1989 Chrysler Chrysler’s TC by Maserati in Yellow & Engine Sound on My Car Story with Lou Costabile 

I didn't know about this car, it's very unusual, I was surprised to learn it was a Maserati. Well done Ray, it's good looking, very stylish, luxurious, excellent quality and I like it.

That Lou is a busy man, I've always been a fan of that small rear window seen it on some Tbirds.

Finally a video review of the Chrysler TC by Maserati that is unbiased. There are a number of videos, that do nothing but make fun of this car for 10min straight. The TC is a very well-built automobile. It is quite stylish, very comfortable and luxurious. In addition the 2.2L Turbo is pretty reliable and has a decent amount of pep, making it extremely fun to drive. The internet is plagued by tons of misinformation about this car. Unfortunately, the only people who know what an amazing automobile the TC is, are the people who own them. Of course I'm biased, because I absolutely love my 1989 Chrysler TC by Maserati.

thanks Lou smooth sounds great thanks for your service GS

I had a 1988 or 1989 Chrysler LeBaron 2 door hardtop coupe with retractable headlights, in metallic ‘puce’. It was a beautiful car and it seemed to have its act together. The only concern I had with it was that it came with a 4 cylinder and was underpowered. But other than that, I absolutely loved it! The TC is not the most glamorous, but it certainly is interesting. I never minded their looks or styling and I love the fact it’s a convertible! A nice find Lou!

I have one. It is the same color inside and out with the same engine too. My TC is still brand new and only has 6,000 miles on it.

Nice! I do remember these cars. I've only seen 2-3 of them. I didn't know there was no back seat. If I'm not mistaken they were only available in a few colors. I've seen them in this yellow and red only. Thank you Ray and Lou!

Ah, the glory era of small production runs of badge engineered or cooperation vehicles. TC by Maserati, Cadillac Allante, Rover Sterling, Chevy Nova/Corolla, Toyota Cavalier... All less than the sum of the parts. Thanks to the owner for keeping this one around and for Lou to bring it to us!

Tanks Lou Lovely car. Never see one before.

A real hybrid ! I’d never heard of this car until today. Maseratis of this era were never my cup of tea and crossing one with a Chrysler does nothing to improve the appeal. But I’m glad the owner treasures it for his own pleasure and the delight of others. I’m fairly sure Maserati never built a 2.2 liter 16 valve engine, perhaps somebody can tell me otherwise.

Awesome Lou《☆》I was hoping the Maserati had a V12 but it's still cool. Reminds me of a girl in college who drove a Lebaron conv, black with wood sides. She made that Kcar lookclassy🤠☻🤠

Everybody's talkin' at me, I can't hear a word they're sayin', I'm just drivin' around in Jon Voight's car!

I drove past an identical one in north central Montana last summer. It had a for sale sign on it so spun around and checked it out. Never heard or seen one before and we were expecting a daughter and I informed the seller of that. He asked what I was going to do with the car. I told him i was going to go through it, put it in my quonset and save it for my daughter. He said he was selling all of his belongings, moving to Oregon and didn't want any baggage. As I was looking at it he said he'd sell it for what I had in my pockets. I told him I only had $300. He left and came back with the notarized title and said my girl will love it. Pretty sure she will. :)

I knew someone who had one with the Maserati engine, 2 little trivias about this car is the Maserati engine was actually made by Lotus is the same one used in the Lotus Esprit. The reason they used this engine was and this problem is the 2nd part and was the real reason why the car failed. As you know its front wheel drive and originally it was to be rear driven but because it was front driven Maserati nor Chrysler had an engine for the car, so cars ordered with a manual trans got a Lotus engine while the autos got the lousy engines. The lotus engine was mid rear mount so with a few changes it was adapted for the front wheel drive set up. This car would have been so much better if they stayed with the original idea of it being rear drive.

That is a nicely maintained car.

You don’t see these cars often Lou. Pretty rare. Interesting story.

Delicious interior.

I love my TCs, all 9. The triple black one is the eye catcher.

My Aunt had one, it was a 1990 with a V6 I think. It was really nice.

