Alistair's Grandpa cruiser Chrysler...

Anonymous · Post by **Anonymous** » Sun Nov 19, 06 11:46 pm

Congrats on your Fifth Avenue, Alistair!

I really like them and have by several occasions considered one for myself as a daily driver. But it has to be the Fifth Avenue, top of the line car. The Dodge Diplomat and Plymouth Gran Fury looks boring aside yours. A few friends of me owns Fifth Avenues and one of them used to belong to King Olav V (RIP). King Olav V was a real gentleman with traditions, he always chose American cars (most often Mopar!) for himself and his staff. Rumours says they had to clean up some mess when his son, today's King Harald, brought home a BMW in the late 70ies or early 80ies. Today there are most German and Swedish car brands seen by the royal castle.

And you only gave £700 for yours? Bargain! I'm happy for you.

Anonymous · Post by **Anonymous** » Mon Nov 20, 06 12:52 pm

Well, good points are:

interior is perfect
all the "toys" work, including the AC
no noticable rust except a few blebs in the "usual places" on the front fenders.

bad points are:

runs weak - stumbles and falls flat unless driven "manually" through the gears
hard to start and will not drive until warmed up (carb floods if you do)
needs an MOT very soon.
landau top is rotten and needs replacing
paint on hood, roof and deck is flat and lacquer is gone.
brakes are "squelchy"

I've replaced the plugs, rotor arm, distributor cap, air filter and sprayed carb cleaner down it. Next up I am ordering a carb rebuild kit, new HT leads (although the ones on it look OK), replacing the vacuum lines to the ECU, cutting out the cat(s) from the exhaust. Brakes probably just need a flush and bleed.

As soon as I have a little time/money I will fit a Edelbrock performer, 4 barrel carb, conventional distributor, MSD box. I already have the dizzy and the MSD. This means I can ditch the lean burn computer system which is a performance killer and known to cause problems on these cars.

I don't think I did too bad for the money.

Holly · Post by **Holly** » Mon Nov 20, 06 1:05 pm

Alistair wrote:paint on hood, roof and deck is flat and lacquer is gone.

Standard on all '80s Mopars, lol.

Sounds like you got your money's worth, it should be good once the maintenance is sorted