Chrysler New Yorker, Fifth Avenue

I was a child of the '80s. My Dad drove an '85 Chrysler New Yorker, Fifth Avenue. Some of the neighborhood kids thought it was a limo, which is ridiculous, but illustrates the isolation of my small northern Utah home town.

When I first saw this William Helburn photo I barely noticed the car. I was thinking about how the photo is framed perfectly to avoid a glimpse of the iconic Fifth Avenue Apple store's glass cube to the left. 

The title took me on this great journey of past memories in that car. It was the first car I drove. I was twelve. My father and I had visited his aunt's farm so far west that the long empty roads became a welcome opportunity when my dad asked, "Do you want to drive?". He taught me to line up the hood ornament with the passing lines marking the lanes. The hood was so long it felt like driving a boat.

Never having been to New York City's Fifth Avenue I don't think the car ever gave me the vision intended by Chrysler, but now I don't think I'll ever look at Fifth Avenue the same.