Written and submitted by Christopher Rhinehart

I took these photos when I met Henry Blair in person during his trip to South Florida at the beginning of February 2006. As you know, Henry is not only a real pleasure to deal with, he's a "hoot" and he's extremely knowledgeable about the 1974-75 Chrysler Imperials and 1976-78 New Yorker Broughams. Henry and I "met" through this group and he had already given me some very astute advice about the replacement of the engine in my '76 New Yorker St. Regis Brougham Coupe. I think I was initially interested in a '76 New Yorker Brougham Coupe as a possible "parts car" that Henry had bought in Delray Beach but never picked up. Henry discouraged me from buying that car and instead advised me to buy a remanufactured Chrysler engine with a warranty that turned out to be very good advice, indeed. I did end up buying a remanufactured Chrysler 400 engine with an upgraded camshaft option and a 7 yr./70,000 mile warranty from a different source than the one we initially discussed but that has worked out very well for me.

Henry knew that I had recently bought my 1977 Chrysler Town & Country wagon and volunteered that he probably had all the parts I was looking for to convert it to an "Imperial" station wagon. Based on that article you wrote regarding the similar work you completed on your Newport, I put together a list of items with his help that included the hood, the header including the hidden headlight assembly and the grille, the front bumper and bumper shocks, and the flex panels as well as the Imperial side marker lights with the Imperial emblems embedded into them, the rocker panel mouldings (Henry had me check the length of the rocker panels on the Town & Country and send him a photo of that part of the car), the Imperial hood ornament, the Imperial trunk key bezel, the Imperial scripts, and a set of 4 Chrysler road wheels with the hubs and caps, and some of the lug nuts, too. My New Yorker Brougham Coupe came with the road wheels and I knew they'd look really sharp on the Town & Country wagon (I've got a great set of 4 of the 76-78 Chrysler Premier wheelcovers if anybody is interested). Henry told me that he was planning to travel to Delray Beach in early February but that he could assemble all of these parts and deliver them to me in West Palm Beach (about 20 miles before Delray) saving me the expense and him the hassle of shipping. Henry got all of the Imperial parts and the road wheels together and we agreed on a price before he set out on his trip from Georgia to South Florida. He met me at my storage unit in West Palm Beach where we unloaded the parts and fit them in the storage unit except for the road wheels with tires that I put in the back of my Town & Country so I could install them on that car the following weekend. I had told Henry that I'd help him load up his New Yorker Brougham Coupe in Delray that he was going to tow behind his St. Regis Coupe. I took these photos of "the mother / daughter" Chrysler New Yorker Coupes or "Spawn of New Yorker", whichever you prefer, when we stopped at a service station and Henry quipped that he was going to tell the toll booth operators on the Florida Turnpike that he was "breeding New Yorkers"!

Christopher R
West Palm Beach, FL
1975 Chrysler Imperial LeBaron 4-door Hardtop, Inca Gold
1976 Chrysler New Yorker Brougham St. Regis (sunroof) Coupe, Vintage Red Sunfire Metallic
1977 Chrysler Town & Country (soon to be "Imperial") 8-passenger station wagon
1978 Pontiac Bonneville Brougham Landau (sunroof) Coupe, antique white & powder blue
1962 Ford Thunderbird Coupe, corinthian white