I pull up to the light in the left turn lane and ogle the cars facing me waiting for their light. One stands out, clearly a ’50’s something-or-other that has some presence, maybe just difference, what exactly it is, I don’t know, they look as similar to me as modern CUVs do to some of you guys. I, using my finely honed CC reflex action, raise my phone and try to zoom in a bit, figuring that when the light changes the old girl will take a little time to adjust her skirts and carefully start to shuffle forward while gingerly attempting the turn giving me plenty of time to peel off six or seven nice shots. I’m even thinking maybe some video… But no! That’s not what happens at all! What the…!
The dame just rockets out of the blocks and takes off like the starter’s flag dropped at the autocross. Heeling over sharply and rocked back on her haunches the thing moves so unexpectedly quickly that my first picture is completely out of focus and unusable, the second shot now has to stand in as my main one, and the one just above has her already nosing out of frame. That, gentlemen and perhaps a lady or two, was the 1954 Chrysler New Yorker DeLuxe with 235hp FirePower V8. Or at least I think it was, so fleeting is the memory that the somewhat imperfect pictures have to stand in.
This brings back vivid memories: Iowa City, 1972. I met three young guys from Chicago who decided to give IC a try. I needed a job; they were working for a foundation/basement wall contractor, and told me there was an opening. They drove a white over baby blue New Yorker like this one, and they’d pick me up at 6:45 every morning. getting into that nice warm and very roomy car every morning was so comforting on cold Iowa winter mornings; it was hard getting out to go to work.
It reinforced how much better these taller big American luxury cars were than their longer, lower, wider successors. The interior room, with those tall sofas was so much better.
They had picked it up for a song in Chicago; but it was still rock solid: no rust, and it ran great. It would move along pretty well too, as this one is showing. Hemi power!
Great catch.
What’s IC?
Iowa City
Oh! Thank you. I was sure it had to be something simple I was underthinking, and it was.
A nice car, and compared with the Cadillacs of the day, kind of a “sleeper”.
Crazy the differences in styling and image which would occur over only a few years – the “300’s” were the following year, and 1957 was just 3 years away! Such was the impact of Virgil Exner.
My dad’s Windsor and my brother after his communion
It could have been a 1953- IIRC the only differences were a new instrument panel and Powerflite availability in 1954.
From what I could tell, the lower bodyside chrome differs between the two years.
@PC, I read recently that the TorqueFlite tranny was THE best auto tranny of the Big 3, hands down. I drove a 1955 Plymouth Savoy, red/black, 2-door, in 1978ish, but I don’t remember much about that car? I just read that the TorueFlite started in 1956! Maybe my Savoy had the Powerflite? I remember a little shifter stick protruding from the dash. It wasn’t on the ‘tree’ like Fords, and Chevys. I’ll have to do more Googling.
Your 55 Plymouth Savoy indeed had the rugged 2-speed PowerFlight AT with the dash shifter…as did my dad’s 55 Savoy. In 1956 the TorqueFlight was available in Imperials and high end Chryslers.
When I was 15 years old and on a learners permit I bought my first 55 Plymouth Belvedere from a classmate’s mom for $125 and drove it through high school and college. Sold it still running to another young man.
For nostalgia I now own a 3rd and very original turquoise Plymouth Belvedere V8 with PowerFlight and just 22 thousand miles. She goes well but brakes were their shortcoming. Fun to drive and amusing to for gawker at car shows. 🙂
Love it! I remember one in the Adirondacks driven by a salesman who came to Northwoods Dude Ranch in 1954 dressed in his business suit to see the owners of the hotel. The New Yorker Deluxe was mustard yellow with a white roof and mustard yellow interior. My cousin Frank and I got a ride in it. WOW, what a car! Indeed, the hemi Chrysler made the quick Oldsmobiles and Buicks look slow, yet the styling was not up to some of the competition. The interior, however, was great. I still like the styling. Chrystler Corporation gave a 1953 to Harry Truman after he left The White House.
I was born in Windsor, and it was a Chrysler town, bc they had a big Chrysler plant there! I vaguely remember riding in those chubby early 50s cars bc I was born in 1953, and I saw lots of them on the road during my youth. My Gramps worked at “Dominion Forge and Stamp” (Windsor) for 40ish years. He fashioned crank shafts out of molten metal, and went deaf from the LOUD stamping. It was a TOUGH job,(esp in HOT Windsor summers), but he was a tough guy! Cousin of Johnny Weissmuller (Tarzan, the Ape Man, and Olympic Gold Medal swimmer).
Man look at that thing lean thru that corner! Bet it’s a smooth ride tho.
Great spot. Always a treat to see cars from other eras, in a modern traffic context. I was looking at this pic the other day from 1953, of the Ambassador Bridge traffic from Detroit to Windsor. And noted, how similar styling (and popular colours), was then.
Biggest standout there is the red Kaiser
No question.
Nice Pics, Jim, but it may be time to enroll in the Joseph Dennis School of In-Motion Automotive Photography.
He’s the man when it comes to that sort of thing. 😉
Having said that though, quick thinking and iPhone photography don’t always go well together. To that, I’d say you did just fine.
My own attempt a few years ago yielded results no where near as good as yours, so kudos to you sir!
