The Newport was the entry-level Chrysler, and it was a lot of car for the money: 122″ wheelbase, 215″ long, 4225 lbs weight, a husky big V8, and in the case of this tested one, a number of options including Chrysler’s Auto-Pilot. It had all the usual Chrysler strengths as well as some of the usual weaknesses.
Auto-Pilot was Chrysler’s name for its cruise control. Curiously, although they drove this car over a thousand miles “we found no occasion that demanded the use of the Automatic Pilot”. Well, no occasion demands cruise control; it’s a convenience feature, one that I’m utterly addicted to. But it was a fairly new thing at the time.
This Newport was very heavily optioned, something that CL questioned. They’d have preferred a basic 300-G instead, for obvious reasons.
Compared to the 318 Dart they had recently tested, the Newport with its 361 V8 had a very slight acceleration advantage to 40 mph, but the Dodge was quicker beyond that, for what it’s worth. These aren’t exactly hot rods either way, although a 0-60 time of 10.9 seconds was respectable enough. Of course there was a price to be paid at the pump for the bigger, heavier Chrysler.
The Chrysler had plenty of weight to give a “road flattening” soft ride, but its shocks were essentially shot, which substantially diminished the ride quality over anything but a smooth road. Presumably this was the result of hard driving by previous reviewers, but it still seemed questionable that the shocks could be so worn out so quickly.
Predictably, the Torqueflite automatic came in for lots of praise, and the overly numb power steering got the opposite. CL opines that power steering effort could be doubled “without causing even the slightest-built damsel to grunt in protest'” With its 2.93 rear axle, the Newport’s cruising ability “is naturally very high.”
As to fit-and-finish, the usual Chrysler inconsistency was evident. The paint job was pretty good; the panel fit not.
Chrysler’s “chair high” seats were praised for their comfort, perhaps in part because they had the optional”airfoam cushions” in them. Presumably that was the latex foam rubber that was being increasingly used in car seats, especially the higher end ones, instead of that upholstery padding (cotton batts?) that was used otherwise.
The “AstraDome” instrument panel was a bit much, although it did offer a full complement of instruments. “Our first reaction was to look for the knob you pull to shoot the marbles, but since no “tilt” sign was in evidence, it apparently wasn’t something stolen from the penny arcade”.
CL states that “The Newport would be particularly well suited to the Southwest’s ‘wide-open-spaces’ with its roads to match.” True that; reminds me of a couple of memorable drives in two fuselage Plymouths out west. Just set the Auto-Pilot to 90 and watch the scenery roll by.
“We feel this is a car for for the man who likes the big car with the big, slow-turning (and therefor quiet) engine that just loafs along at 70 mph uphill and down, all day long.” Now who does that remind me of?
Thanks for another great period road test that does not disappoint. The 361 was one of those engines that there never seemed to be much of a case for. That smallest of the big blocks hit the testers the same way it hit me – the loss in gas mileage over the 318 was not made up for the modest increase in performance. Moving to the 383 was a different matter.
It is also funny how the view from 1961 is so different from today. Now, it is the exterior of the car that is controversial while the interior and dash comes in for universal praise. It was unexpected to get the opposite opinion from the test.
As for the bad shocks – I wonder about something. This car would have been built during the era when some in management were cutting dirty deals with suppliers for kickbacks, something that led to Newburg’s ouster as CEO. I wonder if someone in the executive suite pocketed the difference between the good shocks on the spec sheet and cheap ones installed on the car. Also, I can see in that last photo that the driver’s door does not fit well at all.
Yes, anyone who complains today about huge grilles, weird light shapes and placements, random protuberances along a car’s body, odd lines that appear out of place, and other weird gewgaws clearly wasn’t around or paying any attention in the 1950s and early to mid 1960s… 🙂
It all comes down to personal taste I guess and some things work for some and not for others, we’d all be driving the 2023 Common Denominator XYZ otherwise which would look exactly like the 1955 Common Denominator XYZ, which looked just like the 1927 Common Denominator XYZ. I wonder what the hot new 2024’s will look like…?
I loved those full-size Chryslers. They were big, weird looking, and had a lot of cool features. Push button drive, Panelesent lighting and torque bar front suspension to name a few. I’m glad we have them.
I can’t believe they dissed the Astrodome. Greatest dashboard ever. I bet they don’t appreciate lighted bow ties either.
I agree! The Astrodome was the most beautiful and exciting dash to ever roll off the assembly line both then and now. As the authors did mention, it had all the gauges needed, and it was placed right in front of the driver, complete with a squared off steering wheel that looked a little weird, but it fit the rest of the space age looks of the rest of the car. But the real magic of the dash was it’s illumination that Chrysler named “Panelesent ” at night it glowed in a beautiful bluish green color, with vivid redish orange needles, it was mesmerizing. As a 6 year old kid, I loved going on night drives in those Chryslers. I had an uncle that had a white 61 Newport 4 door hardtop, and another uncle with a carmal colored 62 300 2 door hardtop. Both very cool cars. The 61 – 62 full-size Chryslers were the icons of the era’s over the top spaceaged styling, lead by Virgl Exner, Chryslers had the highest fins and strangest design. The 61 Chryslers, with their huge and strange looking fins, and its canted headlights, had it all. I loved them, even though I was too young to drive them.
