Tough times make for interesting stories. And Chrysler’s 1974-78 full-size cars knew all about tough times. They were introduced just as the energy crisis made big cars undesirable. Then, when conditions improved for full-sized cars, GM’s new offerings made these cars look obsolete. Chrysler Corporation itself was on the verge of ruin, and consumers were hounded by high inflation and loads of other ills. Bad luck seemed to haunt these cars, and by the end of this model run, Chrysler’s once-proud New Yorker nameplate limped into 1978 on an aging platform, relying on cushy upholstery and shag carpeting to draw customers.
There’s a good chance that – when new – this car’s owner could turn on the AM/FM stereo and hear Crystal Gayle singing Ready for the Times to Get Better, one of 1978’s most popular country songs. It was a perfect song for the times, and perfect for this car too.
Chrysler’s New Yorker nameplate originated in 1938, when the company debuted its Imperial New York Special, a $1,000 sedan with a distinctive grille and “custom-tailored” interior. This package became popular enough that Chrysler created a separate New Yorker model range for 1939.
Chrysler then sold New Yorkers for the next 57 years. Throughout the 1950s and ’60s, New Yorkers represented the Chrysler brand’s pinnacle, with elegant styling, high-end appointments, and a prestigious image. Big Chryslers were also popular. In the mid- to late-1960s, Chrysler sold more than 200,000 full-size cars per year, including the luxurious New Yorkers.
When Chrysler debuted its Fuselage models for 1969, those robust sales figures remained for one year, and then slid. These cars’ styling wasn’t everyone’s idea of attractive when introduced, and didn’t get any more appealing after General Motors and Ford introduced restyled full-size models of their own shortly afterwards. Average sales for the 1969-73 Fuselage years were 13% lower than during 1965-68.
Chrysler retained the same product names for the Fuselage models as it had before. Value-priced Newports brought in the thrifty crowd, those who sought some upgrades bought Newport Customs, and the 300 range provided a hint of sportiness.
Residing at the top of the range, New Yorkers wore Chrysler’s crown. For a few years after the Fuselage body style was introduced, about 20% of Chrysler’s full-size sedans and coupes wore the New Yorker badge – a similar proportion to the 1965-68 generation. But then the proportion of New Yorker sales edged up. By 1972-73, New Yorkers comprised 29% of such sales, and that proportion would only increase during the model’s next generation. This resulted from two trends. First was an increasing appeal of brougham-style luxury… but just as important was that non-luxury buyers began abandoning full-size Chryslers. While Chrysler could still hawk fancy New Yorkers, it was the lower-end Newport that struggled mightily during the 1970s.
The Fuselage bid farewell after 1973, replaced by a new design that Chrysler said presented a “sleek silhouette.” Featuring a 2” lower beltline and a concomitant increase in glass area over its predecessor, this design demonstrated a lower and more slimmed-down appearance than before. Dimensionally, though, the wheelbase remained at 124” and overall length shrank by just 5”. In addition to design changes, Chrysler also stressed a smoother ride from reworked suspension componentry, and a more solid body. At first, it seemed that Chrysler had hit a home run with this new car. Then bad luck intervened.
Just weeks after the 1974 New Yorker and its kin were introduced, the Arab Oil Embargo sent buyers scrambling for smaller, fuel-efficient cars. Chrysler dealers – who had ordered heaps of full-size cars expecting strong sales – were left with several months’ supply languishing on their lots. Sales slumped so quickly that in January 1974, Chrysler shut down two plants for a time to bring surging dealer inventories in line with reworked sales forecasts.
Even though Chrysler sold just 109,000 of its full-sized sedans and coupes for 1974 (about half of 1973’s total), that number masks even more problems, since many of those cars were sold at fire-sale prices. 1975 and ’76 still saw suppressed interest in big cars; sales sank even lower. In 1977, big-car buyers returned, but that’s when the next wave of bad luck then hit this model as General Motors introduced its revolutionary downsized full-size B-bodies. Once again, Chrysler was left with outdated-looking full-size products.
Though these big Chryslers remained largely similar over their five-year run, they did see some adjustments. In 1975, all New Yorkers adopted the Brougham moniker (Brougham had been a separate model since 1972). Meanwhile, one year later, Chrysler discontinued its Imperial brand, at which time the New Yorker Brougham was christened Chrysler Corporation’s flagship, even receiving the Imperial’s concealed headlights and waterfall grille.
