1955 Chrysler New Yorker Deluxe - Not Mine - Price Reduced to $7k

[Dynaflash8]

The more I look at this car, the more interested I am in it.  If only I could find a local guy who would go inspect it for me.  I don't think I have time or money for a appraisal company.  So, I guess this one will just get away.  I bought one car sight  unseen, and have never gotten over that awful experience.

[6T-FinSeeker]

On 4/27/2020 at 9:22 PM, Dynaflash8 said:

The more I look at this car, the more interested I am in it.  

 

The Buy-It-Now Price has been reduced to $8,199.00

[Dynaflash8]

7 hours ago, 6T-FinSeeker said:

 

The Buy-It-Now Price has been reduced to $8,199.00

All he had to do was drive the thing 10 miles and a friend would have put it on the lift and checked out the bottom rust.  But, he wouldn't do that, said the brakes were bad and he didn't have time, so I cut my interest in it, period.

 

[gossp]

44 minutes ago, Dynaflash8 said:

All he had to do was drive the thing 10 miles and a friend would have put it on the lift and checked out the bottom rust.  But, he wouldn't do that, said the brakes were bad and he didn't have time, so I cut my interest in it, period.

 

but the ad says the brakes work and the car runs and drives 100%. 

 

I hate to have been a naysayer on a car a guy likes and know I have been, but I like it to and it didn’t take long for me to lose all warm and fuzzy feelings about pursuing it. 
 

 

[Dynaflash8]

1 hour ago, gossp said:

but the ad says the brakes work and the car runs and drives 100%. 

 

I hate to have been a naysayer on a car a guy likes and know I have been, but I like it to and it didn’t take long for me to lose all warm and fuzzy feelings about pursuing it. 
 

 

Well, I would have fixed the brakes, assuming they worked well enough to drive 20 miles for an inspection.  He said it was 30 miles each way, but I didn't buy that.  My friend knew, and he said 10 miles.  You know the old story, excuses, excuses.  My problem is that I have bought two loosers sight unseen.  The first one was really rusty underneath and hard to make look good for judging, but we did it.  The car won a Senior in fact, but it was paint over some serious rust.  The second car was simply awful all over.  I tried to fix it and gave up, selling it at about a 25 grand loss.  I don't want to do that again.  Actually I've lost big money on every car I've restored, but I got a lot of enjoyment along the way.  I didn't get anything but grief out of that last sight unseen Buick.  In recent years I made $1800 on one car that we made nice, but never took it to judging level.  I have a close friend in California who has driven a 56 DeSoto HEMI- engined car with 2 speed tranny all over the USA to tours for years.  He is approaching 400,000 miles.  It must be one heck of a combination for a driver.  Another friend of mine passed away a couple of years ago. Before he passed he offered me his 53 Cadillac 2dr hardtop for $11000.  I looked at it, but it seemed to me it just needed too much.  He had rebuilt the transmission, but a retired man did it.  I didn't really like the way it shifted, but maybe Hydramatics were all choppy.  My 53 Oldsmobile was (I should have kept that car and fixed its few maladies).  I am friends my with the wife of the Cadillac owner and she told me that since it was me, she would take $11K for it although some appraiser told her $20K.  It needs a paint job bad and some chrome.  I looked it up in the Old Car Value Guide and it listed at $8K.  I'm not going back to her with an 8K offer.  My friend had the upholstery done, but it isn't a great job....buttons are coming loose.  That said, the car is 12v; not as pretty as a 55 Chrysler, but at least it is a 2dr hardtop, but paint jobs are simply out of sight pricewise.  Add that to the cost of inputting A/C and you have another big-time loser.  The '55 Chrysler did look like the outside paint was good to go and chrome not too bad.  A new radiator core was a necessity though.  At my age I hate to shell out some twenty or thirty grand for a better car.  Assisted living might not be that far in the future and my mutual funds are now in the garbage can almost.

 

Edited April 29, 2020 by Dynaflash8 (see edit history)

[The 55er]

This 1955 Chrysler offers some eye appeal and little else. After reading the seller's description of the car, it raises too many red flags and potential problems. He told Dynaflash8 that the brakes were bad and it couldn't be driven anywhere for a pre-purchase inspection. Also says "the battery is good but it's weak" which sounds like a dead battery or charging problem the seller's too cheap to fix. Seller also states the car may or may not start upon delivery to the buyer. That paint can't be original either, especially on a 104K mile car from the northeast rust belt. No dents, scrapes, dull spots, flaws at all in a 65 year old car? Also a Hemi engine was not an option on a 55 New Yorker,  it was standard equipment and does not add any value to the car. I would turn and run away from this car, there are better cars out there for the money. Be patient, something will turn up. 

