1964 Chrysler New Yorker - Double Standards

These 1964 and similar looking '63 Chrysler New Yorkers certainly have their fans, I'm on the fence about them. 

That said, with this being a Chrysler, I think nothing of looking past its quirks and foibles. For certain, if this was an American Motors design, I'd think it freakish and weird. My inner voice screaming, "why can't you be normal?". It being a Chrysler I'm like, "yeah, that's cool. Not my cup of tea but ok."

Double standards are funny like that. Not unlike that charming, oh-so-handsome guy who thinks he can say whatever he wants to women in the office and get away with it. The older, pudgy, balding bespectacled clod says things not half as offensive and he ends up in HR. 

Chrysler's New Yorker was all-new for 1960 New Yorker had huge brake shoes to fill after Chrysler's 1957-1959 models changed the game wholesale. Legend has it when GM executives got wind of Chrysler's 1957 line, they scrapped their plans for their '59's coming instead with some of the most outlandish designs of all time. The Chrysler class of 1957 on top of a literal bumper crop of lovely designs they introduced for 1955. Therefore, safe to say that Chrysler was on quite the roll back then but in a day and age of "planned obsolescence", to keep everything new and make last year's model seem old and outdated, something was bound to go wrong. Or less than right. 

From 1955 through 1964, though, Chrysler had a series of designs that were, for the most part, confident, balanced, cohesive and seemingly penned by one person or team with a singular vision; that makes sense because they generally were designed by famed auto designer Virgil Exner.  

Doesn't mean they all "worked", though. Naturally, I think this works somewhat better as a coupe but all 1963 and 1964 "New Yorkers" of the vintage were 4-door sedans; you wanted something with just 2-doors you had to get a "300 J" or "K".

There's a wonton flamboyance to this car that's not unlike the fashion conscious who are able to pull off wearing just about anything and make whatever it is they're wearing seem more special because they're wearing it. Others wear the same thing and something's just not right, or "off". 

It's like someone my age trying to wear "skinny jeans". I mean, candidly, I don't embarrass myself in them but the look certainly draws attention in ways that I didn't intend. It's like my wife wearing a bikini, she most certainly can but she doesn't. 

This Facebook Marketplace find is for sale in Angola, Indiana over in north central Indiana right on the Indiana-Michigan border. The asking price is $5,600 and that seems like a bargain considering it has a rebuilt 440-cubic inch V-8 with lots of go-fast stuff on it. I'd talk the poster of the ad down just to get the motor; wish I had a Cordoba to drop it into. 

No doubt a hardcore, old school Chrysler fan would cry afoul at that notion. Don't be calling H.R. on me. 

1964 Chevelle - An Expensive Parts Car

 

1964 and 1965 Chevelle's don't row my boat but I thought this find here worth my while because, if anything, thanks to the milky sunshine we get up here this time of the year, the pictures are just so casually and nonchalantly awesome. It's for sale down in Akron with an asking price a jaw-dropping $12,000. I hope that includes this super-cool trailer as the car is listed as a "roller" and not running. She doesn't have a title either hence the "parts-car" moniker.  

These cars along with similar offerings from Buick, Pontiac and Oldsmobile, Cadillac never got one, were part of General Motors all-new for 1964 intermediates. At Chevrolet it fit the literal and figurative gap in size between the Impala and the Chevy II. GM hit a home run with these cars as their full-size or "standard-size" cars had gotten too big and the Chevy II was really too small. For growing families at least. 

These cars were, interestingly, sized about the same as Chevrolet's seminal 1955 models. They handled similarly as well too. That's not surprising given it has almost same suspension system the '55 had; the upper control arms and shock mounts on the frame rails visible next to what's either Chevrolet's 194 cubic-inch "Hi-Thrift", one-hundred twenty horsepower inline six or the "Turbo-Thrift", 230 cubic-inch, one-hundred fifty-five horsepower mill. "Thrift" is a marketing speak for "slow". 

Although, the VIN number junkie I am, I've deduced that the "56" would indicate this car to be a "Malibu, 8-cylinder". Something's up. Either the tag there is wrong, which is not likely, or someone swapped in a six-cylinder engine somewhere over the last fifty-six years. Geez, it could even be a Chevrolet "250"; which would probably provide as much seat of the pants poke as the optional one-hundred ninety-five horsepower, "283" V-8 it most likely was born with. If you think someone swapping out a V-8 for a six sounds loopy then you didn't live through the gas crunches of the 1970's. 

 

If I'm correct and this car had  a motor-swap, the lighter in-line six no doubt helping out handling too. I can't tell from the engine photo if this has power steering or not but I'd guess it doesn't; even if it had a V-8 originally. Good thing it has this over-sized steering wheel to help the poor driver out. For certain there's no power brakes; this car would be a handful to drive. Especially with a heavier V-8.  

Twelve-grand is a lot of money for a car that's being sold as a parts car. At least the panels appear straight and there appears to be no rust on the body. That's incredible for a car up here in road-briney northeast Ohio. If you're interested comment below and I'll hook you up with the seller. Something tells me this will be here for a while.