So my pal and fellow NHRA announcer Alan Reinhart sent this tip along and while I was a little suspect to open the link at first (you gotta know Reinhart…) I did and I was greeted by a truly amazing sight. This 1937 Chrysler C-16 Royal is a completely unrestored, daily driven, totally functional car that is mind bogglingly cool. It is not hot rodded, it is not updated, it is not resto-modded, it is the equivalent of a, well it is the equivalent of basically nothing else. The seller of the car has a magnificently full, honest, and detailed ad and it tells the story of a tough as nails car that has lived in a dry environment since the tail end of the Great Depression. Just amazing.

Before you get all excited that this was some sort of a luxury car, understand that the Royal was the entry level part of the Chrysler lineup in 1937. It rode on a 116-inch wheelbase, sold fir right around $1,000, and was marketed as a well-built car for people of modest means. The seller is asking $8,500 for this car and that’s actually cheap! Why? Well, $1,000 in 1937 means $17,000 in 2019 money so this thing is basically going for half the price of new!

The truly BangShifty part of this whole thing is not the car’s stunning beauty, rarity, styling, fit and finish, perfect interior, or famed provenance. It is the car’s survival and continued use. In an era of carbon footprints, disposable everything, and wrongheaded thinking coming forth in shocking volume, this car stands as a testament to the fact that we can build stuff to last, stuff that has long since paid it “environmental bill” and continues to work and operate as it was intended from the Roosevelt administration.

We cannot beg you enough to go read this ad. It is incredible.

Here’s an excerpt: 

This beautiful, much loved 1937 C-16 Chrysler Royal is up for sale. This vehicle is an amazing functional, time capsule. For the past nine years it has been a true “daily driver” as it has been driven at all times: day-time, night-time, city-driving, highway-driving, etc. The functional and mechanical aspects of the vehicle have been sorted out, as illustrated by the extensive list of details bellow. This vehicle does not represent an immaculate restoration, but instead it has the appropriate level of “wear and tear” for an 81-year-old unmolested original “survivor” that has been well used and loved for. Our family is growing and our needs are changing, and thus we are reluctantly selling “Walter” to the next loving owner and onto a new adventure.

Craigslist: This 1937 Chrysler Is the most awesome 80 year old daily driver!