Want a piece of suburban history? You might do well to look at this 1974 Chrysler New Yorker Brougham. It’s for sale near Los Angeles and viewable here on ebay for a ridiculously reasonable $2325 with the auction not having any word of a reserve. You’ve got until Tuesday to jump on this opportunity, which surely must be one of the last of its kind in this condition.

Lakewood, CA, made famous in DJ Waldie’s book Holy Land, is a place of modest suburban houses and pleasantly tree-lined streets. Between this town and Levittown, NY, the post-war American way of life was invented, and central to that was the automobile and the idea of the freeway commute. I’ve read Waldie’s book a number of times, and one line that sticks in my head goes something like, “You measured how well your neighbor was doing by the frequency with which a new car appeared his driveway.”

It must have been a halcyon day when Mr. and Mrs. Somebody brought this New Yorker home. Look at the photos—rear fender skirts, full wheel covers, chrome body accents, a vinyl top. Go inside to find very fancy Brougham badges and what must once have been plush velour seats (now shredded up like an angry cat got in there) along with woodgrain accents. This package screams “executive,” even if the first owner was more a salaryman than a CEO. For nearly fifty years, this car was used, then put in the garage and almost forgotten. Now, it’s time to get it out, redo the interior, put a new vinyl top on it, and expect that the 440-CID V8 engine will take to firing up with a little bit of caution in prepping it. It should go much farther than its present mid-80,000 mile odometer reading. The seller has already done a lot of the work it would need to be reliably driven again, including servicing the fuel system. He says honestly that it needs more work including a tune-up, but he also mentions that the car runs fine and doesn’t smoke.

If you decide that you are the next preserver of this fine ride, you should ask the seller to put you in touch with the niece who inherited the car in the past number of years, because she has stories to tell about how her aunt used the car to deliver Christmas presents, and undoubtedly other things to recollect. All of those need to be voice recorded or written down as part of what this car is. Because after all, you’re not buying a car. You’re buying history.