I agree! The Astrodome was the most beautiful and exciting dash to ever roll off the assembly line both then and now. As the authors did mention, it had all the gauges needed, and it was placed right in front of the driver.
I agree! The Astrodome was the most beautiful and exciting dash to ever roll off the assembly line both then and now
I just wanted to point out that CAR LIFE magazine was bought from its original owners by ROAD & TRACK. The Feb. ’61 issue was the first one created by the new management team.
I liked the original CAR LIFE before the R&T takeover better.
I’m surprised the testers weren’t curious enough to try the Auto-Pilot. Seems like that would have been quite interesting.
My parent’s only car with cruise control was a 1978 Olds Cutlass Supreme. He adamantly refused to use it saying he didn’t like the feel of giving up any control of the car. I understand his hesitance as I would feel the same way with adaptive cruise control in moderate or heavy traffic. Then again I never drove a car with adaptive cruise control.
I should have added my father…….
I think cruise control is on the list of features/options that you cannot imagine needing before you have had a car with it, then cannot imagine doing without afterwards.
That seemed to be true of A/C in the upper midwest US as well.
Totally agree, especially the adaptive kind. My Forester has it but my wife’s QX50 doesn’t and I really miss it since we tend to take the Q on the bigger road trips.
Strange indeed about not testing it in the road test, what are they supposed to be doing?
Especially considering: The Newport would be particularly well suited to the Southwest’s ‘wide-open-spaces’ with its roads to match.
Just the usual great esoteric info for the CC faithful. It appears that 1961 was the first year for the bottom-of-the-line Newport, taking over the spot previously held by the Windsor which, from what I can gather, was a decontented, less gaudy New Yorker with a six-cylinder (!) engine. I can’t imagine that one being a big seller. JPC mentions that the 361 really didn’t have much advantage over the 318 poly but, then, a Chrysler buyer probably wouldn’t be too interested in a car that had the same engine as much more plebian Plymouths and Dodges. So, the Newport got the 361 and the reason the Windsor (or any Chrysler) with a six seems so out of place.
After the Windsor came the Saratoga which did have a V8 as standard. It was slotted between the Windsor and top-of-the-line New Yorker. With the introduction of the Newport, the Windsor took over the Saratoga’s spot, and the non-letter 300 was added.
So, for 1961, it was Newport, Windsor, 300, and New Yorker where it was previously Windsor, Saratoga, New Yorker. Of course, the 300 letter-cars were still in the mix, as well.
I would venture to guess that management realized that all Chrysler models needed to come standard with a V8, even in the least expensive cars and, thus, the Newport with a 361 was born. I can certainly see why Dodge dealers didn’t like it much since the Newport definitely would have cannablized sales.
Of course, Dodge was doing their own cannabalizing of Plymouth with the introduction of the Dart line-up. Things sure were weird at Chrysler back in the early sixties.
The last year for the six in a Chrysler was 1954.
The Newport was significantly heavier than the Dart, hence the need for the 361, otherwise it would have been slower than the Dart or Fury 318s.
Makes sense. I had misread the Wikipedia entry on the Windsor.
The mid-priced market, which was getting overcrowded, pretty much imploded with the ’57-58 recession. On top of that, a decision was made that they wanted to push Imperial more, as a stand-alone brand, which would involve pushing Chrysler downscale, into DeSoto territory.
As a result, DeSoto’s model range was scaled back considerably for 1960. Similarly, Dodge came out with the Dart, which was more off a full range of cars than a single model, and matched Plymouth Seneca-for-Savoy, Pioneer-for-Belvedere, and Phoenix-for-Fury. What had been the Royal/Custom Royal were renamed Matador and Polara. The Dart lineup was a smash hit, and actually outsold the comparable Plymouths. But the Matador/Polara didn’t really do much better than the old Royal/Custom Royal.
For ’61, when the Newport came out, it actually undercut what little was left of DeSoto. The Matador name was dropped at Dodge, leaving just the Polara.
However, price-wise, it was about the same as the previous year’s Matador.
Similarly, the Saratoga, which had been around $3900-4000 in 1960, was dropped for ’61. And the New Yorker’s price was cut by a few hundred bucks.
So, Mopar cleared out DeSoto, and to a lesser degree Dodge, so that Chrysler division could move downward into that price range.
The shocks in my dad’s 1979 Impala were so cheapola that they were done in 50,000 km.
I have often wondered what the real manufacturing-cost difference is/was between good shocks and cheap shocks. It’s all in the seals, I presume, and the material cost difference has to be pretty small – penny-wise and pound-foolish, I guess. Or – as someone suggested, perhaps there was some corruption going on.
