(first posted 12/10/2015) Some friends and I were on our way to the Chicago Auto Show at McCormick Place a few years ago when I spotted this classic Chrysler parked curbside while we were leaving the neighborhood. At that time, Chrysler’s very future seemed uncertain following its Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing the previous year. I was able to convince the driver to stop the car so I could get a few pictures. “Fuselage” Chryslers of this period play a small part in my family lore, in that my grandparents had owned what I remember to be a 1971 Dodge Polara. The only full-size car my parents ever owned was a blue, ’72 Plymouth Fury I. It was also a Newport like the featured car that almost ran Grandma’s silver, ’79 Ford Fiesta off the road into northwestern Ohio’s Maumee River while making a “country right” (swerving slightly left before swinging completely right), while my younger brother and I were also in the car.
This 1972 Chrysler Newport Royal is one of a total of 130,305 Newports produced for the model-year. Of this total, 85,244 were the Newport Royal subseries, and of that figure, 47,437 were four-door, pillared sedans like this one – the most popular individual model of all Newports produced that year. The base price for the Newport Royal sedan was $4,051 (about $23,000 adjusted for 2015). For the sake of comparison, a 1972 Buick LeSabre Custom four-door pillared sedan started at just $4 less, at $4,047. To further put this into perspective, the modern-day equivalents of these two cars start at just within $1,000 of each other (roughly 3%), with a 2016 Chrysler 300 starting at around $32,000 against the Buick LaCrosse at $31,000.
The rear styling of these Newports thoroughly confused me as a kid when I was learning about cars. I would often mistake them with Oldsmobile Delta 88s of the same era. I mean, look at the above collage I put together of two pictures found on the net, of a ’72 Olds Delta 88 (top) and a ’73 Chrysler Newport (with the ’73 Newport’s rear styling being only a slight revision of that of the featured ’72). How was this facsimile even legal? Or is this perceived similarity all just in my head? That Chrysler’s styling department started phoning it in around this time is a well-worn path familiar to many CC readers, but I felt it does bear a brief mention here.
If given the choice between a ’73 Buick LeSabre Custom and a ’73 Chrysler Newport Royal – with their $4 difference in starting price, that’s a tough one. The LeSabre and I originate from the same city (Flint, Michigan), so there’s the loyalty factor, and the Buick name arguably carried more cachet in the early 1970’s than today. But then again, Chryslers of the 70’s were also still positioned upmarket, and this one looks great in mint green metallic. Car-for-car and side-by-side, I probably prefer the LeSabre’s swoopy curves to the Newport’s more slab-sided contours (which may run contrary to more than a few opinions) – but in 2015, I think they’re both great-looking cars.
As far as the Certs breath mints reference, certain things like colors (in my mind’s eye, the two colors were more similar than is evident above) will always remind me of things discovered during childhood. And don’t think you wouldn’t look and feel cool as a cucumber while cruising in this beauty to catch a set at the local jazz club on Saturday night. As for Grandma’s silver Fiesta, it sadly went bye-bye shortly after the near-accident for a two-tone beige-and-burnt-orange ’82 Plymouth Horizon five-door hatchback – another trouble-free, well-engineered car. The right-turn mishap wasn’t the Fiesta’s fault (its brakes did their job very well), and this trade was more likely due to Grandpa’s preference to trade their cars in every three years or so. I did love watching Grandma row through the Fiesta’s four-speed manual gearbox.
As for you, Chrysler Newport, I forgive you for almost taking me out with my grandma and brother. We lived to tell about it, so you and I are good. I haven’t seen you around for a while, but I hope you’re still on the road, parked somewhere warm and dry, and hopefully also salt- and rust-free.
The subject car was as photographed by the author on Sunday, February 14, 2010 in Edgewater, Chicago, Illinois.
Related reading:
- From JPCavanaugh: Car Show Classic: 1974 Chrysler Newport – Sorry, Please Play Again;
- From Paul Niedermeyer: CC Outtake: 1973 Chrysler Newport – The Green Giant; and
- From Jason Shafer: Automotive History Follow-Up: President Harry S Truman And His 1972 Chrysler Newport.
I used to have a neighbour, when I was a boy, who had one like this. I found it more attractive than anything that came later by Chrysler. Everything since then have looked hideous by comparison.
