1977 Chrysler New Yorker - An Award Winner!

 

You may have missed it, but at the inaugural, "Charley Awards", a 1977 Chrysler New Yorker Brougham two-door won the award for coolest, mid-to-late-1970's, domestic, luxury two-door; I wouldn't call these "coupes", as they're really "two-door sedans". General Motors executives were miffed, crying afoul that their 1977 downsized Cadillac Coupe deVille and Buick Electra two-door models didn't win; between us, they weren't even finalists. Ford suits, with nothing more to offer than their oafish, Lincoln Continental Town Coupe, just sat there, stewed on the dollar-a-holler well-liquor. I'm using this 1977 New Yorker I found recently on Facebook Marketplace for illustrative purposes of our award winner. 

Of course, there were no such awards handed out except in my mind, but it would be fun to do something on social media where people got to vote on the best and worst of vehicles categorized in ways never seen before. "Best Looking Station Wagon with Dye-Noc Wood Grain Trim", "Best Captive Import That You Would Be Caught Dead In", "Most Overrated Sports\Muscle or Pony Car that Isn't a third-generation Corvette"...and so on. The category list could be endless. 

As far as these big New Yorker Brougham's go, well, what can I say. As the creator, curator and judging panel of the illustrious "Charley Awards", I'm a sucker for these unapologetically large, pre-downsized brutes. Corn-fed to believe that hunky monsters like this where the trappings of the wealthy (gangsters and mobsters too), although I know better now, any time I see a 1970's luxury land yacht, I'm transporter-beamed back to when I was growing in the somewhat leafy hamlet of Baldwin, Long Island, a stone's throw from, ahem, New York(er) City. 

Cars like this is what rich people, or those wanting to appear as though they "had it" drove. They could drive, essentially, the same car for quite a bit less out of pocket, many times those "lesser" models  better transportation conveyances too, but they didn't have the cache or snob appeal something like this had. No one would say, "damn, check out Charley's new Plymouth Fury. He must be killing it."

For my pre-pubescent money, the luxurious-est of all the domestic luxury barges of the late 1970's was the 1976-1978 Chrysler New Yorker Brougham; all Chrysler New Yorkers from 1972-1978 were "Brougham's". However, by the time my wretched wonder-years were hitting their hormonal peak, the "bigger is better" party was coming to a screeching halt. General Motors had  "downsized" their big rigs and being underwhelmed if not heart broken by them, I found refuge, solace if you will, in the showroom of Conway Motors (above), a long gone Chrysler-Plymouth dealership on Sunrise Highway up the street from where I grew up. 

It was the summer of 1977 and weary of my parents endless harassing haggling of their used car sales manager over a used 1970 Buick Electra they would end up buying, I wandered into the air-conditioned comfort of the new car showroom and snuck behind the wheel of a brand-new Brougham. Sliding around on the cushy and slippery leather thrones, I was in transfixed by the not only the sheer size of the thing, but what I perceived to be it's lap of hedonistic luxury. For certain, it wasn't my father's 1968 Ford Ranch Wagon. Knowing how diminutive the new "big" GM cars were, it was obvious I was stepping back in time to the way things used to be; those heady post-War years when the size of the car in your garage denoted your plight in life. These big-as-a-whale Chrysler's were totally out of step with what Americans needed at the time and I loved them for that in addition to thinking, for the lack of any better term, they were cooler than Fonzie.  

Our award winning '77 here was part of Chrysler's new-for-1974 full-size line that also included new "Imperial" models. From 1955-1975, Imperial was the Chrysler's Corporation's range-topping make akin to GM's Cadillac although, similar to Ford's Lincoln division, it didn't have a dedicated dealership network and was sold and serviced along side Chrysler's and Plymouth's. Imagine plucking down Cadillac money and having to share the service area waiting room with some Duster owner. 

                                                                  1974 Imperial LeBaron                   

Visibly, the only tangible difference between a 1974 Imperial and Chrysler New York Brougham was the front and rear ends; the Imperial had enclosed headlights, a chrome, waterfall grill and a derivatively styled rear facia; it had more than its fair share of GM-ethos in it. The NYB shared the same front and back ends with the "entry-level" Newport and the Town and Country wagon. Just as well as Chrysler Corporation never intended their Chrysler division to go tire-to-tire with Cadillac anyway. 

