1964 Chrysler New Yorker: Exner’s Last Stand
You never know what you’re going to run across. Or what you’re going to write about next, if you happen to write about old cars. I certainly never know. Some cars I’ll see, gawk at, and write about that very same day. Others I will immediately love and just know I’m going to write a column on, then I get distracted and it gets pushed onto the back burner, sometimes sitting for months. Or years.
Today’s featured car is the former. I saw it at a show on a Tuesday evening in mid-June and began writing it up on Thursday that same week. Some cars just have that effect on me. In this case, it was a car I always liked but never saw many of: 1963–64 Chryslers.
Chryslers morphed frequently between 1950 and ’65. First, you had the rather tall and narrow, rather plain 1949–52 models, designed so you wouldn’t knock your hat off when you got into or out of the car. Then the “Hundred Million Dollar Look” 1955–56s, which cranked style up to 11. Followed almost immediately by the giant-finned “Forward Look” 1957–59s.
The 1960s were all new but still sported huge fins. However, in 1962, the exact same car as the 1961 appeared in showrooms, its fins were shorn. A shock to many, but these “plucked chickens” set the stage for 1963.
Chrysler Corporation’s style chief at the time was Virgil Exner, and after the giant fin era ended, his new styling direction was predicted in the all-new compact 1960 Valiant. Lots of different surfacing designs and planed areas on the sheetmetal. It continued with the full-size 1962 Dodges and Plymouths, which were downsized a good decade and a half before the 1977 Chevrolet Caprice.
Starting in 1963, Chryslers got yet another restyling, though from the cowl and windshield it appeared that large parts of the 1960 body were still present beneath the sheetmetal. A 1963 300 in blue with white interior paced the Indianapolis 500 that year.
While not a carbon copy of the 1960 Valiant or 1962 Plymouths and Dodges, the themes were somewhat similar, if less wild. I liked the styling myself, but I never had much opportunity to admire any in person, because I just never saw these. How many have I seen over the years? Five, counting today’s 1964 New Yorker.
First up was a legitimate 300K, seemingly abandoned, probably about a dozen years ago. It has since disappeared—hopefully restored!
Next up was a ’64 Newport that was sort of a “bitsa” with ’68 Plymouth wheel covers and New Yorker script on the fenders. I also saw a ’64 Newport sedan in Iowa City some time ago that was a bit weathered but pretty well preserved; it was a similar green to today’s car, but I’m not 100 percent sure it was the same color. And that’s it. And I go to a LOT of car shows.
The 1963 Chryslers carried on in four series: Newport, 300 Sport, New Yorker, and 300J. The latter model was, of course, the “banker’s hot rod” hi-test model, available only as a two-door hardtop. A five-year, 50K warranty on the powertrain was an added enticement to folks nervous about reliability after the 1957 quality control fiasco.
A total of 118,800 ’63 Chryslers were built for the year. Unsurprisingly, the 300J was the rarest, with 400 units.
For 1964, only minor styling revisions were made—the most noticeable change being the deeply tunneled quad headlights of the prior year being enclosed in a trapezoidal, chrome-edged trim panel. The round dual taillights of ’63 got a similar treatment, with more squared-off units to match the revised front end.
These cars have a lot of differing styles. It’s a ’60s shape, but it has a lot of ’50s style gingerbread. My friend Mike Batch Kirouac, a dedicated Mopar man with several Newports, New Yorkers, and Windsors of his own, reminded me: “Virgil Exner’s last design for Chrysler. He still had one foot in the excess of the 1950s.”
It’s apparent on these cars, especially on the New Yorkers, which naturally had more chrome trim, scripts, and styling fillips than the Newports. The trim was more noticeable compared to ’63 New Yorkers, especially the fatter side rocker trim molding.
Our featured car, one of 10,887 New Yorker four-door hardtops built in 1964, was finished in Pine Mist with a white interior. I spotted it at the monthly cruise night at the Viking Club of Moline, Illinois. I had heard of these show nights for a couple of years, but for one reason or another had never made it out to one.
Isn’t it funny how you can drive past a place weekly, for decades, and never set foot on the property? In my case, the last time I’d been at the Viking Club was, believe it or not, in 1998 when my friends Judy and Allen Noftsker got married. The ceremony had been at a church, but the reception was held here. And although my memory was a tad hazy, the place looked more or less the same as it had 25 years ago!
