Son Takes Chrysler New Yorker Rally Car to the Next Stage

When Jake Auerbach was thirteen years old, his dad, Jonathan, got him a summer job pumping gas at the shop of the family mechanic in Long Island, New York. Jake always suspected that, in arranging this employment, his dad had more in mind than pocket money and work ethic.
"My dad was useless in the garage," says Jake. "I think he was, in a way, training a mechanic in me."
By the time he was in his late-teens, Jake had become not only a competent mechanic but also his father's navigator in numerous vintage car rallies. Not that such a division of labor was always a comfortable one for father and son.
"In rallying, the driver has to follow the navigator's directions," says Jake, "and my dad was a successful corporate executive who didn't take orders easily. Usually, the only thing I could do was nudge."
The Auerbachs went through several cars -- including a 1932 Ford and a Fiat Topolino -- before acknowledging that perhaps this rally business called for a rally car. The final straw came when, in the 2006 Great Race from Philadelphia, Penn., to San Rafael, Calif., Jonathan and Jake found themselves caught in a rainstorm, water sloshing at their feet and the ignition shorting out, in a 1953 Lazzarino with no top.
After some searching, they settled upon a 1951 Chrysler New Yorker, a car which had previously run the famed La Carrera Panamericana race in Mexico and the Pike's Peak Hill Climb in Colorado. Jonathan and Jake quickly began adding their own miles to the car's odomoeter, running the New York-to-Vancouver leg of the Trans-America Challenge in 2012 in addition to numerous other events. In total, this father-and-son team covered more than 10,000 competition miles together in the New Yorker. They never, however, managed to win any of the events they entered together.
In December 2012, Jonathan Auerbach died at the age of 70. Shortly after Jonathan's passing, Jake entered the first rally he'd ever run without his dad. He won.
And Jake has no intention of slowing the Chrysler down. Jake and Jonathan had long planned to enter their Chrysler in the 2016 Peking to Paris Motor Challenge. As a tribute to his dad, Jake has every intention of sticking to that plan.
Drive Tastefully®
Petrolicious.com
/ petrolicious

[@plaqueconspiracy]

Very inspiring and touching story. This is what gives a car character. A trailer queen is more or less an object worth money. A car like this is a personality that you can't put a price tag on

[@whatwhatinthepoop]

[@VictorySpeedway]

If you trailer your car to a show, it's furniture. Take it to a piano show. Cars - ALL OF THEM - were built to drive. Drive them.

[@MattMaranMotoring]

This car is so cool, and the way it brought father and son together makes it that much more awesome. What a great story, another wonderful video guys!

[@0616ko]

Exactly! Well said.

[@jdust1776cm]

This is why I love Petrolicious. You never know what you are going go get. What an incredible surprise this video was. A unique car old American car from the 50's doing a job it was never meant to do. Powered by a young man willing to do anything to carry on the torch his father passed down. So cool.

[@perryingraham]

at the end i could see he was on the brink of crying and it must feel very sad to lose him

[@ChristopherBell]

Winning the rally is boring. Facing catastrophe with your dad gives you more memories.

[@94jrose]

Excellent video like always. Keep them coming! I like seeing these American land yachts!

[@speedsociety9177]

Beautiful! You can see Jake gets really emotional in the end when describing how he wants to continue the dream they both had together. This is real passion for motoring and a son who will have a lot of good memories of the time he spent with his dad out there.

[@xXturbo86Xx]

The first few words the man said almost made me cry....i wish my father was a car guy... I'm a car guy,i've been one ALL my life. I never cared much about anything else other than cars and engines generaly. My father is the exact opposite. He fuckin hates cars to the point of sending 2 valuable classics to the junkyard (after crashing the one and blowing the engine on the other one) just to "get rid of them".

[@kennethj1956]

Imagination and Creativity are much better than money in making great moments. "Run what ya brung; work with what ya got" is my motto.

[@tekkaboy80]

Mad respect. It was hard for him to talk about it at the end of the video. That was one pretty cool dad.

[@doctorzaius4084]

Awesome car, nice shots at the old Bridgehampton circuit (wish it still existed!!)

[@TheStevemcqueen68]

What great story, of Jake and his father,and the car

[@dougmaxwell8789]

I love how he kept the original steering wheel.

[@RT060789]

How great to have had the relationship you had with your Dad.

[@jmbreiss]

Another beautiful story about a beautiful car filmed beautifully... simply beautiful

[@YakoffShmirnoff]

Wow, I'd never expect this kind of vehicle to rally. Love what they did with it, seems so original these days. Also, love the scoop in front of window to bring fresh air into the cabin.

