The K-Car single-handedly saved Chriysler in the 80s, and went on to underpin almost everything they did for 14 years! Do you remember the K-car? Have a good (or bad) story to share of your memories?
I don't have a K car story, but a K car derivative story. My dad owned a 93 2.5 turbo II J body Lebaron coupe that was 10 years ahead of its time in Mexico. I was fascinated by its technology back then and got into cars due to this car and my dad. Today, I'm about to buy a 93 Lebaron coupe to restore it like my dad's old car...
Since I grew up in the 80's I have a lot of first hand experience with K cars. I learned to drive in a Plymouth Caravelle in Drivers Ed and at the time my parents owned a Reliant. Later that got traded in for an Aries and over the years they also owned a Shadow and Caravan. My first car was a turbocharged Dodge Lancer, my brother's was a Shadow and my sister owned a Spirit. Other friends and relatives also drove K cars. For the most part they were simple cars with comfortable interiors that were easy to drive. They were a great value and had decent reliability as long as the odometer didn't get too close to 100k.
The only thing that saved Chrysler was the government buying hundreds of thousands of these rolling nightmares and forcing military personnel to endure using those crap boxes. God they were terrible.
A friend of mine had a Plymouth Reliant,.actually it was his mom's car. Plain Jane and small but did its job with no complaints and served her well till she bought another K platform car Dodge Shadow. My friend is 6 foot seven and had no problems driving the car. He said he had plenty of room. Not bad for a car that today would look miniscule compared to the vehicles of today.
I spent 45 years working for Chrysler Corporation dealers service and parts departments, starting in 1969. In the late 70s we didn't know if we were going to have a product to sell the next year. The change in the company when Iacocca took over was like night and day. If you had worked for a Chrysler dealer and left for a few years returning in the early 80s you would have thought it was a different company. The K Car platform was fairly easy to service and the advantage to sharing across several models was that when working on the powertrain they were pretty much all the same. As the engineers said they had several bodes all on the same platform. I was fortunate enough to meet Iacocca several times. I have a award that he presented to me for superior customer satisfaction when I had the highest fix it right score in my zone for 5 years running.
That is awesome, I think Iaccoca was a legend in the car industry. I would have loved to have met him and picked his brain. That speech to Congress was awesome, saving your job.
When Warranty Actually cared enough to Acnowlege and Properly Pay The Techs. Now they Treat Us like Assholes,Warranty Times are a joke and they do every thing thay can to deny dealer warranty repair claims.
@@boisegameshowguythey’ve not done anything since Eaton and then Daimler took over. Eaton was the one who took Chrysler back down this road in the first place.
Chrysler did NOT get those loans from the government, however, the federal government guaranteed the loans as a co-signer and they were paid back in FULL and EARLY!
That is correct. What Chrysler got from the Federal government were loan “guarantees” not loans. Banks provided the funding. The government would only have to pay the banks if Chrysler defaulted on the loans...which they didn't. It cost the government absolutely nothing!
We had a 1982 Plymouth Reliant Wagon. It had the Mitsubishi 2.6 and 3 speed auto. It was my parents first new car in 10 years, and the first with AC and an FM radio. We loved the car and I would eventually have handed down to me. It was retired at 447k kms (yes, with an engine rebuild and tranny). I went everywhere in that car. It took me and my friends everywhere too. It was a POS but it had a ton of space and it was very comfy, and started up even when it was really cold.
Our 1988 K wagon lasted 22 years. We gave it to needy relatives and then to a neighbor, who happily drove it until some clown ripped off the front bumper assembly by hooking the front bumper. I loved the 51" tailgate width, which made hauling plywood and drywall easy -- just hang it over the rear bumper and tie down the tailgate.
@@wescam2958 Several of the K derivatives, including the minivans and the Spirit/Acclaim, extended the success for a few more years past 1988, when K-car production ended, except for limited wind-down sales of coupes and sedans (no more wagons regrettably) in 1989. You are correct that Chrysler was unable to grow beyond that, and rapidly got passed by foreign and domestic competition. The first 4-speed automatic was a disaster, as were the transverse-mounted V-6 engine and the turbocharged 4-cylinder. I never had any problems with my basic 2.5L engines and old-fashioned 3-speed automatics, but acceleration was poor by modern standards.
