Paul discussed the folly of this “limousine” in an earlier posting: 1984 Chrysler Executive Limousine- The Ultimate Eighties Folly, and there’s really not a lot more to say about this slightly mangled example of K-Car excess.
However, I found it in a Las Vegas parking about three miles from the strip, and find it ironic that this faux limousine is serving out its final days as a Sin City daily driver.
For many limousines, reaching the end of their service life also means reaching the end of their days. Too large and thirsty to serve as normal transportation, they end up parked in a back lot providing spare parts for its brethren, and then crushed for scrap value. However, the reduced size and reasonable fuel efficiency of this Curbside Classic seems to have propelled it into a second career, offering a Vegas denizen a comfortable ride to and from work.
Wow great find! Never seen one in white before. At first glance, I thought the front was from an ’88 New Yorker. The Tercel next to it would also make a good CC post.
What this pic doesn’t fully capture, is how small the k-based cars were. The Tercel from this era was still a small car, compared to today’s larger scaled autos. But the Tercel here, holds it’s own, next to this ‘little limousine’. Family and friends owned nearly every K-car derivative, and they were minimally sized cars. In overall scale and width. They seemed built with keeping material costs as low as possible.
IMO the smallness of this limo, compromises it’s presence and cred as a limo, as much as any association to the K-Car.
Oh my, but this thing would have to be s-l-o-w. If there is a divider window, this could be a solution to noisy unruly kids, though.
I can’t imagine the A/C would be powerful enough for Las Vegas heat, either. Granted, I’ve never been there.
The bumper crunch looks appropriate, fits right in with the faux decadence vibe this beast puts out.
Yeah, it’s got that white stilettos and bad bleach job vibe about it. Transport to a bordello that has a pensioner discount?
Just for fun here are some facts…
Wheel base 131.3 ” 3,335 mm
Length 220.5″ 5,601 mm
Engine 2.2 L Turbo I I4
Width 68.0 in (1,727 mm)
For comparison the last full size De Ville (1976)
Wheel base 130.0 in (3,302 mm)
Length 230.7 in (5,860 mm)
Engine 472 cu in (7.7 L) OHV V8
Width 79.8 in (2,027 mm)
IMO, Chrysler could have added a 10 foot filler section, and made an even larger limousine. But it still looks like a really big K-car. Same for those Renault Alliance limos that AMC made.
Thankfully for Chrysler, the public was willing to accept ‘mini’ vans.
But I think the point of entry for limousines is more exclusive. Prestige and perception of high quality are fundamentals. A Renault Alliance or K-Car based limo is already flirting with credibility as a limo, before you add a 3, 7 or 15 foot stretched middle section. They can add a duel rear axle if they wished.
Of course you are going to have second or third owners at 70,000 miles, that could give a darn. Who will drive one of these after all of the cost depreciation, has made these affordable. And they’ll appreciate these for their practicality. But you simply aren’t going to find a big market for poser limousines at the original premium price Chrysler charged. When the public perception and basis for a limo is usually a prestigious car to start with.
What would most people rather be photographed in for their wedding. And to show friends 20 years later?
A Cadillac limo. Or a K-Car limo?
In other words they sucked as limos, now if you were getting married at Walmart they might just be the thing
LOL! Also just the thing for a skinflint CEO to be driven about in
Now Chrysler would be talking, if they’d rent the services of Ricardo Montalban as a limo driver at such events…
Folks joke about Montalban selling the Corinthian leather Cordobas in 1975. When, almost 10 years later, he was still selling the K-Car New Yorkers…
Most people forget that Montalban still was pitching for Chrysler until 86 or 87. I love the quasi-futuristic factory setting that they have in the background for that ad.
That looks like a 1986 Buick Riviera being assembled by robots.
I guess we can now blame Chrysler for those.
The doorway on the left leads to the old set of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.
I keep expecting Christopher Lloyd dressed a Klingon to come out of that hallway.
It does sort of look like an 86 Riviera, not anything like any Chrysler built during the era, this whole ad is full of crazy, the sci-fi factory, the Wrath of Khan hallway, Montalban….in a TUXEDO? The robots assembling the “Rivera” and the cliff in front of the min-Broughamtastic New Yorker, which leads down to the “reactor” area of the plant no doubt……
This car, especially with crunched fender, looks like a prop from a Second City or National Lampoon movie.
Unfortunately, John Candy is no longer with us to star in it.
He did drive a K-car in “Planes, Trains, and Automobiles” if you didn’t know or had forgotten :).
The K-car, with some wear (sorry, I loved this movie):
The rental car scene still makes me laugh
They all looked like that after three years… even the sedans 😉
Great Movie.
Watching the scene where he lost in the rental car parking lot is almost kind of interesting now, whole lots of shiny brand new 80’s cars in that lot.
While I was no fan of the incredible shrinking brougham, I am perhaps a bit more charitable than most to this car. In the context of the times, Chrysler was experimenting with what they had, and looking for fuel efficient ways to meet future product needs. Chrysler nearly died after both the 1973 and 1979 oil price shocks, so the fact that their reaction was the most extreme is not really a surprise, and experimentation was in order.
Chrysler made a big deal of the K based LeBaron line being the most complete car line in America (at the time) with a Sedan, Coupe, Wagon, and Convertible. Experimenting with a limo, even if under a different nameplate, made the Chrysler brand one of the broadest in terms of body styles available. Another one of Iacocca’s rabbit from a hat tricks, and it bought him some PR on the cheap.
I know where you are coming from, and many people were cheering for the Chrysler comeback back then. I followed Chrysler’s fortunes as much as anyone. And they put out every kind of car based the K-Car. The Mini New Yorkers, the Town and Country convertibles, the E-Class, Laser/Daytona, the Rampage/Scamp. Besides the minivans. Even at the time, it was reaching a tipping point, and people were starting to joke about it.
I remember by the time the Shadow and Sundance were released in the Fall of 1986, new car reviews were taking Chrysler to task for resurrecting the aging K-Car platform once again for a new car. It was starting to hold them back. I think they went a little too gaga with the K-Car platform. Every new car review would begin, commenting upon the fact a given car was K-Car based and exhibited very similar driving characteristics to a 1981 Aries.
Of note the Rampage/Scamp were on the L Platform
You are absolutely correct, and thank you. I’m actually surprised more small variants weren’t derived from the Omni/Horizon.
It still looks like a stretched Mitsubishi V2000/Debonaire to me and that’s not a good thing.
Nice catch of a cool Limousine. Anyone want to bet a fiver the driver tried to make a lane change and clipped a Prism-like car? Most vehicles these days have higher bumpers than a K-car and there is no paint transfer or scuffing so it could not have been a bollard or a pole.
2014 is Nevada’s Sesquicentennial so I am going to try to get down to Carson City, but I do not have the time or money to make it to Las Vegas. This would be the time to go though, too hot any other time.
Does anyone know if Chrysler built these or if it was sub’ed out to one of the coachbuilders like AHA or Hess & Eisenhardt? I doubt if a low production unit was built on Chryslers assembly line. In its defense, they are a proper centre door limo and not just a stretched disco sedan, awkward for passengers to enter.
I am looking for a ’82-86 chry. lomo.. Where can I find one
In a parking lot in Las Vegas apparently. Don’t worry I don’t think Danny of Count’s Kustoms is going to be bidding against you for this one.
The last one I saw (intact) was parked outside a wrecking yard between Columbus Grove and Lima, OH.
There is an ’86 I see regularly in front of, believe it or not, a bait shop. You can tell it is a 1986 by the wraparound taillights, shared with that year’s facelifted LeBaron.
Only 138 were built that year. I think I need to get some pics!