The ’74-78 C-body (New Yorker, Newport, Town & Country, Dodge Royal Monaco and Plymouth Gran Fury) steering columns are different from anything else Chrysler made – including the pre-’74 C-bodies.
If a person had a lot of fabrication skills, I’m sure one can make one fit – but it is a lot more work than I’m willing to do.
When I worked for Chrysler, we referred to them as three different columns:
Non-tilt
Tilt (Note: tilt columns changed completely after ’79. ’80 and up are way different from ’79 and down tilt columns)
Tilt and Telescopic (or Telescopic for short) – which only came in the ’74-78 C-bodies.
Note: ’74-78 C-bodies did come with all three column choices: Chrysler and high end Dodge/Plymouth came with Telescopic option.
The dash mount is different from the pre-’74 models, but floor hole and underhood part is the same – from other C-bodies,
Everything is different - on all other models (floor hole, under hood mounting/length, and dash mount).
Then, like FMJ’s, the electrical portion is also different between the years.
At one time, I could tell you what a steering column came out of – just by the floor hole. Each Chrysler body had a different floor hole, including a different one for pickups and another different one for vans.
In other words, All A-bodies had one style column style. All B and R-bodies had one style floor hole, All C-bodies, FMJ’s all share a floor hole (different from everything else), etc.
The odd thing is the R-body dash is similar to a J-body (but is not, exactly). The R and J-body column is the same after the floor plate upwards – but floor plates, and underhood parts of each column are completely different.
I had a friend who tried to make one fit a late ‘70’s Body and another person who spend months trying to get one to fit into his pickup (he got it to fit his pickup, but, um, didn’t look so good
The friend with the B-body gave up because it was physically too long, and he didn’t to cut it to pieces to make it fit.
I would love to have Telescopic columns in my cars – but also don’t want it that bad to get them.
With the front bench seat in full back position, my wife cannot physically get behind the steering wheel on my wagon. She can into my 5th Ave, but it has power 6-way seats and a tilt column. I have plans on installing tilt column into the wagon, for her, but got other automotive things to get done, first.
Never heard that system being called “Eldorado style”, until just now.
BudW
