Welcome, 440C-Body68

Hello everyone! Looking forward to sharing information with this group. I just turned 68 years old, retired in September 2021 from a company I worked for for 43 years and have been spending appreciable time working on projects I have long said I'd "eventually get to". My current project is a 1968 Chrysler New Yorker that I've owned since November 1978 (only the second owner). The car is pretty clean, interior is almost factory perfect and because it has spent its life inside of a garage, the body is in very good condition. Sadly, the car has not been licensed for the road since 1987 and has been only started a handful of times since then. I'm restoring it to as close to factory condition as possible. Amazingly the car still has the original coolant hoses and clamps and some other original parts you wouldn't expect on a 56 year old car. It still has these parts because I bought it with 52,000 miles and drove it 22,000 miles in 9 years before putting it in storage. Obviously I'm replacing virtually every rubber component plus things like the fuel tank, parking brake cables and anything it makes sense to replace. Parts like the Holley 4160 600 cfm carburetor is being rebuilt and I plan on keeping every original part that makes sense to keep.

I am excited to get to know people in this group and help each other with our unique needs.
Thanks for welcoming me.
 
Here are a couple of recent pictures.

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Very nice, clean straight looking new yorker! I love the black over yellow! What is that sitting behind in the one pic??
 
carguy300 said:
Welcome from east texas! Sounds like a good retirement project! Good luck and post pics!!
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Thank you Carguy300. I've always liked the clean look and beautiful styling of the late 60's 300 with hidden headlights. I was 12 years old when I saw my first one - a bright red 1968 convertible with a white top. That car and my dad's 67 New Yorker (gold 4-door hardtop) clinched my love of C body Chryslers forever at a pretty young age.

The car behind the New Yorker is my first car that I bought when I was 16 (1973) for $560.00, a 1968 Pontiac Firebird 400 four-speed. That is one of my next car projects. I also still own my first brand new car, a 1987 Buick Grand National with less than 28,000 original miles. I'd like to get the Firebird on the road before the BGN but there is FAR less to do to the Buick to make it roadworthy than I need to do to the Firebird so the Buick comes first.
 
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440C-Body68 said:
Thank you Carguy300. I've always liked the clean look and beautiful styling of the late 60's 300 with hidden headlights. I was 12 years old when I saw my first one - a bright red convertible with a white top. That car and my dad's 67 New Yorker (gold 4-door hardtop) clinched my love of C body Chryslers forever.
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Same here! My father always had chryslers growing up. 62 newport, 66 300, 2 68 300's, then a brand new 78 dodge monaco that I got to drive the wheels off in high school! My 1st car at 15 was a rusty 65 newport. Now at 62 Im on my 2nd 68 300! I love um all!
 
Camshaft said:
Welcome from British Columbia!
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Thanks for the welcome Camshaft - it's pretty cool you were able to snag the name "camshaft". I've been to the US Pacific Northwest a number of times but never have made it to BC (I have relatives in Seattle - Tacoma area). Everyone I know that has been there (at least in and around Vancouver) tell me it is unbelievably beautiful. I have no excuse for not getting there someday as it is on my bucket list.
 
GOLDMYN said:
nice, what's the back story?
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I didn't reply right away because I tend to tell long stories (according to my friends) so I decided to try a condensed version. In August 1978, I had just started working in my first post-college graduation job (which I stayed with my entire working life). I was living in an apartment complex where another tenant that owned this car lived. As I got to know the guy and talked about his car and my love of 66-69 Chrysler C bodies, he eventually asked me if I'd be interested in buying it. I had almost no money and no garage at that time which made me think I couldn't (and shouldn't) buy it but the car was just too nice to pass up. I still owed my parents about $1,500 to get myself started in my new job and this car was available for $1,200 - amounts that seem tiny by today's standards but was a big deal in 1978, especially to a 22 year old starting out in life with a negative net worth. I ended up asking my dad if he'd float me a loan for an additional $1,200 and allow me to store it in his garage (he lived about 100 miles away from where I lived). He reluctantly said yes and I jumped at the chance in November 1978. That's how I got the car. Obviously there's more to the story of its life but this is how it all started.

Part of this story is that the person I bought the car from was the son of a high-ranking engineer at Chrysler Corporation. His dad still technically owned the car but he let his son drive it when he retired from Chrysler (in 1974 it think). The car was an employee use only car when new and had to go through some sort of certification when it was released to the son for "public" use. Apparently when the dad owned it, it was used in a few tests at the Chelsea Proving Ground facility where the dad worked but he was allowed to drive it to and from home as long as it had the "M" license plate (manufacturers plate).

I consider myself the second owner of the car even though the car was owned by the Chrysler Corporation for about a year and a half before it was titled in the dad's name.
 
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