When I met my adolescent best-friend Dan in the fall of 1972, his father was rocking a black 72 Newport Royal 2 door with a slick roof and black cloth interior. I really, really liked that car. Periodically he would swap on a set of slotted aluminum wheels with fat Goodrich T/As (with the raised white letters) and that Chrysler turned absolutely menacing. I don’t think there has ever been another single fuselage Mopar I would take over that car.
I got to drive the car a time or two, as he kept it for awhile, before trading it on a flesh-colored six cylinder 76 Granada sedan. Yuck. He must have agreed, because in about a year a 77 Newport Custom 4 door hardtop replaced it.
You may have already caught this, but the Newport Royal was actually the base model Newport in 1972, and was outranked by the Newport Custom, which might have been a better head-to-head comparison with a LeSabre Custom.
JPC, I love how your friend’s dad boomeranged back to a Newport. It was only recently that I developed a taste for Granada sedans of this generation, thanks to what I consider a great counterpoint to my former Granada-dislike by contributor Tom Klockau (https://www.curbsideclassic.com/curbside-classics-american/curbside-classic-1977-ford-granada-ghia-ltd-lite/).
And thanks about the Newport Custom / LeSabre Custom clarification! Back when I was actually researching these figures in my encyclopedia (which is, sadly, in offsite storage at present), I was more drawn in by the $4 difference between the two cars. But you’re 100% correct – I’ve got the two cars slightly misaligned.
I was pleasantly surprised to discover that the 2016 LaCrosse and 300 cost about $1,000 of each other.
That Royal as base issue also occurred to me. Name inflation in the ’70s was as rampant as monetary inflation, but Chrysler picked an odd way to conflate the base Newport name by adding the suffix Royal.
This is going to get arcane – as things tend to on CC.
The Chrysler Royal name had a lot of history at Chrysler. In 1969, Oldsmobile steals the Royal(e) name for its high end Eighty-Eight. Chrysler claws back Royal with the ’72 Newport, and steals the Olds’ taillights in the process.
There, mystery solved, and I’ve created my first Internet legend.
Yes, the Chrysler Royal had been the base model way back in the flathead era, going back to the 1930s, IIRC.
Found it. 1937.
Dodge also used the “Royal” name in the 1950s.
“Chrysler Royal” always makes me think of….
Wow! In 1937 the position of the headlights made all the difference.
Yes, actually my little tale is true, my implied motivation is only plausible, but completely unverified.
Not knowing that history as a kid – when the Newport Royal was selling, I usually assumed that it outranked the established Newport Custom name. But, Royals could be sold in rather stripped form, missing some of the trim you’d expect of an upper line car. I took me some time reviewing the Standard Catalog of cars to figure out the correct order of the model line-up.
Relative stripper New Yorkers were still being issued at this time. All the nuances of the same basic body had to be a bit maddening for the marketers.
>>Relative stripper New Yorkers <<
Nope. New Yorkers were top of the line, well above the Newport.
Davis, take a look at the brochure. Want air? Power windows or seat? Whitewalls? Tilt wheel? Even an AM radio? All optional in a ’72 New Yorker.
In ’72 there was still a base New Yorker. It’s interior and amenties were splitting hairs in terms of an upgrade over the Newport Custom.
The challenge with the big Fuselage era Chrsysler Body is they were trying to match trim for trim the Buick and Oldsmobile B and C range cars, and the Cadillac C and D cars with one basic body, while GM was doing the job with 6 bodies with considerable differentiation between most of them.
Considering that Chryslers also competed with the Plymouth Fury in the same showrooms, the Chrysler line up could probably have been limited to:
Newport, New Yorker, Imperial – using the Newport Custom, New Yorker Brougham and Imperial LeBaron interiors and trim.
A simpler approach, with an emphasis on content and value might have been a better way to battle with a company (GM) that was doing several times Chrysler’s business in this price range. More focus on quality, and less confusion on the assemply line with fractional differentiation between models is the sort of approach the Japanese showed us in the 1970s.
Slot mags on a 2 door Mopar….was there ever a better combo?
Seeing the front of the Newport was an instant time warp…
My best friend’s mom had a blue 69 Chrysler Newport 4 door (just like below). It was big as a tank, could fit 5 to 6 kids in the back seat with room to spare, and she had “no” problems maneuvering the car through the streets of New Orleans…
Every time I see a fuselage Chrysler, I think back to the blue Newport.