[@CatheysKid]

You guys usually get it right....and sometimes you really get it right, this was definitely one of those "sometimes". A really good story told really, really well. I now know there is an absolutely priceless 1951 Chrysler New Yorker rally car!

[@randallfrank5682]

I just found this video, 10/26/19. What a great story and a really neat car. I love that body style now, it took me decades to come to learn to love it though, I am 72. I wish that my son loved cars/trucks like I do. They are just a form of transportation for him. I could hardly wait to learn to drive and pushed my parents constantly. My son did not want to learn to drive until he was 18 and I gave him my old Toyota pickup a little later. I love my son, I just wish that we were closer. I doesn't help that he lives a couple thousand air miles away.

[@tmh44]

Very cool car with a touching story--hope Peking to Paris goes well!!

[@linglingjr]

So jelly of their relationship, all the fun experiences and awesome car they got out if it.

[@Missileworksllc]

These videos are amazing. The stories, the cars and the cinematography. Its all just perfect, all of them.

[@JarrydJunkin]

Great car, great story and great owner! Now I got tears :'(

[@CarambleTV]

Always awesome to see cars like this being USED rather than just poping out for the odd show. Good luck doing Paris rally.

[@johnmccann3964]

What an awesome car. I'm really happy to see it actually being used instead of babied. Have fun!

[@WheelsAZ]

Cool story, I happened to see the car driving through Sag Harbor this week, searched the web a bit & found this video. I hope you're still rallying!

[@moach57]

Who would dislike this?

[@mattadrev471]

+moach57 i love it all except that red front grill...sorry clashes horribly with green color

[@mrwafflez000]

+Matt Whitmire what is wrong with you

[@caesarguzman5831]

Matt AdRev so it was you? That’s not a reason to dislike the whole video! Dumbass!

[@JoeTamborello]

Such a well done video and a great story to tell.

[@proscriptus]

I still can't believe Jon is gone, but wonderful to see Jake behind the wheel.

[@GeeFunk84]

This is what NASCAR should be.

[@dlb83082]

+Gábor Vajda this is what NASCAR started as

[@emanyo]

Nice choice in color, the stickers are a nice touch too especially the "Chrysler fire power" one. Real retro lookin.

[@tpioneer]

"la carrera panamericana" yeah! cheers from México!

[@pwddogman]

Best of Luck on your Homage to your Dad, Steer straight and brake when necessary!

[@johntechwriter]

The car's specialness lies in its purpose: to form and maintain a strong bond between father and son. When you get down to it, the car is not the subject of this vid. Instead it’s the relationship and how the car nurtured it.

[@j007ayala]

Your dad is smiling down on you man... you already won the race.

[@duanesather4559]

Good story, I know your dad's proud of you. Keep her going down the road.

[@NickNakorn]

A great film about a fabulous car - I imagine Dean Moriarty in a car like that right down the centre line of the road to a limitless horizon.

[@MrCapi55]

Great to Watch this car speeding at the sound of the Hemi engine.!

[@biro24]

Dear Petrolicious, how could i buy you a drink, for all the amazing stories and art work that you give us with these stunning videos?

[@xxdriftking027xx]

Very touching story :') Always a good story when cars bring people together, especially father and son. Dont know where me and my old man would be without cars.. Cool car and wish the best of luck in the next rally

[@TobyWhiteUK]

Inspirational and touching storing

[@zsolt487]

One soul, one heart, one life!❤️❤️👍🤘

[@andrewc6863]

Beautiful car with an amazing story.

[@lathropedition]

What a great story, his Dad is proud of him.

[@viewpressure]

This was a truly inspiring Petrolicious video. Keep them coming. I now need a tissue.

[@antzontoast]

Great cinematography, great story!

[@diegoman2001]

He should come to baja for NORRA rally there's a category for cars like that... really cool

[@gabesiemens1591]

All your content is great but I have really been enjoying the stuff on American cars. keep it up!

[@rockinchimp]

Would love to own one of them stock never mind done up like that.

[@captainmappy3959]

I'm speechless. Just....wow.

[@jogb9515]

You guys make great vids. Would love a bit more tech detail on the car; build shots, cage and suspension details etc.

[@MrELIAN602]

thank you Petroicious and Jake

[@stigmsr1]

Great story and best of luck with the rally.

[@DamfinoMR2]

Awesome story thanks for sharing

[@CBrunk]

Very touching story and cool car, I can definitely relate. Thanks for sharing.

[@MrStingraybernard]

Very cool , love that exhaust sound

[@LukesVintageRC]

Great story! Hope your races are all good.

[@ParadoxdesignsOrg]

Its a monster, and what a great story!

