1962 Chrysler Newport Is an Oddball Survivor With a Rare Surprise Inside

It started life as a limited-edition, concept-like phaeton, and it was used to designate two-door hardtop models across the entire lineup in the 1950s. It became a separate model in 1960 and soldiered on through 1981.

The stand-alone version introduced for the 1961 model year was the brand's first serious attempt to offer an affordable car. Developed to replace the discontinued DeSoto marque, the Newport was quite modest for a Chrysler in base trim. Featuring limited exterior trim and a plain interior, the Newport retailed from $2,964. For reference, the New Yorker came in at $4,870 before options. The Newport was also only marginally more expensive than the Dodge Polara.

To keep the price down, Chrysler also made the three-speed automatic gearbox optional. As a result, the Newport came standard with a three-speed manual. And unlike most vehicles of the era, which featured column-shifted transmissions, the Newport had a floor shifter.

Chrysler adopted this solution simply because it couldn't fit a column shifter due to the AstraDome instrument cluster. This futuristic, three-dimensional cluster occupied a significant portion of the steering column.

The Newport was quite popular in 1961, moving about 57,100 units, or nearly 60% of all Chrysler production. In 1962, sales grew to 83,120 examples, almost 65% of the company's sales. But only a small fraction of customers went with the standard three-speed manual, making early 1960s three-pedal Newports rare.

There's no specific info on exactly how many of them got the manual, but Mopar experts agree fewer than 4% of all Chryslers produced at the time were sold with this gearbox. This would translate to fewer than 2,000 Newports in 1961 and under 3,000 units in 1962. The black four-door sedan you see here is one of those rigs.

Unsurprisingly, I ran into this Chrysler on the "Obsolete Automotive" YouTube channel. I say "unsurprisingly" because Austin is a big fan of oddball classics of the Mopar variety. He also owned the 1958 DeSoto Shopper I told you about in October 2024 and a 1957 Dodge Texan.

The Newport features newer wheels and may have been repainted at some point, but it's pretty much a survivor otherwise. The original 361-cubic-inch (5.9-liter) V8, which was the only engine option in 1962, is still under the hood. When new, the mill was rated at 265 horsepower and 380 pound-feet (515 Nm) of torque.

The four-door sedan was the most common body style in 1962, with nearly 55,000 units sold, but the three-speed manual makes this Chrysler really scarce. While the company may have sold up to 2,000 units, fewer than 100 are likely to have survived. And I'm pretty sure fewer than a dozen still run and drive.

Fortunately, Austin's example is road-worthy now that he changed the fuel pump. He also replaced the 1980s wheels with the correct steel rims and dog-dish caps. While it may not be one of the fancier Chryslers of the era, this Newport is a decidedly cool rig.

Austin also owns a 1961 four-door hardtop version of the Newport and used the opportunity to provide a visual comparison. While the vehicles are almost identical up front (both have canted headlamps and wrap-around bumpers), they're quite different in the rear. 1961 was the final year for finned Chryslers, so the 1962 version boasts a much smoother design.

As much as I enjoy the odd styling of the 1961 variant, I prefer the cleaner look of the 1962 Newport.