Here’s one more find by canadiancatgreen at the Cohort. Just one view this time, but I think one should suffice for this Chrysler New Yorker 2-door Hardtop; particularly when the skirts and vinyl top are so clearly in view. Very Broughamtastic.
Of course, this ’76-’78 New Yorker (4-door hardtop above) is just a repurposed ’74-’75 Imperial. We know Chrysler had been giving up on the Imperial marque for quite a while before officially adopting it as a New Yorker. And let’s not deny it, in its last years casual onlookers would be hard-pressed to tell an Imperial from a New Yorker. Why pretend anymore?
Yet, the Imperial story is one that CC has followed through the years, and one last survivor, even in New Yorker guise is worth revisiting.
Further reading:
Curbside Classic: 1975 Imperial LeBaron Coupe – The Last Real Imperial
Curbside Classic: 1976 Chrysler New Yorker Brougham – The Joys Of Getting Lost
Beautiful automobile. And in these days of cheap little econ o boxes, this Chrysler looks even better.
I love the “waterfall” grill. Any vertical grill came to be known as waterfall, but this car, with it’s substantial amount of chrome on top, appearing to “pour” down vertically truly does look like a waterfall in motion.
I remember cringing when Chrysler Imperial was decontented and renamed the New Yorker. It was like seeing a finantially struggling Hilton hotel rebranded as a Ramada. That now accepted pets. Then offering weekly rates. Then hourly rates. Then it offered a free companion of your choice in the lobby. Under a red light. All named Diamond.
Then you’d go into the old hotel room and it would look just like the interior of that Imper-I mean, New Yorker Brougham. There’d be red shag carpeting on the floor, the bathroom floor and the wall behind the tufted headboard that looked just like the tufted maroon velvet seating of that Imper-I mean, New Yorker Brougham. There would be a plastic crest glued crookedly above the tufted headboard, just like the plastic glued crooked crest on the vinyl C pillars of that Imper-I mean, New Yorker Brougham.
And just like the car – you’d hear Jack Jones crooning the theme song to “The Love Boat”, which was only slightly larger than that Imper-I mean, New Yorker Brougham.
Except shining an ultra-violet light in the New Yorker would hopefully be less….um…revealing.
Honestly, I was kind of “meh” to these Chryslers back in the day. Why would someone buy one of these strange cars with their rapidly aging fuselage styling over a Cadillac or Lincoln?
Now with the comfort of almost 50 years of hindsight, I kinda get the appeal.
Ah, that is what cars you could have cared less about back then vs today do…they grow on you with time and absence.
Actually the true fuselage body disappeared in 1974, the side body contour of these is quite different.
The unique Chrysler suspension system gave unique ride and handling characteristics. Even though the biggest C-Body Cadillacs, Buicks, Oldsmobiles and the Lincoln Town Cars Were similar land yachts they handled and rode slightly differently.
Seem to recall Jack singing 🎵 What a beautiful New Yorker! 🎶IT’S the talk of the Town 🎵 And it was, as Imperial was rebadged as a New Yorker Believe the two door shown has optional roof treatment as part of St, Regis package. Chrysler was making some strange decisions at that time and dropping big New Yorkers in 🤔 81. 82 marked one good decision. Transferring New Yorker to a formal upscale based on existing (original Valiant? ) platform as New Yorker Fifth Avenue. Had 83 and 85 Fifth Avenues (along the way New Yorker name was lost only to be resurrected later in K car FWD vehicles along with New Yorker and Imperial! Loved my Fifth Avenues. Total traditional American luxury sedans with formal styling and pure luxury. 🏆 Also Imperial was previously given another try as a luxury Coupe. Even a Frank Sinatra edition could not save that one. Sad to see what is now considered a luxury vehicle! Glorified trucks 🚚 🛻!
After decades of the high belt line and the Wedge, it’s nice to see something different–on the hardtop sedan. The coupe is a little too much.
While I have come to appreciate the four-door hardtop New Yorker of this generation, I just can’t muster any enthusiasm for the two-door, especially with that ridiculous padded vinyl top. The proportions are all wrong and the wide sail panel C pillar accentuates the fat flanks of this plus-size number.
I guess if one had to choose between the New Yorker, Mercury Marquis, an Olds 98 or Buick Electra in 1976, I might have gone for the four-door New Yorker, although based on looks alone, I could have been persuaded to get the Mercury in a dark color. Really, though, I would have been ready to switch to a Volvo 164, which was saner in just about every dimension.
I have to agree. It’s a strange-looking beast in two-door form. The roof treatment seems to fight the rest of the styling. Surely it could have still been ‘broughamtastic’ without looking so awkward?
Much better as a four door.
Excess hardly seems description enough to describe the space utilization of that 2 door New Yorker. Excessive excess? Excessively extravagant excess?
I owned a duplicate of the car pictured. It was a St. Regis edition to boot. One of 9800 made. Wish I still had it. Once you say in those great big button tufted seats you were forever hooked.
