School me on C-body truisms

drpreposterous

drpreposterous

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By this time next year, my last kid will be through with any more higher education that I'm paying for, and I'll get to transition from the awful-wonderful, blue-sky world of car dreamer to C-body owner.

I've had A and M-bodies before. But never a C. And I love 'em all, from Forward Look through Fuselage, from Plymouth through the Imps. I want to solicit your opinions as to which of the four generations (Forward, Slab, Fuselage and Formal) tends to have the highest number of survivors and the best availabilities of parts. Which gen produces the fewest headaches? I get the feeling it isn't always as simple as newer equals easier. Weight in. I'd like to hear what you multi-gen owners have experienced...
 
Forward look are not C bodies. Body designations began in 65. Forward look cars extremely prone to rust out in rockers, trunk, lower fenders and "brows" over headlights.

Slabs- prone to rot over fender skirts on Chryslers. I would say they are the best of the bunch at rust resistance...the blocky design seems to do well. Strong following, good quality when in production. Due to popularity few survivors and many restored cars.

Fusey- Rot prone around backlight and, consequently trunk and floors. Cowls can rot out if drains plugged. They suffered from poor quality control compared to Slabs but got better as years progressed. Most quality issues sorted by 71. Strong following, poor quality when in production in 69-70. Due to popularity few survivors and many restored cars.

Formals- prone to rot in rear quarters behind rear wheel, rockers and lower front fenders- stone chip areas. Cowls can rot if drains plugged and consequently front floors. I think Formals have the chance of having the most survivors since they do not have a strong following and therefore few have bothered to restore them. Chrysler struggling with quality control overall during production run years, but I think the big cars fared best.

All of them are easy to procure most mechanical parts (engine- trans- diff) due commonality with muscle cars. All of them suck for availability of body panels and trim.
 
1974 - 1978 C-bodies, aka "Formals"
Pros:
Plentiful
Cheap
Arguably very impressive looking.
Ultimate cruiser of any of the C-bodies.


Cons:
The same as all the other C-body lines, i.e. rust and non-existent aftermarket parts
Except for drivetrain, NOTHING interchanges with previous years. Totally different car.

Bonus: Ownership shows you are a glutton for punishment.
 
Well, that was succinct, guys! Thanks! Any thoughts on drive-ability issues relative to pre-emissions cars and those that followed? It sound like '71-72 might constitute a sweet spot for quality and drive-ability.
 
commando1 said:
1974 - 1978 C-bodies, aka "Formals"
Pros:
Plentiful
Cheap
Arguably very impressive looking.
Ultimate cruiser of any of the C-bodies.


Cons:
The same as all the other C-body lines, i.e. rust and non-existent aftermarket parts
Except for drivetrain, NOTHING interchanges with previous years. Totally different car.

Bonus: Ownership shows you are a glutton for punishment.
Click to expand...

Especially 1978 Formal's!
 
I owned a '62 New Yorker for some 8 years. While I loved it I found getting parts for it to be very tough. Things are better now, having sold it in '03, but with ball and trunnion u-joints costing upwards of $400, motor mounts available only through one suppler, and brake drums costing $300, I took a friend's advice and bought a car where parts are much easier and cheaper to be found. That's why I have my '70 Newport.

Prices will help you in your decision too. I find the fusey cars being lower in price than the Forward Look cars, same for many of the slab-side cars. which leads me to the Formals.

I love them! But, in California, any car 1976 and newer must pass every-other year smog tests. Therefore, I don't own one. I went through that crap with a '79 Cordoba; I'll do so no more. If Smog Laws are an issue where you live you might want to keep them in mind with the car you purchase.

But the bottom line for me is this: buy what you want and like!! Even if the car has some of the issues listed above, if you want it , and like it, you can deal with rust, etc., even parts that are hard to find.
 
Like Snotty said figure out what you like and then buy the best example of it that you can afford. I bought my NYer cheap, but honestly I could've bought a much nicer one for say $4-5K more and been in the same place I'm at now cash wise.

It has been fun though doing the work with the kids.
 