My parents bought a Plymouth Voyager back when it was on the K-platform. It was a pretty decent van until the transmission died. Fortunately it was still under warranty, so they got it fixed and then sold it right after.
I worked the wholesale parts Dept for a CPD dealer from 85 to 89. One of my body shop customers had the contract for a local car rental company in Atlanta Ga. I swear they must have given out a case of beer with every rental! Every week he would be ordering at least one full front clip. Facia, grill,headlight doors, bumper reinforcement, core support, fenders, hood, inner aprons, trim, etc. After several months I had the PNs memorized! I would still double check but I never needed to correct my order pad. It was crazy. This was the 2nd gen K cars with the more aero front end styling.
My family owned two K-car variants in the late 1980's and 1990's--I would call them below average cars, overall. Three things saved Chrysler from oblivion coming from the K-car and loan guarantees up to today. First, as noted, was the K-car-based minivan. Second, the Dodge truck line was saved by the 1989 introduction of the Cummins diesel engine to the Dodge heavy duty pickups. At that time, the Dodge pickup was essentially a 1972 design with a junk body, but truck buyers would put up with that to get the Cummins diesel engine. Third, was Chrysler's acquisition of the Jeep brand, along with the AMC-designed Jeep Cherokee. Without all three of those things, Chrysler as a company would have been a museum piece three times over. Today, Ram trucks and Jeep are all that keep Chrysler, such as it is, in business.
Good video. A couple of notes: Chrysler paid off their loans 7 years early (1983). The note was due in 1990. Also, the $1.5 billion was a loan guarantee. The actual loans came from various banks with the government acting as the guarantor in the event that Chrysler went under.
I own at the moment a 85 Chrysler Laser XE , 85 Dodge Daytona Z and a 92 Dodge Daytona es. There all great cars easy to work on and part are not to hard to find. My dad had a 87 dodge aries he drove the hell out of that car never had any trouble with it. I love them all
I own a 1984 LeBaron Convertible with the 2.2L Turbo. Its a beautiful and well kept car with only 52k miles. Recently i also got my hands on a Rare Chrysler Executive Limousine. Needs a bit of work but runs well.
K car saved our ass in a snowstorm in 1982 leaving Rochester ny headed to North Attleboro Massachusetts the front wheel drive most likely helped out alot.We were pushing snow with it as soon as we got off our exit.I was a kid and remembered several car and trucks in the ditch.It was intense but fun.Such a quite car and I could lay down on the floor board in the back since there was hardly any hump!That was my bed.
I was a salesman at a Lincoln/Mercury/Dodge dealership in '86. By that time, most of Dodge sales were the Omni, Caravan, and trucks. This was the year Dakota came out. I did sell some Aries and Lancers, but the Lancer was overpriced. The Daytona was a decent seller. We had the RWD Diplomat, with the 318, etc. At that time, GM and Ford had cars with v-8 engines, and v-6. In '86, there were no v-6 offerings in the Dodge line, except the Dakota, which had a v-6 version of the 318. In trucks you could go with a slant 6, a 318, and the 360. We didn't stock diesels, but I believe they were available. All in all, comparing the fwd 4cylinder cars out there, Dodge did compete. They also had the Mitsubishi colts, and the D-50 small pickup.
My first company car was a 2 door Plymouth Reliant SE 2d door with a vinyl roof plus the larger Mitsubishi 4 cylinder engine. It was great road car, my fellow colleagues could not believe how smooth it was on the highway plus had very comfortable front seats. Drove this car for 2 yrs / over 50K miles. My next company car was a Chevy Celebrity, the Plymouth Reliant had a much better/smoother engine and the quality was on par for the cars at the time.
I remember the Imperial/Cordoba commercials and possibly the beginning of "creative" marketing when they used took a brand name for leather and had Ricardo Montalban introduce the world to Corithian Leather. I can remember people talking about how much better it was and then on one of the late night shows Montalban admitted it was just a marketing ploy. Ole Lee had some genius marketing teams in the 80s.
In 1993 we a bought a nerw dodge caravan. 6 cylinder and 3 speed automatic, dark blue and blue interior. Never had a problem except when the interior trim panels would come lose. Had to have a Philips screwdriver in the glovebox.