I’ve been pondering this thought since the recent post on the ’67 Imperial…
Was anybody hurt by the demise of the Imperial marque? I mean… when Ford shut down Edsel, or when GM shut down Pontiac, there were immediate and severe repercussions at the dealer level. Dealers closed, maybe forfeited franchise money, people were out of work, etc.
But I don’t believe there were standalone Imperial dealers. (Likewise when Ford closed the Continental division.) So aside from the feelings of a few loyalists, was anyone hurt by the end of Imperial? Did anyone even care?
Only the die-hard Imperial lovers. 🙁
Kudos to canadiancatgreen for catching such a well-preserved example of a Chrysler New Yorker in its native environment… a gas station! 😉
PS: Always enjoy your photos, CCG. Keep posting!
I don’t think anyone was hurt by Imperials demise as such. They tried again in the 80’s with the “bustle back” Imperial. Again even later with the FWD version. In the “00’s” a homely, lumpy prototype sedan appeared but went nowhere. It seems to be a car that keeps being “thought about” again and again. I would love for Stelantis to produce a competitor to Cadillacs Celestiq. A true Imperial!
I think that the Imperial will stay dead. The name is more associated with margarine than Chrysler nowadays.
Airtemp Conditioners on Chryslers we’re a separate auto manufacturer from Dodge Plymouth later merged with AMC..Walter Chrysler was a engineer for the railroad that establishes the infinity wheelbase I’m sure. construtedly.
I really liked Imperials. I even owned a 1966 Imperial Crown, 4 door hardtop. 66 was the first year for 440 cid, and the last year for the Lincolnesck styling, which by the way I really liked. It was a beautiful car and while it did resemble the 60s Continentals, it managed to retain a Chrysler Heritage look. They were every bit as luxurious as a Cadillac or Lincoln of the period. The Imperial was built as more of a driver’s car. It’s torsion bar front suspension and rear leaf springs gave the Imperial great handling manors, and the 440 moved that big car effortlessly. So why didn’t it compete better with Cadillac and Lincoln. In my opinion, there was no logical reason. So what’s left? Emotions, they play a huge role in the car we want, same as the stock market. Once Emotions enter into anything, logic goes out the window. Add, the horrible effects of the 70s oil crisis, and Chrysler Corporation struggles financially, made for very a very unstable US auto market. When you look at Cadillac’s mid-70s styling, clearly it wasn’t that the Imperial’s styling was the blame. Imperial and Lincoln styling left Cadillac as the homely non descript and boring choice between them, and yet Cadillac sold very well in the 70s. Cadillac interiors matched the exterior… boring. It’s not that there isn’t room in the US luxury car market to handle all three brands, just ask Mercedes or BMW, they both did quite well in the 70s. My conclusions say it was all emotional. Cadillac had been the status symbol of success for years, everyone showed their financial success with a Cadillac in their driveway, then a Lincoln, and that’s just how it was. It was unfair to Imperial, and Lincoln for that matter. No one will ever convince me that the Cadillac was a better car. There’s no way that it was. It all boils down to human emotion, and there’s no room for logic when emotions enter into it. Just look at the history of the auto industry, it’s a mess, it always has been. Sadly the Imperial, actually the entire Chrysler Corporation has paid the price for human emotions. So sad.
Yes my dad brought home a 77 new yorker 1980ish it was yellow with white interior my mom was not to pleased I was 14 it was and still is the largest car I’ve been in with the 440 lean burn yeah the gas gauge leaned empty fast what a car and stories of old yeller riding in a cream puff on the hwy
The only bad thing about these cars, is you feel like falling asleep while driving, the smooth ,quietness and soft seats,lol
The Imperials of the now distant past managed to create a bit of a legend.
The mighty late 20s to 1930s custom bodied ones , by Le Baron , Brunn , Dietrich.
Post WW2, the car , even the limousines stodgy , and nondescript , from 46 – 55.
General Douglass Mac Arthur, had a bright red one, as Dia Ichi of Occupied Japan , siren, and all.
One was in the Hollywood Film SABRINA, used by rich CEO Humphrey Bogart, dictaphone, and all.
Then came the bold separate Division, versions , 55 -74 .
They managed some legend , but never quite made it ,
I recall, as a boy seeing an attractive, attache case , carrying blonde women , always in white, with a 73-74 Imperial Coupe, in matching gleaming silky white .
Turbine wheels and all.
A keen observer of cars , and die cast collector , I rooted in Cadillac, always liked Imperial, second..
I wandered why these loud , gimmicky , fascinating cars , mighty eagle on the trunks didn’t sell well ?
Didn’t Mr. Drysdale, Green Hornet , Bruce Wayne drive them?
Then bang, the mark was killed .
The Imperial was dead , long live the New Yorker.
I liked them.
This coupe is cool , comfortable, and inviting.
The same car , as Imperial, and very luxurious with St .Regis Package: BUT , what’s in a name ?
A lot: Its still not Imperial.
Not logical, or practical a thought; but the emotive feelings of titles , and names .