1966 New Yorker - deep inpection started

[FredNY66]

Opening a thread, not in the restoration section, as I'm planning to keep the car as original as possible. Your X-ray eyes inpection is welcomed, if you detect "wrong things" so that I get educated

As the sunny days are back, I started a deep inspection of my New Yorker. Well, to be totally accurate, it started a couple of months ago with few things that didn't require a lot of space around the car, given that parking lots here are not sized for those barges.

First, clean-up of all the interior chrome trim, and removal of old residue from a previous unsuccessful try (date unknown). During that operation, I found some paperwork in the glovebox tray that I had missed before. There, I found the owner's manual with the delivery date, dealership name and location, etc. Sold new in Clifford, PA.

Regarding the chrome, very very minimal pitting, almost invisible, except one spot at the right front vent window, like a crater.

In the additional papers, I found some maintenance receipts and also registration receipts, and I was able to understand the car's history:
- Original owners: 1966-1986. The owner, aged +/- 85, passed away in 1986 (unclear when they went to Florida, it was between 1966 and 1981). His wife, younger, passed away in 2005. It looks like the car was bought when he was +/- 65, maybe the gift before retirement. Google is watching us, I found the owner's son and daughter names, grand-children's and great-grand-children's names, as well as where some of them lived (cities only) in 2005.
- Second owner: 1986-1990, car still in Florida.
- Third owner: 1990-2016, car in Michigan.
- Fourth owner: 2016 (not sure what happened, it looks like he kept the car only a brief period of time).
- Fifth owner: 2017, me, France.

Below, a pic "before and after". I think you will guess what knob had gone through the cleanup process, and which one hadn't .

 

[FredNY66]

Today, I started the carpet cleanup process, together with the front bench seat that I found to be too dirty compared to the rest. Parked the car in front of a friend's home that is nicely equipped with the necessary cleaning devices.

The carpet, despite a bit dirty in some places (not that visible), is in an unbelievably nice condition. This makes me think that the floor mats are original to the cars, and were there since day one. The pic below tells me that it never saw any shoe...

All doors open for the job.

 

[FredNY66]

On the back, I removed the bench seat, and found the production order, already fully decoded. Sheet metal seems in perfect condition.

I also understand now those weird green floor mats. Discoloration! The underside that never saw any sun rays is... turquoise !!! I'm now planning to give them their original color. You notice also the zones of the carpets where I couldn't bring back the deep blue color.

 

[live4theking]

She looks nice. you need to stop holding out on us and share some more pictures.

 

[FredNY66]

Regarding the production order sheet, what I can see on the car matches the options. Nothing is missing. It got also a factory undercoating, which explains a lot the rust absence: zero rust. Nothing. Nowhere. Last week, I was able to put the car on lifts, and rust is nowhere. Even the wheel wells, fender skirt area, trunk, no rust, nothing. The mechanic who was with me was just speechless for a 51 year old car.

I took the opportunity also to take a picture of the tires and their DOT codes. Looks like I run on 22 year old tires (if not more: code ends with 365). The spare wheel is still the narrow whitewall 8.55x14, and the current tires are 225/75R14. It seems that radial dimension doesn't exist anymore (couldn't find anything, blackwall or narrow whitewall). Not sure I want to go back to bias ply 8.55x14

Stay tuned, I'll continue to post as I'll deep dive in the New Yorker and make findings.

 

[Ross Wooldridge]

Beautiful!!

 

[CBODY67]

Really nice looking New Yorker! As for that original tire size. When those cars were around, in earlier times, that was a common tire size for many vehicles other than Chryslers per se. The last OEM application, I believe, was a 1974 Ford Torino wagon. The P225/75R-14 is the correct radial size, dimension-wise. I found some BFG Advantage TAs in P245/70R-14 that are an exact size/dimension match, too. But like the others, they aren't around anymore, either.

In about 2004, I found a '66 Newport at Mopar Nationals that had some Cooper TrendsetterSE P225/75R-14 whitewalls on it. They were correct in all ways, including the narrow tread width. But that was then an this is now, unfortunately.

