The eighties were shaped by two very powerful divergent influences: the price of oil and the desire for the trappings of luxury and prestige. These two do tend to be mutually exclusive. But the human mind is an infinitely flexible organ and there are ways to bridge almost any gap with a bit of creativity and a cutting torch.
The most perfect example (the TC runs a close second) is this Chrysler Executive Limousine: a K-car seven passenger limo powered by a 93 hp four cylinder engine. You either experienced the early eighties, or you’ll spend the rest of your life trying to make sense of them. Or both.
The whole history of the American car, as well as our whole built environment, lifestyle and everything that spins off from that has been shaped by the price of oil more than anything else. In 1980, the average price of oil was $92 (adjusted), a record that has not yet been broken, until perhaps this year? Worse than that, the projections in 1980 were that oil would just keep zooming up. How else could one explain Chrysler green-lighting this doomed project? Just plain poor judgement?
The premise was pretty ridiculous, high oil and all: the K car was a very compact affair to start with; it looks tiny in today’s traffic. Imagine building a Ford Focus limo today; that would get a few laughs. The truth was that the Executive was just way too small to carry even two executives in the comfort they were used to, let alone seven. Munchkins, perhaps.
from allpar’s piece on the Executive:
The sedan lasted two years, while the limousine lasted four. Bob Wilson noted that Bob Marcks presented the idea to Robert Lutz [ED: not correct; Lutz started with Chrysler in 1986. Iacocca, more likely], who approved it. Details are at Bob’s web site (see below). Bob Wilson noted:
They were discontinued because they were not “real” limos in the sense that you could not carry three people in the back seat and two more for the jump seats, despite the fact that they were rated by the EPA as a seven-passenger car. The jump seats had no seat belts.
Making an Executive involved sending a Le Baron coupe to ASC, where it was cut in two, and a new center section grafted in. There were even two versions: a slightly shorter “five passenger” Executive sedan, and this “seven passenger” limo.
The other profound limitation was in the engine compartment. All Chrysler had at the time was its own 2.2 and the Mitsu 2.6, which was drafted for the first three years. For the grand finale, the new 2.2 turbo was bestowed on the Executive. What a combo, with the three-speed automatic. Unlike turbos of today, then they were riddled with holes and buzzes. The V6 was still a distant dream.
And to think that just twenty years earlier, Chrysler’s limo looked like this:
A grand total of 1698 of these Executives were built, and I consider myself fortunate indeed to have found this one looking for a new buyer ($6820). Oil is up; so maybe the Executive is just getting ready to find its second wind.
There’s one of these in a driveway on my sister’s street. I’d always assumed it was coach built, I never DREAMED that Chrysler built it that way on purpose! Oh the humanity!
Still, my favourite upscale Kcar was the talking New Yorker that belonged to a friends father. As the (brand new) turbo 4 struggled to idle, loping and missing, the automated voice would announce “All monitored systems are functioning normally” which would get a laugh every time.
A few years ago I was working in an office sort of on the border of San Francisco’s Tenderloin and Nob Hill districts. Weird mix of elements in that neighborhood, including various providers of “black market” goods and services and their clientele. One of these “limousettes”, in exactly the color and trim of the one profiled here, drove endlessly around the block for the whole time I worked there, every single day. I always thought he must’ve been on drugs when he bought it, too.
Completely OT, but it does make me wonder this though:
If I can spend a few hours in a neighborhood and spot the crimes, why can’t the cops?
Thats an interesting picture you paint here.
I am looking for a 1986 Chrysler executive limo…does anyone know where I can purchase one?
Rick: See that you may be wanting to purchase an Executive? Oh, yes, and may I be of service to you? First, I do have a posting above (near the end of the blog), and, second, I do own an Executive — but it is a 1984 Sedan (seven inches shorter, no division window, and no jump seats). It is all Platinum Silver, the 2.6 M engine, and has 141,000 miles (much work done some 30k miles ago – professionally, and a new air conditioning compressor last October. Mine is one of less than 50 known Sedans in the world. It is in very fine condition, as it won Second Best in Class at the Concours d’Elegance 2010 (Dayton). Should you wish to consider this opportunity and desire to further explore owning a very fine Sedan, then please feel free to contact me – only by e-mail. Some e-mail pictures and a flyer are available. Thank you, ne
Dear Sir, Do you still have the Limousine or no wher another is?? Thank you Dan Roberts’ London’ Ky. Phone 606-862-1541
Dear Dan,
In regards to a 1984 Chrysler Executive Limo, I have one in very nice condition. If interested contact Larry or Roy at #636-257-8300 for all info. I know it’s been awhile since you posted. Location is St. Louis, Mo.
If you still have that 1984 Exec. Limo, please E-mail me.