That brings us to 1978. Few changes differentiate this year from its predecessor. Most noticeable (if one can call it that) is a slightly revised grille, with a different fluting pattern and incorporating two vertical bars that weren’t present before. A lower-body tape stripe and fancier tail lamp treatment also arrived this year, as did some new colors and trim variations. Inside, a vacuum fluorescent digital clock replaced the mechanical-digital chronometer. On the powertrain front, Chrysler’s 400 cu. in. V-8 was now standard, while the previously standard 440 cu. in. engine stood as a $207 option. But for the most part, this car was similar to the previous four years of New Yorkers.
Importantly, 1978 was the Big Chrysler’s last year, and everyone knew it. Dealers, customers and the press understood that Chrysler would follow GM’s lead and slim down its full-size offerings for 1979.
Source of Data: Standard Catalog of Chrysler, 1914-2000
Production figures tell the story. 1978 sales landed at about 67,000, a far cry from the 200,000+ units sold just a decade earlier. The composition of those sales changed too. With non-luxury buyers flocking to other vehicles – including Chrysler’s own mid-size M-body LeBaron – New Yorker sales exceeded those of the more pedestrian Newport for 1977 and ’78.
By the time this car rolled off its Detroit assembly line, these Chryslers mostly appealed to the shrinking body of customers who desperately wanted as much size and broughaminess as possible. New Yorker’s brochure billed it as “full-sized motoring on a magnificent scale.” Buyers who found that appealing bought one of these while they still could.
With that as a background, let’s take a look at our Starlight Blue Sunfire Metallic featured car. Some cars are known as trendsetters, but this one is more known for its “lasts.” In addition to being among the last gargantuan American sedans, this was also the last true hardtop. Chrysler offered New Yorkers as both pillared sedans and pillarless hardtops until 1976, when the hardtop emerged as the model’s sole sedan. By the late 1970s, changing tastes and anticipated US rollover standards doomed the once-popular hardtop look, and the big Chryslers carried the hardtop torch alone for its final year.
Here’s what one of these cars looks like with the doors wide open, beckoning riders with wide-open spaces.
One can spot design anachronisms at every angle. Here we’re treated to both fender skirts and vent windows – features redolent of earlier decades. Chrysler held on to swing-out vent windows (optional on New Yorkers) after other manufacturers had abandoned them, supposedly on account of smokers, and for their use in defrosting windshields. 1978 was their last year on Chrysler sedans.
The concealed headlight doors have been left in the open position, so we can just imagine that they’re properly deployed for the full brougham effect. Headlights or not, one can see how this overall shape looked like it belonged to a different decade from the crisp and more compact GM B-bodies. Both customers who loved and loathed this look probably thought that too.
Even some of the Chrysler’s minor design tweaks suggested past decades. When this New Yorker generation debuted for 1974, the cars featured horizontal tail lights meant to accentuate long, low and wide themes. However, two years later, Chrysler changed the tail lights to this vertical design – a retrograde move aimed at either mimicking Cadillac, suggesting tail fins, or both.
Cargo capacity never goes out of style, and New Yorker’s 22.2 cu. ft. trunk is on full display from this angle. Big trunks were widely admired by full-size sedan buyers, though this car’s trunk is only 2 cu. ft. larger than that of GM’s downsized full-sizers.
It’s said the past sometimes resembles a foreign country, and if so, this interior is a faraway land. First, it’s so… blue. Upholstery, carpeting, dash, steering wheel, door panels, seat belts – all in a soothing shade of blue (one of 5 available interior colors). The Verdi cloth 50/50 bench resembles living room furniture of the day; of course living rooms don’t look like this anymore, either. Overall, this is as traditional as luxury got in the 1970s, replete with simulated Brazilian rosewood trim.
We can see that this car was fairly well-equipped, featuring a few significant options such as manual air conditioning (though not the costlier automatic temperature control), an AM/FM stereo with Electronic Search Tune, and power seats. However, the original owner chose not to specify leather upholstery the extra-cost road wheels. The days of mix-and-match options must have been fun.
One clever feature of these Chryslers was the centrally-located under-dash glove compartment – easily reached by driver or passenger. Also, the chromed spindle underneath the center air vent is the remote control for the passenger-side mirror.
The rear seat is just as blue and cosseting as the front. Though folks often consider Chryslers a few steps beneath a Cadillac or Lincoln, there are a few special touches. For example, a sturdy chrome handle with which to pull down the center armrest (barely visible in this photo).