Owned Aries and Caravan. The were the BiC pens of cars. Low price reliable, not a Mont Blanc or Cross pen, but wrote very well, and when used up were discarded like a BiC pen. Great value
I remember when I was 13 with my father looking at new cars on the Chrysler/ Plymouth lot. He ended up with an 84 Reliant and had it for 9 years mostly trouble free. After that he bought nothing but but Toyota Corollas.
I had to gas up my Mustang every day and forget about the gas needed to drive to Boston. To my surprise, the Ares took me to Boston with gas to spare. I even drove all over the city and didn't have to worry about a gas station. What memories!
I remember the K car well. I owned one for a time. Get to that in a sec. My parents bought a brand new 90 or 91 Sundance sedan just after I started college. Remember it well. It was a K car variant, and from what I recall, was a decent car. I drove it a lot. It was roomy, peppy, stylish, and thought the sedan/hatch was innovative. Anyway, back to my other K car story. About 10 years ago, bought an 88 K car, probably one of the few left in existence, when I was in -between cars and needed something short-term. It lasted me six months and then just up and died leaving me stranded!! Oh well, it was 20 years old by that time.
The Brampton Ontario plant was either on strike or locked out so often that workers could not get a mortgage . I had a K car and it was very good. I drove a number of mini vans and at that time they were fantastic.
I totally agree with you. They were simple efficient vehicles and Spond so many great vehicles. I owned a 91 Dodge Daytona. I had that car for 19 years and put over 250,000 miles on it. Ending up selling the vehicle because it was too small for my family. I loved it it was the best vehicle I’ve ever owned. It was extremely reliable and easy to work on.
My brother had a Reliant in the mid 80's and it would go through brake rotors like crazy. They would easily warp and constantly had to be turned or replaced. It also went through CV boots. The engine and transmission seemed pretty reliable, other things, not so much.
The K Car started a trend of cars in the 80s.The front wheeled roomy compact basic car. Engineers at Ford had always been on the cutting edge in design but also kept away from very trendy styles such as fins of the 1950s. The K Car was like the Ford Falcon of 1960. Consumers in the 1950s were looking for smaller more fuel efficient cars. Studebaker came out with the Lark in 59. Ford came out with the Falcon for 60. A basic point a to b car that McNamara wanted Ford to design. The K Car was really the same. You really cant go wrong with that concept.
The only new car I ever bought was an '88 Plymouth Horizon. I think if you had ever owned one you would have a different opinion of them. Probably the best car I've ever owned.
Nice video. A Mopar fan here. I've had a Dart, Duster, Demon ('71), a couple Plymouth Scamps ('83 Horizon pickup), a Neon and a couple PT Cruisers. Enjoyed them all. I am concerned where Chrysler is going with the gyrations of the last years...
I see all the positive K car stories here so I thought I should post a K car story. Back in the late 90s my buddies dad had a 1988(?. Ish) Dodge Aries wagon. It was in relatively good physical shape. However, it was ALWAYS broken. That poor guy was in the garage every effing weekend with greasy hands, messing with that thing. The only funny thing he ever said was that with all the parts he had changed it was now essentially a '98 model. His financial fortunes got a little better and he immediately got rid of it and got a new Honda CRV and NEVER looked back.
Addendum: Thanks #All Cars for not trashing the immediate predecessor of the K car, the F-body Volare/Aspen twins, which is so common online because so many trolls want to blame Chryslers financial woes exclusively on them. I sort of expected it but was pleased that you didn't. The F body was quite innovative in it's own way even with the harsh Federal demands of the day, and the concurrent existential crisis that Chrysler found itself in at the time they were introduced in 1976. Indeed, such was the pressure within Chrysler for a savior, that the F's were rushed into production far too fast, and resulted in abysmal quality and design flaws initially in the '76 and many '77 models. By the time the '78's came out, Chrysler had resolved many if not most of the initial problems, and although the damage to the Volare/Aspen twins reputation had already been done, the descendants of the F body (renamed the M body) lived on for many years afterwards and were very successful. My personal interest in this issue is that I have owned about 7 to 8 F bodies and always had very good luck with them. I still own a survivor '78 Aspen wagon with the slant Super Six and four speed transmission and only about 30K miles. I love it! ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-UBujvXMsdtQ.html
It would have been nice had the F body adapted to a larger car as Chrysler needed a larger sedan, or maybe it could have but Iacocca didn't want to build it. The M body had the same interior volume as a Volare.
