robndi43
Active Member
My family owned a '61 4 door with 361 and 3 speed manual tranny. It was delete of all options, radio and carpet (ie: rubber floor marts) included.
It would fly though. My dad took it in for a tune up, one time, and when the mechanic brought it back from the test drive, he told my dad "Brother Carrico, that Chrysler will roll!!"
It's the car I learned to drive in.
I tried, in vain, to get my old car back a few years ago. The trail went cold in Richmond Virginia. I was told that the owner there, had parked it in an abandoned lot and died afterward. The car sat there a long time until the city came and hauled it off to the scrap yard. Broke my heart to hear this.
Fast forward a few years.
I went on a quest for a replacement and found this car outside if Houston Texas. Ot had been in a garage for almost 30 years. I bought the car and went after it.
My son and I pulled out of our driveway, in WV, at 2:30 PM on a Friday. We were at the pick up point at 8:30 AM on Saturday morning. Arrived back in WV at 6:30 AM Sunday morning.
Was going to swap the tranny to a three speed manual, but due to the '62 manual I had and trying to put it into a '61, it has become to big of a headache to do at this time as I want to drive the car this summer. I do have a low mileage 413 out of a '59 Imperial that is going in. The 361 runs just fine though.
Did I mention that this Newport is an air car!!! Can you say bonus !!!!!
I have to send the automatic and the converter out for a rebuild, as there is no reverse. While it's out I'll freshen up the. 413, clean, blast and paint the engine bay, rebuild the entire front suspension and hopefully convert the car to late model front disc brakes with a modern dual master cylinder. When I was an 8 year old kid, dad's '56 Chrysler busted a brake hose. No brakes. If it hadn't been for my dad's lightening reflexes, it wouldn't have been pretty. I have never forgotten that. No single master cylinder for me. I bought dad a '56 Chrysler, which he still has, for Christmas 10 years ago. It is an all original 64,000 miles gorgeous two tone car that won best antique at the regional AACA meet last summer. The first thing I had done to the car when we got it was change the brakes to the dual system. Dad was 85 when we got it and I was afraid his reflexes might fail him and the outcome of a brake failure would have dire consequences.
Today I pulled the seats out and all the carpet. Scraped all the sound deadner out. What a chore. Found one minor rust area about the size of a dollar bill where the passengers right foot would set. Cut it out and formed a replacement panel to yet be welded back in. The rest if the foot is as good as the day it was built. Still can't figure how that one spot rotted out. Oh well could have been worse. Tomorrow I'm going to redo all the seam seal. After that cures I'm going to paint the entire floorboard with two coats of pour 15. Plan to do the entire bottom if the car with it too.
