Seeing the poor sales of Chrysler's 1969 to 1973 "fuselage" model, seems I'm not alone in feeing ambivalent (at best) towards them. Still, when one as nice looking as this 1972 Chrysler Newport Custom comes up for sale on Marketplace, I can't help but give it its moment in the spotlight. Or sunshine as the case may be.
The fuselage design ethos was meant emulate an aircraft; that's lost on me even when it's pointed out in their advertising brochures. Well, if you guys say so.
Through my foggy goggles, these cars have always looked unfinished. It's as though "suits upstairs" stopped designers in their tracks and ordered anything they had done to that point into showrooms for 1969.
This rear "three-quarters" angle accentuates it's "unfinished-ness". That is one gigantic, all but feature-free quarter panel.
It's long hood, long deck, on all but the same plane, looked dated compared to the more concave, long hood, short (ish) deck of GM designs as well. Those rims don't work on this either and what's with the red stripe tires? Fear not, the car comes with two-sets of rims although there are not details on what the other set is. Let's assume steel wheels with chrome factory wheel covers. No word on if the other rims have tires on them or not.
Although the poster of the ad can't verify it, supposedly, this car has less than eight-thousand-miles on it; they "believe it to be so". Asking price is a cool $25,000. I know. Sounds like a ton and it is, but it's in line with what other full-size cars of this era in this kind of condition are in. Actually, it's a bit of a bargain. Well, only a bargain if you like these cars. Damn, that dash is so plasticky it's triggering my childhood PTSD.
Under hood we have Chrysler's new-for-1972, 400 cubic inch V-8; essentially a bored out 383. To make up for any loss of poke due to emissions plumbing, The Big Three's solution was bigger engines. To some extent that worked, did nothing for fuel-economy, though. I'd figure seven- or eight-miles per gallon around town, ten-, eleven-mpg highway. Your mileage may vary, see dealer for details.
You could get dual exhaust on a 1972 Newport, but that was only on cars with the 440 V-8. Again, this one has a 400. No points off here for these dual pipes, but I'd go over the documentation with a fine-toothed wire brush as to what's been updated on this before you hit the cash machine.
Interior looks nice and clean if not a tad industrial. Maybe this does have just eight-thousand miles on it.
The Newport nameplate was around at Chrysler off-and-on from 1940 through 1981 and it denoted different types of models. Stylishly experimental in 1940 and 1941, hard tops in 1949 and 1950 and from 1961 through 1981, the Chrysler division's least expensive, full-size car