[@keepmovingjumping]

lipstick on car :) l think that looks really good and it fits the actual "gasoline green" color nice

[@jerede.3264]

How do you reach out and find people like this? Truly awesome story and an awesome car

[@bigphat200]

A car show for car guys that is so much more then a car show.

[@tonyrocks951]

This thing is fantastic!

[@GhettoWagon]

Nice Footage at the old Bridgehampton racetrack.

[@manuelgearbox7309]

I fell in love with this car...

[@vipergtsrgt1]

Hope to do some of these historic rallies someday. Entry fees are awfully expensive though.

[@stukinit]

Kinda bummed that he teased us with the description of that picture but we never get to see it! Other than that, it really goes to show that people can be as connected to cars as to other people, as well as maintain that connection through cars/hobbies even when one is no longer around. That is what separates car enthusiasts from "regular" people, the fact that we see a work of art and a way of life in a machine, that to someone else is either a relic or a way of getting "from A to B".

[@gregorytimmons4777]

Sure as Hell 1951 is the first model year the original hemi was offered.

[@motorstormalex]

Love that car, and awesome story

[@nokadota2647]

What a cool ride :)

[@charliethebat]

The feels!

[@Tigersmundo]

Irony that the short story and THE Chrysler Hemi car come to life with Petrolicious!!

[@UFOstar7]

Awesome.

[@ezequielmartinez3582]

What a cool car!!

[@blakesby]

Beautiful.

[@TheRealEarCandy]

BEST ONE YET!!

[@pretty00lights]

Truly amazing! Very very "drive tastefully" :)!!

[@Bravo955]

lovee the deer kill marks haha +1

[@julianroberts7948]

Thats an amazing car and an awesome story

[@skorpinox]

Lovely

[@scootosan]

Safe Travels...Good Luck

[@racer67]

I love the car!

[@TheBonracer]

What an awesome car!

[@o0julek0o]

What a story.

[@timc8551]

Beautiful

[@joeymyopic]

watched this 6 years after the fact hope u made to the peking -paris

[@chrisguynz]

I love this channel

[@ardas77]

Lovely car. One thing: red grill is not subtle :P

[@ryanghendricks]

Subtlety probably comes in a different guise in that country :)

[@bruceg1845]

I had a '51 Windsor DeLux from '60 to '65

[@LPPL123]

the thumbnail of the video... would it be possible to get it as a hd wallpaper?

[@rehcapsma]

Awesome!

[@Boredout454]

Most dont know that in the 50's and 60's and early 70's Mopar did a lot of Rally racing and NASCAR and Drag Racing and was generally top dog.

[@sidtabak6811]

Nice story! How does the transmission and gear shifting work?

[@Witkovito]

hudson hornet from cars movie? :P

[@MGAFFY]

I've got the same car just a 1953 so looks a little different but that interior is basically the same

[@tomkatseven]

Cool

[@ftr223]

LOL 3:38 2 road kill mark?

[@mr.bnatural3700]

WHAT??? .....This isn't A Porsche or Ferrari!!! Has Petrolicious gone nuts???

[@henglongtanks1]

This channel needs more subs, share it:)

[@carbo19]

Fantastic! What abandoned racetrack is that filmed at?

[@juancarlosrivera4419]

So sad that La Carrera Panamericana is no longer what it used to be... it was raced from the north border to the south border back in 50s and 60s....the thougest rally race with a lot of prestige and pedigree... Porsche Carrera is named that way due to that race and even Ferrari had car named Mexico honoring the race...but the race is now forgotten... and Mexico lost the oportunity to have one of the most famous races at the same level of LeMans...now is raced very sporadically by some classic car enthusiastics . Great car by the way...looks though as a brick and badass!!

[@reijerlincoln]

Nice one. I wonder if/what they did with the suspension and brakes.

[@yellowbusguy]

You will never know because they don't think that stuff is important on this show. I brought up the fact that this show lacks depth and I got all kinds of flack for it. It's all about the feel man.

[@boboshop55]

yellowbusguy The guy talks about losing his father and how he is preping for Peking-Paris in his dads honor? That's just about as deep as you get man! Take your yellowbus full of negativity on down the road.

[@yellowbusguy]

Kyle Henricks I in no way put down the message in the video, i only stated that they typically do not go into depth about the car. You'd need a bus to haul around your load of butt hurt.

[@petersente83]

yellowbusguy I agree. I have made a similar comment before too. The videos are done very well, but often they just show the car being driven while the owner goes on about his personal life. Nothing wrong in that, but for me the focus could be more on the car's story...

[@alexander1485]

Peter Sente agreed