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Here are a few pictures of my 1980 New Yorker 5th Avenue. In the pictures, she's hanging out with my 1960 Imperial Crown (currently being restored) and my 1999 300M (wife's daily driver). The story of how I came to own the New Yorker is kind of interesting.
I live just outside of Allentown, PA (eastern PA) and on day in November, 2004 we decided to visit my wife's brother in Lehighton, PA. Traveling north on route 145 I noticed a large Chrysler sitting along side the road with a For Sale sign on the windshield. Cruising by at 55, I didn't have much of a chance to look at the car but I told my wife that I was going to stop to take a look at it on the way home. She had that 'oh no, not again' look on her face and asked why I wanted to stop to see it. I told her that you just don't see too many of these old full size Chryslers anymore (I initially thought it was a C body) and it looked like it was in pretty good shape. Well, I couldn't wait to leave my brother-in-law's place and head for home. I should mention that we were in my 82 Cordoba LS on this day. Well we pulled up in front of the NYer and there was another gentleman standing there looking at her. He glanced at the 'doba and then gave me a 'back off' look and said he was going to buy the car. I told him I just stopped to look at it because it was kind of a rare car to see on the side of the road. The door was unlocked so I opened it to pop the hood. I could tell the car was original, the leather interior was in real nice shape but very dirty. I glanced at the odometer and saw it showed 64,000. Hmmm....the wheels start turning. I opened the hood and the other gentleman says, 'Yup, that's a V8.' I told him that it was a 360...I knew where to look for the CID sticker. I asked him if he was going to buy it to restore or as an everyday driver. He looked surprised by the question and said, 'Restore?' I told him that it only had 64,000 miles and I was pretty sure that there weren't too may produced. He told me he worked at National Auto and could get parts for it cheap. At that point I left thinking that it was a shame that the car was going to be run into the ground by this guy.
When I got home I immediately Googled '1980 Chrysler New Yorker' and found out that only 386 were built. Picked up the phone and called the number from the for sale sign and went back up to meet the owner at the car. When I got back to the car, the owner told me someone else was also coming to look at it. He said that his father-in-law had purchased the car new in 1980. After he died in 1989, the car sat in the barn because it was too big for his mother-in-law. Then in January 2004, his brother-in-law totalled his car and he and his brother-in-law freshened up the NYer for the brother-in-law to use. The brother-in-law bought a new car a few months later and the NYer was sent back to the barn. Shortly thereafter, the current owner had an accident with his primary car and the NYer was sold to him to use temporarily. He had just taken delivery of a new Intrepid so it was time to dispose of the old NYer. I asked him how much and he said....$400. I took $100 out of my pocket and told him I'd bring the rest tomorrow. The rest is history.
The car's exterior was pretty bad. No rust at all, but no paint either. A few minor dents and dings and a missing NEW YORKER badge on the right front fender. There were spots on the car which were down to bare metal. Surprisingly, the vinyl roof was in excellent condition. Everything works on the car except for the rear passenger side window and the electric seat. I had the body work done over the winter and I need a few moulding clips to reinstall the rest of the mouldings. The exhaust from the cat back also had to be replaced. My opinion is a bit biased but I think it as an absolutely gorgeous car. Who would buy a Crown Vic or Olds 98 when for the same price or less you could have had such an elegant looking car. The 360 provides more than adequate power and the car has all the bells and whistles available 25 years ago.
My other vehicles include: