In this episode, Dennis compares a '77 Grand Marquis and a '77 New Yorker. While a majority of you here still see these as nothing more than engine donors, a few of you will enjoy them for what they are.
Kinda sad we'll never see cars like this again, but isn't it amazing how far we've come power wise with less cubic inches?
John
The dream is dead, long live the dream.......đ„
Re: 'My Classic Car' '70's Land Yachts
[Re: SattyNoCar]
#2741164 02/09/2011:41 AM02/09/2011:41 AM
I had a '71 Newport 4dr and it always amazed me for how huge by large the car was, the interior wasn't much bigger than a B-body. More shoulder room for sure, but knee room was identical.
watched that show yesterday. My Grandfather had Imperials, and my Uncle always had a '69-'71 300/New Yorker. Great cars. Love to have one for the wife's dailey but not in the rust belt.
If I remember right the Imperials were banished from demolition derby's because they were indestructible.
You are correct sir. I had a friend that would buy them, yank the 440 and stuff a 318 in them as far back as he could. Needless to say he was the Demo King for a long time.
Thanks for sharing that video Satellite My grandfather who lived in Alabama, bought a brand new 1976 Mercury Grand Marquis 2 door...IIRC it was light Dove Grey with grey leather. I used to own a '69 300 convertible, that car would float down the road.... I miss that car.
Thanks for sharing. One reason that NY'er looks good is that it has no body side molding. Most of them did, and it was a long horizontal black strip on stainless, bolted on. At first, I thought the car was my previous car. ONLY when I seen the sun roof, I knew better. Enclosed 2 pictures of my previous 8,500 mile car. I had to sell the car for ????
Yeah, those big old land barges were really plush - I loved them. The two you just posted photos of are beauties - living rooms on wheels. Great cars to take the GF out in!
No Man With A Good Car Needs To Be Justified
Re: 'My Classic Car' '70's Land Yachts
[Re: Sunroofcuda]
#2741472 02/10/2007:13 AM02/10/2007:13 AM
Love the land yachts. My Dad had big cars, Imperials and New Yorkers mostly. What was said earlier about the room in a C-Body is right; I recall being a kid in the back of Dad's powder blue 2-door '72 New Yorker. No room, tiny windows and had the "Flight Bench" front seat with the high seatbacks so I couldn't see forward unless I sat in the middle. As a kid I hated that car. I do remember that it could do huge burnouts and Dad had the lid of the aircleaner flipped so that when he stood on the gas and the secondaries opened it sounded like it was going to suck birds out of the trees. Here's a pic of my '72 Sedan de Ville. My uncle Jerry bought it new and took extreme care of it. All original paint, upholstery, chrome, etc. It sat in his garage for over a decade undriven and he decided to give it t me. 36,000 miles. Battery, oil change, fresh gas and a brake line and I drove it nearly 400 miles from Bradford PA to Central Ohio without a hitch.This is a picture of Uncle Jerry and Aunt Jo the day dragged it out of the garage. Last year I drove it to Daytona. I had replaced the coil springs and shocks, the car handles great. None of the "wallow and float" that plagued these cars when they got some age on them. Ran with modern traffic, 80+ mph much of the trip. MPG? I averaged 8.9!
I know someone who has several of that style New Yorker/Imperial. Haven't seen him for years he moves around a bit with military.
I also know someone with an identical deville to that but I think it has matching roof. Don't know if he still has it, I vaigly remember him saying that he traded it to someone for work on his corvette. I was out with friends trying to revive a Fleetwood that was hibernating for 30 years and the very next day I saw the same body style deville a block from my house. A few hours later I was out somewhere and it passed me in a residential area so I figured that was sign and followed it a couple blocks till he got home. He actually started going to my buddies garage for a while for service.
Re: 'My Classic Car' '70's Land Yachts
[Re: 5thAve]
#2741494 02/10/2010:16 AM02/10/2010:16 AM
Tough to see in the pictures but the top on the deVille is dark green, the interior is matching dark green nylon. There is some amusing family history with the car. My Dad liked his cars loaded with every possible option. Uncle Jerry's Caddy is very lightly optioned. Doesn't even have power locks or cruise control. When someone would make an admiring remark about the Caddy Dad would refer to it as a "Glorified Oldsmobile". Dad had interesting cars when I was a kid. '60 Plymouth wagon, '59 Imperial, '63 Imperial LeBaron, '66 Imperial pale yellow with green interior, '70? New Yorker sedan, pale blue/dark blue '72 New Yorker coupe. That car stayed in the family for about a decade, became the "second car", then my brother ended up with it. I will have to hunt around to see if I have any pics of these things. I really like the big stuff and I still have a huge car, but it's not a Mopar. My '69 LeSabre I have owned for 37 years!
I had a '71 Newport 4dr and it always amazed me for how huge by large the car was, the interior wasn't much bigger than a B-body. More shoulder room for sure, but knee room was identical.
