K-cars

[dieseljeep]

Originally Posted by davet753

Many of Chrysler's problems when Iacocca came on the scene were mismanagement and not necessarily the products. Over-dependence on rentals, excessive production capacity, over-dependence on the RV industry, as someone else said "poor planning". I've had 70's Chrysler products that were pretty good compared to some of the garbage coming out of Detroit back then.

That's not to say they didn't have their fair share of lemons (e.g. Volare/Aspen). I know people who bought those and that didn't outrun their payment books before (literally) falling apart.

I wonder how many owners of Chev Vegas didn't finish paying for their car before an engine failure.
You could imagine those poor souls were making two payments a month, one for the car loan and one for the engine replacement.
GM really never had a decent warranty on their cars. They were always afraid to guarantee their products for more than 2 yrs, 20k miles. If they included a longer warranty on their products, they would've had money problems a lot earlier.

[dishdude]

Originally Posted by dieseljeep

I wonder how many owners of Chev Vegas didn't finish paying for their car before an engine failure.
You could imagine those poor souls were making two payments a month, one for the car loan and one for the engine replacement.
GM really never had a decent warranty on their cars. They were always afraid to guarantee their products for more than 2 yrs, 20k miles. If they included a longer warranty on their products, they would've had money problems a lot earlier.

That's just what the warranty was back then, 1 year/12k miles. I think Chrysler was the first to provide a long powertrain warranty in the 80's, think at first it was 5/50

[dieseljeep]

Originally Posted by dishdude

That's just what the warranty was back then, 1 year/12k miles. I think Chrysler was the first to provide a long powertrain warranty in the 80's, think at first it was 5/50

My '64 Valiant had a 5/50 warrantee on it. Chrysler first started it for the 1962 model and kept it until the 1971 model year, then going back to 1 year, 12k miles. My '82 Dodge Ramcharger had a 5/50 Warrantee. I don't remember when they resumed the warrantee coverage.

[Gregb]

My Dad was a dedicated Chrysler guy for as long as I can remember and in 1978 he bought a brand new Plymouth Volare wagon. What a huge POS that car was, I have never seen anything that bad. It was the last Chrysler product he ever owned.

Gregb

[Jon A.]

I'm guessing that the main problem that plagued the Aspen and Volare was poor fit and finish, making it very much "hit or miss" on getting a good one. Seems they have a decent following today. I just remembered one fellow I knew who had one and said the back floor would get so wet that toadstools were growing out of the carpet.

[mgross0]

K cars have outlasted most of their domestic contemporaries at this point. I still see a few Reliants and such on the road here in Phoenix, but it's been years since I have seen a Topaz or Citation. I would recommend avoiding the turbos, unless they have some sort of service history. That being said, I would also recommend that you go for an M body and buy a Diplomat. In an accident, an M body will demolish just about anything currently on the road.

[dishdude]

Originally Posted by mgross0

K cars have outlasted most of their domestic contemporaries at this point. I still see a few Reliants and such on the road here in Phoenix, but it's been years since I have seen a Topaz or Citation. I would recommend avoiding the turbos, unless they have some sort of service history. That being said, I would also recommend that you go for an M body and buy a Diplomat. In an accident, an M body will demolish just about anything currently on the road.

I couldn't agree more, and see more K-cars on the road then any other 80's cars...however, I took this pic a few weeks ago in Phoenix. Ford fans, here you go!

[Jon A.]

Originally Posted by dishdude

I couldn't agree more, and see more K-cars on the road then any other 80's cars...however, I took this pic a few weeks ago in Phoenix. Ford fans, here you go!

I can't recall the last time I saw an Aerostar. I saw a dark green Topaz in nice shape parked on the same street quite a few times not that long ago; chances are it's still in use, I just haven't been to that area in a while. Also, last month I saw a teal '92-'94 Taurus wagon, also in nice shape. That's pretty good for cars that were built while this region still had a winter.

