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Here's the infamous "Banana Yorker" - it was a super clean '78 new yorker that I bought for $325 some time around 1997. I got it from the son of the original owner who only drove it about 5 times a year, but unfortunately when he was coming home from taking it for it's annual provincial "Air Care" emisions testing (it passed), he collided with another car and a pole. he didn't have collision coverage on it so that's why it wasn't fixed. The old boy was upset but glad that it was going to be used as a trim donor for my salon which i took him for a short cruise in. It was a 440 tow package equipped car and all options except sunroof and roadwheels and had under 50k kiloms. I bought it to use as a parts car for my salon, mainly for trim since my salon's bright work was not great. the shattered nose/header panel and front bumper had been removed - the bumper was/is in excellent shape, and a very large block of wood had been wedged between the right rear wheel and the axle so as to provide clearance between the tire and the caved in rear fender/wheel opening. I rehung the remnants of the header panel and lights, used a chain to hold down the hood, and put on a set of '66 imperial hubcaps and good tires. I took it to a body shop where they removed the block of wood and for $50 bucks they put the car on a rack and pulled out the rear wheel opening enough to clear the tire. they all seemed to think it was pretty funny that i planned to use it as a daily driver. I drove it for a year/12k kiloms with no problems what so ever and it has been the only car I've ever made a profit on. I took everything I wanted off the car, sold the excellent leather interior for $500, swapped out the good trans, and got $500 for the still driveable/excellent running hulk. well, you had to sit on an upside down bucket to drive it on to the trailer when it was hauled away......... the few times the police took an interest in the car was always negated by the cops laughing at the hood ornament so i never got a ticket or an order for a safety inspection. I still think fondly of this car.
Victoria, BC, Canada