Chrysler Enters a K Hole 

Steve when My father retired after 46 years with the city of Danbury ct. He bought a 1984 k car, He loved it ,After rising 10 kids his first new car, He wax that car every week, Drove it 10 years, Just had to share that.

A long time ago a buddy of mine had one of these, an '82 Reliant. He routinely drove it from Maine to Florida and back, hardly did any maintenance on it, and owned it for years. Definitely earned my respect.

I currently own a 1985 Dodge Aries Wagon with a 2.2 liter Engine and a 4 speed manual transmission. It was definitely a rescue, because I had bought it with a cracked head, and a whole bunch of other issues from neglect. I got rid of the electronic feedback carburetor for a Weber, which helped it a lot. You are so right about this car helping Chrysler get back on it’s feet. I also have a 2013 Dodge Challenger R/T that wouldn’t exist if it hadn’t been for this K-Car wagon. The K-car wagon has actually been a hit at local Cruise-in’s and Cars and Coffee Events over the years, and I hear alot of stories from people who had them when they were growing up. I think more then anything, I enjoy the “Underdog” nature of this wagon. I actually have a road trip planned for it in Mid-October because I have it entered in Concourse D’ Lemons at the Chattanooga Motorcar Festival. I’ve been working on getting it ready for it’s adventure.

My aunt worked for postal service as a route/mail deliveries, she bought a Dodge Aries new and used it as her mail route car, she says she wished she had bought a couple of them new and put them in storage for future use, she loved that car because it never let her down or gave her any problems other than normal maintenance. I had a dodge omni with 2.2/manual transmission, drove that for many years with no issues other than a broken clutch cable. My friend's mother had a chrysler lebaron with 2.5 turbo, we spent many saturday nights terrorizing the local mustangs and camaros in La Crosse. The friend also had the blue/silver shelby charger that he had built with weber carbs, headers/cam swap and later a ported/polished head. the local mustangs/camaros got wise to this shelby pretty quickly, it was a beast then.

I love the K car. Saw the first plymouth reliant, a white in the winter of 1980. Fell in love. Owned two , a green 81 and white 89. The 89 had the most comfortable bucket seats ever! Had for 14 years. Great episode.

I had a 1987 Reliant LE as a first car. It was a tank driving through the snow nothing could stop it, took it out in many snowstorms where the roads weren't plowed and it would go right through 2 feet of fresh powder. Severely underpowered especially when you have 3 other teenage friends in the car. The northeast winters killed the floorboards pretty quickly because of the road salt. It was a 3 speed automatic with no overdrive.

When I see a K-car, I can't help but recall the movie Planes, Trains and Automobiles. Dare I say, the best use of a K-car EVER!!!

Many families in my hometown owe their livelihood to the K car. Chrysler was and is a major employer in Windsor Ont Canada. Without the K car and Chrysler that town would be much much different today. God bless Lee Iacocca saviour of the middle class in Windsor. Brilliant man and marketing genius.

I am one of the few people to ever drive a K-car on the German Autobahn. Drove the base commander around in the USAF! K-car with a 2.2 liter motor that did about 85 mph so I stayed in the right lane :)

I had the "ultimate" version of the K-Car in my shop recently, a 1989 LeBaron Turbo GTC, actually a sweet car. It's amazing how much diversity they've managed to make with a single platform.

My dad bought one in 85’ it was super reliable and overall a great car. 2.2 motor was excellent

Love the variety of vehicles. A thorough history lesson.

My Dad had 3 of those in the 80s, one was a green 2 door with the hemi badges and sporty omni wheels, he had an hour commute both ways to work in eastern Pennsylvania and he went through cars pretty quickly, as a kid I learned to work on cars with him on those cars, I took alot of trips with mom to the store, fun family vacations. I Learned to drive on an 85 turbo lebaron, I still smile when I see one still on the road. Will always have a soft spot for those K cars.

I had a (not so) Reliant built in 1982. What a junker!!!!!!!!! It broke a crank key in the middle of a busy intersection in Puyallup,Wash. and left us stranded. It was so gutless that it wouldn't take me and my family up a steep hill in Edmunds,Wash.

When I saw the thumbnail, I had to watch this. In fact, if that interior would've had cloth seats, I would have sworn it was the 1982 Plymouth Reliant we owned when I was a youngster! We bought it with just 4,000 miles on it. Dad paid more than he would've liked, but it was a great investment. It had the 2.6L Mitsubishi motor. That car was gold! Mom and dad put more that 300,000 miles on it. The 5 year 50k mile warranty was a huge seller for Mopar cars of that day. We did have to use that warranty a few times but otherwise, the car gave us little trouble after warranty ran out. Mom and dad sold it to some youngster in 2003 or 2004. BTW, that well in the trunk wasn't for the spare. The spare was a little donut tire tucked behind the back seat. The well was for extra trunk space and that was one of the selling points that led us to buy a sedan rather than another station wagon at the time. Nice video and a great trip down memory lane. I wish dad would've kept the car but he's always been one of those that if you don't need it, it has to go.

WE had an '86 Aries station wagon. It was just the car we needed at the time.

Steve I have a 1982 two door Reliant that was My fathers first car, when I was 17 My father give it to me ando I have it since then, I went to the hischool in it and I have a lot of fun with it, It's a great car 👍😁. Thanks For your show ! !!

Steve, my first car when i was 17 (1988) was an 82 Dodge 400 with a 2.2 I got off the original owner. It was a 2 dr with factory air. It was a great little car, and I kept it for 3 years and sold it to a father buying it for his daughter and got most of my money back. Really reliable and the air blew ice cold. 🧊. Good memories. Great vids.., keep them coming.

Takes me right back, that, Steve! Dad had a 2.2 auto Reliant that colour, bought new in 1982 - the only one time in his life he ever bought a new car. He ran us off the road in it once - not badly but enough to need a tow. It was undamaged and carried on down to New York State. Odd that you mention comparative interior space - I had a rental Aspen at the same time Dad had this and it seemed way bigger inside. Maybe just because it was easier to get in and out but to be fair we rode 6 up in the Reliant plenty of times. Don't know if it is faulty memory but I seem to recall those rear door glasses didn't have an opening facility on them. I thought it was a runty little car back then but hell I would have one now instead of all the modern blobs.

Like you say Steve, " these were the best cars for the time".....I'm a Mopar guy too and as much as I like to drive my '70 Duster I can't ignore the superior handling/braking and over all performance from my '86 GLH Turbo. Yes a GLH Turbo and I consider it a high performance car. If there is any lessons to learn from these cars is that a vehicles mass makes a big impact on Gas mileage and I think todays cars are way too heavy but thats just me. Thanks Steve, I like these videos alot!