I am amazed by the same thing. Huge exterior dimensions, but the interiors were not much bigger. So much of the extra size was an enormous trunk, and wasted underhood space and overhang. In a lot of cases just the area between the grille and the radiator was enough to fit a person DAMHIK.
Woah! The Caddy and the Buick are awesome! More pics please.
Thanks! I don't want to make this thread all "GMey" so here's 2 more pics and I promise I'll follow this up with a C-Body and no more Buick/Caddy. I bought the Buick in spring of '82. Changed the coil springs and run shorter shocks to get the low ride height. Still has decent suspension travel. Warmed-over 350, original a/c car. I converted it to front disc brakes using a Scarebird kit. The wheels are 18" Americans, custom- made to fit the car; the rears are 1/4" deeper that the fronts. You can't get a finger between the fender lip and tire, yet nothing ever rubs, even turning full-lock to pull into a driveway. There used to be a deal where full-time NHRA employees got a 40% discount on any purchase from American Racing which came in real handy. The Caddy? What can I say? It's as damn-near perfect as a 48 year-old car could be. There was never any drinking, eating, smoking in Uncle Jerry's cars. When it was washed they would take off the fender skirts to wash and dry behind them. Always stored in heated garage. He had the Fleetwood hood ornament (see picture in the driveway) dealer-installed but kept the standard hood trim which I replaced. When I moved to Buckeye Lake I lost most of my extra garage space so I gave the Caddy to my nephew who just adores it. I figure my uncle gave it to me, so it made sense.
My oldest brother Bob and I watched that episode yesterday...good stuff! We had 4 '70's C-bodies in the family at one time or another.
DynoDave Walter P. Chrysler Club - Great Lakes Region Member # 12304 1970 Plymouth Duster 1972 Dodge Charger Rallye https://wichargerguy.proboards.com/ 1977 Chrysler Cordoba
As a kid I always loved the big fuselage C bodies !!! In tech school I had a couple 69 300's - 2 door. One that was running, looked like crap, but I had a rebuilt 440 in it and loved surprising the Chevy crowd ! LOL . . . ended up with (3) 70 300Hurst cars (two were serial # sequential !!), unfortunately one had the engine removed and put in a boat !! . . . anyhow, I built my 70 300Hurst from parts . . . also had 71 Fury II & III cars too . . . kinda miss the ole ragtop . . . anyone in California see it ?? Last time I heard the guy was in Davis, California . . . . .
As a kid I always loved the big fuselage C bodies !!! In tech school I had a couple 69 300's - 2 door. One that was running, looked like crap, but I had a rebuilt 440 in it and loved surprising the Chevy crowd ! LOL . . . ended up with (3) 70 300Hurst cars (two were serial # sequential !!), unfortunately one had the engine removed and put in a boat !! . . . anyhow, I built my 70 300Hurst from parts . . . also had 71 Fury II & III cars too . . . kinda miss the ole ragtop . . . anyone in California see it ?? Last time I heard the guy was in Davis, California . . . . .
Was that a real 300H ragtop, or a clone? i thought the only 300H ragtop made was the parade car that Linda Vaughn rode in, the one with the huge shifter on the deck lid. Either way, your 300 was gorgeous... Would love to have one someday, hardtop or ragtop.
This one is still kickin'..... now improved with a 440, HEI/TFI ignition, and upgraded '73 New Yorker seating.
I had not seen that green machine in a while...wasn't sure it was still with us.
DynoDave Walter P. Chrysler Club - Great Lakes Region Member # 12304 1970 Plymouth Duster 1972 Dodge Charger Rallye https://wichargerguy.proboards.com/ 1977 Chrysler Cordoba
I was just thinking, after looking again at the New Yorker body lines from that show....the lower body lines are very similar to the '71 Charger, the way it has sharp creases that slant downward towards the rockers, and as they said in the show, the taillights are reminicent of the '56 Chryslers...pretty cool!
I love almost all of the big '70s American Land Yachts, but in the context of 1977, if I had to buy and actually drive one every day, Id be skipping the Mopar and Ford dealers (Chrysler already had the stench of death by then and Ford wasn't far behind) and dropping my cash on one of these, with a 403 please.
68 Valiant 408 69 Charger 318 69 Cougar 351W 70 Torino GT 351C 71 Country Squire 351W 71 Road Runner 440+6 71 Satellite sedan 318 73 Duster 318 73 Challenger 383 77 Grand Prix 455 83 Malibu 9C1 383 84 Delta 88 403 87 Grand National 96 Ram 360 09 Crown Vic 10 Challenger R/T M6 15 Challenger Hellcat M6
Re: 'My Classic Car' '70's Land Yachts
[Re: RangerDan440]
#2745943 02/24/2001:02 AM02/24/2001:02 AM