I heard about this car before I saw it. If there’s an old car for sale, my neighbors will tell me, my parents will tell me, my wife will tell me, my brother-in-law will tell me, the mailman will tell me. Good news travels fast in the old car cosmos, and it’s mostly good news for this Chrysler New Yorker. It’s a big, yellow old car, and 100 times out of 100, that’s enough to attract my attention. As with everything in our physical world, however, the numbers don’t lie, so let’s follow Francis Bacon’s advice and crunch them.
440: Is there a cubic-inch displacement that sounds more mellifluous than “440?” Although the standard New Yorker 440 was not the “Magnum” shown in this Dart, it was a 350-horsepower version of the long-lived Chrysler RB, perfect for pulling around six million pounds of Mopar. Of course, the 375-horsepower “TNT” 440 was an option.
8,060: According to my Standard Catalog of Chrysler: 1914-2000 (and the “For Sale” sign), only 8,060 New Yorker hardtops were built in 1968, and according to the color chips, none of them were yellow. The nearest substitute is “Antique Ivory,” and I don’t think this is quite it. On the other hand, yellow (sometimes called “Sunfire Yellow”) WAS available on Plymouths and Dodges in 1968, so perhaps this is a special-order car. Wouldn’t that be cool?
219.2: The New Yorker is over 18 feet long, or 219.2 inches, and while it may not be the longest car ever to cross the gates at Mother Mopar, it’s enough. It’ll do.
6: The number of passengers the New Yorker will hold depends on the size of the passengers, of course, but six passengers has to be a practical minimum, although the four-door version would make the process a little more dignified. The interior is missing an armrest and the original steering wheel, but it’s not in bad shape and the seller would probably throw in the beaded seat cover if you’re a shrewd negotiator.
8,000: As I walked up to the Chrysler to give it the once over, I didn’t think 8000 dollars was out of line for a ’60s two-door hardtop in decent condition. I’m not in the market for another car right now (unless something like a Studebaker GT Hawk was willed to me by a long-lost distant relative or something), but this looks like a ton of fun for somebody, except…
727: Oops. Reverse doesn’t work, so unless it’s an in-car fix like a broken reverse servo, you’ll have to add the cost of a transmission rebuild or allot the time to do it yourself. Even so, the car appears solid, so the price might not be too far out of line. If it were me, I’d use the broken transmission as a bargaining chip and roll the dice that it was the servo. Why not? If it’s not, I get to learn how to rebuild a 727 Torqueflite (there was also a Torqueflite for smaller engines called the 904), and there are worse ways to spend one’s time.
4 (maybe 5 if you need a spare): Like everything else I’ve ever bought, it’s probably going to need a set of tires, so factor in another 500 dollars or so. Financially, most old cars don’t make any sense whatsoever; in fact, if old cars were a business, I’d be a failed businessman. Sadly, this New Yorker has been sitting in the same spot for over a month since I’ve taken these pictures, as it’s not one of the “big names” in antique autos. What it IS is a quirky, handsome, decent old car that needs a little TLC.
9: This would be right in my wheelhouse if I wasn’t already renting way too much storage space for my out-of-control lifetime hobby. The Chrysler would make for nine old cars, and for me to get to nine, it’s going to have to be something I just can’t turn down. I walked away from the New Yorker, but it was a little tough for about 1 minute, but it may have taken a little longer had this been a ’65 or ’66 New Yorker (my favorite big Chryslers).
Last minute addendum: This car is also on Marketplace and it’s down to $6000. I hope someone picks it up; it would make a fun cruiser for somebody who shares my outlook on the hobby.
For the Marketplace ad click HERE.
I very much doubt that is Sunfire yellow and in actuality is Antique ivory. Antique ivory was very much not just an “off white” and looks extremely similar to this feature car. While both are close in shade, true Sunfire has a more pronounced yellow tint to it, particularly when viewed in low lighting conditions:
An Antique ivory car for comparison:
I think it looks more yellow in real life than it does in my pictures, but it certainly might be Antique Ivory. It very easily could be a non-factory color, too. I agree that the Sunfire Yellow looks a little more yellow in your picture of the Road Runner.
Would love this car if it still had the 66 dashboard.
The dash is the bummer for me, no 1967 or 68 Chrysler for me ever.
