Although the Cohort is chock-full of fantastic finds, how could I resist this Chrysler Newport convertible at the beach somewhere in California (San Diego?), posted by CJCars. It’s the perfect car to take to the beach; that is, if the weather is cooperating. And this time of year on the Pacific coast, it’s fog season, as we experienced yesterday ourselves, taking an old friend visiting from LA to the Oregon Coast, which was socked in with a low fog bank. I always tell folks not to come to the west coast in the summer, as spring, fall, and even winter is typically fog-free and much nicer.
Enough about the fog…
We’ve looked at a lot of Chrysler fuselage cars here the past few years, and they inevitably bring out rather polarized feelings and comments. But I don’t think we’ve had a rag top yet, and this splendid blue Newport refuses to be dissed in any way, shape or fashion. It makes for a perfect big American convertible, lacking that rather microcephalic coupe roof. This car is really working for me, on every possible level. Just needs a bit of sunshine. I’d be hard-pressed to think of another big convertible from 1969 that does this better, except a 300, of course.
The upholstery pattern is a bit unusual, but then this is 1969, and everything had to have a bit of a new edge to it. Too much wind in the back seat? The fuselage is wide enough to seat four on the front bench, in a pinch.
Its wearing “383 Magnum” badges, and the sound out of its twin pipes is undoubtedly a magnum opus (stretching the definition a wee bit). This yacht is a 19 foot dream boat!
That is one nice car. I always found it strange that the 2door hardtop version of the ’69 Newport did not have wing windows but the 2door convertible version did. I had the 2door hardtop version, a ’69 model, until last fall…with 440 motor. Its a shame there was no Imperial 2door convertible that year. Or if there was, someone please prove me wrong.
I do not know what that is in the front bumper just below the center of the grill. My 69 Newport did not have that.
That is a front bumper guard, but I didn’t know that horizontal style was available on 1969 Chryslers. Reminds me of the one that was available for 1965 Plymouth Fury. Possibly the owner added one to this car themselves?
This car is also wearing a set of one of my favorite wheels. They were a factory option on 1978-79 Mopars. I think they were available for every RWD model, but mostly seen on Cordobas.
To misquote Roger Moore in the Saint, the 300 and the Newport convertibles are D-licious! I got my licence in a “Business Coupe”-like Saratoga back in Canada, and my late Uncle has a just-restored 300 Convertible back in Kelowna, BC. I’d sell my soul for a 1969 Sport Fury ragtop, something in White or Green. Any sellers?
If it’s not sold already, today is your lucky day!
http://barnfinds.com/cheap-big-block-convertible/
What year Saratoga? The last year for the Saratoga was 1965, and I’m not sure if they actually had any “Saratoga” badging on them. And what year is your uncle’s 300?
That’s an amazing price.
I sold mine for $2200 in rough condition.
i have this! just bought few days ago from estste sale…69 newport convert 383 68k orig miles orig owner 94 yo…whats it kinda worth?? 586 563 0425
My 69 Newport town n country convertible has one(front bumper guard) also
Any idea where I can find all the exterior rubber /weather stripping for all the glass, quarter glass top seals deck lid etc. for this year and model?
That is a great looking Chrysler, that color combo is great.
That horizontal bumper guard was an option on the 1969-71 Chryslers.
The vent windows were standard on all 2 doors that did not have AC in 1969, it was an option on the 2 doors with AC. The vent windows were dropped in 1970 on the 2 doors. The 4 doors and wagons had vent windows standard in 1969 and 70. The vent windows were made optional on 4 doors in 1971. The convertibles had vent windows standard on 1969 and 70.
Yes, that front bumper guard was a factory option. You can also see the optional rear bumper rub strips that complemented it. The ‘383 Magnum’ nameplates do not look original to this car to me, but I admit it has been a long time since I drooled over these cars when they were new at the local dealer.
I have always loved this era of Mopars. I had the coupe version of this one back in the mid-seventies. It was an unusually optioned car, with only power steering checked off the list. The 383 with a 2 barrel was standard, but mine had a three speed on the column, manual drum brakes, no radio, no a/c. It was a great road car, and on one long trip I made it averaged 18 mpg even cruising between 70 and 80.
I would take another one, but it has been many years since I have seen one in my part of the world.
Speaking of unusual fuselage Mopars, check this out:
Check out the wranglers in the back!!! And there is an LJ (extended wrangler) in the front!! Ha sorry, I am a jeep guy.
The Silver TJ Unlimited looks exactly like mine.
Thats what I noticed too, all 3 Wranglers in a row
Me three! 🙂
I guess I must be a non-Jeep guy – I had to refer again to the pic to see the Jeeps. Actually it’s more that I’m a Chrysler guy. I never did have a Chrysler convertible but had rides in several that other club members had over the years, from a 1946 Town and Country to a red on black 1970 300 that was very similar to the subject car.
