I recently finished reading Walter P. Chrysler’s slim biography (originally serialized in The Saturday Evening Post) titled The Life of an American Workman. Already knowing much of Mr. Chrysler’s basic story, his biography simply filled in a few gaps in which my knowledge was of a more general nature, along with fortifying my belief that true rags to riches stories are rare, and usually involve a preternatural work ethic, managerial skill, and some fortuitous timing. Timing can also relate to buying old cars, and being in a Chrysler mood after reading about the great railroad mechanic turned automotive entrepreneur, I found a couple attractive postwar examples on Facebook Marketplace.
My interest for some reason turned to 1946 to 1948 models, the big, conservative postwar Chryslers that probably last forever given half a chance. The first one I found was this ’48 New Yorker with the stylish “Highlander” upholstery; it was listed for $8500 and was located in Calvert City, KY.
Here is the ad copy: Nice original 1948 Chrysler straight 8 with fluid drive has been stored inside, very nice interior, original paint, this car won’t last long
Usually, when a seller claims that the car won’t be around for long, there is no basis for that claim, but I think this one has a shot. It apparently has 75,000 miles and looks to be in good condition, although there were only three pictures listed in the ad. The color combination and interior are perfect; this is a tempting car, but there’s another one within Facebook’s 500-mile range. EDIT: Within a few days of my finding this ad, it was no longer listed on Marketplace.
This one is a lower-line 1948 Windsor located in Ohio.
Here is the ad: Pretty solid car that I am yet to make time to mess with. Was running and driving two years ago and I have not messed with it and got it running yet. Would make a cool old cruiser. Send me cash or trade offers. Looking for 5k obo Located in waldo ohio (sic) with clean title.
Ah, the classic “ran when parked” ad. This looks like a solid 89,000 mile vehicle, although I’m more tempted by the straight-eight-powered New Yorker (the Windsor has the “Spitfire” six).
I’m fairly suggestible when it comes to cars; if I’m reading about something or see it in a movie, or even if someone mentions it, chances are decent that I’ll be hitting the classifieds within minutes. It’s unlikely that I’ll seriously consider one of these Chryslers, but this week, I’ve begun the process. After all, life’s too short to not learn how to operate a Fluid Drive-equipped Chrysler product. Deja vu: Circa July 19, 2016…
At least this ad has a picture of the engine. It looks like it has new plugs, but the general aura is one of long-time neglect. Plan on a little extra money for ancillaries to get this one going again.
The interior isn’t quite as spiffy as the New Yorker’s either, but it’s also being offered for several thousand dollars less money. I keep hearing how 1940s and ’50s cars are taking a dive in the marketplace, but I don’t know that I’ve seen too much evidence in the classifieds. Both prices seem about right for 1940s sedans, regardless of their sturdy build quality.
Walter P. Chrysler might be my favorite automotive scion; his life never seemed encumbered by the shortcomings of some of his contemporaries. He was perhaps the most able leader in the history of his eponymous organization, risk-taking (Airflow anyone?) but grounded at the same time. He seemed to instinctively know how to choose the right people and let them do their jobs. Unfortunately, he died of a cerebral hemorrhage after suffering a stroke at the age of 65, and although he had stepped down from actively running his company by that point, it’s pretty clear that American business could use more people like him. He seemed genuinely humble while being confident in his abilities. He seemed to make everything he touched more efficient and profitable. Sure, some may say that the Chrysler Building is a bit of an ego trip, but so what?
Buying a neat old Chrysler from those early postwar years seems like a fitting way to honor a man as monumental as Mr. Walter P. Chrysler. If one can’t own the Chrysler Building, at least one can own a New Yorker.
Postscript: I was so interested in Chryslers last week that I visited the local antique store and bought a Saturday Evening Post from 1946 that contained this advertisement for the Chrysler Town and Country, and thought that some of you may be interested in seeing it.
The early postwar Chryslers always looked odd to me, and I finally figured it out. They seem to have about 6 inches too much hood past the front wheels. Maybe they needed it to fit the Straight-8, but they always looked ponderous to me.
That’s what it is; they updated it by putting a postwar big wide and long front end on a prewar car. Strictly speaking, it’s a bit hideous, and totally throws off the original proportions. But I’ve come to love them anyway, despite their fat noses.
Here’s how it looked before it got its botched cosmetic surgery: much better, and plenty of room for the straight 8.
That’s rather nice looking to someone who never really cared for this era Chrysler. Quite clean and the whitewalls really set it off. Great color also, grayish green?
Thanks for posting.
Definitely nicer proportions.
And the ‘70s Lincoln Mark V said, “hold my beer…”.
