Vintage 1950s Cars

Vintage 1950s Cars

Chrysler New Yorker, 1956

          The Chrysler New Yorker is an automobile model which was produced from 1940 to 1996, serving for several years as the brand's flagship model. The New York Special first appeared in 1938 and the New Yorker name debuted in 1939. Until its discontinuation in 1996, the New Yorker had made its mark as the longest-running American car nameplate.

          The New Yorker name helped define the Chrysler brand as a maker of upscale models, priced and equipped above mainstream brands like Ford, Chevrolet/Pontiac, and Dodge/Plymouth, but below full luxury brands like Cadillac, Lincoln, and Packard. During the New Yorker's tenure, it competed against upper-level models from Buick, Oldsmobile, and Mercury.

          In 1955, Chrysler did away with the out of fashion high roofline designs of K.T. Keller and came out with a new sedan that borrowed styling cues from Virgil Exner's custom 1952 Imperial Parade Phaeton. The Hemi engine produce 250 hp that year. The result became an ongoing trend for increasing engine output throughout the next two decades with Chrysler and its rival competitors. The Powerflite transmission was controlled by a lever on the instrument panel.

          Chrysler began the 1956 model year's design "PowerStyle," a product of prolific Chrysler designer Virgil Exner. The Chrysler New Yorker gained a new mesh grille, leather seats, pushbutton PowerFlite selector, and a 354 cubic inch Hemi V8 with 280 hp Also new for 1956, Chrysler introduced an under-dash mounted 16 2/3 rpm record player, dubbed the “Highway Hi-Fi”, manufactured by CBS electronics. A two-way switch in the dash changed the input for the speaker from the all-transistor radio to the 7-inch record player.

          The St. Regis two-door hardtop gave a unique three-tone paint job for a higher price and the Town and Country Wagon model was Chrysler's most expensive vehicle of 1956 at $4,523. Only 921 convertibles were made.