I absolutely loved the Chrysler New Yorker/Fifth Avenue. I was never sure why it had both markers on it but had one badge on the trunk and the other on the sides. I never cared i just loved it. My second favorite was the Dynasty obviously. Lol 😂
My friend I just found your Channel I love the K car I have a 1981 Plymouth Reliant k in pristine condition I am 50 years old and grew up when I was a teenager driving these cars they are phenomenal cars I don't care what anyone says that's when I found this 1981 original I bought it in a heartbeat thank you for your Channel and God bless the K car
My mother at one time owned a 1993 Dodge Dynasty which was derived from the K-car platform. It served her well. She kept it until it broke down. It was very reliable.
@@AllCarswithJon I’ve taken a look through your list of videos and have already begun “binge watching” I can already tell they’re all going to be worth watching.👍🏽
The K-car was the competitor to the Chevy Citation when it came out . In comparison the Citation was a more costly piece of crap , and a couple of years later the Ford Tempo was not much better than the Chevy . All things considered and Chrysler was the leader in the compact car market and in 1984 the Caravan like the 65 Mustang created a new class of vehicle and owned the market . The two door Le Barron sold well as it was a personal luxury car on the cheap that got good mileage . In 1987 I got my mom a 84 New Yorker and she loved that car for its easy to drive compact dimensions , and well equipped with luxury features .The only issue I had with that car was the electronic carburetor causing drive ability issues on the 2.6 Mitsubishi engine and rebuilds were stupid expensive . A little research indicated one of the three solenoids attached to the carb was not actuating , so a little testing found a open coil on one of the solenoids . At NAPA I got a new solenoid for $ 27.00 and the car ran great . All in all this was a great line of cars at the right time .
Huge Iaccoca fan! Love the K-Car one of the greatest designs ever. My mom owned a Reliant. I loved driving and working on it. Excellent car. I regret not having kept it. You should do a piece on my favorite platform...the Ford Fox body.
10:29 having owned over 100 80's cars the K car is right there with Honda Toyota etc in reliability and as of 2022 the only 80's car I can find cheap that still runs...
I had an 88 Chrysler La Baron with the digital dash. But in 1999 the steering locked while going around a corner. It required too much body work to remove and replace the steering column. So I ended up just getting another car.
There is a rumor that Chrysler had to agree to not place a V8 engine in any newly designed passenger cars for 30 years as part of the loan agreements needed to produce the K-Car and this is why the Viper was a V10 engine and the Prowler was a V6 engine to get around the V8 passenger car ban agreement. If the Prowler would have had a traditional "Hot Rod" V8 engine, I think it would have been even more successful than it already was. And with the V8 engine prohibition finally expired, Dodge was able to reintroduce the V8 in its Charger in 2006. I don't know how true this rumor is, but the circumstantial evidence for it is compelling.
@@AllCarswithJon I've never heard of that rumor either. I guess trucks were exempt from that agreement (if there was any agreement). I don't think that agreement existed but Chrysler probably tried to be the American Honda by offering mostly four cylinder engines.
What were the K-car derivatives? The K-body(Dodge Aries, Plymouth Reliant, Chrysler Lebaron, Dodge 400), the E-body(Chrysler E-class/New Yorker, Dodge 600, Plymouth Caravelle), the G-body(Dodge Daytona, Chrysler Laser), the H-body(Chrysler Lebaron GTS, Dodge Lancer), the J-body Chrysler Lebaron Coupe & Convertible, the C-body(Chrysler New Yorker/Fifth Avenue, Dodge Dynasty), the A-body(Dodge Spirit, Plymouth Acclaim, Chrysler Lebaron), the P-body(Dodge Shadow, Plymouth Sundance), the Q-body Chrysler TC by Maserati, and the minivans(Dodge Caravan/Grand Caravan, Plymouth Voyager/Grand Voyager, Chrysler Town & Country). The E-body Chrysler Executive sedan and limousine would also count as well. Can't forget about the last Chrysler Imperial(1990-1993). Would love to have that car right now. Lots of derivatives of a platform that basically kept Chrysler afloat for so many years. My mother had one: a 1993 Dodge Dynasty. It was very good to her for so many years. I loved it.