Hey Lou. Lovely looking Chrysler TC. I remember when it was first introduced to the market. At the time, I found it more attractive than the LeBaron from which it was based. :)

Woah, a Chrysler turbo 2.2L! That’s a first for a TC that I’ve seen. Most had the 3.0L V6

I respect the owners passion and knowledge

That's the pimpinest Lebaron I've ever seen . Thanks for posting .

The interior is more luxurious than most luxury cars today!

6:48 Very tastefully added boost gauge, befitting the car. These cars "dump themselves into my lap." In the late-90's a guy was moving from 'East to West' coast and I got one of the rare 501 with the Lotus/Maserati head and 5spd manual for a *fire-sale price.* I had a 3" cat-less, turbo-back mandrel-bent exhaust custom-fabricated which really allowed the stock turbo to spool with the slightest RPMs. That gave the car 'flexability' and changed the entire nature of the beast. Before that the lag was horrific. It was wait... wait... wait... *Colonel Stapp's rocket sled!* *PART 2:* Last year my neighbor had two of these offloaded from a flat bed truck onto his driveway. His wife had told him, *"Find me a convertible that I like."* They were looking at another car when 'wifey' spied a TC sitting on the showroom floor of a Chrysler dealer. It belonged to the dealership owner and my neighbor's wife said, *_"That's the car I want."_* Well the mint one (48K) on the showroom-floor came with a still-running parts car and that's how 2 of them got dumped across the street from me last year!!! Please... please help me get away from these cars!

Nice 😀

I love old American cars a lot, but this car doesn't seem to amaze me as much as I thought it would, just to be honest.

Nice showcase! Thanks Lou. I own one of these cars and it is a joy to drive. It is great on the highway. I've also owned a '93 Allante with the Northstar V8 (also built in Italy and flown to the US for completion), Truimph TR-7's, SVO Mustang, LT-1 Corvette, Porsche 928 and many other unusual and quirky cars. The TC was to be a halo car for Chrysler and the Lebaron was to come out after with similar styling and capitalize on that image. The biggest downfall of the TC was that it hit the market too late - it took Maserati two or three years longer than originally planned to to get them to market. So, unfortunately, they both hit the market at roughly the same time. In the mind of buyers, rather than seeing the LeBaron as a TC anyone could afford the TC just looked like an overpriced mini- LeBaron.. The hand crafted in Italy TC with genuine stitched Italian leather dash, door panels, etc with custom tuned suspension couldn't compete with the mass produced Lebaron that copied it's styling at half the price. However, if you sit in both and look at the build quality and materials it is easy to see that the TC was indeed a no expense spared image car and the Lebaron, though still a nice car, was a mass produced low cost copy.

I'm currently drooling over one on Craigslist for $1500!

That translates into $74,000 in today's dollars 😳. Still a pretty ride!

It's in remarkable condition, it's unique, and he's proud of it. That's all that matters. Not every potential collector car was a sales success. In fact, some are sought after because they aren't your typical GTO, Mustang, Camaro production rock star that's seen at every car show. Although I like the overall design, I've always thought Chrysler could have given the hidden headlights to the TC instead of using them on the Le Baron to dress up the front end and instead of using a circular porthole on the hardtop, ala Thunderbird, they could have cut their pentastar into the sail panels of the aux hardtop with the Maserati trident etched inside the glass. That said, they didn't ask me and it's still a nice looking ride.

Very nice car and I have always liked these TC's especially with the 16 valve engine and 5 speed.....BUT lets not get it twisted, this is a modified Chrysler Le Baron that Maserati had involvement with. A high end Le Baron if you will.

I like it! I was a teenager when this beauty came out... It didn't quite measure up to the show car version...(NONE of them do!) But it still was a beaut. Couldn't figure out the strange array of engines or why in the hell Chrysler developed the Lebaron at the same time. LOL. The Lebaron looked a little better and was way cheaper! I'd still take a TC tho

My parents had one, but though theres was like an 86.i remember it being brown and looked like a k car .

Couldn't you get a Maserati bi turbo for the same amount?

There's probably less than a handful of those cars on the planet that are in that good of condition.

I was a fan of these over the top K car's

I see one everyday at this mechanic shop

That's a good looking car though the price was I can see they make many. The interior is very nice too.

