The best car stories have a deep connection to family.
That’s because the human connection is the most important piece of the puzzle in the car hobby—MyStarCollectorCar was founded on that concept.
This 1966 Chrysler New Yorker four-door hardtop is a textbook example of how important a family connection is to a great car story.
Jerry Sutherland
Ken and Dianne McNabb are the proud owners of the big Mopar. Dianne grew up with this ’66 New Yorker because her grandparents (Carl and Annie Timlin) bought the car brand new back in 1966.
Dianne remembers riding in the Chrysler on a trip to Ontario, Canada when she was a girl. Her grandparents also made regular runs to Alberta from Saskatchewan, Canada so she was very familiar with the big New Yorker.
Dianne said her grandfather was “a Chrysler guy” –that’s why he headed to a Chrysler dealer when he was shopping for a new car. He picked this fully-loaded New Yorker because he liked big, powerful cars with a solid passing gear—it’s only missing a power antenna and cruise control as options.
She said the car “was his baby for 8 years—then it went into storage”. The New Yorker sat for decades until Ken rescued it in 2005. Ken explained how he “got it out of the barn and the car was so good the A/C compressor was working”. That’s called a miracle in the car hobby, so Ken said, “A lot of guys didn’t believe it”—plus the clock still works.
The New Yorker had worn its years well, so the list to get the car safety certified was short—Ken just had to do the wheel cylinders because the rest of the car was perfect. Dianne said her grandfather was big on maintenance, so his Chrysler was a testimony to his focus on details.
The only other issue was the evidence mice got in the muffler—but they didn’t get inside so the interior is still mint with no signs of mouse damage.
Ken and Dianne aren’t trailer queen people, so this Chrysler is a road warrior. It had 72,000 miles on it when they took over and now it has 92,000 miles on it. The car is so reliable they had no fear of the open road, so they took it on a major run from southern Alberta, Canada to Texas and down Route 66.
Dianne thought Route 66 was the perfect destination for a car built in ’66 so that was their destination. They covered a lot of the southwestern United States on that run—including a trip to Monument Valley in Utah and a run to Oatman, Arizona down a long, winding, steep and narrow road.
They’ve also driven the New Yorker to Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada several times through some serious mountain passes. Ken said the only problem was vapor lock in hot weather—something that only stopped them for few minutes at a time.
The family connection is huge in this story and the best part is Ken and Dianne also respect the road trip history in this car. Ken summed it up this way.
You might as well use them.
Ken McNabb
By: Jerry Sutherland
Jerry Sutherland is a veteran automotive writer with a primary focus on the collector car hobby. His work has been published in many outlets and publications, including the National Post, Calgary Herald, Edmonton Journal, Ottawa Citizen, Montreal Gazette, Saskatoon StarPhoenix, Regina Leader-Post, Vancouver Sun and The Truth About Cars. He is also a regular contributor to Auto Roundup Publications.
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