The friendship between Lee Iacocca and Alejandro DeTomaso gave us the $35,000 Chrysler TC by Maserati. Steve finds one in the junkyard and describes why it failed.
Sorry Steve it was NOT a shorten Dodge Daytona. It is a Chrysler LeBaron Convertible that was a sent to Europe and shortened. I have been working for Chrysler dealerships since 1985. I worked on those new and also went to the training classes.
Thanks Steve. Sure wish I knew about them loosing $50,000 a unit at the time.....I'd have gone into a dealership and offered NOT to order one and they'd only have to give me $40,000
Seems like a sound business plan to me heh, heh. What the Hell, since you're in there why don't you NOT order one for your significant other? Grab that other 40K, buy them a 10K gift and still be way ahead.
Lol, Chrysler were the masters at losing money on projects. Apparently the kit car program lost them money on every chassis they sold, just how much they lost I do not know
I definitely remember when these were new. The lady my Dad was dating at the time bought a new 1990 Plymouth Acclaim and I remember going to the dealer with them to pick it up when I was 13, and one of these was in the showroom (at that time the Chrysler Company dealer network was set up so Chrysler/Plymouths were all under one roof and it was Dodge/Dodge Ram trucks who had their own separate dealers). I remember the details as well: it was red with that saddle/tan interior, and had that V6 engine. I sat in the car while she finalized the paperwork. At the time it seemed to make Chryslers feel more upscale than they really were.
Reminds me alot of the Lebarons I had. Sadly those Mitsubishi V6's had a valve guide problem and after several miles they would smoke like crazy when idling, I even had a Dodge Spirit with that same V6. Great find and blast from the past, thanks for sharing Steve!
I had a lebaron with that engine and I know all about t smoking lol 🤣 but here's a little secret change the oil and add a can of 6 Cylinder formula Engine Restore and within 3-500 miles all blow-by and smoking stops and it purrs like a Kitty 😸
A friend of mine had a thing for anything with a port hole. He had several early T birds with a the port and of course he had one of these. I had it up on my lift one day and a good laugh at the duel exhaust...it was single exhaust....one was a dummy not even hooked up. He had a collection of Nash Mets...he had me take one and put a port hole in the top...he called it the Metrobird.. One of his Mets was featured in Hemmings Motor news...he re created the one of kind pink Easter day parade from about 1960. He had us paint it pink pearl . Last I heard a couple of ladies own it and are from Long Island New York. The Hemmings article can found on the net....called Pinky Goes to Town.
I remember these well - they were usually purchased by people who were overly impressed with themselves and wanted to tell everyone they drove a Maserati when, in fact, they really drove a Chrysler……😂 I had that Mitsubishi 3.0 V6 in a 1989 Acclaim LX and actually thought it was a pretty peppy little engine - especially for the era!
These "folk" NEEDED "the image"! As my dad told me (in 1965), as we were TRYING to escape Minneapolis, Minnesota in our GREAT '50 DeSoto, as a new Mercedes "600" limousine was next to us in traffic; "Any car that gets your ass over the road is a GREAT car!" I NEVER forgot these words!
The upholstery is beautiful on it I'm supprised that no one took the bucket seats out of it I've heard that it has an un usual master cylinder nothing that interchanges with another Chrysler product
That's the Bosch ABS system with nitro ball. Imperials, Daytonas and other Mopars of the time used them. Very rare to find 1 that actually still works.
Dang I was so disappointed when it turned out to be a V6. The Maserati turbo engine was a decent little performance motor. It made it to market before Chrysler’s own 2.2 turbo 3 engine (2.2 turbo engine with lotus designed 4 valve DOHC head). Had its issues but still very cool! Great content Steve!
THANKS for viewing! I think the reason Chrysler didn't try to "nickel and dime" buyers over which engine they chose was a desire not to remind them they were paying 35-GRAND for a glorified K-Car!!! And despite that, records show Chrysler LOST $5,000 per car! The idea was solid but the rest had problems! Thanks again, Steve
Yes indeed, to me the "pick of the litter" would be the Maserati-inspired (but NOT assembled!!!) DOHC four banger. These things are sort of like the older Cosworth Vegas of the mid-1970's, exotic cylinder head on top-dog model to add intrigue to lesser models.
