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During the late 1970s,
appeared doomed as outdated
and
a second catastrophic oil crisis caused by Middle Eastern conflict
hammered sales. Chrysler had some successful economy cars
or
, but the need for an efficient, modern front-wheel-drive platform grew desperate. After
a government bailout in 1979 bought some time
, CEO
masterminded the creation of the all-new
, which hit showrooms for the 1981 model year. The first two K-Cars, the
Reliant and
Aries, were big sales successes, and Chrysler went on building vehicles based on the platform through 1995. Here’s an example of the later Aries wagon, found in a Phoenix self-service wrecking yard.
The “true” K-Cars were the Aries, the Plymouth Reliant, the Chrysler LeBaron, and the Dodge 400. They have become very rare in wrecking yards today, so I honor their historical significance by documenting the ones I find. During
, I have photographed
,
,
,
,
,
,
this ’83 LeBaron Town & Country wagon
,
this ’85 LeBaron woodie convertible
,
,
this ’86 LeBaron Town & Country wagon
,
, and
.
The early K-Cars could be purchased with optional
2.6-liter four-cylinder (complete with
), but in 1988, the choices were down to a 93-horsepower 2.2-liter Chrysler-built four-cylinder or a 2.5-liter version of the same engine rated at 96 horses and 13 extra pound-feet of torque. This car has the 2.2.
The “America LE” trim level was the only one available for the 1988 Aries, and it resulted in a fairly Spartan car. Tough, scratchy cloth upholstery and lots of hard plastic were the order of the day.
The MSRP on this car started at $7,695, or about $16,770 in 2018 dollars. That’s a lot of car for that kind of money. For comparison, the rear-wheel-drive (and much bigger) 1988 Pontiac
wagon went for nearly twice that price.
By 1988, the Aries wagon was looking pretty old, but it was a bargain.
from Autoblog http://bit.ly/2QCYzGh