Great find, and bio info, thank you. I deviate from most CCer’s opinions on this era of full-sized Chryslers, as I find their styling too formal, and stodgy. I equate these with older guys, not that it’s a bad thing. I prefer Fuselage styling significantly more. Oddly, I find a vinyl roof strongly suits these. A black vinyl roof, would help its looks. A dark, richer colour, and Magnum 500 wheels, and it may have been sold already. Like Buick road wheels, sporty wheels really help ‘lighten’ the looks of these big old boats. Both physically lighter looking, and more athletic.
It is very easy to see the great potential here. And the owner appears struggling to sell it.
Thanks, Daniel…This is one of those cars that would probably sell better online to get some wider exposure, but I get their conundrum. Sometimes we like stuff that fits a small niche, and it just takes patience (and probably the realization that you’re going to sell at a loss).
And I agree that this would look great with a set of Magnum 500s and a black vinyl top.
Strong sense of an honest, traditional, old school seller. Reflective of the understated, serious car, they are selling. They would likely be able to hold their price online, simply just through more reach, and buyer competition. Dropping the price by 25%, says they are probably feeling anxiety now. I can empathize.
Perhaps there’s a ’60s full-sized Mopar aficionado in Indiana, willing to come through? lol
You forgot to -4 in your figures. That would be to subtract and dumpster the AliExpress aftermarket lights perched precariously on the nose. They look silly, and would only be useful for blinding owls in an off highway environment.
I *think* I’d prefer this car in a four door hardtop, but this is pretty cool too… I never used to be much of an Engel styling fan, but I’m starting to like it much more of late! I’d think the asking price would be more on track if the transmission wasn’t broken, but I really haven’t kept track of what the market is like since I already have a lifetime supply of project cars (I’m probably lying to myself just a little).
I know Chrysler 727’s are generally held in high regard and oft described as being “bulletproof”, yet I’ve encountered enough of them with a broken reverse to raise an eyebrow. This is usually after they encounter some form of abuse… but how strong are they really? This question isn’t to ruffle any feathers, but rather just to gain knowledge in an area where my automotive experiences are more limited.
I know very little about the 727, but I have read that they have a few quirks (like most things). Apparently, you need to be careful about doing burnouts with them (not that too many people will be doing burnouts with a New Yorker, but who knows?).
I once broke the reverse band in a Torqueflite 904. I was trying to rock my 71 Scamp out of a snowbank when something suddenly broke and I had no reverse gear.
Oof. That sounds unnervingly fragile.
@Aaron65 -I went trough a brief period of doing stupid things to cars when I was about 16-17, including performing neutral drop burnouts in my CAFE geared Chevy Malibu. The THM350 absolutely wouldn’t burst; the spider gears in the 10 bolt rear end ended up being the weakest link. The beefier 10 bolt in my truck ended up suffering a similar fate with a 700R4 delivering the fatal blow… I’m a bit wiser now.
I’m right up there with you! The spider/side gears in the 7.5 in my ’87 Thunderbird were very noisy on cloverleafs after one too many one-wheel peels, not to mention that my high school never salted the incline out of their driveway.
Broken reverse band can be from something as simple as poorly adjusted choke/fast idle speed linkage. If reverse is engaged at a fast idle speed which is too high, it can very easily snap the end off the low/reverse band.
Nice, the additional lighting up front is a bit weird but easily disposed of.
Looks like a great car for JPC, I think you should mail it to him!
With postage nowadays? 🙂
Sure, it’s only 66 cents in your country. We pay $1.07 !! Fold carefully to fit into a standard envelope.
Even more for us to mail anything to the US. What is it $1.85 Canadian? For a Christmas Card??!!
no. 6 – Love Shack by the B52s
“I got me a Chrysler, it’s as big as a whale…
I got me a car, it seats about twenty, so come on”
Lack of reverse is a minor distraction. After all, we spend 90+% of our driving in forward.
Interesting the car was pictured in front of an old Kmart.
I immediately noticed the same thing, regarding the building. Interesting how somewhat anonymous big box stores, still have enough distinctive features, that it remains easy to identify the retailer. The long verandah-style entrance ‘porch’. To park your cart, and stay dry. Surrounded by bollards. A K-mart hallmark in the US and Canada. As well as, the rectangular above-door signage base, that perfectly fit the ‘K-Mart’ lettering. And the building-end garden centre.
Attention K-Mart Shoppers: there are only 3 KMarts remaining in the contiguous United States, down from over 2,300 in the ’90s, and one of them just sold off one of its floors to another retailer. (Note to Aussies – Aus/NZ KMart was broken off from the American chain in 1978 and continues to thrive.)