Keep your options open. Look at all the C bodies and buy the best one you can find. I have noticed that 67-68 C bodies seem to be the most plentiful on Craigslists nationwide. Dodge C bodies tend to be cheaper than comparable Furys. 300's are usually the highest priced C bodies (especially as convertibles), but are probably have the best return on investment. Imperials were well built, yet tend to be relatively inexpensive (except for the ultra rare convertibles). 65-66 Furys seem to be easy to find as 2 door hardtops, 67-68 Furys seem to be easy to find as convertible, 2 door sportsroof and as 4 doors. (2 door hardtop 68 Furys (non sportsroof) are a bit harder to find. 67-68 Polaras/Monacos are easy to find as 2 door hardtops and as 4 door hardtops. 69 Fury convertibles show up for sale often but are usually small blocks under the hood and usually need alot of work. 69-71 Fury 2 doors with the formal roofs are more commonly found than the regular 2 door hardtop roofline. 70-71 Polaras seem to be the most common of the fusie C body Dodges. Chrysler Newports outnumber the 300's and Newport convertibles are easier to find than 300 convertibles. 300 2 door hardtops seem to be just as common as Newport 2 door hardtops. Pre-72 New Yorker 2 doors are rarely found (most are 4 doors). C body wagons in decent shape are hard to find and even harder than other C-bodies to get some wagon specific parts for. Most commonly found C body wagons are 65-66 C bodies and 68 Chrysler and Plymouth C body wagons.
 
Jim, that was great, thanks! Kind of allows me to laser in with Craigslist searches. But guys, I hear you. The thing is to find the nicest example. Your input, nevertheless, has been invaluable.
 
Best advice is....

Figure out what you want and buy the lowest mileage car you can find in the southwest.

By time you buy a driver and fix it up....you could of bought 2 low mileage rust free cars that need nothing except a wash & wax.
 
I you are intetested, in 69, 70 C body wagons find the best one you can. I've seen very few parts cars. Most that I have seen the interiors are roached out. Cowl, rockers, rear quarters, have rust issues if from the snow belt. Restoring one now. Good car hunting, if you like the fuse style be persistant, good cars show up here.
 
Like others have said, buy the absolute best car you can find and afford. Restoring any old car will be expensive, but most C bodies have added stigma of low value when compared head to head to most other makes. Good if you want one to keep and drive, bad if you have to a lot of work, or plan to fix and resell.
Personally, of the C bodies, I like the slabs the best. I like the square angular design and like some others have said, they were made during a time when quality control was pretty good. All (slabs, fusy and formal) were rust prone (slabs the least I think), but not anymore than any other cars of the era. The 66-68 are probably the easiest to find parts for. 65's are almost as easy, but do have some weird unique 65 only things like cable shift, single year transmissions, hard to find left motor mount.... Remember, the youngest C body is approaching 40 years old and the oldest is almost 53 years old. Like the others have said, body, trim and interior parts are lucky find NOS or used only...
 
1978 NYB said:
Best advice is....

Figure out what you want and buy the lowest mileage car you can find in the southwest.

By time you buy a driver and fix it up....you could of bought 2 low mileage rust free cars that need nothing except a wash & wax.
Click to expand...


The Northwest is more favorable for a combination of interior and exterior parts being in nice shape
 
I am not sure where you are from but a good place to look at a wide variety of C-bodies and talk to the owners would be at the Chrysler Nationals at Carlisle in July. Great people and good times...
 
Go for a convertible C body big block if you get the chance you won't regret it. Great riding cars that are a lot of fun in my opinion but I'm just a little bit biased
 
Try copying and pasting the following into your local Craigslist search. It will pull up all relevant cars in a single search. Then start moving out to farther cities by just selecting a different city in the upper left of the Craigslist page. You can delete model years to narrow your search.

(1962|1963|1964|1965|1966|1967|1968|1969|1970|1971|1972|1973|1974|1975|1976|1977|1978) (dodge|plymouth|chrysler|imperial)

If you don't want to see trucks, Chargers, Barracudas, or other non c bodies in your search, try this instead:
(1965|1966|1967|1968|1969|1970|1971|1972|1973|1974|1975|1976|1977|1978) (polara|monaco|fury|chrysler|imperial)
 
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