I parked, and it appeared to be a nice show. I started walking around, taking pictures here and there, when I came to the last car in the first row, and there sat this New Yorker. Holy cow! I immediately began taking many more pictures than were strictly necessary.
It was weathered but seemingly fairly well preserved, nonetheless. I loved the silver-green paint combined with the white interior, black carpet, and black instrument panel.
And while at the time I wasn’t totally certain, I was pretty sure those weren’t the factory wheel covers. I had guessed ’65 Dodge Coronet. But while researching for this article I found I was close, but wrong: They’re from a ’64 Dodge Polara.
Above are what the factory-correct 1964 New Yorker wheel covers would look like, by the way. And while I’m digressing, I really love that Town and Country wagon!
One neat feature I noticed belatedly was the passenger grab handle. While walking around the car (probably on photo #28 by that time), I noticed this chrome fillip.
I walked back, peeked in the passenger side window, and saw this very sleek-looking grab handle. So cool! Actually, I love the entire instrument panel on these. As I told a friend of mine, Robert Reed (who owns the ’78 LeSabre Custom coupe I wrote about previously), it reminds me of the dash on a ’60s Chris-Craft or Century Coronado. By the way, this was also the last year for Chrysler’s push-button transmission, sadly. It would be floor shift or column shift only starting in 1965.
That year, Elwood Engel would replace the recently-departed Virgil Exner, and Chryslers would become very rectangular, and sleek. Long, low, and wide, with fender skirts.
I love those cars too, but they were a totally different kind of Chrysler from the 1963–64s. Seeing this car made my day! It’s one of the things I love about car shows and why I go to so many. You never know what you’re going to find.
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Great story and beautiful car. A dream car for me would be either a ’63 or ’64 Chrysler New Yorker Salon. Very rare. They came with every option available as standard. You only chose the color and interior trim color. I am pretty sure they came with leather upholstery which was relatively rare in cars then. I remember riding my bicycle in Humboldt, Tn one evening in around ’65 or’66 and stopping at a small used car lot. There was a ’64 Newport two door hardtop and it had a three speed manual transmission with shifter in the floor. Boy, would I love to have that now.
I’ve always liked these as there isn’t anything out there that I would say you would mistake them for. Very original styling and I love the dashes in them also. Makes me want to go find one. And I did! No where to store it and I have too many irons in the fire with other vehicles but it sure is tempting! This looks like a great one to either drive or do a full restoration which ever suits your needs.
https://lewiston.craigslist.org/cto/d/kamiah-64-chrysler/7658083021.html
The understated, clean-limbed ’63 Chryslers came out in fall of ’62, when i was in sixth grade. Thought them the best looking of all domestic cars of the ’60s. They made the otherwise clean ’63 Buick Riviera and Pontiac Grand Prix look a little styly, phony in comparison.
Saw a triple white ’63 New Yorker or 300 convertible at the annual auto show at the Charlotte Coliseum and was spellbound. Nothing hit me like that until a decade later when i saw a white ’40 Packard One-Eighty Darrin victoria at the Buck Hills or Macungie, PA car show.
Dad was a New Yorker driver, ’52, ’54, but belt tightening prompted a new ’57 Plymouth when we were in Detroit. “It was such a piece of junk,” as he recounted, that two weeks later he returned it for an immaculate black and white low-mileage ’56 New Yorker St. Regis two-door hardtop, black and white leather interior. He’d wanted a 300, but the salesman told him he’d never keep it in tune and the New Yorker nearly as fast, which it was. Every summer vacation, Dad would get busted for being a lead foot on the turnpike. Sometimes, if the trooper was also a War II combat vet, they’d swap some jokes and he got off with a warning. Sometimes. But never….in Ohio; 55 mph even back in the early ’60s.
Too bad Chrysler had a 20-year stretch of frump 1934-52. New Yorkers of the ’50s-on had better brakes, shocks, faster steering than a Cadillac, made as much or more hp on regular than a Cad on premium; no better distance road cars.
Thanks for the return to memory lane.