[Dynaflash8]

17 minutes ago, The 55er said:

This 1955 Chrysler offers some eye appeal and little else. After reading the seller's description of the car, it raises too many red flags and potential problems. He told Dynaflash8 that the brakes were bad and it couldn't be driven anywhere for a pre-purchase inspection. Also says "the battery is good but it's weak" which sounds like a dead battery or charging problem the seller's too cheap to fix. Seller also states the car may or may not start upon delivery to the buyer. That paint can't be original either, especially on a 104K mile car from the northeast rust belt. No dents, scrapes, dull spots, flaws at all in a 65 year old car? Also a Hemi engine was not an option on a 55 New Yorker,  it was standard equipment and does not add any value to the car. I would turn and run away from this car, there are better cars out there for the money. Be patient, something will turn up. 

All sounds right, except the HEMI engine was and I think is shoulders above all of the competitors.  Paint did look original to me.  Okay, similar subject, I have followed up some more on the '53 Cadillac coupe.  Engine was rebuilt, as was the transmission.  Mutual friend overhauled the engine with new rings, bearings and gaskets, and fuel pump; however, it was a later engine.  Transmission was set up to shift hard because the retired transmission man said they always lose pressure as they age so he set up the hard shift to account for that.  No rust under car, some repaired rust in the rear fenders, paint he says is driver quality; I do not remember it being that good.  Car has new Diamondback white tires on chrome wire wheels (Coker knockoff wires).  Later owner was not happy with upholstery job, nor was I.  I just don't remember much except some of the buttons had come loose.  I drover the car to dinner with them 8 or 9 years ago.  Mutual friend warned about gas in tank.  I wonder about brakes.  Sounds like a good car to play with if price is right.

[John_S_in_Penna]

7 hours ago, Dynaflash8 said:

Another friend of mine... offered me his 53 Cadillac 2dr hardtop for $11000.  I looked at it, but it seemed to me it just needed too much.  He had rebuilt the transmission, but a retired man did it.  I didn't really like the way it shifted, but maybe Hydramatics were all choppy.  

 

The Cadillac's transmission was probably acting the way it

was designed to be.  This is from Consumer Reports' May 1955

"Auto Ratings" issue--a different year than the 1953 you mention,

but my 1957 Cadillac's shifting is the same:

 

"...the Cadillac feels somewhat sluggish in ordinary driving,

and depends heavily on the Hydra-Matic third speed, for the

powerful performance of which it is capable.  Such dependence

necessitates either two handshifts for fast acceleration, or flooring

of the accelerator, which gives a downward shift with a lurch....

Cadillac's frequency-of-repair record is the best of any car.

The Cadillac is an extremely well-made automobile, with

exceptionally high resale value, and it has no serious faults.

But a car of its price and quality deserves better steering and

a better transmission."

[Matt Harwood]

Hydra-matics are always a little clunky but they are very durable.

[Dynaflash8]

I talked to a mutual friend who worked with my late Cadillac-ower friend on the car.  It turns out that they overhauled the engine with new rings, bearings, gaskets, fuel pump and caruburator and it ran fine.  I remember driving it to dinner with our wives, and I was alarmed at how it downshifted at a stop sign.  Later I had a '53 Oldsmobile and it did the same thing, just not quite as hard.  The mutual friend described to me how the transmission rebuild came about.  The local transmission shop was run by a good man, but he didn't like working on old cars, and didn't have experience on the old Hydramatics.  My Cadillac friend had a pit in his shop.  So the two mutual friends removed the transmission there and carried it to the transmission shop.  The owner carried it to his retired uncle, from who he had gotten the shop.  The older man rebuilt the transmission and the shop owner went and got it.  The mutual friends reinstalled it in the pit, and the old man came over to do all of the adjustments.  He told them he had set it up for hard shifting, because in time they always "relaxed pressure" and it would be okay.  He told them whatever they did, not to touch the adjustments.  That's what I know.  I also know the car has sat in the garage for over two years, maybe three now.  I sold my house up there in March 2018 and I think he passed the previous July.  Of course he wasn't driving it for maybe a year before that.  The mutual friend mentioned maybe the gas has gone bad now.  Also, he told me the engine is a 1955.  Late today I told her I'd be interested in the car (at a price) so long as her mechanic could get it running and ready to climb on a truck.  I guess "we'll see what happens", as President Trump often says.  My wife wants me to leave it alone.  I hate to say how many times in the last 61 years she has been right, but I'm twisting in the wind down here.

[6T-FinSeeker]

     

The Buy-It-Now Price has been reduced to $7,999.00

 

 

[6T-FinSeeker]

On 4/20/2020 at 6:19 AM, Brooklyn Beer said:

Now if you can find me a 37-39 Chrysler in driving condition close to TX !   Why a Chrysler?  I like the badging on the front hood.

 

I posted this ad on 5/14 thinking you might be interested.  Although not in Texas, the car looks very clean and original.  It needs some TLC and mechanical work but might be worth it.            Link: https://forums.aaca.org/topic/344432-1939-chrysler-royal-not-mine/

 

[6T-FinSeeker]

 

Buy-It-Now Price has been reduced to $7k with approximately 2 days remaining.                 

 

Link to Ebay Auction:   https://www.ebay.com/itm/1955-Chrysler-New-Yorker/293561553123