I grew up when these cars were sold new and i was always a huge fan of their styling. Yes i knew they were based on the Lebaron platform but i didn't care. This was Chryslers attempt to create a high end luxury car to compete with the likes of the Cadillac Allante and Buick Reatta. Even if it did fail in it's attempts, it was still a good effort. I'm so sick of everyone badmouthing ophran cars that weren't giant success stories. These car were appreciated and are still loved today by many. They have their own following, specific car clubs, that cherish these TC's. Just because it's NOT your thing doesn't give you the right to badmouth other people's car interests.
Projects like this show how out of touch Detroit was back then. Instead of investing in the build quality of their everyday cars, they vainly attempted to slap a badge on a poorly built American car to "compete" with actual luxury brands.
Chrysler had a 3.0 V6 at that time that was sourced from Mitsubishi. It was a very solid power plant-,good power, few issues, good fuel economy. A change in emissions standards rendered it obsolete. I had 4 minivans with that engine and I loved it.
Hi Frank, sorry to make you "jones" (you're a "junkie", get it? Get it?) for more video content. But do know that I try to launch a fresh video every day. Longer videos and more ambitious projects are being planned. Thanks again, Steve
Great video Steve, I’ve owned several of these cars, the umbrella is in the drivers door jamb above the latch. Usually there because no one knows it’s there. Good place for it though, close it, shake it and slide it in its hole. Maserati head is the only engine to get a five speed manual too. Thanks, John Knarr.
"Shake it and slide it in the hole"? Really? Let's keep it P.G. here on Steve's channel! Keep it clean for the young, up and coming car guys (and gals!)
Thanks Steve I remember seeing these on the road. Glad to see you in the junkyard 👍 wishing you and yours and everyone here Merry Christmas and Happy New Year 🎊
Hi Steve love these junkyard videos. You're looking better than in the past few videos. Hope all is well with you and wishing you and your family a happy and healthy New Year.
Had a white one with the turbo 2 with the intercooler. It ran good traded it in on a 1992 IROC Daytona with the lotus produced dual overhead cam 4 & it's was fast in 1992, high 13s in a quarter mile. I miss that time in my life lol . Thanks for sharing that find ,pretty cool 🚘💯 🎄Merry Christmas to you & yours 🥂👍
While in high school, I worked at a Chrysler dealer in Woburn, ma. I think the Lawless dealership cornered the market on these. When I was there,they must have had 10 at one time. The dealership is still there,and a rare one brand,one house dealership!
I have one of the 500 per year Le Baron convertibles, bot on a lark really cheap 2 years ago, $1800, no rust, shiny (re) paint, I put 10,000 miles on, and I just did the timing belt. Gets well over 35 miles per gallon consistently, top down fun fun. And it's just a wonderful car, the greatest collector car value of its day today
Seeing this reminded me of the Maserati wreck someone stored at the Self Storage facility I worked at years ago. It belonged to the tenants Brother who crashed it and died in it. When I started working there it was a mess from over a decade of exposure to the elements but the car was so mangled it clearly wasn't fixable when it was stored.
Surprisingly, iv seen 3 of these in the past few years in my area out here in San Diego Ca. Interesting cars! I just now learned the 3 engine options so I'll look next time I see one out of curiosity 👍
Cool to hear the history on this oddity! I know where there is a running driving one, turbo 2 version. Worked on it at the shop last year for a customer. Had never seen another one until this video. Crazy they took such a loss on the car selling them. When the guy brought the car in to our shop we all wondered why he wanted to spend money on it. Guess he knew more than we did!
We had a neighbor when I was growing up in the ‘90s. I always thought they and the same generation LeBarons were good looking cars, and I had a convertible later that was a reasonably fun car to boot. I never knew the Maserati cars were convertibles, cool find.
These were planned and designed well before the LeBaron but took a long time to get to market. By the time they did the LeBaron was out and selling well. Everyone thought the TC was an expensive knock off of the LeBaron and sales went nowhere.