My biggest Beef with The TCs is many of the owners not Ray in the video liked to call them my Maserati and i used to laugh Saying omg tou mean your K car with the Maserati Stickers and Badges on it ? Which is exactly what that car sounded like when you focused on the exhaust note in the video which ironically my Grandmother owned and drove a 1983 K car 4 door 4 cylinder that could barely get out. Of its own way getting on to a major Freeway and i got stuck driving once in a while Shuffling Grand ma around on errands

It strikes me as odd how many times big automakers have built an exotic "halo car" just to lose massive amounts of money and prestige: Hudson Italia, Studebaker Avanti, Lancia Montecarlo/Scorpion, Chrysler TC, Cadillac Allanté, Subaru SVX... Great cars, no doubt about it, but huge financial flops.

One is sitting here on Runge's Tires lot here in Rogers Park, right now Same yellow paint. Automatic. Could well be the same IL car. Decent shape... BTW- The Maserati 2.2 4 had a head from Cosworth. Machined by Maserati Some few came with a Getrag 5 speed The wheels are from a F-1 wheel manufacturer EACH CAR COST $80,000 to produce A $600M disaster for Chrysler Motors Lee IaIacoco in the coco.. ASSlandero deTomazzole Today Chrysler and Miseriti are owned by........... FIAT! As is Ferrari... Stranger things.... Yropean (-8D J.C.

I thought they had bigger motor but. It's cool for a 89

Someone could probably adapt that type of power brake booster to classic cars and make a good living because it would look simpler and less bulky in the engine compartment then one of those gigantic vacuum power brake adapter unit's that take up half the engine compartment.

I own a 1991 Maserati. Mint condition ,the back break light I'd not coming on, can anyone PLEASE TELL ME HOW YOU GET TO IT TO MAKE IT WORK. TY IN ADVANCE

I just bought one with the Mitsubishi v6

dynamic duo chrysler y maserati ...... holy batleather robin who has the penguin's umbrella??

Nice car rare like me Peugeot in USA

My dad put in 25 years at Chrysler so I always wanted to see success. This was not one of the successes. I too believe the car was not different enough to call it part Maserati. It was too close to the LeBaron convertible to make it worth paying the extra cash.

Looks like a buick reatta?

Ok who would not just take a basic 1969 Plymouth Road Runner, 383 4-Spd, we can also get that in a pale piss yellow if you want that too!

This is a very unique car but you either absolutely love it or you don't at all. It's a K car with a Maserati badge so it was neither fooling people that it wasn't a K car, nor was it impressing LeBaron customers being twice the price of a loaded LeBaron. Other than the leather in every corner of the interior, the climate control, door switches, steering column and ignition switch, radio, and chassis were all out of a $12,000 LeBaron.

What was the point of buying these if they were not equipped with the Maserati motor! Why would anyone get one without that?

Nice LeBaron

👍👍👍👍😎😎😎

Toss in a 340 6pack & rwd and it might have sold. Better yet HEMI HELLCAT.

Interesting car not l would have bought one at that price new with a Lebaron sitting next to it.

I give Lou and the owner a thumbs up, but the car gets the opposite. Did Iacocca really think buyers would believe this K car derivation was a Maserati? And at $35k, no wonder Chrysler had to title 3500 unsold ‘90 cars as ‘91s. How ‘bout that easy access spare tire placement? Oh, that’s right - if you can afford a Maserati, you can hire someone to change your flat tire!

Although that's a nice example, let's face it, that was a glorified K-car (which had no prestige). I remember seeing a new one on my block (in Brooklyn, NY) at the time and was wondering why Chrysler bothered with this. Sorry, this will never be collectible. (I wonder what happens if you need to stop 5 times?).

After seeing it, its no wonder it did not sell. The interior design of the buttons and dash and steering column is mid 80's at best. in fact an 87 Nissan or Mazda or even Toyota had better interior ergonomics.

My second cars a Citroen SM Maserati, my third is a BiTurbo..... NOT!! (-8D

Take the worst American car brand and the worst European sports car manufacturer, and let them build a car together. Beautiful!

Lebaron was the cheappie

Looks too much like a Chrysler