Oftentimes finding something to say about a particular car is rather simple as thoughts usually spring forth with wild abandon; harnessing them into a coherent assemblage is the challenge. Such is the case with this Chrysler; thoughts spring forth, but can they find any type of cohesion?
Perhaps they can. I found this Chrysler in the parking lot of a grocery store I have visited more times than I can remember – and this parking lot has seen a whole passel of Chrysler K-cars of every variety over the years.
The building in front of which this LeBaron was parked was built in 1978 and began business as a National Foods retailer under the banner of Del-Farm; it quickly gained notoriety of sorts as from its first day it was the only grocery store in the region to have electronic scanning devices to read all those lines printed on the side of every can of green beans, mushroom soup, and creamed corn. This technological step might seem trivial but was major for the era and place. Nobody at the time knew those weird lines as UPC codes; all I knew was the computer reading the prices was viewed with great suspicion by anyone over 50 or so. Many were convinced computers were a fad and there was no way it could know the price of everything; it was only going to succeed in gouging people, wasn’t it?
Gouging does seem appropriate for this Chrysler. For being a gussied up Reliant / Aries, Chrysler was able to charge about half-again as much as they could for a Dodge Aries dressed in the same skin. All the gingerbread and other dubious accoutrements did not cost Chrysler a pile of money. Perhaps having this LeBaron over a Reliant is comparable to buying the name brand cola as opposed to the store brand that comes in the same two liter container. Not unlike soda, the perception of possessing that extra something is hard to quantify when both have equal amounts of high fructose corn syrup.
Del-Farm closed in 1999 to make way for a lower grade of grocery store. That area of town had deteriorated and a different sort of clientele was now frequenting the place. My mother ceased shopping there around 1991 after she witnessed a local police officer pepper spraying an unruly person caught shoplifting.
Odds are this Chrysler has taken a different type of owner (or, likely, owners) over its life. Ever the economical to operate semi- (or pseudo) luxury car, simple math would lead one to believe the original owner doesn’t still own this LeBaron thirty-one years later. It seems as likely as this remnant of a store from a different era becoming the next Whole Foods.
For 1986, this Chrysler was also a remnant of a different era. Vinyl roofs and the likely pillow-tufted interior were a distinct reflection of a lustful 1970s broughamance, not unlike the building where I found this Chrysler.
Despite the disco era finery, this LeBaron was proving itself to be cognizant of the future. Chrysler was quickly incorporating fuel injection on it’s four-cylinder engines during the 1980s with outputs per unit of displacement surpassing nearly anything it produced during the 1970s. Had this particular LeBaron been born with a turbocharger, the specific output would have been even mightier; who would have guessed during the early days of the Carter Administration a 2.2 liter four from only a decade later could produce as much or more horsepower than the legendary 318 (a 5.2 liter mill for those of metric thoughts)?
This LeBaron was definitely aware of the future, a future which would see many changes. The intervening years have taken the Chrysler Corporation through a tumultuous series of owners with the company making a decided path toward eliminating sedans from their lineup. How times do change.
When this baby-blue Chrysler entered the world your humble author was a mere teenager whose responsibilities were few and in which life was relatively simple. In the intervening decades, responsibilities have grown exponentially and life is anything but simple. So it was with a distinct smile that I was able to capture this modest LeBaron, a reminder of my former simplicity in life and captured at a location that is a minor yet critical player of my past.
There is a tedious old saying about how one can’t go home again. There is certainly merit to that anecdote but it’s still delightful to capture a few glimpses of times past, possessing a familiar yet rapidly disappearing model of car in a place that is close to home as is possible.
Found February 3, 2018
Corner of Sprigg and William Streets
Cape Girardeau, Missouri
Untangling of the K-Car assortment can be found here.
I always liked these. Take the humble K-car and upgrade it with a little fancier exterior, and a much nicer interior. These had some of the best front seats ever put in a Detroit car.
In the mid-90s my Dad and I were both driving Ks – he an ’84 LeBaron woody wagon and me an ’85 base Dodge Aries. Just before he sent his car to the wrecking yard due to rust and engine issues (he had the 2.6 Mitsu engine with timing chain issues) I swapped out the tires/rims to my car. Presto! Instant LeBaron ride for my Aries! The main upgrade Chrysler made here was to bigger tires with softer psi settings.
I wanted *so* much to like these when they came out. I was a Mopar boy and was really rooting for these to succeed. But even then there was something missing. Had the car been maybe 20% larger it might have worked. But this one looked like a nice car that got left in the dryer too long.
In the supermarket trivia department, it was a central Indiana/Ohio chain (Marsh Supermarkets) that was the first in the world to employ the electronic scanning system in 1974. Unfortunately their later management was less brilliant and they went away last year after a bankruptcy.
Wow, I had no idea Marsh was liquidated! When I moved up to Noblesville in 2005, Marsh was about as good as Publix is (they are a powerhouse in the SE, especially central Florida) and was a really nice store to shop. When I left to go back to Florida in 2008, they were going strong. Oddly, this kind of ties in with the Chrysler, as a once strong proud company got sold to several sets of owners who wrung the value out of the brand, only to leave a bare shell of a company after taking all the good assets (you know, like real estate or Jeep!).
You might not be able to go home again, but sometimes, you don’t really want to, after all is said and done.
They got sold to Sun Capital Partners (probably for a buff-up and flip) around the time you moved to Florida. Bad timing as it turned out because the economy went into the tank right about then and that coupled with a cutthroat grocery market around here meant that they never really got on solid ground after that. There was also some litigation in which the buyer alleged that the sellers had been using the company as a personal piggy bank in ways that were not adequately disclosed in the books. As I recall the seller had to refund some of the purchase price but not nearly as much as the buyer wanted. It was a big mess that resulted in the loss of our only really local grocer.
