New Yorker state of mind

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This article was published 21/07/2023 (1023 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

When he was a kid visiting his great uncle in Ontario, Andrew Krieser never imagined he would receive such a generous gift.

But one day about 10 years ago, a 1969 Chrysler New Yorker two-door hardtop made the journey from Toronto to Winnipeg by train, and then by an open-air, two-tiered vehicle transport truck to his hometown of McCreary.

“My great uncle Stan didn’t have any children, and he was in his mid 80s,” Krieser said. “But it was a surprise.”

Krieser had gone to visit his great uncle several times and noticed the car. There’s even an old family photo of him standing next to it with its creamy yellow exterior and dark green top.

“I remember saying, ‘oh, what a cool car,’ but inheriting it never really crossed my mind. I guess because he heard me say that, and when it came time for him to give up his driver’s licence — rather than sell it, he chose to keep it in the family,” Krieser said.

In 1969, the Chrysler New Yorker two-door hardtop was marketed as a full-size luxury car, and in that same year the body was redesigned and promoted as having “fuselage styling.”

The previous bodies for that class were boxy, but the new design had a sleeker and softer look. The term “fuselage” implied the look of an aircraft.

Advertising brochures from 54 years ago included the sales pitch, “From under the doors to over the cockpit, inside your next car is a cool, quiet room of curved glass and tempered steel. Your next car can have no protruding chrome, bumps, knobs, gargoyles or wasted space. It can be an extension of your own exhilaration of movement.”

Krieser, now 45, is the second owner of the Chrysler classic.

“I found my great uncle’s original bill of sale in the glove box, and the mileage is relatively low at 150,000 miles,” he said.

The New Yorker is almost 19 feet long, seven feet wide, has a 440-cubic-inch or 7.2-litre V-8 engine with a four-barrel carburetor, and 480 foot pounds of torque.

Inside, the interior is still “like new,” Krieser says, with a five-foot-wide bench seat covered in a cloth and vinyl combination, padded with two layers of foam.

Krieser said he’s not sure what his great uncle Stan did to keep it in such great condition, but out of respect, he sometimes puts a blanket down, and food is never allowed in the car.

“There’s a fold-down arm rest so a third person can sit in the front if you want. Legally, most vehicles at best can haul five people. This could carry six legally. But if they weren’t big people, you could probably fit eight, which I think is what they did back in the day. Not sure how worried they were about seatbelts at that time,” Krieser said.

Krieser’s mom knew that the New Yorker was coming before he did because of the leading questions that were coming from his great uncle.

“He did ask my mom if I had a garage because he never kept it outside. So, I think if I had not had a garage or had a plan to build one, then I probably wouldn’t have received it,” Krieser said.

“But I knew it was a responsibility, so that’s where it stays all summer long. But because of its size, there’s not a lot of room to do much else in the garage, so in the winter, it goes into storage.”

The top comments at car shows, said Krieser, range from “oh wow, my dad used to have one of those,” to “for that price, you could have bought a ’Cuda,” which he said referred to Plymouth’s 1969 Barracuda, which had about the same purchase price as the New Yorker when new, about $6,000.

It’s a well-cared-for car, Krieser said, with only minor adjustments required over the years like new pistons, engine seals and gaskets, and replacing a bulb on the car’s headlights.

There are no plans to part with his inheritance just yet, Krieser said. He added he knows that big cars with tough bodies are sought after by some demolition derby drivers who are looking for their next solid win.

“My New Yorker has sentimental value. When I lived in Brandon, it was my daily drive to run and get groceries, but now I’m in the country with lots of gravel roads and I don’t like it getting dusty.

So, there is a chance I may sell it in the coming years, but it wouldn’t be to someone who would tear it apart. Besides, my eight-year-old daughter told me she would be sad if I sold it.”

» mmcdougall@brandonsun.com

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