That's weird...no 1961 Chrysler threads?

I was searching the HAMB just now to find any threads on 1961 Chryslers and found nothing at all. Surely there are a few on here?

I've got the 61 Imperial two door and was looking for a 61 Chrysler bubble dash pod and ended up scoring a nice 61 Newport two door in the process. Two very different looking finned 61 Chrysler products. Not sure which one I like better actually. Then on the way home from work tonight I found two really decent 61 Imperial four doors sitting outside a shop where they have been parked for quite some time.

So post em up! I wanna see some 61's...

 

Lets see what you got first, punk!!!!!!

Any pics of your new aquisitions?

 

looks like your alittle thread bare

 

all turdish looking but all rust free and with titles...
Obviously, one is not a 61 and has six more doors than the other two

 

I was looking at a 60 Imperial a few years ago and ran across a real good Imperial website, not sure what it was but they had em all tracked by the VINs and could tell you the build date and what options each one had. Google should turn it up, that was how I found it.

 

I love the lines of early 60's finned mopar products....my hot rod has the mill out of a 60' Fury with the factory 2x4 intake. I didnt know you scored a 61 Newport, those are my favorite. and RARE AS SHIT!!

 

My buddy has 4 62 300's. A word of advice don't pay much for a dash cluster unless your sure the transformer for the electroluminescent dash lights work as they can be very spendy to replace.

 

yeah, that's kind of in your backyard too. If I go get it this thursday, we should grab a beer or something.

 

The 61 looks pretty clean. I like em, like 62 Chryslers better, still lookin for one I can afford.

 

Out of all the cars I've had, the one I want back bad enough to clone if I could find a suitable doner, was one from my high school years, a 61 Newport convertible.

Black, with aftermarket chrome wheels that had the narrow radial rectangular slots in the wheel disc, and three blade knock off center caps, and narrow one stripe white walls. White top and white bench seat interior, 413 four barrel with a factory three speed on the floor. It had a wire like shift lever curving out of the floor around the bench seat capped with a little black knob because the electroluminecient dash cluster inclosed the entire steering column and it needed to be on the floor.

I don't know what the rear end gears were, but I could get 73 in first and 105 in second, and I never did top end it.

I had an idea how rare it was, but only later after it was gone did I know how really rare it was.

 

here's my 61 Dodge Dart thread.

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=131627

 

hell yeah, hit me up! You need any help gett'n that thing?

 

somebody post a picture of one with the cluster all lit up.

 

They are so ugly they are cool. I want one of those. there was a 4 door for sale on craigslist a while back. almost bought it.

 

We have a '61 Newport 2dr hardtop, and a guy down the road has a '61 4dr hardtop he's going to restore "someday". They're not as rare as say a New Yorker would be. The wagons are super rare - like 1200 total in '60 and like 900 in '61. I actually parted out a '60 Windsor 4-door a while back because it was rotted pretty badly, the car hadn't been on the road since 1970.

 

Probably www.imperialclub.com ... it's one of my favorite sites ... all kinds of cool info and images ... on all kinds of Chrysler products (not just Imperials).

 

Dash of my '60 Chrysler,




...and the dash of my '62 NewYorker wagon,




Don't have any pics of the dashes being lit though.

 

That ragtop sounds like an awesome car. I'm not following you on the floor shift because of the dash though. I have that same dash and I have a pushbutton automatic in this one?

 

UncleScooby,

Did that Imperial happen to come from the Houston area? Say the 45 south and Spencer area? It looks AWFULLY familiar to one I was eye-balling down there!

Guess ya beat me to it!

Best of luck with her....

~MyDeSoto~

 

It did. I couldn't find any rust free 61 two doors with a 413 up here for $1000 for some reason. I love texas.

 

Me too!

Glad to see she went to a fellow HAMBer though! Keep us updated on your progress, and if you need any help with Forward Look related parts, let me know. I have a 'few'..

~MyDeSoto~

 

Neat cars Scoob! Sounds like a great score. Wish I had found that one myself.

You want weird and rare, start hunting a '61 DeSoto.

All '61 DeSotos were hardtops (2dr or 4dr) and there were no model names. No Adventurer, Fireflite, Firedeome, etc - just "DeSoto".

Butt ugly too! I want a coupe SO BAD...




(let me know if you lose interest in the red '61!!! )

 

Man, no other 61 owners? These things are custom right from the factory. I know a few people have to have done some up right....

 

abomber30 had a really nice one. I don't know if he still does though.

 

That Imperial is so hot. Any 61 Chrysler 2-door is flat awesome.

 

Here are the only pictures I could come up with, they are a bit dated now. I know there is a green 61 out there that is very similar to the dark red one here, could even be the same car after a repaint. Zombie did a drawing of a '61 coupe just a couple of months ago for Traditional Rod and Kulture magazine.

 

I know where a '61 DeSoto 2dr is, but you'd have to beg and offer top dollar to get the guy to part with it I think. He's a hoarder and the one guy I know who got a car from him told me it took a lot of time and visits and asking to buy the car before he'd part with it. The one time I felt him out on some cars I couldn't get any kind of $$$ figures either. But I know he had a Superbird in there and did sell that, so who knows. What's top dollar on a '61 DeSoto anyways? Rare doesn't equal big bucks on these.

 

I should add, all manual trans 60-62 Chryslers were floor shift. I don't think you could get one at all in '60 but they relented in '61 and made a few - extremely scarce, that convertible mentioned in a previous post you might be talking one of less than two dozen, if that, built with a manual trans.

 

You're exactly right, they are rare but don't fetch top dollar. There was a straight and solid coupe that sold from Texas for about $8k about a year ago. I had just bought my Chrysler or it would be mine already. I'm not a buyer yet, but I will be in another 12-18 months after the '57 is on the road.

 

'61 Dash