Built from the early 1940s through the mid 1990s, the Chrysler New Yorker was never known for its race performance. In fact, it was marketed as a luxury car for most of its life, filling the flagship position for Chrysler for many years. But if you asked Jake Auerbach of New York what his Chrysler New Yorker is known for, you’d get a rather non-traditional answer. Check out why in the video above, compliments of Petrolicious.
For decades, the Auerbachs have dabbled in the car scene, with father Jonathan having an eye for the classics and son Jake taking a liking to the mechanical aspects of things in his early teens. What developed from this was a unique father-son relationship, one that involved the pair racing in vintage car rallies, with Jonathan as the driver and Jake as the navigator.
In their time racing together, the father-son team rallied many different vehicles, from a 1932 Ford to a 1953 Lazzarino with no top.
After finding themselves being pelted by rain and dealing with the resulting electrical shorts in the later vehicle during the 2006 Great Race, the Auerbachs decided it was time to invest in a true rally car.
With some searching, the two found this 1951 Chrysler New Yorker with quite the track record on eBay. With races under its belt like the Pikes Peak Hill Climb and La Carrera, it was just the type of rally car they needed.
With a little prep work and a solid father-son relationship, the Auerbachs piloted their New Yorker over 10,000 miles in competitions all over the world, including the New York to Vancouver leg of the 2012 Trans-America Challenge. Unfortunately, the pair was never able to win a rally with the Chrysler.
Late in 2012, Jonathan Auerbach became ill and consequently passed away in December 2012 at the age of 70.
Determined to keep his and his father’s passion for vintage rally racing alive, Jake took the driver’s seat of the New Yorker and won the first rally he entered without his father.
Now nearly two years after his father’s passing, Jake continues to fuel the rally racing passion and ultimately plans to race the classic Chrylser in the 2016 Peking to Paris Motor Challenge, an event that Jonathan and Jake had planned to run together.
Best of luck goes out to Jake in his vintage rally endeavors. We can’t wait to see him cross the finish line at the 2016 Motor Challenge in his father’s honor!