The ’69 Fuselage cars seemed to come in for a beating as sales were generally down with the introduction of all new cars for the first time since 1965.
I recall reading, maybe on Allpar, that the dealers were clamoring for more trim on the basic, simple design.
Frankly, I love the ’69 Newport Custom you have in your selected ad. Option it heavily, and it might be the ’69 Chrysler I’d pick even if money were no object. They are a clean “honest” design in my humble opinion.
This generation of full-size Chrysler seemed to be everywhere when I was a kid. I would even venture to guess that, among retail buyers, sales of the full-size Chryslers equaled sales of the Plymouth Fury, and easily beat the sales of the Dodge Polara/Monaco of these years.
In my memories, at least 60 percent of these Chryslers them were painted either this shade of green or metallic brown.
The copying of the taillight design used by the Oldsmobile Delta 88 wasn’t a one-year phenomenon. The 1972 Newport taillights look very much like those used on the 1971 Oldsmobile Delta 88.
Chrysler took plagiarism to new heights for 1974 by bringing out a completely restyled Plymouth Fury and Dodge Monaco that looked like a 1972 Buick LeSabre with heavier 5-mph bumpers. The problem was that people who wanted a Buick could buy the real thing, and get better build quality and more prestige for not too much more money.
I think the fact that the ’73 Newport is basically wearing a Caprice grille and headlight surrounds is equally bad, if not worse, than the Buick-ish ’74 Monaco. Both, however, show a distinct lack of imagination.
Even though Chrysler used ‘Royal’ before, it seemed like they were copying Olds Delta 88 Royale.
Fueseys arent my favorite…especially not 4 doors but that grille (similar to the sharktooth used on the Duster/Demon and some Cudas) really sets it off. Great color too!
Those dual pipes make me wonder whats lurking under the hood of this beast…
I agree with you on the 72’s grille. This may have been the best front end treatment of any regular Chrysler from the fuselage years.
Engines were pretty limited on these, it would have either been a 400 or a 440. Wait, I think someone convinced me awhile back that you could get a 360 in the Newport Royal. I don’t think they were common, I know I have never seen one.
The 360 was available in the ’71 Newport Royal as a means to capture a slightly lower price point….
http://www.automobile-catalog.com/make/chrysler/full-size_chrysler_6gen/full-size_6gen_newport_hardtop_sedan/1971.html
You are right. The 72 brochure does not list the 360 as being available. They must have sold about 17 of them with that engine.
According to http://fuselage.de
“The model sold pretty well. 19,622 sedans, 8,500 two-door hardtops and 5,188 four-door hardtops were produced. The $ 4,597.00 sedan was the cheapest Chrysler that year.”
“All Chrysler options, except the 370-HP “TNT” engine, could be ordered with the Royal.”
Love this fusey. The close-up pic of the fender badge shows the mottle of the paint – that with the colour reminds me of the industrial jigsaw from way back when that my father owns.
If I’m remembering my presidential factoids correctly, wasn’t Harry Truman’s last car a ’71 Newport? He was a Chrysler man through and through, from the 30’s onward. That car is still parked in the garage of his house in Independence, MO, but it’s not part of the regular museum tour. (Haven’t been but there are photos out there).
According to our in-house expert, Jason Shafer, it was a 72.
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/automotive-histories/automotive-history-follow-up-president-harry-s-truman-and-his-1972-chrysler-newport/
Oh, snap – momentarily forgot Shafer’s excellent article on President Truman’s Newport. Thanks for posting that, Don. I’ll append the “related reading” when I can get to a computer. Cheers!
Seek and you shall find. I covered it here a while back and have seen the car.
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/blog/automotive-history-the-cars-of-president-harry-s-truman/
Most excellent.
This era Chrysler (in this color, too) remind me of two of the more famous owners: Harry S. Truman and John Lennon.
For a Chicago car of that vintage, the rust is no where near as bad as it could be. Perhaps a garaged grandma specimen before it was thrown out on the street. Just like you, I hope it is running well–and maybe in a warmer, salt free climate.
I had never made the connection with the Oldsmobile tail light similarity until you pointed it out, but those ’73 Chrysler lenses sure ape the ’72 Olds 88. As for the ’72 lights, they almost look reminiscent of Olds Ninety-Eight lamps, just bowed out in the middle. When I was learning to car spot as a kid, I did start to pick up on identifying Chrysler Fuselage cars because they appeared extra barge-like to me, even in a sea of big cars. But they sure did crib GM (and Ford) details for trim, grilles, lights, etc. during the 1970s.
