Last T&C

In my boyhood home state of Colorado, very few counties (not mine) "qualified."

Yet, also in Colorado they knew how to do it. Recently a 1977 T&C was offered on Ebay "from Colorado mountains". Here are the tags:

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Is there a signature of anyone named Ron Slack on that car? He is the dad of a good friend of mine.
 
If your car has a door sticker, look for MDH (Month-Day-Hour) in the lower left corner. For the T&C under discussion it's 070613:

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Mine was built on the evening shift of February 28. It would have been cooler if it had been built on my birthday, but one can't have everything.

It says something about the mass of these cars that they have GVWRs exceeding 3 tons - more than my Dakota!
 
I agree with others, what an awesome bit of history for that fine wagon... I have a '75 that is almost identical. di-noc only slightly better, lol.

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DC118us your car looks great!

As for the di-noc... it's one thing I don't have to worry about. Dad had a lot of friends at Chrysler back in the late 70's. One of them was a designer and had a friend of his at 3M send my dad enough rolls of the di-noc to redo the wood. I'm slowly collecting parts and should have our T&C back on the road by next summer.

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I've been working on the T&C... slowly. The cooling system is done. I'm moving on to the fuel system next. I found more paperwork on the car. I have the window sticker and some of the original paperwork. There is supposed to be correspondence between my father and Chrysler. I have a folder with handwritten notes about it being the last Town & Country built, but I'm looking for the letters on Chrysler stationary. When I find those, I'll post them. In the meantime... here's the window sticker. Dad ordered everything... including the engine block heater. We live in southern California, so that option was added so he could say he ordered it "fully loaded" rather than getting it because we needed it. It's just the way he was.

Aaron

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First and foremost Aaron, My condolences on loosing your Dad. I lost my Dad way back in '54 and I still miss him. But we'll hug and talk again someday. Being the new guy to the FCBO neighborhood I'm confused ah bit that your T&C even had a 440 in it. I thought the cross over to the 400 block took place in '73-'74, and I quickly add here that I'm not questioning the authenticity of your '77 T&C. Guess I learn something new every day. I'll be watching this thread with much interest. Go get 'um Guy, Love those Long Roofz. Jer
 
The paperwork is trickling in as we go through all of dad's stuff... and he had a LOT of stuff! This is the Chrysler Inner Company Correspondence discussing the production scheduling of the last Town & Country. This was the last step in the process before it was built. There should be more documentation showing how it all happened.

Aaron

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First and foremost Aaron, My condolences on loosing your Dad. I lost my Dad way back in '54 and I still miss him. But we'll hug and talk again someday. Being the new guy to the FCBO neighborhood I'm confused ah bit that your T&C even had a 440 in it. I thought the cross over to the 400 block took place in '73-'74, and I quickly add here that I'm not questioning the authenticity of your '77 T&C. Guess I learn something new every day. I'll be watching this thread with much interest. Go get 'um Guy, Love those Long Roofz. Jer

No less than 440 cubic inches in T&Cs as standard during the model years 1973-77. 400 was a no-cost option in 75-77.
 
Hi everybody! Over the past couple of months I've made a lot of progress. With the stay at home orders, I've been able to take some time and work on the Town & Country. The brake and cooling systems are done, carburetor is rebuilt, vacuum lines are replaced, and it has a new set of tires. The ignition system (wires, plugs, starter, voltage regulator, ballast resistor, coil, etc) is all new. I serviced the engine and transmission too. I've cleaned and rebuilt the wheel covers, removed and detailed the roof rack (with new vinyl wood), polished the roof, and replaced the broken parking light lens. Today I removed the trailer hitch assembly and the fuel tank. The tank was rusty inside and is going to need substantial work. The ring that the sending unit gasket sits on was completely rusted away. I think I'm going to have to splice in a sending unit flange section from another tank. It's not a huge deal, but it will slow my pace a little. Since the wagon tanks are different than the sedans, I can't just go out and buy one. That's a bummer.

My sister found a stack of documentation about the car and its build. I haven't been able to see her for a couple of months, but I'll post it when I get it.

Aaron

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Gosh Aaron, I am seeing this thread for the first time this evening. I am very sorry to hear of Sherwood's passing as we had known each other for more than 40 years. I saw him last at a Spring Fling maybe 2 years ago and hadn't seen him since then and was wondering about him. I will always remember him as the guy that had stashed away those 3 original 300D EFI units. Hope they will go to good use. I wasn't aware of him having this T&C wagon but I am glad you got it and are making it nice again. He contributed a great deal to the WPC Club.

May he rest in peace

Steve
 
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Rapid Trans,

This is my 65 Valiant V-8 convertible. I bought it as my first car in 1983. It had 16,000 miles at the time. Now it has about 45,000 miles on it. Lots of cars have come and gone throughout the years, but the Valiant has always been my favorite. The T&C will be an easy project and a part of the family.

Aaron

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Your 65 Valiant convertible is really cool, but I think of the cars I have seen of yours over the years, your 1960 Polara station wagon is one of my favorites.
 
Love the Valiant convertible. Almost bought one last year in the same color with the 273 motor in it. Manual brakes and power steering. I wanted to buy it and change out the grille and lower valance to make my own 65 Barracuda convertible that Chrysler Corp never made. Sadly, when I drove the car it seemed underpowered in the engine department (tired, but no knocks or smoke), overpowered in the steering dept, and again underpowered in the braking department. I have a 57 and 61 Chrysler 300's, and I guess I forgot how 'downmarket' the Plymouths were from a letter car. I drive my letter cars long distances in comfort to get to car shows during the season, but I don't think I'd like being in that Plymouth that I test drove for more than 20 minutes at a time and under 60 mph. I'm sure it could have been gone through with some modern A-body upgrades to brakes and suspension, and a freshening up of the motor to 4 barrel dual exhaust status, but I wasn't looking for a project, just something I could change the look of to have a unique Barracuda convertible to mess with people's heads at cruise nights. I also have a 2005 Magnum that I turned into a Chrysler 300C commemorative station wagon to use as a daily driver. The car looks much better with the 300C nose and trim. That only took one weekend and drives great.
 
DC118us your car looks great!

As for the di-noc... it's one thing I don't have to worry about. Dad had a lot of friends at Chrysler back in the late 70's. One of them was a designer and had a friend of his at 3M send my dad enough rolls of the di-noc to redo the wood. I'm slowly collecting parts and should have our T&C back on the road by next summer.

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That's a cool stash of Di-Noc! Do you or anyone else know if this exact color/pattern is still being made? I've ordered samples of many colors of 3M Di-Noc and none are spot on or even close really. Most of mine (1977 T&C identical color to yours) looks decent, but I need some for the rear and the rack.
 
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