My family was big into Mopars in the 60s and early 70s but skipped the late 70s products due to their declining quality. They then had an 83 K car wagon, an '89 Dodge Dynasty, and a 2002 2nd gen Town & Country minivan. I had an '85 Dodge Daytona and an '87 Daytona Shelby Z. And my sisters had a Dodge Shadow and Dodge Spiritl The cars were competitive, mostly reliable, and very fuel efficient (37 mpg in the sporty Daytona). The downside is the premium models fell short of the competition, especially into the 1990s. Although the minivans, Chrysler Lebaron, and Dodge Dynasty still sold very well.
Thanks for the comment. What part of NC you in? :) We never had Mopar products, but I had a friend who's family swore by them. I know there are horror stories, but my overall opinion was they were fun, competitive, and not un-reliable into the early 90's.... The company had problems, but was spunky and doing interesting things.
@@AllCarswithJon Charlotte. Great engineering and solid motors. You couldn't kill the 383 if you tried. They pioneered a bunch of stuff like alternators, electronic ignition, etc. Quality control issues were interior bits and maintenance of 70's smog equipment. Rust issues if you didn't care for them, but better there than many cars of the day. K cars were better efforts but fell short of the competition by the 90s.
While the Kcar became the new platform of the 80's for Chrysler, Ford had a versatile platform that fit between the heavy 70's platforms and the later front wheel drive platforms in the Fox rear wheel drive platform. It became the basis for a family line of sedans, coupes, and wagons in Fairmont/Zephyr; then the Mustang/Capri twins, followed by personal luxury coupes in the Thunderbird/Cougar lines; then followed in the slightly upgraded Granada/Cougar twins which evolved into the LTD/Marques twins; and then followed up with the Lincoln Continental and Mark VI and VII cars. Had they also built the Aerostar on it, then it would have been the K-car platform for Ford. This could then have been followed up with a Taurus platform that was just as ubiquitous.
My brother had about 4 of these things over years. I had a '93 Dodge minivan, and rented two or three Aries cars during my travels. The Aries reminded me of the AvtoVAZ Lada cars that flooded into Canada about the same time... It holds its car shape fairly well, though with slightly awkward proportions, but performs only the most basic functions we would have expected from a decent automobile. Nonetheless, they were everywhere and I agree with just about everything you said in this video. From a profits standpoint they were successful vehicles. From a collector's viewpoint, not so much.
I had an ‘88 Reliant and a ‘93 Acclaim, a K derivative. While the Reliant wasn’t exactly built like a bank vault, it was easy to maintain and repair (on the few occasions it needed repair) for 230,000 miles. The Acclaim was very well built and could have competed with the likes of a Honda Accord if there had been some investment on updating the dated K platform. It too went for 230,000 near trouble free miles.
There is an old and important word in automobilia that few people understand: "series". That means "price class", which relates to quality. Back in the day taxi companies liked these cars, but could not understand why the cv axles did not always stand up. Had they studied the serial nos. they would have learned 4 different qualities were available.
Jon we got a 81 K car wagon it was good and we got a 85 citation it was good but it had orange peel and GM did not fix it 3 weeks after we got the Plymouth while it rained the wiper motor fell out but it was fixed right away George Dietlein
Funny, you don't ever see reliants, or Aries or any k cars on the roads but you still see late 70s models Hondas and Toyotas occasionally and more 80s and plenty of late 80s early 90s Hondas Toyotas Nissans and Subarus but it's a rare spectacle to see any early 90s American stuff with the exception of muscle cars or collector cars. Simply put, the Japanese always have and still manufacture a superior automobile as far as reliability goes.
That generation of Chrysler was a completely necessary nightmare that's best forgotten. Chrysler was saved by a Reagan/government bailout and by the creation/introduction of the Dodge minivan in 1984(?). Chrysler also simultaneouly adopted front wheel drive across most of their model offerings. All of this was driven by increased emission standards, affordability, gas mileage and the economic desperation of the late Carter years and early Reagan years. I've tried my best to forget all of it. There's only a single domestic performance car for the decade of the 1980's, and it had a V6. That's just how good it was.
Had a 77 Cordoba, really luxurious car, which sold well for chrysler. When they downsized it, it did not have the appeal anymore, was a big mistake. Chrysler had some nice cars in the 70s and 80s, I owned a LeBaron with the fake woody on it, in the 80s and was a nice daily driver as well.
