1978 Chrysler New Yorker Brougham: For Your Consideration

Well! I started off this morning planning on writing up a friend’s simply fantastic 1970 Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham. But then, I logged onto The American Brougham Society today at lunch and saw that the proprietor of the Broughamiest FB group around had posted pictures of this simply sensational 1978 Chrysler New Yorker Brougham. I love these cars, a lot. Wrote one up on the old site some years back, and fully intend to do a full writeup here on RG eventually. But just look at the color combination! Holy moly! I had to share this immediately!

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Of course, I love these cars. This particular body style started off as the Imperial in autumn of 1973 as the redesigned 1974 Imperial LeBaron. Available in two- and four-door hardtops, it was Mopar’s answer to the Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham and Lincoln Continental Town Car and Town Coupé.

But Imperial as a separate luxury marque from Chrysler was in its final days, due to sinking sales and cost considerations. 1975 was the last year for the Imperial LeBaron. The LeBaron name itself would be moved to the new Aspen-based, Seville-like Chrysler LeBaron in 1977. But that was not the end of this car.

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In a nutshell, the 1975 Imperial LeBaron became the 1975 Chrysler New Yorker Brougham. As with its predecessor, it was luxurious and available with nearly all of the luxury features of the outgoing Imperial, though several items became options. And some things, such as the four-wheel disc brakes, disappeared completely. But it was still about 90% the same car.

Enough history. This particular NYB is just stunning in black with white interior, and green trim. It was the Brougham Age, and colors, trim and options meant that you could see very different looking cars, due to the long list of interior and exterior trim choices.

I’ve always had a thing for black cars with white leather. It’s not often seen, but I’ve always found it stunning. And I also have a jones for green cars. So this car, its colors, and the fact that it’s Brougham to the max means I simply adore it.

This was the top of the line Chrysler, and you can tell in nearly every aspect of it-size, amenities, and all those ‘little touches’ that are largely absent from modern cars. Like all the woodgrained trim, the lavaliere straps, and courtesy/reading lamps in back. And everything is color-keyed, none of that red seats with black dash/carpet/everything else nonsense!

What price Broughamance? Well, as of this writing (8/1) this New Yorker is currently running at about $5,000. According to the ad, the paint and trim are all original. That is a plus and a minus depending on how you may see it, due to 1970s Chrysler paint and assembly quality. But it sure is a beautiful example.

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I love the optional ‘roulette wheel’ wheel covers too! And with the bulletproof 440 CID V8 and Torqueflite automatic transmission, she will pass everything but your local Phillips 66 station. It still has a week to go, so if you are intrigued by this full-size land-based Chris-Craft, go check it out on the electronic bay.

As the Chrysler commercials of the time promised, you’ll be the talk of the town. And have the Broughamiest car on the block!

New Yorker 02

Note: The car had a high bid on ebay of $7474.75 at the end of the auction.

21 Replies to “1978 Chrysler New Yorker Brougham: For Your Consideration”

  1. ArBee

    A most impressive car. Any corporate chieftain would be pleased to make an entrance in it, whether one calls it a Chrysler or an Imperial. I like white upholstery in a black car too, but initially I found the green interior a little jarring. After looking at it a few minutes, I now find it, um, “creative”. And hell, it was the Seventies, after all. Someone’s going to get a wonderful buy on this.

    Reply
  2. John C.

    Gosh you have to love Jack Jones. I know these cars were a step below Cadillac and Lincoln in execution, but I am also a huge fan. Make mine a delete option 360 V8 with the industry first lock up torque converter and in triple dark blue with the velour. What a road car with maybe 20mpg to boot.

    Reply
    • Felis Concolor

      The B/RB and Hemis get all the press, but the LA series engine is the champ when it comes to longevity, spanning nearly 40 years of production. The only other engine I know of which comes close to that is the Buick/Olds 215 V8 as used and improved upon by Rover for a similar span of years.

      I wish I could find the old CC print issue I read a couple decades ago: after a multiple issue all-engine face-off with scores of cam/head/intake combinations tested and evaluated, the builders at the magazine wondered what to do with all the leftover Mopar bits which didn’t make the cut in earlier tests. Throwing them into a freshened LA block, they ended up with something like 360hp/355tq and a BSFC of 0.35, which shames more than a few endurance racing engines. Put that ahead of a lockup torque converter transmission and there’s your high 20s on freeway cruise.