That silver LJ is sharp. I want one so I can get a Gr8Tops halfcab roof and make a pickup. I miss my Scrambler!
Pre-CC effect? I saw one of these in red this past Sunday. What a nice looking ride!
Love the fuselage Chryslers! My grandfather had the 4-door hardtop version of this car when I was very young. (Also a ’69, I’ve come to learn, as evidenced by the triple emblem on the grill). The convertible is on my “dream garage” list. Beautiful lines, great styling. A true pre-broughamization classic.
I love this. It’s absolutely right, even the color. Just perfect for cruising through Outer Banks towns in the twilight.
Normally, I prefer a dark interior, but with that particular shade of blue, a lighter color interior would probably look better. Maybe even white, and I’m not a fan of white convertible interiors because of how quickly they get dirty if the top’s down a lot.
What a perfect image! Heading South, with the Hatteras lighthouse in the distance…
Sweet looking car. I’ve always liked Chrysler’s fuselage style cars. 🙂
Conversely, I’ve never really liked the fuselage cars, but quite like this convertible. 🙂
Drool. My sophomore year of high school (maybe early 1976), my American History teacher Mr. Franzman asked me to go out to the parking lot and get something out of the trunk of his car. “It’s a bronze Chrysler convertible with a white top.” It was this car. Mr. Franzman was rumored to be quite wealthy, but he was still driving that Newport ragtop to school every day, so he must have really liked it. I have always wondered what happened to it.
These things are really, really rare. Chrysler made under 2200 of them (and another 2000 300s) and they really had no fan base in the late 70s when they needed care. I’m normally a pre-fuselage guy at heart, but I would SO rock this one.
Much more rarer is the 1970 300 Hurst convertible especially when the total production of both hardtop and convertible is 500. http://www.hotrod.com/events/coverage/sema-2013-unexpected-find/
+1, JPC. I like my Engel-era C bodies but this ragtop is definitely striking a chord with me. Its blue for one, and these look best as ragtops. The coupes are definitely more in the vein of contemporary Caddys/Olds’/Mercs, etc whereas the Engel -era C’s are more in line with the Impala SS of the early mid 60s. More ‘big muscle car’, if you will.
I know EXACTLY where this pic was taken. It’s on Pacific Beach Blvd in Mission Beach CA (which is near La Jolla in lower San Diego). This is just a few blocks from my childhood home. Very fond memories there. I have lurked on this website for maybe 2 years now and this is the picture that has inspired me to finally post.
There are hundreds of boats in nearby Coronado Bay and you find the one boat on land haha, love the website btw.
It would have been pretty cool if this photo had been shot in Newport Beach. 😀
I too have had the hots for these fuselage convertibles. I’m usually a stickler for originality on cars, but those ’70s era Chrysler Cordoba / LeBaron wheels look great on this – they look a lot like the wheel covers on the 1963 Imperial. And, I’m delighted to see period correct whitewalls as well.
This was my screen saver for a while………….
Never knew the legendary Kelsey-Hayes “recall” wheels were going to be offered on the big Chryslers. They looked really good on the convertible.
A documented C-body with W23s would be among the holiest of Mopar holy grails.
The fuselage convertible is a great example of the old, big-engine, RWD, businessman’s express Chrysler Corporation going out with a bang. Yeah, Iacocca brought Chrysler convertibles back with the nice 1982 K-car Lebaron convertible, but for many, the last ‘real’ Chrysler convertible was this one.
Sweet, sweet find.
“Hop in my Chrysler, it’s as big as a whale, and it’s about to set sail!”
Can’t believe nobody’s posted that yet. Beautiful car, though. I like early fuselage Chryslers.
Im not much of a Kid Rock fan but in ‘Cowboy’ he says “buy an old drop top and Ill head out west”. This car is what I have in mind when that song comes on.
A very nice car indeed .
There was a decent one in a local Pick-A-Part Junk Yard’s for sale section for over two years near me , $1,500 , I think they eventually crushed it for scrap ~ what a waste but no one wanted it .
-Nate
When? And which Pick-a-Part? If I knew I would have scooped it up!
A beautiful early fuselage Chrysler in nice shape. Yes, the Le Baron wheel covers work, but the car screams for a set of correct road wheels. Or for that matter, any of the very attractive ’69 covers that Chrysler offered. Ditch the fuzzy dice and the trashy chrome pipes and replace the missing letters in the rear cove: transformation complete.
The only two knocks I have on this car are its narrow rear track, remedied for ’70, and the cheap flat black plastic dash facing. After the beautiful cast metal dashes of the mid 60s, these fuselage era dashes were terrible, especially on the Imperial.
Less than 2200 made? Rarer than I thought. Make mine a 300 4 door hardtop in Tuscan Bronze with black buckets.
The Great New Chrysler, indeed.
Those are not wheel covers, they are polished cast aluminum wheels with a finned center cap covering the lugs.
