Pics of my new 76

[Mike #19861]

 I would agree to a point. Starting in the late 70s with the Omnis, Chrysler really went on a torrid downhill slide. Those endless varieties of the bottom feeder K-Car from the 80s were perhaps the low point. They were for the most part pure junk.

 I have seen the contiuation of this into the 90s, but the LHs seemed to put them back on the road quality wise. They seem to be plentiful and durable still to this day.

 But, I would be hard pressed to condemn most Chrysler products as junk up until that point in the 70s. Yes, they had their problems, but so did everyone else. Id put a Dart or Valiant up against anything today in terms of durability. Plus they were remakably simple and cheap to repair. Id be very happy if we could buy cars this simple and durable today, but I know it cant and wont be done.

  Mike

[Denise 20352]

  I already have a 76 Cadillac.

  Where cars are concerned, to each his own.  This picture says it all.

  http://www.americansoapbox.org/pics/auto/cooper2.jpg TARGET=_blank>http://www.americansoapbox.org/pics/auto/cooper2.jpg

-denise

[Dave Leger CLC #19256]

Hi Denise,

   My last hobby car, before I bought the 47 Cadillac, was a 1967 Imperial.  It was a great car - dependable, comfortable, and a pain to find a large enough parking spot for.  I think your New Yorker is fantastic.

Dave

[Matt Mersereau]

Nice New Yorker! My dad had a 76 New Yorker Brougham back in the early eighties. His was a yellowish-tan color with tan leather in the same marshmellow-tuft pattern as yours. He also had the hardtop with the roll-down quarter windows like yours. Seems like very few were hardtops, as most had that very thickly padded vinyl landau top with fixed quarter windows. I always liked the hardtop version much better. Dads 76 did have a vinyl top, but no sunroof. He loved that car till the day it caught fire in our driveway... only a few feet away from our house! Not sure why it did that, but it got hot enough to turn the pot metal grill into a puddle on the driveway.
Does yours have the Lean Burn module on the side of the air cleaner? I remember dad having to replace that thing a couple of times.

To this day it brings back good memories when I see a mid-seventies New Yorker. I think the 74 Imperials looked pretty much the same too.
Anyway, great car!, and do you mind if I ask how much you paid for such a nice example?

[Mike #19861]

 The 75 New Yorker Brougham was the spiritual successor to the Imperial. Slightly decontented, but sold far more than the Imperial ever did.

 A shame that Chrysler dropped the Imperial name. It was the epitome of Chrysler luxury and engineering. We did have those early 80s ones that were based on the Volare chassis and further those K-Car based attrocities in the late 80s.

  Mike

[Denise 20352]

  I dont mind at all.  I got it for $2k, quite a steal if you ask me.

  Until I joined a Chrysler forum, I didnt know that some of these were produced without the lean burn system.  En juger par whats on the vacuum sticker, mine has never had it.  I replaced the ignition box and distributor for $70, maybe not as good a deal as an HEI module for $10, but everything in the ignition system is new, so I should always be able to count on it.

-denise

[Denise]

  I had the pillow-top seats on the 78 Deville.  They were cloth and they werent quite as pillowy as the Chrysler, but very comfortable.  Unlike most carmakers, Cadillac didnt lose the comfort when they first downsized.  Of course now they brag about their rock-hard seats and their stiff ride, but, to each his own.

-denise

[Denise]

  Im glad you said that, because I also have a Fing-Man-Shu in my driveway that Im going to start restoring soon.  Id hate to post pictures of it here, all beaming with pride, only to have someone tell me that Fing-Man-Shu never made anything but junk!

  Can hear it now..."I bought a Fing-Man-Shu and I had to get rid of it because it was costing me an arm and a leg.  New tires, battery, brake linings, air filter, spark plugs and muffler, all in the same year!"

  All of the Broughams are great cars, the cars that I grew up with and loved.  I just chose the NY because I liked the styling.

-denise

[Jim Skelly, CLC#15958]

Denise,

What a great looking car and a reasonable price.  Dont pay attention to the negative posts.  REAL car collectors appreciate different makes of cars for various reasons.

[Matt Mersereau]

$2,000!?! Tell me, did you wear a ski mask, or an old nylon stocking over your head when you took delivery?

Very sweet deal!

[Denise]

  Actually, I found it on Ebay.  There were only two of them on Ebay at the time, and both were in Arizona!  The auction for one in Phoenix was cancelled because someone made a cash offer.  So I went down to Sierra Vista to look at this one.  There was one bid on it for $2k from a guy with 3 feedback.  I asked the seller whether he would like to take $2k cash from me or take a chance that the bidder would pay, and he took the cash.  That was probably his best decision, considering that he really wanted to get the car out of his driveway, because so many people bid on cars and dont pay for them.

-denise

[Ed Dougher]

Their engines and drivetrains were pretty much indestructible.  And their unibody construction just flat out makes them stronger than the other car if driving becomes a contact sport.

I bought a 72 Newport Custom 2-door hardtop to go to college in June of 81, just after graduating high school, with 58,000 miles.  It was in really nice shape (a very good #3).  I drove it all through college, and for about six month after graduating and moving to another state.  When I bought a new car, I sold it for $200 less than I paid for it, and missed it for years.

That thing was indestructible... almost like a cast iron car!!!

Fast, too!  I had the 400 2-barrel with 727 TorqueFlite.