These cars also have the broughamiest imaginable interior C-pillar. The round reading lamp is joined by a “lavaliere strap” and a padded pillow built into to the pillar.
Our featured car bears a dealership badge from Lake Dodge in Linesville, Pennsylvania, a borough about 50 mi. south of Erie. This New Yorker likely spent most of its life in the Keystone State, since online records indicate it was sold by a York used car dealer in 2022. Since Pennsylvania isn’t known as a favorable climate for preserving cars, one can only assume that our New Yorker here spent a good portion of its life garaged, and out of the elements.
New Yorkers still had big engines in 1978. Big – as measured in displacement, if not power. The standard 400 cu. in. V-8 pumped out only 195 horsepower, in true late ’70s fashion. A more potent 440 V-8 was optional, though our featured car was built with the standard engine.
Contemporary reviews often portrayed these cars as inferior to their Ford or General Motors competitors in terms of build quality and ride characteristics. That may be true, but it’s doubtful that original buyers cared too much about that. New Yorkers promised big, traditional luxury in a world where that was quickly going out of style. The steadfast traditionalists who bought these cars admired that trait above all others.
Perhaps there’s no better symbol of this car’s aura than the lion-and-shield heraldic crest that was likely looked at with pride by Chrysler’s target market. And heraldry was one more New Yorker feature for which 1978 was the end of the line. Future New Yorkers settled for Chrysler’s Pentastar on their hood instead of lions.
That “New” New Yorker didn’t exactly take the world by storm. Though downsized according to industry trends (it shed 10” of length and 800 lbs.), sales plunged during this body style’s three model years. Then in 1983, New Yorker became a front-drive K-car clone. The traditionalists who bought ’78s were probably glad that they did.
When Chrysler introduced its restyled full-size car for 1974, few likely thought the model would be plagued by economic crises, a rapidly-shifting car market, and competition arriving at just the wrong time. By 1978, this generation of New Yorker had become battered and bruised. And while Chrysler and its customers were Ready For The Times To Get Better – for the New Yorker, good times wouldn’t return. New Yorker’s glory days were in the rearview mirror. But this particular car is quite a survivor – and who knows, maybe it’ll live through our current round of troubles as well.
Photographed in Arlington, Virginia in January 2024.
Related Reading:
1978 Chrysler New Yorker Brougham: A Most Imperial Chrysler Tom Klockau
1977 Chrysler New Yorker Brougham Coupe: The Recycled Imperial And The Recycled CC Paul Niedermeyer
1976 Chrysler New Yorker Brougham: The Joys Of Getting Lost Perry Shoar
Excellent article and quite a curbside find coup! I’ve certainly never seen one of these parked on the street in recent decades. Which is a shame, as I am a fan. I imagine if I was the same age and personality in 1978 as I am now, I would have really wanted to buy one of these. Mercury/Lincoln were also offering comparable holdover mega-full-sizers, which were appealing in their own right, but I would have chosen the Mopar. That greenhouse with the large glass area and beautiful curved C-pillar is fantastic, plus it’s a true hardtop and has vent windows. Pure catnip for me, and Chrysler’s powertrains were still very solid.
The Mopar faithful would have been well advised to buy one in 1978. As you pointed out, the next several years were rocky. It could be argued that Chrysler didn’t offer anything remotely at this level of luxury sedan for many years. The half-assed 79 downsize was underfunded and shoddy. The K-car version was a narrow economy car at heart. Can you imagine trading a 78 in for a rough 4-cylinder and no elbow room? Even the M-body Fifth Avenue, which probably actually did replace the 78 in many folks’ garages was a Volare with worthy interior tufting, but nowhere near the interior expansiveness. I don’t think a truly suitable replacement came along until the 1994 New Yorker/LHS.
This particular car looks really well preserved, with the exception of the paint on the passenger side looks much more faded than on the driver side or the trunk or hood. It follows the body panels exactly. I wonder if its long term parking put only the right side in the sun, or was it one of those Chrysler quality lapses where the paint on those panels was inferior somehow?
Thanks! As soon as I saw this car, I knew I’d have to stop and take pictures. It’s certainly not something we see too often.
I’m not sure if the passenger side is faded, or if it’s just the harsh, mid-winter sunlight that’s causing a glare. I didn’t notice either way when I was taking the pictures, but either is possible.
And that’s a great question about whether I was the same age and personality in 1978 as I am now, would I consider buying one of these cars? Part of me says yes, because I love automotive anachronisms (after all, I bought a new Crown Victoria in 2008 for that reason). On the other hand, the broughaminess might have been a bit over the top for me. The lions and shag carpeting are neat now, but at the time, I probably would have done quite a bit of eye-rolling at some of these things.
Really nice write up!
You told us why this car was attractive and to whom, why it was designed how it was, and how product planners were helpless when reality changed the need for such a car. Thank you!
I alway thought these were very nice looking cars. Yet, there was better competition. Lincoln and Cadillac did what the New Yorker did, and did it better. Both of those brands fully embraced the formal look with upright styling. This car’s hardtop was passe. This car’s stance looked low and swoopy when its competition’s stances were higher and squared. Like so many auto failures, this car stands nicely on its own today – yet contemporarily, it repeatedly finished in second or third place in the market. So while the market was shifting to smaller luxury cars, there was no longer enough buyers in the larger luxury car market to sustain Chrysler’s offerings.
Inflation caused buyers to choose smaller rides, but Chrysler didn’t have a smaller luxury sedan that fit the fashion. Chrysler was selling these cars at invoice, while at the same time, selling their ugly intermediates as fleets to municipalities. Thank god for the Valiant/Dart/Duster big compacts, or Chrysler would have been out of business halfway through the 1970s. Then worse, those great V/D/D cars were replaced by awful Volare and Aspen cars, which forced Chrysler into begging for a bailout. Their only glimmer of hope was the Omnirizon.
How many parking lots did Chrysler fill with unsold cars during this time? These cars were often parked unsold for months out in the Michigan weather. That didn’t even include the months they sat unsold in dealer lots later. Sad times, indeed.
That upholstery looks like it would swallow me up.
This is the absolute antithesis of what I lusted after in 1974: an Audi Fox (80).
An Audi Fox? I had an 1973 Audi Fox as a free company car for about 10 months before having it replaced by a 1974 Plymouth Duster. Both automatics of course. I preferred the Duster then. Meanwhile my mother’s Audi 100LS wasn’t a bad car.
So true.
The Audi Fox was everything that these Detroit land yachts weren’t. Beautiful minimal, purposeful design in an efficient motoring package. And if the Audi Fox didn’t point in a new futuristic direction, why did Chrysler itself launch their version called the Omnirizon?
As they say, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I’ve always thought the ’76-’78 New Yorkers were one of the prettiest cars ever built. And in contradiction to the many negative comments abut the sofa seats, I wonder how many others, like me would prefer the soft comfort of them to the rock hard “supportive” seats all cars seem to have today.
Those padded velour seats were gross. My dad’s Park Avenue had similar seats as these and I hated sitting in them. Like sitting on a couch found in a Goodwill after being discovered in a ditch. Dirty.
I don’t care for the pillow tops( don’t like sitting on top of pillows when sitting on a sofa either) but I love velour and having some damn cushion in seats. Vegan leather and the stiff padding some modern cars have reminds me of sitting on those textured plastic chairs in grade school
I’d actually vote for rock-hard supportive seats, if for no other reason than squishy seats hurt my back after a while. Looking at these 50-year-old tufted pillows, my back hurts just thinking about sitting in there!
I remember those pillow-top, button-tufted seats very well. All those creases and and buttons were magnets for all kinds of lint, dust, and crumbs. They were impossible to keep clean, no matter how long I went at it with the vacuum cleaner crevice tool.
The days of mix and match was fun. I had a co-worker that ordered a new 1978 Chevrolet K20 4×4. It showed up at the dealer with a GMC tailgate off the carrier.
When I was younger, I owned a 65 Thunderbird hardtop.
A friend wanted to buy it and had a77 New Yorker. We were preparing to do an even trade as my car needed floor pans and his NY had AC issues.
However in the end, we just decided to keep what we had. I liked the look of these cars. Maybe I’ll own one some day!
Btw, look again-that car does have cruise control on the end of the turn signal lever!
Thanks for noticing the cruise control! Looking at it again, I think I see the Set button there – I’ll go ahead and change the text.
This was a fun and informative read, a good example of why CC is a must for me every day.
The 1978 New Yorker was a rolling anachronism even when it was new, certainly more so today. However, I find the car’s styling to be very pleasing, with the Imperial touches nicely incorporated once that marque was discontinued. As you noted, this was the last four door hardtop sold in the US, so it represents the end of an era.
