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1950 Newport 2 hardtop on ebay...+ A question


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I saw this on ebay. Looks like a decent project. I see it says they were made with the top made separately to make easier to make into a convertible. Is this true? Why I ask is we purchased a 2 from the guy we got 5 mopars from. He calls it a highlander but I thought that was just an interior package. Anyhow he told us his dream was always to make it a vert.....but we thought that sounded crazy. After reading this ad...it may not be so crazy.

The highlander is just a solid shell...so we are thinking of making it a drag car....maybe old school gasser style.....but ya never know. ..If the vert is possible we may want to do that.

http://m.ebay.com/itm?itemId=231280553754

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To clarify things....no, the top was not made to be able to change to a convertible. You could get the convertible or the hardtop. There was no interchanging. All it means is that the BASIC convertible body is the same as the hardtop.

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A lot of hardtops of the era looked like the top was separate from the body but as Keiser pointed out previously, non were removable or intended to be removed.

Long ago when I was restoring my 51 Cadillac hard top coupe, I saw the top looked like it was a separate structure but it was permanently attached to the body. I though a little about removing the top and creating a real convertible but I saw there were to many modifications necessary such as the top bows, hydraulics, body and frame reinforcements to properly converting it.

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Thanks for the info guys. I was figuring it would entail a lot to make a HT a convertible. I think it will make a fine gasser. they are slow...but look so fun. And I see fords and chevies but no mopars. Plus, since the car is a shell it seams best (ie cheapest and easiest) thing to do with it is make it a drag car and have a blast.

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Would make a lousy gasser or drag car because of the weight and relative lack of strength of the hardtop body.

I can see keeping the body stock but installing a more modern V8, automatic overdrive, power steering, power disc brakes, air conditioning, and of course 12V conversion etc.

In other words, do what newbies want to do to good running old Mopars, but in this case, you would save a lot of money and you wouldn't be ruining an original car.

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Nope, we didnt buy it, darnit.

As for it being lousy drag car...that is your opinion. ALL gassers are big and heavy. They just have hp. They are usually pretty slow...but its not always the funnest going quickest...I just love the look and sound of them. Plus, the class we will run in is sportsman, so quickness isn't important as consistency. Hubby is a retired manufacturing engineer (boeing) who has built drag cars from junk yard cars before....so I am confident he will figure out where all it needs braced....and where we can remove weight. Most fifties cars are big and heavy by today's standards. I mostly see tri-5 chevies turned into gassers...but they too have every nonessential part removed.

We may change our mind but I doubt it. We are looking at the new hemi for running gear, though. Even in a gasser.

Edited by AdW13 (see edit history)
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I have two 8 cyl. T&C hardtops. I also have one NewYorker hardtop- an eight cyl. too. I know these cars like the back of my hand.

To set it straight 2800 eight cylinder NewYorker Newport hardtops were made. They used a convertible X member frame -a very big massive frame. The tops are welded on and will not come off with a few minutes of drilling a few spot welds.

The car Mr Ebayer is selling is a Windsor Newport six cylinder car. The 125-1/2" Windsor car wheel base is shorter by six inches than the NewYorker Newport 131-1/2" WB eight cylinder car.

The Windsor hardtop uses a standard lighter two door chassis frame with no reinforcing X member.

There were 9925 six cylinder Windsor Newports manufactured in 1950 . NOT 2800 as he stated.

Real nice diecast grille chrome is extremely difficult to find for any 1950 chrysler-especially hardtop windshield wraps and door top mouldings which are diecast chrome.

Bob

post-62228-143142625096_thumb.jpg

Edited by c49er (see edit history)
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If you are thinking about a Crate Hemi from a dealer make sure you get it fired within the 90 day warranty. I bought one, and it took me a couple of years to get the car ready. It had a major oil leak from the rear main seal and it leaked coolant from between the head and deck. Mopar Performance gave me a part number for the seal retainer (a hundred bucks) but it was back ordered for almost another year. Then they suggested bars leaks for the coolant leak. I learned that all Targetmaster engines ship with a bottle of bars leaks included. (who knew)

All in all I was disappointed with the crate Hemi. Oh yea, it never had the valves adjusted either, but came with a spec sheet that indicated that they had spun it for a period of time to check oil pressure and such. I had to pull the body back off to get the valve covers off.

They even had the balls to tell me that they got a bad run of those Hemis from a Canadian vendor but still refused to stand behind it. $12,000 piece of crap.

My advice is to build your own.

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Thanks for the input. That is good to know. We would definitely be buying a used flashed motor/tranny from a crashed car and then building it up. Probably will cost under4 grand.

That really sucks the experience you had. The price they charge I would think everything would be double checked. If they knew they had a bad batch they should have made it right with those who had problems. Customer satisfaction aint important like it used to be, I guess.

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