1978 New Yorker build thread

[1975.Imperial]

I've done it again, with the bulk of the work done on the Imperial, I've managed to pick up another C-body project, this one in the form of a black on black on blue 1978 New Yorker.
It's been sitting since 2005 but it fired right up with some new plug wires. The gas tank got a nice cleaning and it's now able to move all on its own.
The body's a bit rough with some obvious bubbling under the roof, only the rear brakes work and there's no rebound on the pedal, and it's been a mouse house for a while, but that's it for the bulk of the problems. Of course, there are some other minor issues too, but they don't seem that bad.
With only 42,000km, the lean burn still seems to work, but the '78 wiper failure has gotten to it, ATCii has also quit. Otherwise, it's a pretty basic car when it comes to options, so not much left to break.
I have a feeling that the majority of the time spent fixing this one will be spent with a welder. Regardless of it's problems, it looks pretty good next to the Imperial

 

[1975.Imperial]

This car will likely be up for sale sometime during the summer, so that presents its own considerations, mainly pertaining to what would make it most desirable to a new owner. I've been fortunate with the Imperial since I never plan on selling it, thus I can modify it solely based on my preferences.
The two big dilemmas that I'm having are whether to keep the 400 all original, thereby keeping the emissions equipment all intact, or deleting it. Also, I evidently need to remove the vinyl top to repair the roof, I'm leaning towards not replacing it, but rather just painting it black to match the rest of the car.
As I'm certainly not the typical demographic of owner, I'd love to get some opinions from the group

 

[CBODY67]

A NY with no tilt wheel seems a bit unusual, to me. BTAIM

Fix the under-vinyl issues and repaint the top a metallic black rather than a non-metallic black, with the stock top moldings in place. That way, it looks a bit different but not wildly so.

Over the past few years, there was a '58 NY 2dr ht that came to our club shows. A stunningly neat car, in black with shiny chrome. But from a distance, I could tell something was different about the top color. When I got closer, I could see metallic in it and it had just a tad of "satin" in it, too. Looked neat and different, but did not detract from the car's total look.

This way, you do two things. Get the metal painted for the first time in its life and also make it look a bit different with the metallic paint up there.

Just some thoughts,
CBODY67

 

[mopar preferred]

Delete the vinyl.
The new owner can always put on a new top if they want, saves you some $.

 

[1975.Imperial]

A NY with no tilt wheel seems a bit unusual, to me. BTAIM

Fix the under-vinyl issues and repaint the top a metallic black rather than a non-metallic black, with the stock top moldings in place. That way, it looks a bit different but not wildly so.

Over the past few years, there was a '58 NY 2dr ht that came to our club shows. A stunningly neat car, in black with shiny chrome. But from a distance, I could tell something was different about the top color. When I got closer, I could see metallic in it and it had just a tad of "satin" in it, too. Looked neat and different, but did not detract from the car's total look.

This way, you do two things. Get the metal painted for the first time in its life and also make it look a bit different with the metallic paint up there.

Just some thoughts,
CBODY67

One of the things I find interesting about this car are the options it came with, it's the perfect example of the sort of car that would've been sitting on a dealership lot. So far the only options I've been able to find have been the fender skirts, door ding strips, vinyl top, high output alternator, block heater, 8-track radio, ATCii, and I forget whether cornering lights were an option for '78, but it has those. It also does have the base model hubcaps, I just prefer the black steelies on this one.

That's a great idea for the top, I was actually considering doing something similar with my Imperial. As I'm doing this with the tools at hand, getting a good finish with a sparkly black might be challenging, but I certainly like the idea of changing it up the top a bit

 

[1975.Imperial]

Delete the vinyl.
The new owner can always put on a new top if they want, saves you some $.

Good to hear that it's becoming a consensus. With '78 being a one year only top too, this'll save me a lot of headache