1968 New Yorker restoration

[dodge674]

Hi everyone,

I'm quite new here in the forum so I will introduce myself first.

My name is Jaron and I live in the Netherlands. I work as a car mechanic specializing in classic cars.
I own a 1968 Chrysler New Yorker since a while that I am restoring. Beside driving a 1969 Dodge D100 sweptline as a daily driver I'm not that familiar with Mopars, so that is why I'm posting this thread. To give some updates on the restoration, but also maybe getting some info and help.

The New Yorker I'm restoring is a 1968 model and was sold new in California. It is an original one owner black plate car and it even has the original invoice and insurance papers.

I've bought the car off course because I liked the model, but also because of the history. The body is incredibly straight and original and that was what made me fell for this car. Although it is a California car, it does have some rust issues. A bit more than I was expecting, but that's normal with a older car.

The left front floor pan is one of the issues, but that is easy to fix. A bit worse is the roof and underside of the rear window. It obviously had some moisture issues because of the vinyl roof and I do believe that is also the reason why the left front floor pan is rusted. I removed the vinyl roof (it had seen better days) and found a few small holes in the roof. The biggest problem is that the underside off the rear window molding has rusted away. It is quite complex shaped, so that is going to be a challenge to repair. The rest of the car looks like a California car should (luckily).

All the chrome and stainless look perfect, except for the rear bumper. So if anyone has a good one, I might be interested.

The interior was a bit tired and very dirty. The seats have already been reupholstered, but haven't done anything to the rest of the interior yet. Body first.
It needs new carpet and headliner and a lot of cleaning. The dashboard has a few cracks so I have to repair those. The door panels look like new (beside some cleaning), so I do have some luck with those.

It runs and drives quite well, even the ac works. Tires are very old and squire and the exhaust hangs a bit loose, but beside that, it is not that bad.

The new Yorker is going to be restored as close to original as possible and if anyone has some tips or info I would appreciate that.
What I would like to know if there are ways to tell if it is matching numbers and if there are any stamped Vin or body numbers on a New Yorker? How do you decode the body tag of a New Yorker? I also have the build sheet in the rear seat.

I've added a few pictures, more will follow of course. If wanted.

 

[dodge674]

I already did a small rust repair on the trunk where it had some rust underneath the emblem. The rest of the rust still has to be repaired.

 

[GOLDMYN]

nice, you do good metal work, if you need any pix, let me know. i have 1968 new yorker,

original survivor

 

[dodge674]

Thank you. That looks like a really nice New Yorker!

If I need any pictures I will let you know, thank you for the offer. Luckily the car was complete and in one piece before I started.

 

[69monaco]

Can you show a picture of the fendertag...….

 

[dodge674]

Yes of course I can.

 

[69monaco]

h7 - fender mounted turn signal indicators

second row

A1 - 26 inch radiator
k8 - power windows
r2 - am radio
s1 - a/c
x1 - tinted glass
y6 - black vinyltop

 

[dodge674]

Thank you. Good to know, seems to be correct with the car!

 

[Davea Lux]

The '68 model cars do not have "numbers matching" criteria as there are no VIN number stamps on the engine or transmission. Check the date castings on the engine and transmission. As long as they are prior to the build date of the car, that is all you need to worry about. Somewhere in the car, there may be a build sheet that has additional information. Build sheets are often found under the seat springs.

Dave

 

[HWYCRZR]

Welcome and good luck with the restoration. I have the Dodge Polara 2 dr hardtop version for ‘68.
It seems you may know most of the mechanical stuff but if you have any questions please ask. I have personally touched and rebuilt/ detailed every part in my car.

 

[Davea Lux]

The FSM for you vehicle can be downloaded for free at www.mymopar.com, you will find it in the Tools/Reference section. This site has lots of useful information.

Dave

 

[dodge674]

Thank you for the responses.

I do have the build sheet, it is under the rear seat and the upholsterer has put it back where it belongs. I will check that out later.

I don't actually mind if a car is matching numbers or not, it is just out of curiosity. But I will check the casting numbers. I do have quite a lot of maintenance invoices with the car. The transmission has been rebuild, but there are no invoices for a rebuild or new engine. It looks original and I doubt if it has even been out of the car, so I do have good hopes that it is original. I'm not going to rebuild it, it runs really nice and strong. I will get the engine out of the car to give it a good clean and maybe a lick of paint. I've noticed that it had a few freeze plugs that where starting to leak and they are a lot easier to replace with the engine out.

Also in my opinion when you do everything on a car to make it look nice you can't forget the engine bay.

 

[dodge674]

Does anyone (maybe goldmyn?) have good pictures of the engine bay? I've already searched on internet, but they al seem to be a little bit different. I would like to know how it looked originally and what color everything used to be? And maybe some pictures of the original stickers in the engine bay would be nice. Most seem to be still there, but I would like to be sure and keep or make it as original as possible.

 

[GOLDMYN]

 

[GOLDMYN]

there's been some changes over the years

 

[GOLDMYN]

I removed the aftermarket cruise control and I'm sure you'll notice the metal pipe in

stead of hose @ the water pump

 

[dodge674]

Thank you for the pictures. It really is a nice clean car! I really like the bucket seats and center console.

It does give a great impression how it should be. My New Yorker is not that bad, and as far as I can tell it looks really original except for the engine itself. I already knew that, the engine is painted black..... Luckily there is blue paint underneath the black. The bolts of the engine mounts are completely undamaged (normally you can tell if a bolt has been removed). So that's why I think it has never been removed. It is going to be blue again of course.

 

[dodge674]

As far as I can tell from the pictures al the stickers are there on my car, except the sticker on the right front inner fender (passenger side). I can see there used to be a sticker, but it is gone. What kind of sticker used to be there?

 

[GOLDMYN]

As far as I can tell from the pictures al the stickers are there on my car, except the sticker on the right front inner fender (passenger side). I can see there used to be a sticker, but it is gone. What kind of sticker used to be there?

 

[dodge674]

Yes that one, what does it say?