The world can never have too much plaid. I’d pay the extra $3500 for the darker blue one over the lighter blue one every day and twice on Sunday for the interior alone. It takes it from eh, another old car to wow, how fun! Never mind the other attractions of that car over the other beyond that.
I too subscribe to (am afflicted by?) the “see something anywhere, get one CL and look for my own” blessing. It’s often something I would have had little interest in normally but all of a sudden that particular item is elevated significantly…
I would love to see a CC piece on factory installed patterned interiors; plaids, houndstooths, and so on. Many of them seemed to turn up around the late ‘70s, and added some whimsy to some of the malaise-era offerings. I had no idea this sort of thing had been done so many decades earlier.
In a reverse CC effect, there’s a ’48 Windsor I shot a few weeks ago (and which I passed on the way home from a friend’s apartment literally fifteen hours ago) as part of preparation for a post about Covid-19 and cars and the specific corner at which it is parked, and lo and behold… supra (points up)
Looks like one tough old girl sitting out there in the wet and snow. Great capture.
My Dad always liked these Chryslers with the “Highlander” interior, he told me that at the time that they were called by most folks “Chrysler Scotty”. I believe it was available in lines other than the NY’er and into the early ’50s in the post ’48 body style, I’m pretty sure I saw a ’50 with this interior once. Wish we had this kind of spiffy design in our cars nowadays!
Chrysler did revisit the Scotty in the ’70s, maybe we’ll see it again!
There IS a new Airflow coming out; maybe it will be an option!
Here’s an even more Highlanderish (and named “Highlander”) plaid option on a ’76 Newport Custom;
http://www.oldcarbrochures.org/United%20States/Chrysler_and_Imperial/1976_Chrysler/1976_Chrysler_Brochure/slides/1976%20Chrysler-07.html
I love these immediate post war Chryslers, and their DeSoto brethren. Large and in charge, they look equal to or premium compared to their immediate competition. These cars helped hold Chrysler’s position as the number two automaker through 1949.
I saw one of these just a few days ago sitting next to a repair shop in north central Florida. It was hard to tell what color it was, but it seemed to be a bottle green with a fair amount of rust making it hard to distinguish what shade exactly it was originally.
I wonder what if Chrysler had gived the green light for an hardtop version of these cars? The seven(?) prototypes used for a Town & Country version should have also built on a regular Windsor or New Yorker.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/carphotosbyrichard/3357946573/
Another interesting Chrysler from this era was the Derham “Continental.” I don’t know how Ford let them get away with this thing.
It’s even more similar to the Lincoln from the back.
It looks as though one customer commissioned a pair of them. I had at first assumed it was a homebrew solution to the Lincoln V-12’s well-known issues.
https://www.hemmings.com/stories/2020/10/23/yes-this-derham-bodied-1946-chrysler-new-yorker-continental-does-have-a-continental-spare-tire-mount
There were only two coach built by Derham for a private customer. Ford management had vastly larger problems to deal with and worry about than whether someone copied the Lincoln Continental design on a Chrysler chassis.
Be still, my heart! Two, count ‘em, TWO fluid drive Mopars and they’re both located within striking distance of Columbus Ohio!
If either of them were a DeSoto, I’d barely be able to contain myself. Dad had a ‘48 DeSoto as a daily driver for one or two years back in the early 1960s. It really made an impression on my knee-high sized self.
Also, our little town’s shoe repair man lived jut down the alley from us. He kept a pristine ‘48 Chrysler Windsor 4-door in a tiny garage beside his house. He’d take it for a spin on very rare occasions. Its black paint was always shined up to the max, and all that magnificent chrome, too. Rumor had it that he was the second owner, having purchased it around 1950. He lived into the mid 1980s. The car was sold at his estate auction and sadly whisked off to an unknown destination.
Ooooh, one of my favorite cars! The New Yorkers were always sold in small numbers back then. I am still smitten by the one I wrote up a few years ago that I found at a local show.
I don’t know what made me think of it just a day or two ago, but up until the War, my paternal grandparents were Mopar people. My grandmother had a thing for blue cars on the stylish-sporty end of the spectrum of respectable cars and went through the war with a blue 41 DeSoto convertible. THAT is one I would like to have now.
Of all the domestic auto industry’s icons throughout history (Henry Ford I and II, Billy Durant, Alfred Sloan, Ed Cole, John DeLorean, Lee Iacocca, et al), Walter P. Chrysler is probably my favorite. Even his one big mistake, the Airflow, was just simply ahead of its time.
“This car won’t last long.” The absolute antithesis of a warranty. ;^)
What a lovely, inviting interior. And so much space!