Originally Posted by mgross0

K cars have outlasted most of their domestic contemporaries at this point. I still see a few Reliants and such on the road here in Phoenix, but it's been years since I have seen a Topaz or Citation. I would recommend avoiding the turbos, unless they have some sort of service history. That being said, I would also recommend that you go for an M body and buy a Diplomat. In an accident, an M body will demolish just about anything currently on the road.

Sounds good to me. I would add one of those bumper stickers that say "Your car is my crumple zone".

[N2IXK]

The only thing I would suggest avoiding in the K-cars is the optional Mitsubishi-built 2.6L engine. My dad had one of those in a 1981 Aries wagon, and it would eat timing belts and fuel pumps on a regular basis. The standard 2.2L engines were quite reliable, in my experience.

Of course, as a lifelong Mopar guy, it kind of galled me to see the "2.6 HEMI" fendertags that came with that POS engine.

[MadMan]

Originally Posted by N2IXK

Of course, as a lifelong Mopar guy, it kind of galled me to see the "2.6 HEMI" fendertags that came with that POS engine.

Well, heh, it was legitimately a hemi, though. Hemispherical combustion chambers ftw. But yeah...

[Jon A.]

Originally Posted by N2IXK

Of course, as a lifelong Mopar guy, it kind of galled me to see the "2.6 HEMI" fendertags that came with that POS engine.

Even Ford's 1.6L I4 is technically a hemi but fortunately I haven't seen any fender tags announcing this. While I have a soft spot for the early model Lynx and Escort I think the SS (1981 Escort only), RS and GT trim packages are a bit much for a subcompact without a lot of horsepower or low-end torque.

[MIPS]

Our family was two-time Aerostar users. They were great family vans. Later on in life I considered buying one because the removable seats are a great bonus but:
-They are heavy as hell
-The engines are a MASSIVE pain in the ass to service.

[MadMan]

Looks like a Ford advertisement poster or something. Both white, but look like new.

[Username1]

I have heard that the dodge 2.2 was the best motor in the K's. In the photos
of the K's for sale that are still around and running it always seems to have a 2.2.

As for the smog era cars, and I like that term, My uncle's last Chrysler was a 74-76?
Dodge Monaco like the ones on Blues Brothers, and it kinda came apart like in the
movie, just not all at once. It use to take a lot of cranking to get it running, it had
no power, 6mpg, lights and horn were active together at times, turn signals came
with audio accompany. It was the worst car he had, he followed that with a 4WD
Eagle, AMC I think at the time.

By the time that car died mostly of rust. I had got my '89 Prelude, the wife got her
'91 accord, and I talked him into an accord too, they had that car till he died.

On some of the sites about the Blues Brothers movie, they said they got those cars
for $100 -200. from the city as they were replacing them. Also hollywood got
hundreds of '77 Coronets for $35. because of smog system problems that
chrysler did not want to pay to redesign and fix. I remember seeing on PBS
about the decline of the auto industry 70's edition that chrysler and others would
take delivery on stuff like engine blocks by the thousands and by the time they
needed them for production the discovered there was a casting problem and
could not use them, so they would have to idle the factory, re order new run
and wait.... The bad blocks rusted. Same kinda story for GM and using known
bad or under designed bolts in the early Quad-4's. They all knowingly made
and sold crap for way too long....

.

[Jon A.]

Originally Posted by Username1

I have heard that the dodge 2.2 was the best motor in the K's. In the photos
of the K's for sale that are still around and running it always seems to have a 2.2.

As for the smog era cars, and I like that term, My uncle's last Chrysler was a 74-76? Dodge Monaco like the ones on Blues Brothers, and it kinda came apart like in the movie, just not all at once. It use to take a lot of cranking to get it running, it had no power, 6mpg, lights and horn were active together at times, turn signals came with audio accompany. It was the worst car he had, he followed that with a 4WD Eagle, AMC I think at the time.

The 2.2 probably is the best K motor, the 2.5 seemed rather problematic to me.

I doubt your uncle's Monaco was a '74 because it's a model made before catalytic converters so it runs good on regular gas. For '75 I believe only the Royal Monaco came with hideaway headlamps, and all '76 models have them.