They weee supposed to come out at the same time, 1987. The TC was supposed to be offered as an step up to the LeBaron. So the LeBaron competes against the Mustang ragtop and the TC was aimed at the Mercedes SEL560. But Maserati missed the deadline for 2 yrs and buy the time the car was introduced its styling was 2yrs old and the price was NOPE not interested. It was 2x what a LeBaron cost at $17000.
A few years back there was one of these in a local wrecker and I got the shift knob with the maserati logo button like Steve shows in the video and I paid like $2.50 and I put it on my 88 k-car wagon shifter :) It's these little stories ya get to tell your buddies when they go for a ride that makes all the difference to car nerds :P
I had a boss that owned one (a manager for a McDonald's no less) and his was one of the ones with the exotic 4cyl & getrag 5spd, one night he drove me home and it was a really nice car. Now what most people don't realize is that the turbo2 4cyl was co designed by Shelby, the exotic 4cyl was a Lotus 2.2L ,and the 3L V6 was a Mitsubishi engine that was found in the Dodge Stealth. Both 4cyl could only be used with the 5spd and the V6 came along so that an automatic could be offered. The reason why the turbo2 was added because of the exotic 4cyl from Lotus was costly and fire prone, everyone had an issue with the fuel line that transition from the main to the fuel injectors ,they alway leaked and most boss eventually got rid of his because of this problem, but it was still a nice vehicle to drive. Oh the exotic 4cyl was sold I believe for the the first 2 years, then it was replaced by the turbo2 and the V6 for automatic customers
I don't remember this car. All of Steve's info didn't even shake loose any recollection for me heh, heh. This doesn't happen very often so I'm always kinda glad to pick up some new knowledge. This was my thing to learn today, I can go to sleep happy now hahahaaa!
Hi Steve. I think i was at that yard years ago with a friend while he was looking for parts for his 66 T Bird.. I love scouring yards too, and i think in that same yard i found an early Fitch Sprint Corvair in a pine grove WAYYY in the back of the yard. I wonder if you could do a segment at Biliki's in Ware, theyre on Bacon Rd. just past Wal Mart on the left side of rte 32. Back in the 70s I remember Valley Ford, and the Buick Opel dealer across the street, and wonder what gems you could find there.. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to you and your families, and thanks for the great videos!
Hi Josh, I sure remember Valley Ford and Gervais Buick across the street. Remember in about 1979 when Ware had that light blue BUICK Electra (or LeSabre???) POLICE CAR? No doubt it was a bit of town politicking at play. Then again, Buick definately offered Police models for many years and some of the earliest police-specific units were the 100-mph-capable Buick Century cars of the late 1930's. The "Century" name was a play on the fact they could nudge 100 mph. As for Balicki's, I've been there many, many times and even got Mike to let me photograph some magazine articles there (I trade him a copy of the digital picture disc in exchange for the access) BUT he (so far) has said "no go" to video crew visits. He says "he isn't ready for the exposure" and I sort of get that. Sometimes after I visit a yard, their telephone / email EXPLODES with calls / visits and this takes up a lot of time. When callers are buying stuff, that's good. But a fair chunk of the callers sometimes just want to chat...which is OK unless you're a two-man-shop like Balickis! Thanks for watching, Steve
I'm not necessarily speaking for myself, but I remember one You Tube viewer asking Scotty Kilmer once what he thought the worst car ever made was and he named the Chrysler TC by Maserati lol.
Had a then new 1992 Plymouth Sundace Duster with the 3.0 Mitsu V6 BUT factory 5 speed standard, was a lot of fun. Put 350.000 plus KM on it with the same clutch and only one timing belt then rust got the best of it.
Yes, you make a good point, these cars were pretty quick and fun - especially with the 5-speed stick. Your 2-door Duster was one of 27,963 two-door Sundances made in 1992.
@@ronaldjohnson1474 I am sure some of the half-dozen or so for sale at any time on eBay will show both the hardtop with the porthole window and the cloth top. Look around.
I did a lot of internal work on those mitsubishi 3.0,s. Junk engine. Valve guides slide out holding valve open and smacking piston. They get over 100,000 mi,s and they become oil burners
