DID YOU BUY THAT TANK AT THE ARMY SURPLUS STORE?

Here you see what has been distracting our project manager lately. It is a 1965 Chrysler New Yorker Town and Country, 9 passenger station.  This old girl is one big tank and our latest project! If you want to take a walk around this vehicle you better pack a lunch!

The plan is to leave it mostly stock while turning it into a street rod. This vehicle has 20 option codes on its fender tag. Yes, I said 20! It has almost all the electrical options available in 1965. When we purchased the vehicle, which incidentally was owned by a little old lady we thought the engine was the standard 413 cid engine put in Chrysler vehicles in 1965. However after purchasing the vehicle we checked the imprints on the block tab located under the AC compressor. When we did we determine the engine was actually a 1974 440 cid engine instead. 

For those of you thinking about buying a project vehicle let our mistake serve as what not to do. Just because an engine looks like it is what should be in the vehicle don't assume it is. Check the numbers!!! From 5 feet away all Chrysler "RB" engines look very similiar.

Also be sure to check the glove box. In the glove box we found records stating the engine was replaced in November 1985.

It would have been nice to have stumbled across a highly optioned number matching vehicle. On the other side of the coin we weren't looking for a rare vehicle. We wanted one we could turn into a street rod so we can attend rod runs with our friends. We just don't feel right going to a rod run in our 1968 Dodge Coronet muscle car.