Very timely, Aaron. Having just returned from a multi-day adventure in Denver, we stopped by Walter P’s boyhood home yesterday in Ellis, Kansas. Like his cars, Chrysler’s first home is conservative in design yet quite durable.
If life events will quit interfering, I hope to write the place up soon.
The NZ givt imported 25 of these Chryslers for ministerial; transport one ended up in a wrecking yard where I and some mates worked part time as highschool kids it was the tow car for moving cars around the yard that could be towed the trans was its problem it only had low gear and when that vanished it was pushed into a corner and replaced with a 59 Country sedan that had been hit hard from behind that wagon collapsed in the end from all the parts that accumulated in the back the tailgate was removed with a gas axe there wasnt much of it left, but the Chrysler just sat there it was in nice condition inside and quite tidy it just would drive but it was saved from being dismantled.
Certainly tall enough for all my hats, that’s for sure!
I wouldn’t doubt that there’s more headroom than my F-150.
My dad had one of these during our time in RI when he was teaching at the Naval War College in Newport, 1964-66. When we arrived at our new house in Middleton, mom was driving the ’63 Ford Ranch Wagon (3 on tree), so dad procured one locally (I think he bought it off an officer who was being transferred elsewhere) in a color similar to the lead car, but with more patina. Being all of 6 years old, that car seemed huge (I think dad said one could get a whole Cub Scout troop in the back seat) and the dash had lots of chrome (compared to mom’s car). Dad used it as his base beater and didn’t seem to drive it much. All I remember is it had an AM radio. Later mom relented and let dad get his MGA (a ’59 with ’62 taillights in British racing green and white interior), so for a short time we had three cars. Before we moved to Pensacola at the end of two years, the big Chrysler disappeared (probably sold to an incoming officer) and dad had someone drive the MGA down to FL. The remarkable thing I remember was that Chrysler had no rust on it, while mom’s car started rusting within two years, had obvious holes in the quarter panels by the time we were in FL and was near terminal by 1969 when my grandfather arranged its trade-in for mom’s legendary 1965 Dodge Dart sedan.
I can’t quite tell, but dad’s ’48 had a pop up vent on the cowl center just before the split windshield. I don’t see one here.
The New Yorker, without question, for my Marketplace fantasies.
Slip into the plaid booth of our shmancy restaurant, discreet, in the corner. Order a martini. Have our maitre d operate the chrome Wurlitzer controls in the front, and take you back in time, to a rainy night in New York, 1948.
Don’t enter this car without at least a tuxedo.
Sure, these postwar Chrysler fatboy-talls aren’t necessarily an oil picture, but they present, and how! An unmatched combination of a fatly-chromed and square front with a more voluptuous and older rear, all laid heavily out over the wheels. Conservatism, of a decently old-fashioned kind, and some monied flash out front. Sure, they don’t look like they could round a corner without scraping the sills, and they don’t look speedy one bit, but that’s not their role.
It’s to impress, quietly, and near-80 years on, they still do.
Several years ago I bought an “early series” (aka 1942-48 body style) 1949 Desoto 4 door sedan with “Fluid Drive” for $2,500. Ran well, body and interior were somewhat decent. Lousy tan spray can paint job. Brought it to our local “Earl Schieb” shop, and although they proclaimed they’d “paint any car for $99!”, my bill was closer to $500. And I had wanted it two-toned with a tan body and hunter green top, but the, um, rather “burly girl” doing the taping, “accidentally” misread my notes, and “Delores” (sic), wound up in the opposite color scheme. That old tube radio had like a 10 foot antenna, and I would often have an AM station “skip” from Canada or Seattle to here in Connecticut!!! Replaced the chromed flying naked lady hood ornament with a light-up Plexiglas version from a 1942 model. I installed some department store tweed seat covers over the original wool upholstery, then attempted to install a new headliner from “J.C. Whitney”. The gas gauge always read “full”, until about 30 seconds before you would run completely out of fuel, so I filled up the tank every time I went out. It was always awkward when it would only take 49 cent$ to top it off. One Labor Day weekend, my Dad and I were heading to the annual “Lead East” 1950’s car event in New Jersey. Suddenly, on the Merritt Parkway, just entering New York, the oil pressure dropped, the motor began knocking, and poor “Delores” never ran again… 😞😓😩
I’ve Always been a Chrysler man my, grandfather worked for Chrysler for almost 45 years in the stamping department as an executive and knew Mr Chrysler,he always had very good things to say about his career at Chrysler and we had many ex Chrysler men who worked for my grandfather would visit after retirement and I enjoyed listening to them talk about Tailfins and Hoodbinnets