If you can find a better convertible, buy it …
The mid-80s was a desperate time for Chrysler and Lee Iacocca knew he had to move fast to save the company. The K Car did it.
Yup, that crappy K Car Dodge Aries, Plymouth Reliant, Chrysler LeBaron, and Dodge 400 sold more than 2 million vehicles from 1981 to 1988. Lido also saw an opportunity to bring back the convertible and did that in 1983 with the LeBaron. Iacocca wanted the convertible version done quickly, so the job was contracted out. It wasn’t just a novelty for Chrysler, but one of the corporation’s few profit centers and is the subject of this week’s car spot.
The car started as a closed K-Car, which was converted to drop-tops by the outside contractor. The cost of the work added about $3,000 to a base car that sold for $12,600. That’s $38,671 in today’s dollars. For their money buyers got fiberglass “simulated white ash body side moldings” surrounding “simulated marine teak woodgrain appearance panels” of vinyl appliqué on the outside. On the inside, they got Mark Cross leather-trimmed upholstery.
Standard equipment on the ‘Mark Cross Edition’ included special tan leather seating, A/C, cruise, power tinted windows, power seats/locks, leather-wrapped tilt wheel, and AM/FM/Cassette sound system. The LeBaron came with Chrysler’s 2.2-liter SOHC 4-cylinder equipped with a Garret T03 turbocharger. Rated at 142 hp and backed by a TorqueFlite 3-speed automatic transmission it could scoot. The chassis came with power rack and pinion steering, power disc/drum brakes and 14-inch steel wheels with wire wheel covers and whitewall Uniroyal Tiger Paw radials.
It also included something cool, an electronic voice alert system telling the driver things like their door was open. The car’s electronic travel computer displayed an approximation of how long the owner could drive without running out of gas, average driving speed, and average gas mileage. All standard stuff now.
The car was so popular later on Chrysler took the project inside and significantly improved the structure, stiffening it up and changing the top design to include a glass rear window and small quarter windows along the side.
The car even made the big screen, driven by Steve Martin and John Candy in the 1987 movie, Planes, Trains, and Automobiles. It was even featured in a Seinfeld episode where George Costanza buys a woody he believed once was owned by actor Jon Voight.
Production numbers have been hard to come by, but production of this version ended in 1986 and was replaced by a redesigned model. According to classiccarstodayonline.com only 1,520 Town & Country Convertibles were sold. In 1984 only 1,105 LeBaron Mark Cross Town & Country Convertibles rolled off the assembly line. The numbers dropped sharply in its final two years, 1985 and ’86 with 595 and 501 sold, respectively.
So, with those low numbers, you’d think there would be some value in one today. But keep in mind, this is from the 1980s and it’s a K-Car.
While I found some crazo who wants a million bucks for this 83, most are offered for more than $10,000. If I had a lot of money, this would be a fun addition. It certainly would attract a lot of attention at a local Cars & Coffee event and likely garner a few laughs.
Thanks for stopping by and checking out this week’s spot. Be sure to check out some of my others and come back next Friday for another one along with some of its history. Have a great weekend.
Savage On Wheels 
Another great catch, thanks for sharing. I remember seeing quite a few of them when I lived in the US, back in the early 2000s, most of them in poor conditions, one step away from hitting the junkyard.
That Seinfeld episode is one of my favorites.
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Mine too:)
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