There might still be some sources on P225/75R-14 whitewall radials, but you won't find any in the normal name brands at "normal" prices, BUT don't forget about the Korean/Asian brands. In order to move the '66 around, I got some P215/75R-14 radial whitewalls in a Korean brand. That's the 8.25x14 equivalent that was on the base Chrysler Newport without factory a/c.

I happened upon a '66 Chrysler wagon in the salvage yard years ago. Being a wagon, it had the 14x6.5" wheels on it. I put them with the P245/70R-14s on my '67 Newport CE23. Those thicker sidewalls (from back then) make washing the whitewalls on the rear wheels very tight, but they clear the leaf springs on the inside, although with less clearance. To me, those wheels were "a find" back then!

The main tires I've seen in the 8.55x14 equivalent have all been "repro" tires that cost around $200 USD each (whether radials or otherwise). Many have used the W23 road wheels (15x6) on that era Chrysler. That then uses the P225/75R-15 tire size, which looks pretty good on those cars AND is a factory Chrysler wheel. The '76 Charger Rallye Wheels (15x6.5) look pretty good on my '70 Monaco, too, but I believe 15x6s are available in repro.

On the front, the main clearance point is the outer tie rod end "boot" (seems to have been '66 only?). At one time, we had some Golden Sonic H78-14 whitewalls on the '66. A private brand made by UniRoyal, which were bias plies. They actually measured out to be right at a 70 series tire. Those, plus the later BFG Silvertown Belted H78-14s inner "rub strip" did make occasional contact with that boot, leaving a clean spot on the inner side wall. The '67 had no boots on it. Gobs of room between the tie rod end and the sidewall.

On the back, the main clearance issue will be with the leaf spring on the inner side wall. That plus the inside of the wheelhouse on the outside.

ONE issue we had on the '66 Newport (14x5.5" steel wheels) is that the rh front wheel would flex and cause the wheel cover to rotate in the wheel. This stretched the valve stem, which was the main "travel limiter" in this case, although the wheel's inner lip (where the wheel cover snaps into) had "nubs" there to interface with similar "stops" on the wheel cover itself. I tried prying the wheel cover stops out some, but the cover still rotated. I tried bending the "biters" on the wheel cover a little too, but that didn't help either. End result? Use a short valve stem with a screw on cap. Place the wheel cover valve stem hole away from the stem, once you are comfortable with the fact the tire pressure will not change very much. Easier to pop the cover off to check the air pressure than have a leaky valve stem!

Seems like the '67 Newport did that too, with the original 14x5.5" wheels?

Anyway, something to watch out for.

The car came with the short valve stems and medium length valve stem extensions. Many substituted longer valve stems for the same total length, after valve stem extensions seemed to fall from grace. I thought they looked neater and you didn't have to unscrew anything to check the air pressure.

In prior times, part of the used car reconditioning activity was to "re-dye" the carpets. The dyes were part of the carpet shampoos, in many cases. More of a tint than a "dye".

BUT, Chrysler trim codes back then had a metallic tint to them, so re-dyeing would probably cover that up. You can see the metallic in the seat fabrics and a pearl-tint on the seat and other vinyls, too. On my '67 Newport, it has white interior. The pearl that had aged looked like "dirt", but wasn't and wouldn't come off with cleaners, so that's just part of the patina on that car. Vinyl roofs and related roof inserts also have that pearl/metallic tint, also. It's something you don't notice at first, but when you put a "normal" color next to it, then you see it. All Chrysler trim codes through the 1973 model year were this way, especially the C (and probably Y) cars.

So, you've got one great car! Enjoy all of the things which made Chryslers great cars, back then!

CBODY67

 

[computerhater]

welcome to the 66 club!

 

[FredNY66]

One small update. Last Friday, I drove the car for the technical inspection, so that I can get it registered. A couple of brake issues, that I need to fix before presenting the car to the tech inspection again (nothing really serious, but enough to fail the brake inspection). Everything else passed the inspection.

