!! Woke the car right up,even with the very low 8.2 or so compression they came with..
Far cry form the 10.25 the Performance 440’s came with..They offered 2 different 440 4bbl in their cars..440 4bbl with holley was the non performance then the 440 TNT had the Carter until 1971 ! Yes the 1974-1978 low compression slow 440’s had a carter thermoquad,but totally different engine,still I rebuilt a few of those one has 690 hp and still are reliable normal street driven with that power 80,000 miles on it so far in my 68 Charger RT !
My 1968 440 TNT 300 also have a 1966 and restoring a 1970 300 2 door (3987 lbs the 74-78’s are 4900 lbs) Also gets 22 mpg highway and averages 15.5 when driving a mix…And a few full throttle blasts with neck snapping ,pin you in your seat ,tire burning take offs..Runs side by side my 2010 300 SRT 6.1 HEMI !! Pre 72 440’s were underrated 410-430 hp is what they had..383 high performance had over 375 hp Again 3 different 383’s were offered and 3 different 440’s 1966-1971
I always enjoyed driving these cars. The ride was smooth and soft yet with the torsion bar suspension they handled nicely. They make a very good highway car.
I remember when I was a kid I had a book about 1950s cars which was published in 1978. I distinctly remember in the introduction, the author posing the question of whether in 20 years a 1978 Chrysler would still be desirable.
The author said, or clearly implied, that the answer would be in the negative. I don’t know about that. I doubt the author would have imagined the 25 inch dubs this thing will likely soon be riding on but I still think people today appreciate 1970s cars, even if we might not pay as much for them as one might have paid for a 1950s car in 1978. I think that has more to do with demographic changes than lack of appreciation
This is a monster of a car. I detailed one that was an Imperial but basically the same car. It was gargantuan. When you steered it around a corner it seemed like the car was standing still and the world was rotating. The hood was L O N G. What a car. I’d take this one with the cloth seats over that thin Corinthian leather anyday. A bargain at this price.
Different zip code for hood and boot.
Is there a lever you push down to get the seat to recline and the foot support to pop up?
Too bad it doesn’t have matching lemon yellow leather, maybe only Cadillacs had that.
June last year I bought All original 1980 Chrysler New Yorker Fifth Avenue (Downsized R bodies) has 14800 original miles. Cream/ Tan combo with cream leather. 360 2B , power front seats , factory AC , factory AM/FM , Wire wheels with all books & owners manual & window sticker! the car is almost showroom condition a real beauty! As roads are congested and not good here Being slightly smaller than Pre 79 Giant New Yorkers better suited to be driven and enjoyed sometimes
Not bad although a dark green one a couple of years older would fit my persona much better.
I have an admitted soft-spot for four-door hardtops. Wasn’t this beauty was THE last of them? What a great way to close out a body-style! Such gaudy excess! Baby this barge – Dress the part when you drive it, in platforms and a leisure suit. What a great find!
That’s exactly what I said I’d do! Dress the part!
My mother bought a 1979 Buick Park Avenue new. It had a plush interior like this one.. It was black with a blue interior. I for one have many a great memory romping around the back seat with my girlfriend! Love this car!
THIS is a cruiser.
gorgeous example of back when they made REAL cars!
Forget TPB, this is the car from “Love Shack”
Hey it never stated what size motor is in this beauty?
Ad said a 440. What a beauty. As Jack Jones used to sing on those tv ads: “What a beautiful New Yorker….”
My ’78 New Yorker was maroon and had the Corinthian maroon leather interior which covered the most comfortable American car seats that I have ever sat on. In South Africa it was called Indian leather. As for the size, I once had 8 grown ups sitting 4 in front, 4 in the rear with 2 youngsters standing on the rear floor with their heads poking out of the sun roof while we toured the Bloemfontein Waterfront. Besides my 1959 Buick Super it is my second favourite American car. The engine was unbreakable as the radiator header tank blew and I drove it until it was making horrible knocking noises before having to stop. By the time I was rescued, and the radiator repaired about 4 hours had passed and the motor started first time and ran like a Swiss watch until the day I sold it about 2 years later. Fantastic motor car.
My father had a series of these cars in the1970’s: maroon, this cream color, white. Glided down the highway. 3-4 revolutions of the steering wheel to make a 90 degree turn. His car for his WWII generation. Drove them until his health began failing. Great memories. RIP dad. Miss those days and miss you.
It may not be your taste, but this car came from a mans brain, not some wind tunnel infused computer. Some guy actually drew this on a piece of paper and said, ” This is the best our company can offer.” I’m not a mopar fan, but in America, we do things because we can, not because it fits some man-bunned Eco metro freaks idea of efficiency. Where’s the Japanese equivilent to this? Look in the Mariana Trench!
Well, being a veteran undertaker of forty years, I first noticed what I think is a cardboard box/case from Frigid Fluid, and embalming supplies company. So, if an undertaker had this car, you can bank on the fact that it was well-maintained. Gorgeous car.
If the owners were Italian the seats would be covered with plastic. Where I grew up people had living room furniture like those seats. They were only sat on 4 times a year. Forty years old Levittz velour furniture , the fabric looks great but the foam is desintigrating.
I loved these cars! I thought they were better looking than either the Cadillacs or Lincolns of the day. They were a great road car, but can you imagine fitting this into the downsized parking spaces available today? Or worse, trying to parallel park on any city street today? I wonder, would this fit in a standard 20 ft garage? I mis the old days!
I would love to have this beautiful New Yorker as a companion to my 1979 Lincoln Continental Town Car. If I only had the cash and garage space. Price seems mighty reasonable to me, assuming it is rust-free. A veritable bargain for someone entering the classic car game! It shouldn’t be on the market more than an hour before some lucky person snaps it up.
Remove the Lean Burn and swap the carb you gain over 50 hp by doing that !! The add duel exhaust for 5 plus hp more,a good set of high flow exhaust manifolds add 10 hp + with duel exhaust !!!
Has low Compression so a Turbo set up would work fine on these low compression mid- late 70’s 440’s…
Or rebuild it to 1969 440 TNT specs and run high 12’s or low 13’s with this heaviest chrysler of all time !! The 60’s to 71 were 3800 – 4200 pounds so they were Muscle Cars !
My never ebuilt 1968 Chrysler 300 2 door with a 440 TNT is side by side my 2010 300 SRT 8 6.1 Hemi I run 12.83 to 13.35 with that car depending on day/traction (never has any in either car off the line and the 68 from a 30 mph roll it lights the tires up)
5 digit odometer,probably 111,000 miles..
Most are over 100,000 beat ones are over 200,000 miles..
People had 120,000 miles on a car in 5 -6 years back then !!! Even Muscle Cars !!
I am tired of the so called low mileage ! My 500,000 1968 Charger RT looks prisitne and like new and the odometer says 32,000 miles !! Every 99,999 they go to 00,000…The ones with the 6 digits have a 1/10 th of a mile reading and never shows 100,000 miles..00,000.0
My friends dad had a 2 door blue ,white roof, white leather he would take us to Dairy Queen for a dipped cone. All I remember is it was the coolest, comfiest car in the world when I was 10 (1981)!
If it was a 2 door I’d be loading up the car hauler!
Way nicer than caddy or Lincoln IMHO.
If you guys like this car as much as I do, I’m gonna help you out. Here is one, just as nice, with optional sunroof, for half the price:
https://albany.craigslist.org/cto/d/1978-chrysler/6315833403.html
You’re welcome.