I have a strange habit of sticking my head in old cars at car shows and just inhaling. That goes especially for older Chrysler products since my dad always had mopars. Once in a while I get a specific smell that takes me all the way back to when I was a kid….there’s nothing like it! That being said, it’s usually the more original and authentic cars that hold on to that special scent. This car featured here I love because it has some scars, it looks driven, a true survivor proudly showing its age. My wife and I both shy away from those ultra restored perfect specimens of car that we are afraid to breathe on. While I appreciate the time and money spent, there’s nothing like seeing the more original specimens that you can just picture your dad driving….with his left arm out the window, cigarette in the right hand, and Sinatra crooning from the tinny speaker. Jesus, those days were great! Push button trans, dashes that were works of art, and trunks big enough to throw a couple of people in on the way to the drive-in. At least until the trunk bed rots out and caves in. Thanks for sharing. The New Yorker was a beauty!
I was surrounded by 64 Chryslers just as I was getting my driver’s license. I took my driving test in my mothers white Newport sedan with blue interior – which was the car I was to drive if I was going out. My grandfather had a 64 Newport 2 door in baby blue with a blue interior. I also had a good friend whose parents also had a 64 Newport 2 door in green/green. All of these cars had the 361 2 barrel. Needless to say if I found a nice 64 today it would be in my driveway by sundown.
The father of a good friend in high school had a ’63 Chrysler which I admired (though I though it was too far above us in the Chrysler pantheon until my dad got a Dodge Polara in ’64). I got to ride in it several times in my car-crazy days before I passed my driver’s license test. That passenger grab handle brought back memories! Being young and (relatively) nimble, I couldn’t imagine why anyone would need such a thing, particularly so shapely and chromed. Delightful excess.
My neighbors across the street owned a 1964 Chrysler New Yorker, white, with a frost-green interior. I always thought it was a beautiful car. Then they traded it in for an Oldsmobile Vista Cruiser…no comparison.
I grew up in my father’s 63 New Yorker 6 passenger station wagon . Every Summer we would travel the American West touring the national parks. I remember well my father racing a 409 Chevy wagon in South Dakota and putting the speedometer straight down . He had the biggest smile on his face . At 120,000 miles my older brother got the car and was clocked at 146 on the Downingtown bypass . I cried when my brother gave the car away
I grew up with a ‘64 Chrysler Newport sedan, white with a taupe interior trimmed with burgundy. My dad bought it new when I was 6 and kept it 11 years, so it’s the car I grew up in, and learned to drive in. My mother loved that grab handle; why, I have no idea. Roomy and comfortable, it would be replaced with a used ‘73 Newport. When I was a young professional in the mid ‘80s I was so disappointed with the new cars available at that time I bought a ‘64 300K from Richard Carpenter, white with black leather interior. Scary fast—scary because in corners the suspension had a heck of a time keeping the car planted when at speed. I kept it about ten years.
Nothing beats those old four door hardtop.
I love articles like this! While many performance cars of this period have been preserved or restored, it’s rare to see what once was a relatively common car still on the road in driver-quality condition. My favorite features are the pushbutton transmission and the somewhat rectangular steering wheel. One of my brothers had a 1962 Polara 500 with those features. This New Yorker also has interior door release handles that look like an automatic transmission’s shift handle. Cool stuff.
I loved the 1960 Chrysler styling. I think the big Chrysler New Yorker with the imprinted wheel on the back trunk lid was absolutely beautiful. I’m constantly looking online for 1960 Chrysler convertibles for sale, just to keep up with the changes in asking prices.
This is my car I do have the original hubcaps I would like to talk to again about my car Thomas my number is 3097160225
Elwood Engel did make a few changes (very few) to the Virgil Exner designs that were on the board to get a new marketable car into production. But the big failure for 63 was to carry over the dropping rear. They had no choice because it cost WAY too much to change the front cowl and rear deck, and they were also out of time.
I’ve had 61, 64, 66, 68, 70, 71, 72 and 76 full size Chrysler cars. Currently 72 and 64 New Yorkers. The 64 is a LOT smaller than the 72. Two very different cars.
The styling of the 64 with all of its “acceptable” character pleases me more than any of the others. The 64 is a great cruiser, but it’s not near the interstate hog the 72 is.
For the person that gets a 64, there a few things that must be addressed before it can (and should) be put into daily service.
Dual 1967 master cylinder.
Disc brakes (complete with spindles) from a 1978 Cordoba.
Axle shafts and brakes from a 65 or later Chrysler.
Front seats from an early 2000 Buick Lesabre that have all the controls, head restraints, and the lap “and” shoulder belts incorporated into the seat itself.
235/70-15 radials.
And I recommend the low compression 361 two-barrel motor.