Hooniverse Wagon Wednesday – A 1964 Chrysler New Yorker Wagon with only 3,779 Miles

Jim Brennan

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Welcome to another Hooniverse Wagon Wednesday, and while this is British Week, I thought this particular Chrysler wagon trumped anything British for this feature. This car is pure, unadulterated, 60s Chrysler quirkiness. You get a last year Chrysler Hardtop Wagon body style, a Square Steering Wheel, the Push-Button Transmission Selector, the whinny of the Chrysler gear-reduction starter, almost every option available from Chrysler at the time, and the last year that Chrysler exhibited Virgil Exner styling. So, lets take a look at the most un-British car that will be profiled during British Week.


I found this car within Hemmings, and what a find. It is a Chrysler New Yorker Wagon in its original factory condition, and according to the listing:

An amazing car that has to be seen in person to believe, only 3,779 actual miles were ever put on this never restored 100% original four-door hardtop wagon since new. Finished in the factory applied Dune beige with an incredible Tan vinyl interior, it’s equipped with the venerable 413 cubic inch V8, with popular options of the day including push button automatic transmission, power steering, power brakes, air conditioning and radio. Owners manual, dealer brochures, magazine article, history of ownership and verification of mileage are included. Possibly the finest original low mileage wagon in the world…


With this low mileage, in the condition as it left the factory, the asking price is a bit steep at $44,500. Is that too much for this pristine wagon with more personality than anything you could buy today? See the listing here.

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Jim Brennan

Jim Brennan

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  1. tonyola Avatar
    tonyola

    In a way, I don't like seeing cars like this. This New Yorker looks to be a wonderful station wagon that has been severely underdriven – it probably has never been properly broken in. There are likely tons of little things that need attending to for the car to be truly roadworthy. Not only that, every mile that you drive it would erode the wildly inflated value. It would make much more sense to spend a quarter or third of this money and get a Chrysler that has been decently used and cared for all these years. They're not hard to find.

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  2. chrystlubitshi Avatar
    chrystlubitshi

    thanks for this Jim, I love the quirkiness!

    Reply
  3. muthalovin Avatar
    muthalovin

    Incredibly clean, but an astronomical price. That is a serious chunk of change for something that has not been properly driven. However, push-button transmission!

    Reply
  4. citroen67 Avatar
    citroen67

    Yikes! Nice car…crack price.
    I am not a huge fan of the "let's buy a car, and NEVER drive it" theory. I'm more of a fan of "buy it, use it, abuse it, and then restore it when the time comes." Don't get me wrong, taking care of your ride is a definite, but socking it away in a corner, only to unearth it decades later has always seemed rather strange, to me. Just because it has low miles, doesn't automatically warrant a high investment yield. Think of all the bits that will have to be tended to, in the wake of its multi-year purgatory…like the rusty, and inevitably-going-to-seize A/C compressor, and all of the suspension bushings.
    I'm not trying to pee on anybody's parade, because I still think that the car is worth a few bucks, but I think that it might be a little more appealing with a little less of an asking price. IMHO, it is worth a solid $27-32,000, max. For that money, I wouldn't feel the least bit bad about the thousands in general maintenance that will follow, soon after the purchase of this beautiful wagon.

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  5. LTDScott Avatar
    LTDScott

    I love cars of this era because the brake pedals are always comically large. It's like they knew the brakes weren't that great, so they made the pedal big enough that you could stab your foot anywhere in the vicinity and attempt to slow the car down.
    Actually, now that I think about it, it's probably because power brakes were still an uncommon option on most cars, so they made the pedal big enough to use both feet.

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    1. JoeDunlap Avatar
      JoeDunlap

      Pretty much right on the last comment Scott. It was that large so you could use both feet, but it was that way IF the car had power assist, which this car does. Booster failures were quite common in those days, and all mfgrs planned ahead this way. I lost a booster on my 66 Fairlane GTA one time, and it took both feet to stop the bloody thing.
      Joe

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    2. chrystlubitshi Avatar
      chrystlubitshi

      i always thought the pedal was that large so that you could use both feet at the same time with ease… because yeah… manual breaks can be quite the work out….

      Reply
    3. tonyola Avatar
      tonyola

      Also, most cars before 1967 had single master cylinders so if things went wonky with the hydraulics, there was no backup.

      Reply
  6. Cretony38 Avatar
    Cretony38

    We had one of these! 3 boys playing in the back with no seat belts on long trips. leaded gas, nice crumple zones in my parents bodies, poor visibility, bad tires, poor brakes, lead paint… Snif sometimes I miss those inappropriate '60's

    Reply
    1. chrystlubitshi Avatar
      chrystlubitshi

      i think the oldest one that i ever rode in (while growing up) was a '76 vega 2 door wagon. I have, since then, been in much older and more reliable vehicles…. after that one, my parents had a long succession of GM full sized wagons, buick, pontiac, oldsmobile, and chevy… as long as it had (at least) a 350 under the hood, sat 9+ and was RWD.. it was suitable to our needs (2 parents plus 5 male children)…. i have, since then, ridden in many older/larger vehicles.. but my childhood memories are mostly of giving puppet shows to the people following us through SE Nebraska and all of Missouri.

      Reply
  7. Slow Joe Crow Avatar
    Slow Joe Crow

    The price is high, but it's only original once so maybe not so crack pipe. If you squint just right, there is a British connection, since that square steering wheel was probably the inspiration for the Austin Allegro's Quartic steering wheel.

    Reply
  8. dukeisduke Avatar
    dukeisduke

    I'd be afraid to drive it anywhere except an empty parking, for fear that some nitwit would plow into it.

    Reply
  9. Black Steelies Avatar
    Black Steelies

    Gorgeous. It's amazing how the early 60's Chrysler styling has grown on me. I used to cast cars like this off as ugly. That was the old me, but still, I'd only consider drivers for cars that I would like to own, and a $45k wagon is not it.

    Reply