I collected some of my most unique die cast cars as a kid, from Woolworth’s and K-Mart toy departments. Woolworth’s selling the somewhat rare Hong Kong-made, Playart brand.
Zellers was a discount department store, and Canadian equivalent to K-Mart. Though, not as prolific. That also collapsed, after having a one-time omnipresent profile across the country.
Hudson’s Bay Company has since relaunched the Zellers brand, coinciding with the soft economy.
Only a few metres outside the entrance to the current downtown Ottawa Zellers, a Dodge Grand Caravan was lost forever, to a sinkhole. The large opening, caused by subway construction, and later filled with concrete.
That van fought the current bravely until it was overcome. Like the buried tunnel bore machine in Toronto, that van is not resurfacing. Well, almost. They are trying to bring up the tunnel bore piece by piece; it is entangled in steel wires which were reinforcing previous construction.
I had a car once where reverse was going, so I cut down my reversing as much as possible. It’s amazing how little backing up you really need to if you concentrate on avoiding it.
That said, it’s amusing that this New Yorker is parked facing in… where you need to back up in order to get out.
I too like the car situated in front of the former Kmart.
Add me to the list of those who consider the image of this old New Yorker survivor in front of an old, empty Kmart building (with the signs removed, yet) absolutely perfect, as if neither had moved since 1968.
Something that is rather unusual about the 1968 Chryslers is how the front side marker lights were mounted into the bumper. I don’t think they might have been alone on that one, with everyone else putting them somewhere in the front fenders.
Makes a big of sense, too, since it means the front fenders could be interchanged between earlier, non-marker light cars.
I can think of a few other vehicles that mounted side markers in the bumper over the years, though none of them in that 1968-69 timeframe. I’ve always liked Mopar’s simple/elegant/functional solution for side marker lights in 1968 (excluding trucks) while simultaneously being disgusted with the cheap ‘n’ dirty setup of cheezy reflectors employed in 1969. It’s interesting that Chrysler and Imperial did that with the front ones, yet mounted the rear ones in the center of the rear quarter… Dodge and Plymouth of course mounted both front and rear side markers in the sheet metal.
It’s been speculated that the cheesy 1969 Mopar reflectors were due to how Ford addressed the side marker situation on the 1968 Mustang by using lights in the front fenders and reflectors (or two different styles, yet) in the rear quarters.
The theory goes that Chrysler’s thinking was, “hey, if Ford can get away with using reflectors, so can we!”.
It depends on where you’re driving. I’m in a fairly rural area now, but start each trip by reversing about 210 feet to get out of the driveway; only other option would be a multi point turn to get turned around to head out nose first.
Very true – back when I had that problem, I lived in an apartment where I could pull-through from one parking space to another in order to be facing out. Plus, I remember my parents’ driveway at the time was angled just right so I could do the necessary backing-up in neutral.
I thought the same thing, Eric. I wonder if the owner pushes the car out of parking spots on their own – it’s pretty heavy!
From my experience with cars needing repairs, you sometimes learn how to live with what you’ve got when you can’t afford the repairs. There are ways to park a car so that you don’t need reverse. When I had a stick Escort whose battery suddenly died, I would find appropriate parking spots that would allow me to push start using reverse. Did that for a week until I got a new battery.
It’s definitely a good project car for someone who is capable of either financially getting the work done or if mechanically inclined, to do it himself. Hope the old girl goes to a good home and not the crusher.
Excellent write up!
My first thought was that $8K was reasonable. But the more I think about it, that’s probably the top end of the market, particularly with a bad transmission. Also, no mention of mileage. If the seller can luck into finding someone who just really digs these kinda-old Chryslers, then perhaps. Although it’s hard to know whether that’s going to happen out front of the exKMart.
Thanks Jeff! How many of those old KMarts are still out there, empty?
Is it simply too old to be finding a good used 727 tranny from a rusted out junker ? .
This is a glorious car, I’ve had friends who owned them and enjoyed riding in them .
Unless rusty I imagine this car is still worth close to $4,000 as is .
-Nate
Agreed. A couple of other demerits is one of those damn, funky aftermarket steering wheels, a missing driver’s armrest, and I’m going to guess it almost certainly has a significant tear underneath that driver’s wooden roller seat pad.