Amazing to see one of these in such nice condition. The ’54s closed out Chrysler’s postwar years of stodgy styling. Interesting to see the advertising people try to have it appear more appealing by making the car slightly lower and longer in their drawings.
I like the second photo best.
“Put the spurs to her!”
“Tromp on the dad!”
*. “Tromp on the gas dad!”
There a 1953-54 Chrysler New Yorker (althought it could be a Windsor or Saratoga) who was featured in this mid-1960s Texaco commercial with Don Adams.
Good picture ! .
My cell phone takes so long to snap a pic I’d have missed the green light much less the beautiful MoPar .
-Nate
Great catch!
In your defense, I’d say the driver really put his foot down when the lights turned green.
Last year I saw what I thought was a nice malaise-era Vette about to pull out of a side street, lined up the shot, and….. where’d he go? 🙂
The 54 Chrysler was much the same as 53. In 53 Chrysler built a limited number of what I believe was called CORONATION in honor of the CORONATION of QUEEN ELIZABETH II. Car was royal purple with white top. Anyone else remember? Never saw one,but have a magazine ad for it! Wonder how many were built and how many have SURVIVED?
I just looked at the ad… it states the Coronation Imperial was a one-off. Now, THAT’S a recreation I’d love to see!
Thanks for clarification. I guess I didn’t read closely enough. Guess it is appropriate that it was one of a kind, as ELIZABETH II was truly one of a kind. Unfortunately don’t think we will ever see anything like either again. 🏆👑. Anyone know the fate of this car? Hope it is in a museum. Perhaps WPC?
Thanks for information. Thought I was responding to you. Guess my comment has provided some attention to a beautiful automobile. Nice to see that interaction! God Save the CORONATION!👑. 😎👍
Rick, the `53 Imperial “Coronation” sedan was a one-off done for her visit to the US/Canada that year. Only one was built. It was never a ‘limited edition’. I have the time magazine ad showing it. 24K gold-plated interior trim, the works. Nobody in the MoPar Club knows if that car survived or not.
Appreciate your continued information. Maybe it was a gift to HRH. Surely hope it was not destroyed. Would have thought it might be in Chrysler museum.🤔. Hey, MAYBE Jay Leno has it in his collection! 😅.
As it went past, that New Yorker proudly showed off its chromed dual exhausts!!
My dad loved his 54 Chrysler Hemi with PowerFlight. Once the revs reached 2000 RPM the huge V8 took off. My 55 Plymouth Semi-HEMI 260 V8 is smaller displacement but has 230 lbs torque at 2200 RPM and surprises everyone when needed. Like dad’s Chrysler, my 55 Plymouth also heals over a bit on corners and curves but never looses her grip. Plymouth still can reach 60mph in 11.5 seconds. Dad’s Chrysler was far faster — maybe by 2 seconds. Massive torque!
John :
When I were a sprout and these cars were still daily driver’s the old guys told me ” when she finishes gathering her skirts she’ll take off like a scalded cat ! ” .
I liked ‘gather her skirts’ .
-Nate
Love it! I would love to see one of these getting it’s scat on from a light. Fabulous shots!
My Grandfather had 51 New Yorker and let me drive it when 16. Lots of power but very floaty ride and vague over-powered stearing. Not a car to drive fast.
Great catch Jim! I had a far easier time some years back in Los Angeles. We had seen the car moving in traffic, and then it later showed up parked just across the street from our motel. Same year, same model.
I was just about to drop cash on a 1954 New Yorker Deluxe in turquoise with a crunched right front fender when life intervened and the money was needed for something else. What a glorious car! I still remember the horn hub proclaiming “Power Steering”.
Looking for Intake and exhaust manifolds Chrysler New Yorker 1946 in line 8 engine
A driver who was paying attention to the lights. Not common enough these days. Most of the fastest-across-the-intersection credit goes to the driver.
I was once drove a Fiat 850, so worn out that I could turn the engine over by hand with the crankshaft pulley, with the spark plugs in. Even int that I was usually first across the intersection.
My Skylark surprises a few off the mark.
A driver’s ed teacher once told me “Red means stop. Green means go. Yellow means Go Fast !” It was a joke to me, a fellow teacher, not an instruction to his students.
Nice post. In the 50s my family lived in Detroit, I was born in 1955.
In 1958, we moved to Southern California, settled in the San Fernando Valley. Up until then, my grandfather, uncle and cousins worked at the Chrysler Corporation in Highland Park at Chrysler’s headquarters. So that meant they all drove Chrysler products. My grandfather always drove light blue Plymouths, that looked a lot like the New Yorker. My dad drove Desotos and Dodges. He had a 58 Dodge Custom Sierra wagon, that was the car he drove to California. Later that same year, my grandfather made the trip to California in a brand new 58 Plymouth Belvedere, it was the top of the line at the time. uncle and cousins drove Chryslers and Dodges. By 1957, all Chryslers had push button drive transmissions. I loved the sound they made when a button was depressed. By 61-62 we had full-size Chryslers. They had the Astrodome instrument clusters the glowed a really cool bluish green that Chrysler named “Panelesent lighting” there was nothing quite it. I have a special fondness for the Chrysler Corporation, they introduced many engineering firsts that later became automotive industry standards. I hope Chrysler will be with us for many more years to come.