It’s not my intention to keep ragging on the Chrysler brand, but I can’t help it. Look at this spectacularly styled 1968 Newport hardtop with its dashing reverse C-pillar and compare it to the dreck the brand builds today – a single mini-van! And, the brand CEO just won some kind of “whatever award”, and for what? Propping up a ten-year-old van design and bringing nothing new to the lineup? Sheesh…but I digress. Anyway, this Newport is a looker, so let’s check it out. Auburn, Washington, is where you’ll find it, and it’s available here on craigslist for $11,500. Tony P. gets the nod for this tip!
Anyway you cut it, Chrysler is a storied brand, and in 1968, they cut an impressive swath. While they only managed a tenth-place finish in the great domestic auto production race that year (280K units, including Imperial), they brought us take-notice styling in the form of the New Yorker, 300, Newport Custom, and the standard Newport, such as our subject car. Newport covered all the bases with two-door hardtops (37K copies) and convertibles, as well as four-door sedans and hardtops. The seller of this Newport tells us that it’s a repaint and it’s “a nice quality job,” and it does present very smartly with its contrasting white finished roof. That said, there is an image of the open trunk included, and it appears that the floor has been hit with a decent dose of overspray. At 219.2 inches in overall length, this Newport possesses a lot of long, straight real estate, and there’s not a wave to be detected. It’s a matter of choice, of course, but I’ll admit that I don’t favor the chrome wheel/baby moon treatment.
Standard Newport power was a 290-gross HP, 383-CI V8 engine, and that’s what we find occupying this car’s engine room. The seller states, “Runs and drives really good…engine was rebuilt, and only has 6000 miles since rebuild.” As is usually the case, a TorqueFlite three-speed automatic transmission is on duty, handling gear changes.
The black vinyl and cloth upholstery is said to have been “redone,” and it looks fine; the entire environment, including the carpet, door panels, and dash pad show as new. The seller claims, “all clusters work (instrument panel), air conditioning car,” though there doesn’t appear to be a compressor located in the engine bay, so I’m not sure about that statement. The only potential problem that I spied is what looks like a pulled-loose headliner over the driver’s side front seat. It may, however, just be the tucked-away shoulder harness that I’m seeing.
This Newport’s mileage recording is claimed to be 45K miles, though no authentication is provided. Regardless, this Newport appears to be a very fine specimen. “Chrysler – are you paying attention? You built wonderful cars like this Newport at one time in the past; let’s stop the dithering and do it again!” Anyway, that’s my thought, what’s yours?
We always had a Dodge and a Volkswagen in my parents driveway. Sad what has become of the Chrysler Corp. This Newport is very nice and in my opinion very nicely priced, though I’m inclined to think Air Conditioning means the windows work.
It could be worse for Chrysler…. They could be Lincoln