Used Car of the Day: 1985 Chrysler New Yorker

Tim Healey
by Tim Healey

It's time to party like it's 1985.

If you have $2,500 you're willing to part with and the time to spend on a project car.


It has a 2.2-liter turbo mill and an automatic trans. It needs new tires, some brake work, and maybe a new alternator. It also has some rust on the rockers and the roof apparently needs to be painted.

Still, it doesn't appear to need a crazy amount of work. If you're an '80s kind of person, flip on some Talking Heads and get to work.

[Images: Seller]

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Tim Healey
Tim Healey

Tim Healey grew up around the auto-parts business and has always had a love for cars — his parents joke his first word was “‘Vette”. Despite this, he wanted to pursue a career in sports writing but he ended up falling semi-accidentally into the automotive-journalism industry, first at Consumer Guide Automotive and later at Web2Carz.com. He also worked as an industry analyst at Mintel Group and freelanced for About.com, CarFax, Vehix.com, High Gear Media, Torque News, FutureCar.com, Cars.com, among others, and of course Vertical Scope sites such as AutoGuide.com, Off-Road.com, and HybridCars.com. He’s an urbanite and as such, doesn’t need a daily driver, but if he had one, it would be compact, sporty, and have a manual transmission.

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2 of 36 comments
  • Joe blow Joe blow on Feb 09, 2023

    Jesus, what an effin' heap.

  • James A Silcox James A Silcox on Jun 30, 2023

    I had a low mileage 86. White exterior with maroon interior. Mine was quite dependable over the 5 years I owned it. I wish I had it back! I'd ake another.

  • Mike Beranek All that chrome on the dashboard must reflect the sun something fierce. There is so much, and with so many curves, that you would always have glare from somewhere. Quite a contrast to those all-black darkroom interiors from Yurp.
  • Mike Beranek 2004 Buick LeSabrepurchased in 2017, 104k, $3,100currently 287knever been jumped never been on a tow truckstruts & shocks, wheel bearings, EGR valves. A couple of O2 sensors, an oil pressure sending unit, and of course the dreaded "coolant elbows". All done in my garage with parts so plentiful there are a dozen choices of everything on Rock Auto.I've taken it to the west coast twice and the east coast once. All-in I'm under 5 grand for over 180,000 reliable miles. Best used-car purchase ever.
  • Jalop1991 Our MaintenanceCosts has been a smug know-it-all.
  • MaintenanceCosts If I were shopping in this segment it would be for one of two reasons, each of which would drive a specific answer.Door 1: I all of a sudden have both a megacommute and a big salary cut and need to absolutely minimize TCO. Answer: base Corolla Hybrid. (Although in this scenario the cheapest thing would probably be to keep our already-paid-for Bolt and somehow live with one car.)Door 2: I need to use my toy car to commute, because we move somewhere where I can't do it on the bike, and don't want to rely on an old BMW every morning or pay the ensuing maintenance costs™. Answer: Civic Si. (Although if this scenario really happened to me it would probably be an up-trimmed Civic Si, aka a base manual Acura Integra.)
  • El scotto Mobile homes are built using a great deal of industrial grade glues. As a former trailer-lord I know they can out gas for years. Mobile homes and leased Kias/Sentras may be responsible for some of the responses in here.
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