Joined: Tue Nov 08 2011, 11:48PM
Location: Asheville
Posts: 24
Hi all,
Two years ago, I helped a hundred year old lady when I put rear door glass in her New Yorker. She's just passed, and her grandson has offered me first right of refusal on the car. It's a green four door, the 440 runs, the trans wants the car to move, but the brakes are stuck. I managed to move it under it's own power when I put the glass in. There's minimal rust, the interior is in great shape, but there's a huge swipe down the driver's side where some mouth breathing snow plow driver hit it years ago. The car is in Gore, VA on the eastbound side of rt. 50, you can't miss it. I'm going to look at it on Monday, and get photos. They only want a couple of hundred for it.. $140 on Rock Auto rebuilds the entire brake system... Somebody needs to snap this up before some knuckle dragger smashes up a bunch of good parts in a saveable car at a demo derby, which is the only other option for this thing in this area. Anybody want it? I've already got eight cars, in a two car garage and a shared driveway with my neighbor.. Another twenty foot land mass would be pushing it.
Joined: Tue Nov 08 2011, 11:48PM
Location: Asheville
Posts: 24
I don't even mind if somebody gets it and parts it out so it can keep other cars on the road. I just won't see it go to some meathead demo derby who's going to smash up a bunch of useable body panels and redline a perfectly good 440 with a crunched up radiator for 45 minutes, after they rip out and throw away an interior that's nicer than any I've had in any of my cars.. I really despise it. It's such a sadness
Joined: Tue Nov 08 2011, 11:48PM
Location: Asheville
Posts: 24
Update:
I bought the damned thing for $500. I went out there with a fresh battery, primed the oil pump, turned the key, and it fired after twenty seconds. It mosquito fogged four lanes of rural highway for ten minutes, but settled right into an idle. After it warmed up, I put it in gear, and it tried to move... Same with reverse. I rocked it between gears, got it out of it's ruts (3" deep). It was rolling backwards, I hit the brakes and it stopped, and had a good pedal. When I let off the pedal, it rolled again. I drove it the twelve miles to my house. It did seventy on the highway, the tires aren't flat spotted because it sat in rounded out dirt ruts, it didn't overheat, the cruise control worked, and it was happy to run on the varnish in the tank. I've had it for a month, gave it a tune up, put in two tail lights, changed the oil (the sticker in the window was due in 2001, but the oil was clean) and it's running decently.. The master cylinder and one wheel cylinder are weeping just a little, I've bought the parts to overhaul everything anyway. It's got 74,xxx miles, the shocks are good, the seats are great, and everything works except for the A/C and the rear defroster. It drives better than half the crap I've ever owned, and it lived in a field for ten years.. It's got four pinholes in the driver's floor, no rust in the trunk, and only a little swiss cheese in the quarters. I threw a deep charge on the battery (was disconnected for years) dated '06, and it starts strong now. I'll probably overhaul the Thermoquad in a couple of months if running clean gas through it doesn't resolve it's minor issues. It currently starts on the second revolution of the starter, every time. My wife even likes it.. So, that seemed to turn out well...
Joined: Tue Nov 08 2011, 11:48PM
Location: Asheville
Posts: 24
Gabe,
That ship has sailed, sorry.. The New Yorker is now car #9 in my beater fleet.. It's got a little rust under the green vinyl top, a little in the front fender and quarters, and some pinholes in the driver's floorboard.. beyond some dents, the rest of the car is solid.. even the trunk. I'd gladly post photos, but this forum's photo posting procedure, and my mac based stuff apparently don't agree.. Before somebody else tells me how easy it is to do, I'll head them off with this.. Nothing is simpler than dragging and dropping, which I'll be happy to do with full sized photos for anybody who would like them if they send me their email. Sorry, that's my rant. I'm on too many forums for too many different obscure cars for both customers and myself to keep all of the extraneous software required to upload a picture straight. Hell, I'm a member on eight forums for Mopars alone, and at least four others for my old Volvos. Then there's the Italians, British, Germans, French, and the list goes on. I'm more than happy to respond to personal emails if you PM me.. Rant Over. Sorry about that.
The car is pretty clean tho, especially for sitting in a field for ten years with the left rear window busted out of it for at least three of them. It drives nicer than most of the junk I've owned. The shocks and tires are even good, as is the battery from '06! It's a creampuff! Just broke 75,000 miles, the Thermoquad has cleaned itself out, and now "Monstro" does peg-leg burnouts at will. (unless burnouts are sacrilege around these parts, in which case it breaks traction effectively).