IDK if the local Chrysler dealer(s) were “Volume Sellers”…or what…but I do recall these 1968-73 Chryslers being ALL OVER New Orleans, in sedan or station wagon form, during the late 1960’s and 1970’s.
My love for the fuselage Cheyslers dates back to a very young age when my grandfather had a brownish gold Newport 4 door hardtop with black vinyl top and black brocade cloth interior. It was the first car I can recall ever having an impression of, and consequently a lifelong love for. I distinctly recall sitting in the front seat in the driveway watching the little green ignition courtesy light, waiting for it to time out and shut of as my grandfather warmed the engine up prior to heading off on one of our adventures. It was a monstrous car. To my four year old eyes that dash, with its long ribbon speedo, various under mounted switches for map light and air vents, and the oddball radio with both volume and tuning roller switches on the left was a marvel and a mystery. I was probably fairly sure it could take us anywhere, like the spaceship on the Lost In Space reruns I used to watch on TV. I can still remember the sense of triumph I felt when I could finally manipulate that big chrome outside door handle with the heavy square button, and open the door all by myself. Nuts how just a glimpse of certain cars can trigger such vivid memories we might otherwise never even know we had.
Loved reading that, MTN. Thank you!
In late ’71 (IIRC) Our neighbor across the street, who was a Chevy guy and had bought a Caprice in 1968, bought a 1972 Caprice. The same day he brought it home, my dad bought home a 1972 Chrysler New Yorker Brougham, fully loaded, beige w/brown vinyl top, 440 c.i. and leather interior. For once, our neighbor had been upstaged as the Caprice only had a 400 c.i. and cloth interior!! (c:
Your neighbor should have brought home a 1972 Buick Electra 225 Limited to be comparable.
FYI… A great source for Chrysler/Plymouth/Dodge fuselage info is:
http://fuselage.de
Has plenty of pictures, specs, and info on some off year (Newport Royal) models.
When I think back to when I was a kid in the 70s and the C-Body Mopars were common on the streets, I think of them as very manly cars. Not in the way a jacked up Charger with sidepipes was macho; that was a kids car, but it seemed that only men, very manly men, drove these cars. These were tough cars, and they were parked at manly locales like the American Legion post, the volunteer fire department and the Mason’s Lodge. If you were a man, with a job and a family to support, you had a Chrysler (or Dodge or Plymouth) A big Chrysler with a 440. Even with stock exhausts, they sounded not so loud as they were authoritative. And they sure looked intimidating, bolstered by the fact that so many were police cars. My Mom had a Delta 88, and her best friend had an Impala, so therefore the big GMs were not very manly. Then my friend’s moms had Country Squires and Colony Parks so that rendered big Fords as not very macho either. But while my Dad, who at 6’2″ 280+, was a very manly cop, had a six cylinder Valiant (he was also cheap and could care less about cars) his closest friend and shift partner, as well as my Little League coach, had a dark green 1970 Polara sedan with a 440 and that car was downright scary to my young self; 40 years later I still remember clearly what that Dodge looked, smelled and felt like and it reeked of masculinity. We also had WWII-veteran neighbor with a beige 1973 New Yorker that was equally virile. Great cars they were.
I understand your point about Chrysler products being manly. In the 1960s, my father, a self made man involved in the justice system, drove three Dodge Polaras and racked up a lot of miles on them in the course of his work. The father of a friend, a decorated 80th Division vet, also chose Chryslers, a hot ’59 Plymouth Fury and a fine ’62 Newport. Yet another neighborhood father, a captain in the Esso tanker fleet, owned only Chryslers and senior Dodges. Maybe it was their mechanical toughness or maybe it was the Chrysler engineering rep, but these seemed to be the preferred rides of men who had serious work to do. As I’ve noted here before, I miss these men and their cars, and the America that produced them.
I agree that these were “manly” cars. There was something about these that appealed to no-nonsense men back in the 60s and 70s, the kind still wearing black wingtip shoes and unstylishly short hair.
Cadillac was as manly as anything made that era. If you drove one, you were a serious man of substance.
As a kid in the early ’70s I could easily tell these apart from various GM models, no problem. But today, I have difficulty telling apart all the look-alike SUVs and CUVs on the road.
