Howdy folks! I'm still daily driving my Fit but I picked up a new toy.

1966 Chrysler Newport
383 cu. in / 6.3 L four barrel carburetor
57,800 original miles.

My first round of pics didn't come out so great, so I've included the sale pics from where I picked it up.

 

 

Looks good! Other than Hondas, All my other cars are MOPARS!! :)
'12 VBP Sport 5MT w/minor appearance & comfort mods!!

 

She looks great! Restored or original?

 

I'd say it was an "older" restoration that the previous owner did a few years ago. The paint is really sharp but there's some minor (and I do mean minor) things like rock chips here and there where you can tell they actually drove it afterwards.

The trunk floor has been replaced and coated with anti-rust in and out, and along the seams in the trunk. I had it on a rack and the floor pans are really clean, no rust anywhere. Outside, it's just missing one front turn signal cover which I'll try to track down after I get maintenance out of the way.

The car was originally a 2 barrel carb from the factory according to the VIN but was upgraded to 4 barrel at some point and true dual exhaust.

Inside everything is there. Just one small tear in the driver seat on the driver side right above where your belt loops on your pants would be. A spring had come away from the skeleton and poked through.

Gas gauge doesn't work, so I'm just using an app on my phone and the odometer on the dash to keep track of miles traveled and then filling up when I've driven X miles.

Only things that don't work inside is the dome light (bulb is burnt out), and the factory radio. I'm gonna leave the factory radio in and just use my phone or something for tunes (open to other suggestions as well, as long as it is non-invasive to the car).

I really like the car. Right now the choke is sticking but I found a shop near my house who said he can adjust it in an hour and has probably done hundreds of them over 30 years. 95% of shops now a days won't even touch a carb and I'm not confident in myself yet to work on this car so I don't break anything.

She's a big ole boat but man, it's like riding on clouds. You don't feel a thing on the pavement. But with four drum brakes and over 4,000 lbs of steel moving you better give yourself time to stop and turn. :)

 

nice congrats! :D something about classics.

 

Sweet- When I was a kid, we had a 1961 Chrysler Newport-- I remember thinking it was so futuristic and loved the dash board and blue lights. Before that we had a 1957 Desoto

 

Thanks guys.

I've never been a MOPAR guy or anything like that, and I actually wanted either a 64-67 El Camino or a 65-70 Impala. However, those were out of my price range and if they weren't, they were of dubious quality. I even looked at 64-66 Mustangs but all the ones I could afford were with the original inline 6. The 65-66 I6 in those made 120 hp and 190 lbs tq which I guess moves it well enough to be fun in a 2500 lb car but would still feel lacking due to no V8 pooowwwwaaa and I didn't want a "project car". Wanted a turn key cruiser.

The previous generation of Newports were designed by Virgil Exner who brought Chrysler out of their previous boxy and boring body styles by adding giant fins, gun sight tail lights on everything and all kinds of wild stuff. And it worked for a while. But when he started getting too outlandish, Chrysler brought in Elmwood Engel from Ford. He designed these with all the trends of the day that I like on 60's cars: four round head lamps up front, big ass bench seats, straight sedan roof lines (I think these in coupe are ugly due to a more "bubble" like roof), straight body lines and the slight W shaped rear end.

They made more in this green color than any other for this body style, but I would LOVE one in black. I think it would look mean as hell. :) Maybe eventually after I save up a bit more I'll trade up to one of the cars I mentioned above.