Junkyard Find: 1957 Chrysler Windsor

Murilee Martin
by Murilee Martin

It has been a while since I shared any photographs from the Brain Melting Colorado Yard, so let’s return to the amazing yard near Colorado Springs that gave us the Horizon Blue ’49 Kaiser and the ’41 Nash Airflyte. Here’s a ’57 Chrysler that’s destined to be shipped to Sweden in the near future.

The Swedes love big American cars with lots of fins and chrome, and so this car and many others near it will be dismantled and shipped to Scandinavia by a couple of Swedish restorers who make a yearly pilgrimage to the Brain Melting Yard.

The proprietor of the yard asked me to refrain from opening the hood on this car, because the hood hinges are rusty and it might be impossible to close the hood without bending the sheet metal. That means I can’t tell you for sure what engine is in this car, though I’m pretty sure it should be a 354 Poly.

Everyone thinks about Cadillacs when they picture dramatic tailfins of the late 1950s, but Chrysler made some of the wildest fins of the period. Check out the thickness of these things!



Murilee Martin
Murilee Martin

Murilee Martin is the pen name of Phil Greden, a writer who has lived in Minnesota, California, Georgia and (now) Colorado. He has toiled at copywriting, technical writing, junkmail writing, fiction writing and now automotive writing. He has owned many terrible vehicles and some good ones. He spends a great deal of time in self-service junkyards. These days, he writes for publications including Autoweek, Autoblog, Hagerty, The Truth About Cars and Capital One.

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  • GS650G GS650G on Sep 17, 2012

    I've looked at one of these every day for 8 years, in my neighbors driveway. It can start but doesn't drive. Sometimes it is covered but most times not. He is some days convinced he will restore it, other days not willing to sell it because he is convinced it is worth a lot of money. Post contact information for the Swedes. His is in much better shape than the Brain Melting Yard example and if they could offer him enough money I am sure he would change his mind.

  • Jerry Curler Jerry Curler on Jun 17, 2013

    Does anyone know the name of this yard? Looks cool enough just to walk around.

  • Tim You can't buy Fisker for $27 million. All that buys is the shares, which are basically worthless at this point. To buy the company you have to ante up the $1.3 billion owed to its creditors, otherwise they'll just take it away from you in a few weeks.For all we know the house may also be leveraged to the hilt. That seems to be how this guy rolls.Still, if I had to choose, I'd choose the house. I hate EVs.
  • Wjtinfwb Coveted one of these back in '76-'77. I was a new driver, Dad had traded Mom's Cougar XR-7 convertible for a new Volare' wagon, the worst possible car for a 16 year old. I was saving money, sold a motorcycles and was about $1500 short of the list price of the new, Black on Black '77 Celica GT Liftback on the showroom floor at Zinn Toyota. Dad, had a friend who owned Reinhart VW in Miami. OK, a '77 Scirocco would be an acceptable alternative. But the Scirocco was similarly out of reach. Instead, they made us a (admittedly good) deal on a '77 Rabbit 2dr., $3400 with A/C, mandatory in S. Florida. I was excited about driving anything other than the Volare and jumped on the Rabbit deal. Of course the Rabbit, while a fun car to drive when running, was an unreliable POS and my dad's buddy the dealer was zero help. Still pine for the Toyota and if I had the excess cash available would jump on this one as nice examples are getting hard to find.
  • InCogKneeToe Wow, memories. My Parents have a Cabin on a Lake, I have a Plow Truck and Friends, access to Lumps (old tired autos). What happens? Ice Racing!. The only rules were 4 cylinder, RWD only. Many Chevettes were destroyed, My Minty 1975 Acadian Hatch Auto with 62,000kms, did also. Rad, Rad Housing etc. My answer, a 1974 Corolla Hatch 4 speed, the rest of the Vettes took offence and Trashed the Yota. It was so much quicker. So rebuttal, a 1975 Celica GT Notch, 2.2L 20R, 5 Speed. Needed a New Pressure ate but once that was in, I could Lap the Vettes, and they couldn't catch me to Tag me.
  • 28-Cars-Later I'm not sure when it was shot, but I noticed most shots featuring a Ford are pushing the BEV models which haven't sold well and financially kicked the wind out of them. Is it possible they still don't get it in Dearborn, despite statements made about hybrids etc.?
  • ToolGuy I watched the video. Not sure those are real people.
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