1974 Chrysler New Yorker Brougham

Through no fault of their own, Chrysler's timing to introduce new full size cars that were even bigger than what they replaced couldn't have been worse with the OPEC Oil Embargo taking effect all but at the literal start of the 1974 model year. These new hunky dreadnaughts replaced the dread-full 1970-1973 Chrysler "fuselage" models that sold like frozen turkeys the day after Thanksgiving. Only Chrysler could manage to roll out new models that would sell even worse. Things were so bad Chrysler shuttered their "Imperial" division after 1975. 

So, with Imperial swimming with the fishes, Chrysler bolted the Imperial's front end onto the New Yorker and, voila, for 1976 through 1978, Chrysler had themselves an award winner. Liberace and Elvis were salivating. Obviously, the headlight doors on our '77, which are actuated by an electric motor behind the grill, aren't working. 

Of course, in the face of General Motors shrink-rayed Cadillac, Buick and even Oldsmobile's, our big and beautiful New Yorker didn't stand a chance at the box office. Chrysler replaced it in 1979 with the decidedly non-award winning, "R-body" based sedan (above) that was, perhaps, the oddest 'down-sized' luxury car of the era. 

Not surprisingly, they sold even worse than the 1976-1978 New Yorker's and Chrysler pulled the plug on them during the 1981 model year. With the "R-body" being an upsized "B-body", meaning it was an upsized intermediate, it means our award winning, 1976-1978 New Yorker Broughams was the Chrysler Corporation's last rear-wheel-drive, traditionally full-size luxury cars. 

1986 Buick Regal - Bridging The Gap

Towards the end of this generation of the Buick Regal's 1978-1987 production run, Buick ramped up the horsepower and torque so much on its high-performance versions that it was faster zero-to-sixty than Chevrolet's lordly Corvette. To bridge the performance gulf of performance between the 3.8-liter V-6 powered base models and the big dogs, for 1986 and 1987, Buick made Oldsmobile's 307-cubic inch V-8 optional. Sorry, V-8 lovers, it was the lower performing of its two versions.  

It was a bit of novelty if not a throwback of sorts since Pontiac (4.9-liter) and Chevrolet (5.0-liter) V-8's were available on Buick Regals from 1978-1980; from 1981 through 1985, the only V-8 available was the Oldsmobile, 5.7-liter diesel. 

Making all of 140-horsepower, it's not like the 307 transforms car this into a poor man's Grand National. Hardly. Contemporary road test of similarly powered GM G-bodies with the "LV2" Olds engine pegged it zero-to-sixty in roughly 13-seconds. 

Compared to the Grand National's approximate 5-second blast from zero-to-sixty, this car might as well have been standing still. The added oomph of the 307 barely negating its additional bulk over the 110-horse, Buick V-6. 

I've driven these cars with LV2 and Chevrolet's LG4, 305-CID engine and they are sah-low. Wide-ratio "Metric" transmissions and super tall rear axles doing the added poke of the V-8 absolutely no favors whatsoever too. I wonder why they even bothered. Did make for smoother running automobile, though. 

If you wanted automatic overdrive, you had to step up to the haughty T-Type or Grand National; the almighty GNX was 1987 only. For 1987, buyers could have also order the turbocharged V-6 in the Regal "Limited" but those are almost as rare as the GNX. 

1986 advertising literature claims the 5.7-liter, Oldsmobile diesel was available in 1986 on these cars but there's little real-world evidence any of these were built with that engine. If they were, they came backed with the "AOD" (automatic overdrive). Fuel economy of the Olds diesels in these cars was negligibly better than the V-6 models. Olds 307 powered Regals too. 

My Facebook Marketplace find here is for sale not far from my triple-wide here west of Cleveland, Ohio. Only 43,000 or so clicks on it's 37- going on 38-year old analog odometer. Asking price is a "you've got to be kidding me" $10,000. This is well bought at around half that amount. 

1963 Dodge 880 Custom - Look, Ma! No Tailfins!

Standing maybe five-feet, nine inches tall, I take issue with the age-old adage that "size matters". Yes, I'll never play center for the Knicks or middle linebacker for the Jets but that has (or had) more to do with my lack of elite athletic ability than how tall I am. Yes, that's puckish, 13-year old me. Hapless center and linebacker for the Baldwin Bombers (Long Island, New York) back in 1977 and 1978. 