Publix was ranked #1 in some recent, chain grocery store survey. They’re pricier than others, but they are nice and clean, with a good, fresh selection of food, without being frivolous like some of the more ‘hip’ new boutique places that go overboard with exotic, non-mainstream stuff.
For being the poor, discount chain cousin of Trader Joe’s, Aldi is doing very well and is one of the stores that is currently on the grow.
As one might imagine, Walmart was dragging up the other end of the ratings.
If i wanted 1986 Chrysler decorated gingerbread, I’d go for the New Yorker – the extra length helps somewhat plus you get fake full-width taillights.
Might as well go all out.
If I was to buy a LeBaron it would have to be the hatchback GTS model. Aside from the 2 door/sporty coupe K-car variants, the GTS and it’s sister car the Lancer are the ones that best manage to disguise their “roots”…IMHO.
Any K-car derivative is now hard to run across, but I do still see a Laser coupe or Daytona on Craigslist every so often.
As far as Publix: it is also rated VERY highly as a great place to work.
As I understand it, Wegman’s (sp?) is due for a push southward, according to someone I know in management. They may not get as far south as Florida, but at least as far south as the Carolinas.
Great read, Jason. I remember being impressed with Chrysler’s ability to get so much power out of that 2.2. I remember being sold on the idea that these LeBarons were genuinely upscale cars.
Thanks. When I proofread this, it seemed to have a JD vibe to it.
Has anyone tried dropping in the current 2.4L / 9speed combo ? That would make the ultimate sleeper ! 183hp at the front wheels would surely wake things up !
When this baby-blue Chrysler entered the world your humble author was a mere teenager whose responsibilities were few and in which life was relatively simple.
Heh, 1986 Steve could grow hair, and it had color in it. A few years later, 92 or thereabouts, I had my one run-in with a tarted up K-car, in that case a 1990 or so New Yorker.
Snoozing comfortably on my day off, the phone rang. It was my boss. His car broke down, he said. He needed me to open the store, he said. Nearly broke my neck getting cleaned up and to the store by opening time. Ron finally meandered in. A bit later, the shop called with the diagnosis of his New Yorker: it had run out of gas. Ron said “oh yeah, the low fuel light had been on for a couple days”.
Ever want to just smack someone silly?
As for Chrysler tarting up a K-car and charging a lot more for it, doesn’t seem any worse than Ford calling a tarted up Fairmont a Thunderbird.
I am a classic cars collector. As this about a classic Chrysler product 2 years ago I bought All original 1980 R body New Yorker Fifth Avenue cream color with beige leather interior 360 2B, tilt steering, power driver seat, power windows, factory AMFM, factory AC, wire wheels. has 15K original miles with all documentation wondow sticker & manuals. I paid 13,500 for it.
We owned an ’87 New Yorker for a number of years. While not particularly exciting, it was, overall, very reliable.
We kept it long enough that we had the engine and trans both rebuilt.
The kids got a kick out of the talking computer voice.
The K-body LeBaron was one of the more “we’re really stretching it” cars of the Iacocca era. But as you point out, it was a cheap way for Chrysler to sell the basic Aries/Reliant for significantly higher profit margins and it worked to a degree.
Somehow I’ve always found it hard to accept these as really being a Chrysler, no matter how much tinsel and dreck Lee ladled onto them.
Old Pete I agree with you 100% I also dont regard K cars as Real Chrysler’s!
i have a 1985 one owner convertible and i love the looks and feels like a bigger car than it is. always gets a thumbs up where ever i go. i like the style and they do have really comfortable seats. funny how some don’t consider these “real Chryslers” these cars truly saved Chrysler from extinction and although i consider vehicles like the VW van and Corvan a100 and econoline as the real first minivans you cannot knock the Chrysler mini vans and what they did for american families.
The truly ironic thing is that the “real” Chrysler’s bankrupted the company, but these “fake” Chrysler’s actually saved it.
My first job out of university in 1986, I worked with a woman who owned one of these LeBarons, the two-door model. We were on the same team in the company and had a great working relationship… until one day in the cafeteria, I made the mistake of referring to her pride and joy as a “K-Car” — and, my word, by her reaction you’d think I’d made a comment about her weight or questioned the intelligence of her firstborn. Needless to say, she believed her car couldn’t possibly have anything to do with the lowly K. And I was floored. Weeks of tense debate followed, to the point where I even took her out to the parking lot to compare her LeBaron to another coworker’s base Aries or Reliant, also a two-door. If I recall correctly, I went so far as to ask the man to park it next to hers for a true side-by-side comparison. But even then, she couldn’t — or wouldn’t — acknowledge the truth that was plainly in front of her: that minus a bit of gingerbread, they were the same car. As a car guy from birth, I was blown away by the fact that someone could be so easily fooled by such obvious automotive trickery. But here was the evidence, standing right there beside me, with eyes refusing to see.
I always disliked the “tiny rear window” effect caused by the copious application of vinyl to a not-especially-wide C-pillar area. Seemed decent enough cars otherwise.
A friend’s Dad owned one in the early 90’s. He may have been the original owner though I kind of doubt it–he was in his early 40’s at the time and I can’t see a 35 year old Marine buying one of these new. Used, it was probably a good value. He didn’t have if for long after I knew him, though–he made an ill-advised left turn and got t-boned. RIP Chrysler (and hello chiropractor visits).