Growing up in this era I remember Newports in mint green seemed to be everywhere. But was the Newport Royal sold in Canada?
They indeed were and were very popular, due to the cheapskate nature of Canadians. A dentist friend of my parents was so cheap that he bought one while visiting relatives in the US. The price was much cheaper than the Canada price, and in those days you could bring back after 1 year. So he left it with his son-in-law for a year, then brought it home.
Personally, I never cared for the Royals. People usually bought them with zero options, and to me they were just a big, stark, grimly appointed pig. I always thought that if you couldn’t afford a New Yorker, why not get a more nicely equipped Charger or Satellite for the same price.
Many folks from the Depression era thought of Chrysler brand as a ‘higher end’ make. Which is why De Soto died off. The Newport base model was sold as ‘Get a Chrysler at a lower price’!
Used to see many mature drivers in them in 60s to early 70’s. Then same buyers went to Dart/Valiants, through to the M body 5th Ave cars.
The Newport Royal trim was to go after GM B-O-P loyalists, since there was a UAW strike and low supply for a while in 1971 MY.
the Newport royal was sold in Canada. the first 72 I saw was a blue Newport royal sedan that the lady who drove me to sunday school bought. always had them as my favourite year Newport. thought she’d lost her mind when she traded it in on a plain jane 77 Monaco with a slant six.
I always liked the spearmint Certs, but hated the green cars that were common back then. It seemed like I knew a lot of people with green Mopars back in the middle to late ’70s. Mostly wagons, but still quite a few of Polaras/Furies/Newports in both 2 and 4 door versions. Most of them had at least a 400 in them, but I saw several later ones with 318s in them. I always thought of the 318 cars as “cheap guy’s cars”. A 318 was OK in a Duster/Dart/Etc, but not in a big car. One of our neighbors, who worked at the Perrysburg stamping plant had a green Polara Wagon with a built 440 in it. I loved listening to it’s lumpy idle. It sounded mean as he went past our house every morning and night. I never heard it at full throttle until just before I left Toledo in 1975 when he went flying by me on the Anthony Wayne Trail at Sherwood. It sounded GREAT. He still lives in the same house and drives a modded 300 now. He’s got to be 80, at least.
Toledo? Perrysburg? Wow – my grandparents’ old neck of the woods! All those little towns and hamlets near there: Deshler, Hamler, Defiance, Malinta, Napoleon…that’s where my mom spent her formative years. Your last times in Perrysburg would have been around my first trip through there. Very small world. I wish I could find a picture of their old Polara to post on here…
I have never noticed that similarity between the Newport and the LeSabre. That’s amazing.
My namesake had problems with cars that was family lore. Crosley, Nash, Oldsmobile, Chrysler, Jeep – he had a true knack for buying lemons.
This was one of them. It was a regular at the Chrysler dealer for mending, troubles, and as usual he tried hanging onto it long enough to save a dime. Few of us liked it for all its engine problems, but with his luck, we didn’t rub it in.
We were gone on a long trip into the Rockies and when we returned – the light brown Newport Royale was replaced by an Olds Delta.
Discovered that when we were away, he had a kidney stone lodge in his urethra. He made it behind the wheel to get to the hospital. The Newport wouldn’t start again. He was in agony, honking the horn until the neighbors found him and called an ambulance.
So, I’m not a fan to this day.
As soon as I saw the title, and realized the analogy, I knew this could only be by…… 🙂
It’s nice to be recognizable. 🙂
I liked these Chryslers, but not in a way that would lead someone to think I would have wanted one for myself. I thought the styling was nice and all, and I never noticed the unmistakable resemblance of the rear end.
These cars were above being taxicabs, were more limo like, possibly airport limo livery, or something just a bit better than a regular car. They were driven by engineers, accountants, and police captains. The Oldes and Buicks were driven by doctors and barristers, a bit more upper crust if you will.
I never had any seat time in these luxo barges, but I would have experienced them as ungainly large and floaty in ride and handling. A big engine would have been required to move these around, no, not a 318, it would have had to be a thirsty 440.
It’s completely nuts that I went down a rabbithole thinking of how much I loved Certs mints, to learn that they were discontinued very recently…and also that they contained no mint?
Certs have been discontinued?? Alas, it’s true. I had no idea. I don’t know anything about “partially hydrogenated cottonseed oil”, but apparently, it’s that bad.