If you're familiar with the story of Dodge's 1962-1965 880's, it seemed as though "size" was the impetus for its very existence in the first place. However, in my humblest of opines, it had less to do with size but with the styling of the car it technically replaced in the Dodge lineup. Our Facebook Marketplace find here is a 1963 Dodge Custom 880. 

Legend has it that at a cocktail party at the Gross Pointe Country Club (above) in Detroit in late spring or early summer of 1960, then Chrysler President William Newburg overheard Chevrolet General Manager Ed Cole say that they were downsizing their lineup for 1962. Intel in hand and not to be outdone, Newburg ordered that 1962 Dodge and Plymouth full-size models, direct competitors to Chevrolet, be downsized. Immediately. 

Engineers and designers worked around the clock and in record time whipped up smaller designs (above) that were more or less "upsized" versions of their, being kind, progressively styled 1960 compact models. And...they went over with a thud. In the blink of an eye, sales of Dodge and Plymouth's "big cars" dropped some 25-percent year over model year. And 1961 was not a banner year for Dodge and Plymouth sales either. 

My blog, my opinion, that drop in sales had more to do with what was perceived as bizarre styling rather than how big the cars were. Case in point, although domestic cars were, in general, elephantine at the time, sales of far smaller imports were making inroads, American Motors' line of far smaller vehicles were selling well and Ford's compact Falcon, introduced in 1960, was, ahem, flying out of showrooms. America was ready, it seemed, for smaller cars. For the record, the smaller 1962 Plymouth and Dodge models (last two photos, above) were some seven-inches shorter than their 1961 counterparts. Some 500-pounds less heavy too. Taste being like armpits, I think they're fabulous looking. Especially, naturally, the two-door versions. 

Akin to throwing a speeding car into reverse and then back into drive, to fill the, again, perceived void in Dodge's lineup, halfway through the 1962 model year, Chrysler repurposed a Chrysler Newport as the Dodge "Custom 880". Just like that, Dodge was back in the "big" car business. Oddly enough, Plymouth soldiered on with their smaller "full-size" cars through 1964. Then again, Plymouth was never really it's own, quasi-independent division like Dodge was. 

The Dodge Custom 880 was somewhat different from a Chrysler Newport in that it had an updated front end from the 1961 Dodge Polara although it did have the newly "de-finned" rear from the '62 Newport. Look, ma! No tail fins! Sales were unimpressive as well for these cars with Dodge moving all of 18,000 of them for the second half of '62, approximately 28,000 for 1963 making our subject here quasi-rare. 

For 1963, Dodge redesigned the front end and as the Big Three did back then in the era of "planned obsolescence", with almost annual substantive model updates, Dodge did a total redesign of the 880's body for 1964 with yet another significant reboot for 1965. Dodge dropped the "880" moniker for 1966 replacing it with "Monaco" which was built on Chrysler's updated-for-1965, traditionally full-sized or "standard sized" C-body platform. 

Turned out, though, the intel that Newburg got regarding GM's downsizing was either wrong or mis-interpreted. GM wasn't downsizing their full-size line but was to introduce a new line of intermediate sized cars for 1964. What's more, for 1962, GM's full-size models were actually larger than they were in 1961. Whoops. 

Newburg quickly left the company - although it was for improprieties and unethical business practices rather than being held accountable for ordering the haphazard redesigns. Haphazard redeigns that, again, my blog, my opine, were some of the best-looking cars Chrysler pushed out in the '60's. Your opinion may vary, see dealer for details. 

Our Facebook Marketplace find here is for sale down in Ansted, West Virginia with a $4,750 asking price. And that's reduced from an initial ask of some $5,500. Poster claims it's been "in the family" for the better part of thirty years and we'd be hard pressed to find a better example of a car from this time period in the shape it's in for the money. I concur but only to a point. If this was a two-door, I'd whole heartedly agree. As this is, it's just some big, old car; albeit one with a fairly unique origin story. An origin story, mind you, I wouldn't pay a premium for. This is a $1,500-$2,500 car if you ask me.