One feature from this car that I’d like back today is the blue cloth interior. I never thought when I sold my 1980 Volvo 240 in 2003 that I’d never have another car with a blue interior. Rather, it’s been an endless sea of gray, with the exception of my latest car, a 2015 Camry Hybrid, that has tan leather. Also it would be nice to have vent windows back, even though I realize that they would add cost, complexity, and wind noise.
I know what you mean about the blue interior. I also had a 1980 car with a blue interior, and I liked it a lot – it’s a soothing interior color, and more interesting than gray. Hopefully, blue interiors will come back some day.
I still have a troubled relationship with these. I think they were probably the prettiest cars in their class, and by 1976 Chrysler was finally doing interiors that were really appealing. I liked the non-tufted velour seats in my 77, but most must have disagreed because I think that was the only year the style was offered.
Chryslers tended to be better assembled than the cars that came from some of the other plants, but the company had such a horrid rep for quality by then that most potential buyers stayed away.
I thought the 79 New Yorker was pretty well executed, at least in styling. But again, the combination of awful quality and the economy had the same impact on Chrysler as in 1974. I remember seeing these out and about for a long time, but not for awhile now. Great find and writeup!
Hi car buffs !
I still have a fantastic 100% original 1974 lmperial , 52 ,000mi 440 engine and 100% equipped except for power passenger seat . Cinimum brown with matching leather . Don’t know if you mentioned tilt & telescope wheel . Climate control air is second to none , just set the temp and she does the rest .
Three speed Torqeflight tranny is dead smooth but could pull Tree stumps !!
One hell of a great car that easily matches the best of a string of Cadillacs
I’ve owned since my first one , a 1946 model 62 sedan . You probably guessed I’m a very old timer – 89 and still love cars . Have a great day . Paul
Your Imperial sounds terrific!
1978 was the last of two years I was to work at Hertz as a transporter for one-way rentals, never got to drive one of these (in those days Hertz mostly rented Fords; we also drove a few Volares and many Diplomats, but the MOPAR that stood out in my mind was a Magnum). I didn’t realize it at the time, but to me it coincided with a shift where full sized cars gave way to somewhat smaller models. Not just the MOPAR full size, but ’78 was to be the last of the full sized Fords, and even GMs personal luxury cars like the El Dorado, Tornado and Riviera downsized for ’79. It was bound to happen but it kind of felt like watching the old guard of southern defenders leave Atlanta to the yankees…yep, a gone with the wind kind of time.
My family was no different; my Dad traded his ’73 Ford Country Sedan for a leftover ’78 Caprice Classic wagon. He looked at the (also downsized) ’79 Ford wagon but I can’t remember what turned him off, he’d owned 2 full sized Ford wagons in a row before that. But it almost didn’t matter, if you bought a new car after ’78 model year, it was likely to be smaller than it’s predecessor. Though in my Dad’s case, he also owned small import cars (though as his 2nd car) until 1980, when he went domestic and never bought another import (just as many people might have been buying their first import, something other than just changing vehicle size was happening at that same timeframe).
Well, in the case of the NYB, seems like it started a bit earlier in ’75 when Imperial went away in name at least, after only 2 model years in this form, just cost reduced but it sold in much larger volume as the NYB than Imperial ever did. For some people, it was more “these are the good old days” rather than “ready for the times to get better” if they liked large cars, this was their last gasp before they went away.
Very nice writeup.
While I kind of doubt anyone did, I suspect a cooperative dealer could have ordered one of these that might have been quite fun for an enthusiast. It’s all in the option book…albeit under the fleet section. As tough a sell as they were, if someone wanted to, I bet a dealer would have played ball and built a New Yorker with…
440
HD suspension with Pursuit HD torsion bars and shocks
Towing package with max cooling (big radiator, HD water pump, giant clutch fan) and rear swaybar
Sintered metallic brake pads
To all appearances, it’s a luxury car. Underneath…it’s a CHP car, with HD springs, big swaybars, big brakes, and performance tires.
I think I’ve seen this particular car before. I occasionally look for New Yorkers on Auto Tempest. I’d seen an ad for a car nearly identical to this on craigslist out of Conneaut Lake, PA, for about nine grand. After a while, it sold, then reappeared on craigslist, this time out of Baltimore, for sale for about eleven or twelve grand.
It’s unlikely that the dealer in Linesville had two identical New Yorker Broughams…