Chrysler Newport Overview
The Newport was a name used by the Chrysler division of the Chrysler Corporation used as both a hardtop body designation and also for its entry level model between 1961 and 1981. Chrysler first used the Newport name on a 1940 showcar of which five vehicles were produced. For 1965, the Newport was redesigned on the then-new Chrysler C platform, shared with the 300 and New Yorker, along with the Dodge Polara and Plymouth Fury. Styling mimmicked the square lines of the Lincoln Continental and the 1964 Imperial while wheelbases increased two inches to '124 (wagons continued on the '122-inch wheelbase). All bodystyles were carried over from 1964 including the pillared four-door sedan, four-door hardtop sedan, two-door hardtop coupe and convertible, along with the station wagon, which was renamed the Chrysler Town and Country and became a separate series.
A new bodystyle for 1965 (shared with other Chryslers and Dodge Polaras) was a six-window Town Sedan that included a small side-window in the pillar similar to the three-window design of 1950s cars that would return in the 1970s. The standard engine for the 1965 Newport was the 383 cubic-inch V8 with two-barrel carburetor and 270 horsepower, designed for use of regular gasoline of 92-94 Research octane. Optionally available at extra cost was the 383 with four-barrel carburetion and 315 horsepower with higher compression and required premium fuel of 98-100 Research octane. The standard transmission was a three-speed column shift manual and optionally available was the three-speed Torqueflite automatic transmission, now featuring a column-mounted shifter replacing the pushbuttons of previous years as was the case with all 1965 Chrysler Corporation cars and trucks.
Interiors featured padded instrument panels, full carpeting and choices of cloth-and-vinyl or all-vinyl bench seats and notchback bench seats with armrest. Newport coupes and convertibles were also offered with optional bucket seats with either a center console and floor shifter or armrest and center cushion. The 1966 Newport received new grille work and revised taillights but was otherwise changed very little from 1965. Engine offerings were revised with the 270-horsepower 383 two-barrel continuing as standard equipment while the four-barrel 383 received a 10-horsepower increase to 325. New this year was Chrysler's 440 cubic-inch V8, for which Newport buyers could get the high-output TNT version with four-barrel carburetor, dual exhaust system and dual-snorkel air cleaner that was rated at 365 horsepower, about 15 more horsepower than the standard 440 four-barrel .
For 1967, the Newport and other Chryslers received new sheetmetal but retained the basic 1965 bodyshell. Two-door hardtops received a new angular semi-fastback roofline featuring reverse-slant side windows while the rooflines of four-door pillared and hardtop sedans, and station wagons were unchanged. The slow-selling six-window Town Sedan was dropped this year. Engines were unchanged except for the 440 TNT being bumped up to 375 horsepower. New to the Newport line for 1967 was a more luxurious Newport Custom series available in four-door pillared and hardtop sedans, along with the two-door hardtop. The 1968 Newport received only a minor facelift from its 1967 counterpart including new grilles and taillights. All bodystyles were carried over on both the base Newport and Newport Custom lines.
Under the hood, the standard 383 two-barrel V8 received a 20-horsepower increase to 290, while the four-barrel 383 was jacked up from 325 to 330 horsepower, and the 440 TNT was unchanged at 375 horses. A mid-year offering on the Newport hardtop coupe and convertible was the Sportsgrain option similar to the woodgrain trim on the Town and Country station wagons of this period. The Sportsgrain Newport was intended to bring back the spirit of the late 1940s Town and Country convertibles but amounted to little more than a fancied-up Newport as there were no other modifications and interior trims were the same as standard Newports. Production of the 1968 Sportsgrain Newports amounted to 965 hardtops and 175 convertibles. Mercury tried a similar approach to the Sportsgrain Newport in 1968 by offering woodgrain "Yacht Paneling" as an option on its Park Lane coupes and convertibles.
In 1979, a new downsized Newport appeared on the Chrysler R platform, a derivative of the circa 1962 Chrysler B platform. This reduced model availability to a single "pillared hardtop" 4-door sedan. The idea was to modify the existing Chrysler B platform but to retain as much of the traditional full-size look and feel as possible, while at the same time improve fuel efficiency through a number of weight saving measures and drop the 400 and 440 cid engines. This creative approach produced an attractive car, though some of the weight-saving measures proved to be more trouble than they were worth. Examples include plastic brake wheel-cylinder pistons, which tended to swell and bind up the brakes after a couple years in service. Chrome-plated aluminum bumpers were another innovation, but were replaced in 1980 with a "new, stronger steel rear bumper" due to apparently inadequate strength.