      Though I’ll always grouse when I can’t get a luxo-barge in my preferred wagon variant, I wouldn’t refuse taking that ride on an extended road trip. Now with US-50 being my preferred route west from COS, I’d enjoy every mile through the towns leading to the Utah border – and especially going through Delta.

      Reply
        • Felis Concolor

          When your engine isn’t even compatible at the coolant level, that’s close but no cigar. And no, 3.8 does not equal 3800, no matter how badly you Common Core it.

          Reply
      • John C.

        When I said a step below in execution I was talking about the fact that Chrysler did not do the level of sound deadening of Cadillac or Lincoln. The Chrysler engines were also not as quiet and the torqueflight was a little more noticeable in it’s shifts than the C6 or the THM400. If Carmine is right that the transaction prices were more at Lesabre levels than perhaps it was okay that the corner was cut. The style was definitely there.

        Reply
  3. Shrug

    Eventually, and hopefully sooner than later, I really want to own something like this as a semi-daily driver. It’s impossible to get anything else with this much presence for so little money.

    Reply
  4. CJinSD

    I had a number of friends whose parents drove similar cars when they were current. I don’t recall them having the exact same HVAC controls as my mother’s ’79 Horizon though. Was automatic climate control still an option? The manual A/C controls and tape-player delete make this an oddly decontented car. Lean Burn and ballast resistors aside, I actually like the last of the Imperials.

    Reply
      • Chip Lamb

        Thank G** this car does not have Auto Temp II! It actually works! Air is nice and cold as well. By the way, this is (waiting for letter from Chrysler) the LAST NYB produced. Never in private hands – two CPD dealers and me. I knew the original owner – in fact, I liquidated his collection and estate.

        Reply
  5. Thomas Kreutzer

    When I was a kid, we had a neighbor who, along with his wife, went north to work on the Alaskan Pipeline. They left their house with all their stuff still in it under bed sheets and every so often my friends and I would make our way through the waist-high grass to peak through the filthy windows at the mysteries that lay within.

    One day the returned and while they never cut the grass or washed the windows, they bought a stunning yellow two door version of the car above. About a week or two after they brought it home, the man or his wife, backed into something and put a small scratch on the rear quarter. They never drove it again, option instead to go buy a brand new Lincoln in the same yellow color.

    As I grew into adulthood, I watched that car get mossy, moldy and then rot into the ground. The Lincoln got moldy and mossy too as it was never washed as long as they owned it, but it least they used it until the passed away some years later.

    Reply
  6. Glenn Kramer

    Tom,
    This car more than doubled the previous year Imperial’s sales, despite being nearly identical. I’ve read several treatises about why, but for whatever reason, I’ll bet it was a very pleasant surprise tp the Chrysler brass.

    Reply
    • Carmine

      It got a lot cheaper from what I recall too, which had to help, the NYB’s pseudo Lincoln Continental looks at nicely equipped LeSabre/Delta 88 prices probably helped move lots of these.

      Reply
    • Francis Gerard Fay

      They lowered the price…….and also the Oil Embargo of 1973/1974 ended and gas prices went down….all of the large cars sales figures increased…..had Chrysler gambled and waited it out, the Imperial could have survived….all they needed was a Eldorado/Seville/MarkV type of model to supplement the brand…..rather than just one car which Chrysler and Imperial were both famous for…..not until the Cododba did Chrysler offer two bodys, B and C bodies.

      Reply
  7. geozinger

    Wow, that thing is a beauty.

    Cadillacs and Lincolns were a lot more common in my hometown, but these cars were out in some numbers. Something about them, maybe the relative rarity, made them seem more special. While the captains of industry had Caddys (like the gray flannel suit), a few entrepreneurs in our area had other cars, like this Chrysler. It made quite the impression on me and resonates to this very day.

    Reply
  8. George Denzinger

    This is a marvelous car, Tom.

    When I was a kid in my hometown, most all captains of industry had Cadillacs. There were a few entrepreneurs that had amassed some bucks too and they would be seen driving something like this. I don’t know why, but I have real soft spot for these cars.

    Reply
  9. Francis Gerard Fay

    This was really a special order car. I worked at Chrysler at the time and you’d see some special orders with some different color combinations. Black with a white and green interior is really amazing….that wasn’t a standard order item for sure….someone went out of their way to get that combination.

    Reply

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