I own a 67 New Yorker coupe, 727 trans, 440 with the heavy duty cooling, ac, and it has the leather top. To skip what I'm about to explain... is it really worth keeping?? That is my main question. I love the cars looks, the fact that it has a 440 and bullet proof tans... and it was about 5500 dollar back in the day... Is it a rare vehicle? I know that only 7200 or so were produced during that year. Which makes the car rare. I am currently paying around 80 dollars a month to keep it outside ATM. It has sentimental value to me of course and I can find a better and cheaper home for the vehicle. Now my question is, how rare is this particular vehicle? And is it worth keeping in storage? The body has about as minimal rust as you can ask for a '67 because it was garage kept for about 10 years. Now my question for you is if the car is worth keeping until I can pay for it, (2 years maximum) or should I sell it as is now and buy a replacement later on? I know many people on this site have said they've never seen a 67 ny 2dr in person and they highly praise the rareness. Now is it really worth keeping to fix? I can do most of the work myself, (rebuilding the engine and everything.) I wont have time for it in the next two years because I am an engineering student who is also trying to work 25-35 hours a week. I have the money to invest into it but it will take some time... bottom line, should I hold on to this rare gem or let it go? I mean alot of people on this site have acted in way that can pretty much sum up as "you own one of those??? please please send me pictures..." Thank in advance for the feedback guys.
Joined: Tue Oct 11 2005, 01:33AM
Location: Calgary, Alberta
Posts: 5893
A very subjective decision that only you can make. A couple points to consider however.
Rare - Rare doesn't mean valuable until two or more people want it badly enough and have enough "play cash" to out bid each other. Even then, the attraction is not just rareness, other factors such as market attraction, condition and even color are more important. My car is supposedly 1 of 7 in the world, that plus $5 will buy you a cup of coffee.
Sentimental - This is a little easier to place a value on. Plain and simple, nobody else will pay a premium for "your" memories. My car has such value to me and to my wife, but my kids, not so much. My next door neighbour not at all. If you can store the car for free, do so, but at $80/mth or nearly $1,000 per year you can't stoe it for very long.
Time - I am also an Engineer and when I was your age I had a number of hobby projects that I put on temporary hold until I graduated and had the time and money to pursue. One such hobby was a HO train collection and my desire to build a "neat" layout. My trains were carefully packed when I entered university and between job constraints, getting married and raising a bunch of kids, my trains are still packed 44 years later. My interest has declined, none of my kids have any interest and I doubt the grandchildren will be interested unless they can link the trains to WiFi.
So if it were my car, I'd find a cheaper, read free, storage location and then try to nail down the car's sentimental value. If someone stole it, how long would you mourn the loss?
Joined: Sat Aug 19 2006, 05:03PM
Location: Ontario, Canada
Posts: 2919
What Bill said. I'm restoring a 1966 Chrysler Windsor 2-door hardtop, another rare car partly in that it is a Canada-only model, but not very valuable. Basically it's a clone of the US-market Newport though, which are still relatively plentiful. From a dollars and cents (and sense) perspective, I probably would've saved a bunch of money and time by importing a Newport from the US to restore and using my car as a parts car. I didn't do that though.
I can certainly relate about the HO trains set. My dad warned me before I got into trains, because he had gone through the same thing when he was young. Ultimately I realized that I would never get around to setting up my train set, and sold off all of it, most still in the original boxes.
What Bill and Mike said. I've got a 1966 Chrysler 300 convertible, much rarer than the '67 2 dr Nw Ykr. I've spent 10s of thousands of dollars on it to create as close to a factory resto as possible. There is no way i'll ever get a fraction of what I put into it. I did it for me and my own memories. I also did it for future car buffs who will look at it and say, Wow they don't build them like they used to. ( also a load of crap as they built them pretty badly back in the day )
At the end of the day, do what you do for yourself and not for what you think the car will be worth. Store it as economically as you can, the money you are paying for a storage fee could well add up to enough to start the resroration.
Joined: Thu Nov 15 2007, 10:52AM
Location: King City, Ontario
Posts: 62
I have a '67 New Yorker as my daily driver. Rare car? Yes definitely, I have seen a production figure of 6885, and maybe once a year I see one for sale on eBay. Valuable? Not really, maybe 6-7k if I am lucky (and note that everything works and is maintained properly, it's probably a "3" on a scale of 1 to 5). Fullsize cars are not as sought-after as midsize cars, and out of the Big Three (GM/Ford/Mopar) Mopar seems to be the least valuable. A '67 New Yorker will never become a high priced collector car, which is fine with me because I can park it unlocked in the shopping center parking lot without worrying about it getting stolen or dinged up. The reason I have it is I absolutely love the looks of it, love the power, love the ride, and love the sound. Should you keep yours? Not if you expect it to be a good investment. But if you like it, hold on to it for dear life because you may not find another one in the condition/price you like!
If you love the car and WANT to keep it then do so.If you sell with the idea of finding another later you will be disappointed. If you can live without it I would look to sell in Europe as it may well be valued higher over there.
Joined: Thu Oct 07 2010, 12:01PM
Location: vermont
Posts: 180
trains-must be a generational thing, one that the current generation doesn't even have have much contact with, I'm an .027ga man, and...let's not even get started about what could have been. To follow Bill's schema, of the three areas he breaks things down into, the most important one as time goes on is time, let's see, I'm 56, I have a 66 Chrysler 300, a 65 Fury III Station Wagon with factory 4 spd, a 68 Power Wagon, and a 74 Monaco Brougham. All need work;where should I start? You only have one vehicle to focus on;so, get your storage cost down to a minimum and then lock in some time and $$ so at some point in the future you will work on your dream/sentimental value. So, basically, what Bill said...again...
Yeah, thats really what it comes down to is storing the vehicle until I have the money, I love the way the car looks, to me its one of the most beautiful cars to ever come out mopar luxury department... IMHO the best to really come out of the luxury department. Above all its just a classy ride. And its got a 440 and that's one hell of an engine. Especially when you build it up right. (As Jeremy Clarkson would say "POWAH!!!") But thats besides the point obviously. I definitely have made the decision to keep it. I just need to find a better home for it in the meantime. As always you guys have been amazingly friendly and helpful... I love this forum. I just like to get some outside opinions on things, even if the choice is mine in the end its good to have some outside input before I make the choice. And honestly I won't find another like it... Plus it was my brothers before it was mine. And my brother and I have always had an amazing relationship. So really it means a hell of a lot to me... Selling it would probably be a mistake I'd regret for a very long time. Thanks for the honesty guys. And any mopar owner/lover knows, "mopar or no car". Thanks again guys. Its gonna take some time, money, sweat, blood and beers... haha... but in the end I really think it will be worth it.
FWIW: I got my '66 New Yorker from my grandparents when I was in university. It was finally driveable on my 40th birthday. Thought about giving up on it several times but I'm glad I didn't.
Joined: Thu Nov 15 2007, 10:52AM
Location: King City, Ontario
Posts: 62
Good choice 67NY2DR! It sounds like you love the looks of it just as much as I do. To me, the '67 New Yorker coupe is the best looking of all the '67-'68 Mopar fullsize cars. At the same time I am happy not everybody agrees, because if we all liked the same it would be such a boring world!