Andeh
is teahte tbungafloed
- Joined
- Oct 23, 2007
- Messages
- 3,517
- Location
- Cumbria, UK
- Car(s)
- Fiestas, Mondeos, Anglia, Austin 7, Corsair, Chrys
So to recap, I bought a barn find 1936 Standard 12, which I sold to buy a 1931 Rover Two Litre, which I have now sold to buy a 1927 Chrysler 60.
The Rover was a beautiful car, and incredibly rare car. Unfortunately its uniqueness was also its flaw – I didn’t dare use the thing for fear of breaking it. So I went off to look for something different, and find what I was originally looking for anyway – a 1920s tourer.
I went off with grand dreams of having a nice Alvis or Riley tourer, but of course budget places these out of reach, so I focused on finding a solid Model A Phaeton – something I could work on easily, get parts for and ultimately afford to use.
I did go and test drive a Model A trials car which went like utter stink on the open road (I think it’s ‘standard’ classification trials might have been stretching the truth), but unfortunately the body was a just a bit too gone for me. I was looking for something I could take anywhere in this country, and across to Europe a couple of times a year, and a trials car with rusty holes in the scuttle didn’t fit the bill for me.
I found this Chrysler in a club magazine, and it caught my eye immediately. As much as I’m a Ford fan – the Chrysler was better looking, more advanced, and ultimately better value to me than a Model A. The Chrysler 60 is the smallest of the 6-cylinder Chryslers with the other models being the 70, and 80 (Imperial), as well as a smaller 4-cylinder 50. Chrysler model names donate speed, so a 60 would do 60mph.
When Chrysler debuted in 1924 they were pretty revolutionary – the first production car with hydraulic brakes for example, and other features such as replaceable air and oil filters were also ahead of their time – for comparison Ford didn’t have these features in their Model A which debuted three years after Chrysler’s car came out. This 1927 model isn’t much different to the early 1924, and is an example of what Chrysler brought to the market and managed to capture people’s attention at the time.
I went to view the car once I had the money from Bonham’s for the sale of the Rover, and ended up laying down the cash that day. Bodied in Sydney, Australia by T.J Richard’s it’s a five seat tourer and was only imported to the UK in 2015, I’m the second English owner. My original plan had been to road trip the car approximately 300 miles to home, but real (work) life got in the way and it had to be trailered back up north in October.
Ultimately I dodged a bullet not driving in as I had an early breakdown when the fuel filter became clogged, restricting power somewhat. The drain tap on the radiator has also broken off, and my temporary patch on the lower tank needs seeing to properly in the near future.
Still I’ve done over 350 miles in it so far, and I adore it. Much easier to drive than the Rover, despite both being 6cyl, the Chrysler is much more torquey. Once it’s into third it pulls like a train and you can turn into junctions at 15mph without down changing! It is centre throttle however, which was popular on Australian cars and that has taken a little adjusting for me.
I’ll be taking this car into France in the spring, and it’ll be spared a life from trialling. Mostly. It’ll do one event a year which my Austin isn’t eligible for!
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