When people talk about the K-car, you hear people say they were terrible cars that were very unreliable. I really don't know how they arrive at this conclusion of unreliability. I'm guessing they had an experience with a 20 year old car with 5 owners or one that wasn't properly maintained. I've owned multiple K based cars and been associated with many others. I can't think of one that was unreliable. The only two issues I can think of would be smoking Mitsubishi 3.0 V-6 (can be fixed with good valve seals) and 2.2 turbo head gasket failures which can be fixed with a Mopar Performance head gasket. The 2.2 trans 4 is probably in the top 3 most reliable 4 cylinders ever designed. I remember when I was a kid, you'd see mail men (letter carriers for you Millenials) running old Reliants and Aries. I asked our mail man why he drove a K car. He said they were cheap to buy, cheap to maintain, and ran all the time. I don't know how the K car is now misremembered. I also hear people making fun of Chrysler for all the derivaties using the K-car platform. They built an every day midlevel car, a luxury car, a minivan, an economy car, a convertible, and a sports car. I find that to be very resourceful and not to different from what everybody does now. Look at Ford using the Focus for the Bronco Sport and Maverick. I think they have a Lincoln model using that platform and maybe others coming. Chrysler was always ahead of their time. They were doing the turbocharged sport compact thing with the Omni GLH a decade or more before that movement hit.
Oh man do I agree with you in that I'd love to have a very cheap, very reliable, no frills new car. With a good warranty. Get me from A to B with no trouble for a few years, that's all I want. I don't care about anything else in a work car. Everything today is either cheap unreliable garbage or expensive, maybe reliable if you're lucky, with tons of extra crap on the car that I don't need. Give me manual everything, analog dash, no stupid "infotainment" garbage, and about 100-150 horsepower. Just let me drive to and from work in peace.
I had a Plymouth Caravelle LE Turbo for a number of years. It was a decent vehicle with good performance. It handled, OK. It rode well and got decent mileage if you weren’t hot rodding it by spooling the Turbo every chance you got. Naturally Aspirated , those engines ran out of breath at around 3500rpm. The Turbo evened out the performance on the higher RPM band, plus added some much needed punch in the mid range, where it was needed the most. Overall, I miss that car greatly, even 20 years after a drunk driver sent my Caravelle to the wrecking yard. If could find one that is well preserved today, I’d own one again.
My family had several K-Cars from 81 into the 90s. Then, other family members bought them because the first ones liked them so much. I owned a couple. The best being a 1987 Plymouth Caravelle the I bought for $275 with a slightly slipping transmission. I put around 40k miles on it and even drove it from Ohio to Florida and back. The transmission never got worse somehow. The car got impounded one time when I got into some trouble and it wasn't really worth paying to get it out or who knows how long it would have ran. Great car for $275 though. They were fine cars for the money brand new for the time period as well.
I inherited my father's 81 Plymouth reliant K station wagon. Powered by a 2.6 l mitsubishi hemi engine. It was rather peppy it was the workcourse of the family. Age was not good to it as many of these stamped steel suspension parts started too fatigue and brake as well as axle shafts and differential. The engine continued to run very well until I sold it In 1992
I bought my first Honda around this time and have never looked back. Fortunately Honda became an American company and the big three became foreign car. I drove one of my Accords over 300,000 miles before an 18 wheeler crushed it... I walked away without a scratch.
I bought my first Hyundai in 2011 and have never looked back. I only had it for 18 months before someone blew through a stop sign and t-boned it. I was slightly injured but when I got the insurance money I bought another Hyundai I still have. Hyundai has a plant in Alabama. so it's an American company too.
The K car was slightly underpowered. Had one as a rental car in Florida. Turn on the air conditioning and the car slowed down. Although, it was the car Chrysler desperately needed to stay in business. Platform for the minivan.
It was the right car for the right time, for the right company IMHO. It might have been slightly underpowered, but I don't remember any 4cyl at the time being 'abundant' in power! :)
Pretty good analysis I hope stalantis does this with the Peugeot 5009s we’re getting a new Chrysler airflow maybe we’ll get a Chrysler lebaron or New Yorker or how about a imperial?