Well you gave me a lesson, BOC. I thought those were wheelcovers too. Knowing these are ‘real’, I like them that much more.
On which years and models were these cast wheels offered?
1978 and 79 Mopars. I think they were available for all RWD models, but you mostly only see them on Cordobas, and they’re fairly rare at that. I’ve heard that Lincolns also used the same wheels with different center caps.
I found a webpage with pics of the wheels without the center caps installed and the center cap separately.
http://www.dippy.org/forum2/index.php?topic=7464.0
Hi BOC…this is actually my 1969 Chrysler Newport and I live in San Diego and am looking for a good source for parts…nothing specific at this time (except for the rear window metal I believe metal slides that fit into the front slides once they are both rolled up)…anyway do you have any suggestions…anything would be helpful…and appreciate whatever answer you give.
So fine – and you’re right, the only thing better would be a 300 with those individual cast letters on the flanks. Agree the fuselage’s were the best of the last large convertibles, but the one area I have to give nods to both GM and Ford on was the top-up profile. Never a big fan of the angled cut-off of the rear panel that Chrysler used throughout most of the 60s. Being a good Californian, one wonders why Marcus Welby didn’t drive one of these instead of a 4 door 300 – my steeltown GP had a ’70 DeVille convertible, for Pete’s sake!
The ‘big American convertible’ of the recent past was still made by Chrysler, albeit in Sebring form.
The Sebring was “big”? It was only midsize. This is a real fullsize car. 🙂
Disclaimer: It would be interesting to review specs between this Newport and the much more recent Sebring convertible to see how they really compare, but I’m not that motivated.
Shame there weren’t any LH convertibles… They would have been nice in 2 door form.
I think it’s a shame that Chrysler never offered the modern 300 as a convertible. ASC did some conversions and they look good.
Just beautiful. I do agree with the comments about the interior in comparison to earlier C bodies, but all makes followed the trend to plastic.
This car makes just about everything offered over following decades look stunted, lacklustre, and cheap. New cars may be better by every metric but nobody looks twice.
I vote we restore limitless resources and optimism now!
Not much of a fuselage fan but the convertible looks a lot more attractive than the sedans.
“This yacht is a 19 foot dream boat!”
Exactly!
Man, I hate sitting on vinyl seats. My dad was a fan of lightly-optioned cars, and ALWAYS got vinyl seats. He said cloth was too tough to keep clean, and leather was not widely available at that time except in luxury cars. It was the 80s before he got cloth seats, and it was too late for me, having sweated my butt off on trips to Florida, with no a/c, because he said it gave him headaches. On the trip home, add some sand to the mix, and the ride was awful. Skin sticking to the vinyl, with the sandy grit abrading everything…yuck.
The black vinyl in this car would roast you on a hot sunny day.
Vinyl seats are easier to clean when kids(and adults) blow chunks.My little sister was usually violently ill after about an hour in a car.
Perfect, fuselage car featured on CC. I have 69 Dodge Polara 500 with 383cui, one of 573 convertibles made that year. It’s blast to drive when cruising down the city and listen to tti duals. But take it on hw, its better to put the top up.
Get some before they alll end up in crusher or are exported outside USA, the price of models with bigblock goes up. As all us iron from 60/70s.
That’s magnificent. Love the spinners too. The 383 Magnum badges on the Newport look out of place. A couple blocks from where I saw the Newport, I used to see a restored Plum Crazy Challenger wearing 440 Magnum badges in the same font, and they didn’t even look correct on it.
As a Mopar guy, I’m a fan of the fuselages and especially the very nice blue convertible feature car. And, as a Dodge guy, I really like your rare Polara 500 convertible. Although I wasn’t of driving age, I still recall going to look at the new 1969s in the fall of 1968. Must say that I don’t think I’ve ever personally seen a full-size 1969 Dodge convertible. Very, very rare in the good running condition that yours is.
Nice , i have one with the orig 440 magnum…..
Love, LOVE these cars. A 300 would be perfect but the Newport would be a very close second. The coupes do look just a *bit* proportionally, but the convertibles pretty much nailed it.
This may be my car exactly. My has the mentioned front bumper guard but no rear rubber. Might it have come off? Does this one have air? (Mine happens to have it and it was recently repaired.) Also my vehicle is “Spinniker”(?) white. My chief complaint: Original owner—I’m the second—didn’t get it with power windows. I guess most of us buy cars from dealer stock but it is a huge hassle—especially when going on a top-down summer drive with my bad right rotator cuff—to have to go around and crank each window before and after an otherwise delightful tour.?
I saw a car like that on episodes of MISSION: Impossible and Mannix. Chrysler Corporation furnished the cars. On MISSION: Impossible, team leader Jim Phelps would drive that car to a rendezvous point to pick up a Manila envelope with a tape player which contains the upcoming mission.