The oil pressure warning light started to work back again, but it's still a bit erratic. Otherwise, all electrical accessories work (except clock that will go through repair this week-end), including the Safeguard Sentinel (missing its cap).

Thank you CBODY67 for the tire information. Highly appreciated. I do have indeed one hubcap that rotates in the wheel (rear right, easy to notice, the valve stem is acting as the "travel limiter" as you say), and I've noticed that depending on how I insert the hubcaps, they "click" when the car is in motion. Now I found a position where they don't click.

Will post nicer pictures once the car gets its new French license plates.

 

[detmatt]

Gorgeous car, love that color!

 

[GJS]

wow, beautiful! Keep the photos coming man!

 

[FredNY66]

Time flies... But here are some better pics taken today.

Since last post, the car passed successfully the technical inspection and is now licensed/registered as a collector car (therefore the black plates, instead of white). I have removed the trailer hitch, as it would be useless.

The only new issue I found recently is a leak at the grommet between the filler neck and the gas tank. A week ago, I decided to put much more gasoline than usual for a longer trip, and noticed the leak. New grommet delivered, and will now install it.

There are a couple of things to fix still (like the right rear axle bearing that's a bit noisy) and air conditioning to bring back to a running state. Or put a screw back just above the gauge cluster so that I don't have the left "half moon" hanging anymore (root cause: screw gone with the wind).

Yesterday, the car had its first heavy rain. No leaks inside, passenger compartment remained dry, as well as the trunk.

Finally, the clock is working back again. As removing the clock is just a no-go without headache, I drilled a very tiny hole on the clock case via the glove box (after removing the glove box upper liner), and sprayed a very small amount of WD40 with the very thin straw. All the sudden (a matter of maybe 5 seconds after the second spray), I hear the clock slowly returning back to life, and then ticking as it should around a minute after! Everything was OK in fact, it was just missing a bit of lubrication.

So far, 800 miles behind the wheel.

 

[live4theking]

Beautiful car. Way to go with the clock.

 

[FredNY66]

A few updates since 2017... I have since fixed the driver's door cylinder lock that wouldn't lock or unlock. Power door locks worked, but the key wouldn't do anything. After removing the door panel, it appears that a link was simply disconnected (part 38 in the below diagram).

When removing the door panel, I found the second broadcast sheet!

I also changed the vent window frame on the passenger's door, since the original one had a poor weatherstripping (one small section was destroyed) and the chrome wasn't that good. Now I have a perfect rubber and a much better chrome (not show though, but that's fine).

Finally, after an issue with an old tire on the highway, the car has now new shoes, rims and hubcaps. The hubcaps were found thanks to this forum! I will post later on some pictures comparing 225/75R15 (now), 225/75R14 (before) and 855x14 (original spare tire).

And here, a pic of the tire. What you see is the actual S shape after it suffered the failure (it became also oval). Apparently, the tread and/or belt failed and "disconnected" from the carcass.

Next work on the car is to find a noise that I have coming from the trunk, as if something shakes on each bump on the road (like timpani).

 

[CBODY67]

One area to look for back there is the exhaust pipe where it goes over the rear axle. Distances are not that big back there. IF the pipe was bent at a muffler shop, chances are (from experience), that it is probably moving a bit and contacting the underbody back there. Might also be a shock bushing that's deteriorated, too. There should be a hanger at the rear muffler clamp and also one near the end of the tail pipe (with a hard rubber insert the pipe's part slides into).

The car looks good! You've done well with the tire/wheel upgrade, too! If not already done, the speedo gears in the transmission need to be altered with the new, taller tires. That "last touch" sort of thing to keep things "right".

Enjoy!
CBODY67

 

[WissaMan]

Very nice car and I'm glad to see it in caring hands!

 

[commando1]

Next work on the car is to find a noise that I have coming from the trunk, as if something shakes on each bump on the road (like timpani).

Same thing here. Drove me NUTS for a year. I even rode in the trunk trying to find it. Finally found it.
One of the upper shock mount bushings was bad.