1949 Chrysler Windsor

Pennsylvania

$6,000

Vehicle Details

Make

Chrysler

Model

Windsor

Year

1949

Fuel Type

Gasoline

Condition

Fair

Description

This 1949 Chrysler Windsor convertible is a genuine barn find with remarkable potential. The body is 99% complete and solid throughout, presenting an excellent foundation for a full restoration or customization project. The car comes with significant additional value: two more Windsors on hand—a four-door sedan and another convertible—offering a wealth of original parts and components to draw from during your build.

What makes this particularly compelling is the rarity and desirability of the 1949 Windsor convertible body style. These postwar Chryslers are increasingly sought after by restorers and collectors for their elegant proportions, quality construction, and the accessible mechanical platforms that make them practical to own and drive.

The car is located in Sligo, Pennsylvania, and is ready for an enthusiast committed to bringing this classic back to life. With the additional donor vehicles included, you'll have the flexibility to source correct, original parts as your project progresses.

Chrysler Windsor Buyer's Guide

Full guide

Sarah Whitfield

Pre-War Classics

1939–1961

~4 min read

Updated Apr 2026

The Chrysler Windsor occupied the most interesting position in Chrysler's lineup for over two decades — below the New Yorker in price but sharing its chassis, its engineering ambitions, and eventually its remarkable Forward Look styling. The Windsor is the Chrysler that real collectors understand.

This guide covers

✓ 8-point inspection checklist

✓ Common issues & what to avoid

✓ In-person inspection guide

✓ Market pricing by year & condition

✓ 5 FAQs answered

✓ History & fun facts

Read the Full Windsor Buyer's Guide

Chrysler Windsor Market Overview

Based on 18 Chrysler Windsor listings currently on ClassicCarsArena.com

Listed Now

$24,276

Avg. Asking Price

1947–1962

Year Range

Price Position on Our Site — Below Average

This car: $6,000

Low: $6,000 High: $74,950

Transmission Distribution

Automatic 39%

Manual 22%

Condition Distribution

Excellent 17%

Good 11%

Fair 17% ◄

Poor 6%

Data from ClassicCarsArena.com listings Browse all 18 listings →

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What is this car worth?

Check sold prices for the 1949 Chrysler Windsor

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Chrysler Windsor Buyer's Guide

Sarah Whitfield here. The Windsor has lived in the New Yorker's shadow for its entire collector life, and I find this unjust. The Chrysler Windsor from 1955 to 1961 is one of the most dramatic, intelligently styled American cars of the postwar era — it carries the full force of Virgil Exner's "Forward Look" design language, the Chrysler Corporation's engineering confidence of the mid-1950s, and a driving experience that genuinely distinguished the marque from General Motors and Ford products of the period. The Windsor offered all of this at the entry level of the Chrysler brand.

The prewar (1939–1942) and immediate postwar (1946–1954) Windsors are a different matter — important to marque completists but less visually dramatic. This guide covers the full range but concentrates collector attention where it properly belongs: the Forward Look era.

What to Check Before Buying

✓

Body Panel Fit (1957–1958) — On 1957–1958 cars, check body panel gaps carefully — production quality control issues make structural problems more common.

✓

Tailfin Base Rust — Probe the bases of all tailfins where they meet the lower body — water accumulates and rusts from inside.

✓

Rear Floor Pan — Inspect from underneath and inside — rear floor pan rust is common on salt-belt examples.

✓

Poly V8 Smoke Test — Cold start — blue smoke indicates valve seal wear on the Poly V8; manageable but budget for repair.

✓

Torsion Bar Ride Height — Check that the car sits level and the front suspension feels consistent — torsion bar deterioration causes uneven height.

✓

TorqueFlite Operation — Select all positions (D, L, R, N) — TorqueFlite is durable but band adjustment needed on high-mileage examples.

✓

Convertible Structure (if applicable) — On convertibles, inspect behind rear doors for water damage and structural rust from top-down intrusion.

✓

Chrome Trim Completeness — Inventory the exterior chrome — Windsor-specific pieces can be difficult to source correctly.

Common Issues

1957–1958 production quality control issues: body panel gaps, trim clip failures, and fit problems more common than adjacent years. Tailfin base rust from water accumulation in the fin cavities. Rear floor pan and trunk floor rust on salt-belt cars. Poly V8 oil consumption from worn valve seals on high-mileage unrestored examples. Convertible top mechanism rust and hydraulic seal failures. TorqueFlite band adjustment needed on high-mileage examples. Front torsion bar deterioration causing uneven ride height — the torsion bar front suspension on all 1957–1965 Chrysler products requires inspection.

What to Look For

On 1957–1958 Windsors specifically, inspect the body structure carefully — the quality control issues of those production years mean more body panel fits problems and more compromised structural sections than comparable 1955–1956 or 1959–1961 examples. Probe the lower rear quarters and the rear floor pan thoroughly. On all Forward Look Windsors (1955–1961), inspect the tailfin bases for rust — water accumulates in the fin cavities. On convertibles, inspect the body structure behind the rear doors for water damage from top-down intrusion. On any Windsor, verify the Poly V8 runs without excessive oil consumption — a cold-start smoke test addresses this. The TorqueFlite automatic transmission on post-1956 cars is one of the most durable American automatics ever built, but verify clean operation through all selector positions.

Price Guide

Prewar Windsor (1940–1942): $12,000–$28,000. Postwar Windsor (1946–1954): $8,000–$20,000. 1955–1956 Windsor (driver): $12,000–$25,000. 1957–1958 Windsor (structurally sound driver): $16,000–$35,000. 1957–1958 Windsor Convertible (documented): $35,000–$65,000. 1959–1961 Windsor: $12,000–$28,000. Equivalent New Yorker examples trade at 20–35% premium for the same year and condition — the Windsor's value proposition.

Did You Know?

The Chrysler Windsor was named for Windsor, Ontario — the Canadian city directly across the Detroit River from the Chrysler headquarters — where many Chrysler vehicles were assembled for Canadian and export markets. The 1957 Chrysler lineup, including the Windsor, was designed so quickly (Virgil Exner's team had approximately 18 months from concept to production) that quality control suffered across the entire model year — a known historical issue that paradoxically makes intact 1957 Chrysler survivors more valuable. The TorqueFlite automatic transmission introduced in 1956 Chrysler products (available on the Windsor from 1957) is widely considered the most durable automatic transmission ever fitted to an American production car.

$6,000