So, yeah, $4k sounds like a much more realistic price, considering the work needed for what isn’t exactly a valuable collector car. I have no idea of the market, but I would imagine a similar, much more pristine example could be had for ~$10k, which wouldn’t need the required (and possibly extensive) work.
And I just noticed that the exterior rearview mirror glass is missing, too.
Not a major fail but all that small stuff adds up.
The facebok advert shows the missing armrest hanging by one screw so he has it .
I know these are fantastic driving cars if you can afford to feed them .
-Nate
I think finding a rusty junker with a used 727 would be the tough part these days. Up until a few years ago, I would have chuckled at an $8000 (or even a $6000) asking price, but there’s been a consistent uptick in pricing on just about anything over the last five years. Unfortunately, 2018’s $3000 car is now a $5000 car, from what I’ve seen.
How about some contact info for someone interested in buying this?
That was my thought too. Normally we always include a link to the original ad. Aaron, can you please provide a link to the ad?
https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/783095316927939/?ref=search&referral_code=null&referral_story_type=post&tracking=browse_serp%3A09feeabe-dd6c-4608-a63a-04aac9d0cc08
Someone has similar taste in old cars as me – I too lust after a Stude GT Hawk (such perfect proportions) and also like mid-’60s Chryslers, though I’d prefer a ’65-66 (cooler dashboard and simpler exterior styling) with four doors, either sedan, hardtop, or my favorite, a fully optioned T&C wagon. I never thought the ’67-68 fastback roof worked on these cars.
Very elaborate taillights.
Engine compartment painted black so it is an automatic fail for Mopar lovers. C bodies never bring strong money, but this would make a nice cruiser.
That’s not a picture of the featured car, Jimmy…it’s a 440-powered Dart I just happened to have a picture of.
Is that a leaf spring visible in the first pic? That can’t be correct.
As a car-spotting kid, I was confused by these crisp concave Chryslers because the style looked years older than they were. Not ugly like the following fuselages, though. Mopar went from a little too much DLO (sedans) to way too little in one year.
Yes, that is a leaf spring. This one has a little more arch than I expect to see on one of these cars (especially at this age), but if you are questioning whether these used leaf springs, they absolutely did.
I am normally all over a 68 Chrysler, but this one is not quite there for me. First, I am your antonym when it comes to pale yellow cars from the 60s and 70s. If I get another 68 Chrysler it is going to be in a color combo I like (instead of the beige paint and green interior of the one I had).
Someone has futzed with this one too much, for my tastes. The wheel covers are wrong, the driver armrest is missing, the steering wheel has been swapped and someone bolted a bunch of lights on the front. The lack of an under hood photo is concerning, and those little dark spots over the fender skirt are where these liked to rust.
I feel bad for the owner, trying to sell a nice car with a bad transmission. I did that with my kid’s 89 Grand Marquis. Neither of us was willing to suck up the 4 figure transmission rebuild, so we sold the car pretty cheap. This owner needs to get the transmission fixed if he wants real money for the car. Otherwise, I see this as a $3k car as it sits. A $3k car for someone else, that is.
About forty years ago, I bought my neighbors ’68 New Yorker after he got one too many DUI’S. This last one also involved a collision so the left front fender was damaged along with the front bumper, hubcaps were missing and needed tires. 4 door hardtop, light green metallic with green interior. Body was otherwise perfect, paint was faded somewhat. Interior was perfect and original, transmission had a small leak at the output seal but worked perfectly, that powerful gas sucking 440 ran great, could really move the old beast. Cost me $100.00 back then. Loaned it to sister, her boyfriend drove it until the engine seized after a freeze plug blew a few months later. Oh well, probably was only worth around $1000 (if that) back then. Was a really impressive car to drive.
interesting “extra lights” in from of the headlamps….
Wondering about those myself.
No yellow New Yorkers” in “68”?? That’s a head scratcher !
It’s a $4,000 car even with a good transmission.
Looks like the engine compartment was oversprayed black at some point when they removed the engine to rebuild/paint. If I had to guess the engine caught fire or some such thing. Pretty sure ‘68 Chrysler would have a blue block?
Looking at the caption, it’s a “stock photo” the author had kicking around of a 440 in a Dart, not the actual engine compartment of the New Yorker.
There’s a picture of the engine in the Facebook ad I posted in the comments, T.A. I believe you’re correct on the blue block, Mia.
Ah, thanks both of you!