Totally 80's
Member
Hi all,
My father passed away recently and I was given our family’s ‘77 Town & Country. It hasn’t been driven since 1984 but isn’t too bad, all things considered. It has a really interesting story.
Dad was President of the W.P.C. (Chrysler) Club for over a decade in the ‘70’s and 80’s. Through his connections at Chrysler Corporation, he was invited into the Highland Park headquarters on numerous occasions. One day in ‘75 or ‘76, he was shown the new-for ‘78 downsized LeBaron Town & Country. He asked and was told that the days of the full sized wagons would be over at the end of the ‘77 model year.
That bit of information started a couple years of communication to see if he could get the last of the full sized wagons. Even better than being the last big T&C built, it was the last ‘77 Chrysler C-body built. There were no cars on the assembly line after this one.
The car was finished on 7-7-77 and was signed by the assembly line workers in nooks and crannies all over the car. The car was loaded with every available option. It’s a 9 passenger, has the 440, trailer tow package, AM/FM 8-track, power seats on both sides, power door locks, air temp, etc.
My earliest memory of it was when I was 9 years old. Though the car was built in July, they prepped it and stored it for him in Detroit. Dad flew there, picked up the new car, and drove it to Pennsylvania during the first week of October for the Hershey AACA swap meet. I saw it for the first time after dad picked me up at the Harrisburg airport. It was raining, and the car was parked directly under a street light, gleaming like only a new car could.
Back in California, the T&C was pressed into duty as the family car. It has worn the “LST TNC” (Last T&C) license plates all these years. After 65,000 miles, the car was parked in 1984. It has been off the road since then.
Aside from needing tires, a tune up, the brake, fuel, and cooling systems gone through, and fixing the dent in the rear quarter, it’s really in great shape.
The Di-Noc “wood” is the only thing that makes the car look really bad... but dad’s friends took care of him when the car was new. There are enough rolls of NOS wood to redo the car 3 times!
Throughout the years, he also bought NOS parts for it... so with a little effort, the last, full sized Town & Country will be back on the road and looking almost as good as it did in 1977.
Aaron
My father passed away recently and I was given our family’s ‘77 Town & Country. It hasn’t been driven since 1984 but isn’t too bad, all things considered. It has a really interesting story.
Dad was President of the W.P.C. (Chrysler) Club for over a decade in the ‘70’s and 80’s. Through his connections at Chrysler Corporation, he was invited into the Highland Park headquarters on numerous occasions. One day in ‘75 or ‘76, he was shown the new-for ‘78 downsized LeBaron Town & Country. He asked and was told that the days of the full sized wagons would be over at the end of the ‘77 model year.
That bit of information started a couple years of communication to see if he could get the last of the full sized wagons. Even better than being the last big T&C built, it was the last ‘77 Chrysler C-body built. There were no cars on the assembly line after this one.
The car was finished on 7-7-77 and was signed by the assembly line workers in nooks and crannies all over the car. The car was loaded with every available option. It’s a 9 passenger, has the 440, trailer tow package, AM/FM 8-track, power seats on both sides, power door locks, air temp, etc.
My earliest memory of it was when I was 9 years old. Though the car was built in July, they prepped it and stored it for him in Detroit. Dad flew there, picked up the new car, and drove it to Pennsylvania during the first week of October for the Hershey AACA swap meet. I saw it for the first time after dad picked me up at the Harrisburg airport. It was raining, and the car was parked directly under a street light, gleaming like only a new car could.
Back in California, the T&C was pressed into duty as the family car. It has worn the “LST TNC” (Last T&C) license plates all these years. After 65,000 miles, the car was parked in 1984. It has been off the road since then.
Aside from needing tires, a tune up, the brake, fuel, and cooling systems gone through, and fixing the dent in the rear quarter, it’s really in great shape.
The Di-Noc “wood” is the only thing that makes the car look really bad... but dad’s friends took care of him when the car was new. There are enough rolls of NOS wood to redo the car 3 times!
Throughout the years, he also bought NOS parts for it... so with a little effort, the last, full sized Town & Country will be back on the road and looking almost as good as it did in 1977.
Aaron