Harry Truman’s last car was a light green 1972 Chrysler Newport, and it still sits in the garage behind his house in Independence, Missouri. The former president bought the Truman Chrysler Newport about six months before he died. It wears a license plate he chose for a date that defined his presidency, and its odometer shows fewer than 19,000 miles.
That low number makes sense once you know the story. Truman drove it for only a few months. After that, his wife Bess used it until her own death a decade later. Then their daughter gave it to the National Park Service, which still looks after it today.
The Newport was also the last link in a long chain. Truman bought Chryslers for more than 30 years, and he looked after each one closely. So the green sedan is less a museum piece than the final entry in a lifelong habit.
How Truman bought his last Chrysler Newport
According to the National Park Service’s history of the Truman car, he bought the Newport in nearby Odessa, Missouri. In fact, he traded in a 1969 Chrysler to get it. The park service also says Truman reportedly picked the exterior color, while Bess chose the interior.
The park service describes the car as a four-door with an eight-cylinder engine. Meanwhile, the automotive history site Curbside Classic identifies it as a Newport Royal. Both sources agree on the mileage: just under 19,000.
Truman did not get much time with it. The park service’s Truman biography records that he died in Kansas City on December 26, 1972, at age 88. As a result, the car spent most of its working life in Bess Truman’s hands.
Why the plate reads 5745
The license plate is the detail visitors remember. Truman asked the Missouri license bureau for the number 5745. The park service explains that it stands for the date of V-E Day in Europe, May 7, 1945.
That date came one day before his birthday. Truman was born in Lamar, Missouri, on May 8, 1884, according to the same biography. Today, the park service says the plate number has been permanently retired.
A president who washed his own cars
Truman’s attention to his cars went far beyond the plate. The park service notes that his first car was a 1911 Stafford. Later, he had his cars washed every few days. He also vacuumed the upholstery himself and did not allow smoking inside.
That care helps explain the low miles and the condition of the Newport. Still, the car was never a garage queen in his lifetime. Instead, it was ordinary family transportation for a retired couple in Independence.
The Chryslers that came before
Curbside Classic traces a long line of Chrysler products in the Truman family. In November 1940, the day after Senator Truman won re-election, the family took delivery of two new Chryslers. One was a Royal Club Coupe for him, and the other was a Windsor sedan for Bess. To get them, he traded in a 1938 Dodge and a 1940 Chrysler.
Those two cars now sit at the Truman Library in Independence. Curbside Classic adds that Chrysler restored both in the 1990s. Next came a 1953 Chrysler, which the family later traded for a 1955 New Yorker. Finally, the 1969 Chrysler went in on the deal for the green Newport.
The 1953 road trip
The most famous Truman drive happened in the summer of 1953, a few months after he left office. St. Louis Public Radio reports that Harry and Bess loaded 11 suitcases into their new Chrysler New Yorker. Then they headed east from Independence to Washington, D.C., and back.
Harry did the driving, and Bess kept an eye on his speed. The trip also had a deadline, because Truman had to be in Philadelphia for a speech on June 26. Along the way, the couple stopped at diners, hotels and gas stations like any other travelers.
The University of Virginia’s Miller Center adds one more detail. A policeman pulled Truman over on the Pennsylvania Turnpike for an unlawful lane change. However, the center calls that trip his only attempt at a long drive after leaving office.
Bess Truman’s car after 1972
After her husband’s death, Bess kept driving the Newport. She used it until she died, and the park service biography dates her death to October 18, 1982, at age 97. By then, the car had covered only a modest number of miles.
Margaret Truman Daniel, the couple’s only child, inherited the Newport. She then donated it to the National Park Service. The agency still maintains the car as part of the Harry S Truman National Historic Site.
Where to see the Truman Chrysler Newport today
The Newport is parked in the garage behind the Truman Home at 219 North Delaware Street. According to the park service, visitors can see it at the house during the summer season.
Seeing it takes a little planning. The park’s visitor information page says tours of the house take no more than eight people. Also, everyone needs a ticket, and the park issues them only on the same day at the visitor center at 223 North Main Street.
The car that waits there is the last one Harry Truman ever bought. It is light green, it carries plate 5745, and the park service records fewer than 19,000 miles on its odometer.
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