I have one more comment about this- if anyone is old enough to remember -at this time( year) the Japanese had come out with front wheel drive- they perfected it with years of development an testing- American car companies were caught off guard an rushed thru there versions- which turned out to be complete junk- hence the k car
There certainly were Japanese FWD cars in the 70s, but the sales successes in the US at that time were still RWD (Toyota, Datsun). The first wake-up call for Detroit was the mid 1970s VW Golf (Rabbit in US). The big three were all active in the European market then... GM, Ford, and Chry all developed their first FWD platforms as Golf competiitors. Although the original Golf was a fine piece of engineering, the initial quality was abysmal and took VW most of a decade to fix.
I used to have a toy when I was a child where I could place hair on a bald man with little metal shavings, that was fun. Thanks for reminding me of my childhood.
One look at a boring K-Car as a teenager in a boring subdivision would fill my heart with dread. They were always red for some reason. Am I the only person who thought those cars were the dullest automobile ever built?
I bought a new Dodge Aries station wagon in 1983. All my friends made fun of me. That car gave me good service for seven years until it was T-boned. It wasn't the same after that, and I traded it in for a 1990 Plymouth Acclaim, another K car variant. The Acclaim was zippier with it's Mitsubishi V6 but ended up being the worst car I ever owned and swore me off Detroit 3 cars forever. I still have a soft spot in my heart for that '83 Aries wagon though. It gave me many years and miles of service.
@@AllCarswithJon a little ways away in MA. I do have 6 of them currently on the road possibility a 7th soon. It's literally the only cheap 80's car I can find everything else is crazy overpriced and doesn't even run.
I loved my K cars.. people told me theyre junk yet not one of them left me stranded. Unlike my Fords and their stupid ignition modules. now a lot of them would go into limp mode (MAP sensors) and yeah they werent stellar. But for what they were and what that lowly K platform did they are or were good cars. I still have a G body and an AA body. Both Turbos. Both still going. LOve a K wagon, actually want a Chrysler Town and Country Turbo wagon
The Dodge Aspen/Plymouth Volare that the K cars replaced were good cars, especially with the bulletproof Slant-6 225, and imho were better, and prematurely killed off for the K. They could have been allowed to coexist in production.
The F body became the M body and was produced until 1989. The doors of a M body are the same as the F body. Fleet buyers loved the M body. Chrysler stylists stretched the front end of the F body to make the M look more like big cars, but they were basically upgraded F bodies. I like the F bodies, but Ford's Fox body was a better compact car There should be a video on the 1977 GM B bodies, especially the Caprice. The F body should have been a bigger car, closer to the 77 GM B bodies in size. They should have redesigned the A bodies and kept them in production until the K car was ready. The slant six needed an upgrade as emissions equipment was hurting it's output.
The F bodies had “big car ride in a small car”, which I’m sure a certain market segment still wanted. They really should have spent more time refining the Slant 6 and maybe the 318 with early fuel injection, and those cars would have done well alongside the K cars.
Someone in LA county ran from the police in a Reliant K car they tried to stop that car for over an hour and 45 minutes they rammed it they spun it out and it would turn around and drive away again they cannot get this car to roll and it would not stop running I couldn't believe this thing her like five police cars beating on this thing for an hour and 45 minutes and finally I think it ran out of gas the car was unbelievable the engineers made that small car indestructible it was unbelievable how it took the beating and just kept going I couldn't believe it the engineers designed it so it would not roll it was phenomenal it might not look like very much but it was a great car made by a great man when America was America
Would have liked to see why the platform was called the K-Car. Also a mention of what, from a car manufacturer viewpoint, made the platform so versatile.
This will sound unbelievable, and in today's world it is! It must have been right before the year 2000....let's say 1997. I think it was actually before that but close enough. So I was about 22 yo at the time. I was very broke and living in a room. I didn't have a car. I saw there was a car with a tow away sticker stuck to it. It wasn't exactly my first pick, but maybe I could get it cheap. So I find out who it belongs to. Knock on the door, chat with the person. I don't remember if it was a guy or girl. I'm guessing it was a guy, they end up giving me the keys to it! 😊 Didn't pay a dime for it. And it ended up being one of the best cars I ever had. Btw it was also low miles and very clean
From what I understand, K cars turned out to be terribly unreliable and rusted piles of junk that only strengthened the case for not buying American compact cars and convinced more consumers to turn to the japanese cars of the era. My dad's family had a k car, and the thing was constantly broken and they had to throw it away after 6 years when the block cracked. Not exactly reliable.