So strange that Car-Life didn’t try the Auto-Pilot. That’s almost dereliction-of-journalistic-duty. Wouldn’t they have thought their readers would be curious? Wouldn’t they be curious? It’s “Car Life” after all. Hard to understand such a lack of curiosity and/or concern for the reader.
Looking at my 1966 price guide I note that the Newport base prices ranged from $3050 to $3200. This was competitive with a Pontiac Star Chief, Olds Dynamic 88, Buick LeSabre (not Custom), and Mercury Montclair. Of course 1961 prices were a bit lower but I expect Newport was competing with the same cars.
The 300 was roughly 20% higher and the New Yorker was about 33% more. A base Newport was really base – automatic, power steering and brakes, radio, whitewall tires, etc., etc., etc. were all options. This was also the case for the competition.
The Newport effectively replaced the DeSoto.
The dash does seem a bit much, with all that chrome and the various gauges at odd angles because they were arranged in a circle. I can’t imagine it was easy to look down and get the information you wanted quickly. Perhaps better at night, when you could just focus on the parts that were lit. These panels must have been very hard to produce. Overall, a pretty good looking car, but looked very out of place just a few years later once the 60´s were in full swing. When I was growing up they struck me as mildly weird, and I didn’t appreciate them until recently.
I love the Astra-Dome dashboard; already awesome by day, it’s a sight to behold at night when it glows by aquamarine phosphorescence.
Rest of the car ain’t too shabby either, with good bones and the legendary Torqueflite, I’d wait for the 1962s to slice off the tail fins, but the cool dash went at the same time so keep mine a ’61 or 62. The Newport was often Chrysler’s best selling model, which complicated Chrysler trying to position itself as an upscale brand. This really should have been a Dodge, and reserve high-lux NYers or sporty 300 letter cars for the Chrysler brand, especially since they already sell Plymouths out of the same showroom. Chysler fell for Packard 120 syndrome, where you can get great sales for a few years by putting a prestigious brand on an affordable product, until said brand loses its prestige and exclusivity. Even after DeSoto was axed, Mopar still had four similar-looking, similarly-performing full size car lines with little differention beyond a few inches of added wheelbase. Unsurprisingly, Chryco big car sales slid to almost nothing by the end of the ’70s.
There have been cars where the ergonomics was so poor, yet the exterior was styled so well, it was said about them that the people on the outside were getting a better deal than anyone the inside.
With AstraDome-equipped Chryslers, it was just the opposite. I can’t recall any GM or Ford vehicle having anything as wild, and it surely cost Chrysler a pretty penny to go with the AstraDome in every Chrysler-branded car. But, god, was it memorable (especially at night). It’s a pity they didn’t use it in the 1958 Plymouth Fury. It was so otherworldly, it would have fit perfectly in Christine.
I don’t know how many (if any) bought an AstraDome Chrysler just for the instrument cluster, alone, but I sure wouldn’t blame them if they did. I can just imagine the young children of AstraDome cars clamoring to go for a ride, just to watch the light show.
In fact, these new vehicles with user-changeable ambient lighting seem like a poor imitation of the original, ambient lighting car: the 1960-62 Chrysler.
Some interesting figures in that test. The $661.25 air conditioning? Yeah, that’s over $6,616 in today’s money, and the $80 cruise control is over $800. The car itself is almost $43,000.
One of the fantastic Mopars that were virtually unknown here. Love the styling and that dashboard. Pretty fast too. I will own a 57-66 Mopar one day.
Chrysler Newport was good move for Chrysler, but believe it contributed to final demise of DeSoto. Maybe that was part of the plan to kill ailing DeSoto. To me 61 final DeSotos were much better looking.
You’d definitely be in the minority on liking the 1961 Desoto to the extent that the bizarre second grille set into the hood is reminiscent of Edsel.
I’d go so far as to say that second Desoto grille was an intentional faux pas by Chrysler stylists to kill the brand. I wonder if it was done by the same guys (Exner?) who came up with the front end of the 1961 Plymouth.
I have a 64 dodge with a 361 and it did ok but nothing impressive. It took a performance intake and edelbrock avs2 4 barrel electronic ignition etc to make her really come to life
Man I recall these and their “cousins” being “mondo, rust buckets.
In the early 70’s , folks relocated from “Cali” to our “wstrn PA town.
The had a white “New Yorker” . Likely this year or the one prior.
It was in great body shape. Mechanicals and “electrical wonders” were giving out though.
I think it had about 83k on it.
Even though the design of these cars was out of the mainstream by 1961 (consider GM’s great new line of full-sizers!), I still have always liked these Chryslers. And the quality of these Chrysler’s was very good by 1959-1962. And they still look good to me today!
Ugh… Newports. They were everywhere. Seeing a New Yorker was like finding a penny on the sidewalk.
This Newport has Dual AirTemp air conditioning. It must have been one of the only Newports ordered with that incredibly expensive option.