Nicholas
Dan Roberts: Sorry, but have not noticed any e-mails (to me nor from the ‘classic’ site)… in several months! Yes, Dan, your question, please – as it relates to a 1984 Executive Sedan (all in silver) which did place ‘Second in Class’ at the Concours d’Elegance 2010? It is now scheduled for a coolant & thermostat change and 5 new tires in the next few months [time marches on, you know]. I do recall writing to you once before – but never had a reply. Thank you, Nicholas Essinger
Did you ever find this? I have one that would rate exceptional with 59000 original miles. All original and always garaged. White. Perfect. 360-437-9541
Hi,
Is the Limo still available ?
Thanks,
Michael
856-882-6236
I don’t think even Mr T could feel any pity for those 1698 fools.
Allpar’s facts seem to be off a bit.
I’m curious how Lutz approved the car when he was busy at Ford bringing the Sierra across the pond as the XR4Ti. My memory says Lutz didn’t go to Chrysler until 1986. I could be wrong, but I have a feeling history may back me up.
It may be maximum K-car, but I don’t think it’s Maximum Bob.
Good point. He joined Chrysler in 1986. allpar wrong??? WTF!
Yes, it’s rare that Dr. Zatz gets it wrong.
Yeah, I thought Lutz is the one who finally pushed Chrysler away from chintzy crap like this. Which is also probably one of the reasons Iacocca didn’t like him.
I’ve seen one in the wild. At a wrecking yard. Draw your own conclusions.
Although I’ve often thought that one of those factory limos with the 3.0ltr V6 that was used in later K-cars would be interesting in a “WTF is that?” sort of way.
That looks like a cartoon. I realize that the K-Car saved Chrysler (that particular time), but how a company that made that atrocity is still around boggles the mind. Actually, given that all American car companies (and many others) made atrocities back then, I guess Chrysler wasn’t at that much of a disadvantage. Maybe my thesis should be, “wow, the ’80s really sucked, didn’t they?”
On the other hand, that Imperial is stunning. I’d have one of those to drive, let alone be carted around in it.
Maybe I’m an unreasonable snob, but imagine being deposited at the door to some glittering affair by one of these. Oh, the humiliation…
I just think about the poor kid going to prom in it and knowing that he wouldn’t be getting to the promised land that night. I imagine that he’d also be in one of those baby-blue wide-lapel 70′s prom tuxes while everyone else was all “Miami Vice”-ed up.
What a great (and rare) find. Definitely ranks right up there with the TC in the “What were they thinking?” department of Chrysler’s voluminous ‘Deadly Sin’ file. I just can’t imagine any executive foregoing a full-size Lincoln or Cadillac livery vehicle for one of these. Even as a media/publicity stunt to show how much they were saving during the high gas price era of the eighties, I can’t believe anyone would buy it.
About the only saving grace on the Lebaron limo is that it’s unlikely to have cost much in the way of development. Essentially, it was just a grungy Lebaron that was pulled off the line and outsourced to ASC. Then, after the modifications, sent out to the unlucky dealers who had to try and find buyers for them.
Speaking of which, in an odd irony, there was an almost identical number of 1970 Plymouth Superbirds built (around 1700). I’m guessing that the Lebaron limo won’t ever reach the same collectable status, though.
I remember seeing these in Manhattan in the 80s, alongside my favorite 80s limo the the stretched Volvo 740. Ideal transport for Limousine Liberals. The idea of a smaller more economical limo made sense, it’s just that the execution fell down, rather like the difference between a Pontiac Aztek and a Honda Element.
I’ve never seen one of these in the wild, ick. Still see the occasional K-LeBaron, though. I don’t know how anyone could have taken these cars seriously as a premium product.
Or any Chrysler car for that matter. They absolutely owned the minivan market for years, and the last LeBaron convertible was actually kinda desirable, but the rest was just garbage. The original K was cheap and dorky, the stretched New Yorker was a cruel joke and the fact that the Omnirizon was still in production in 1990 was an embarrassment.
I think I prefer the Y-body Imperial.
I definitely prefer the Imperial.
Hard to believe it isnt a 9 year olds photoshop project but of course Chrysler ceased to exist on this side of the world around 1980 ,so I hadnt seen these abortions other than on TV. Wow no wonder Americans thought an awful POS like a Neon was ok.
You have to admit though that this particular example is in rather good condition!
Sometimes I wonder if Lee looked at this project as another way of shouting to his cross-town rivals “See? I can do more with less!!!” Of course, it doesn’t mean that was a good idea…
I wonder if he actually used one of these as his personal limo???
That first photo profile view seems like some kind of fun house mirror image caricature of a limousine and yet it is real.
Wow, I don’t get the hate for the Executive… I’m guessing no one remembers the late 1970′s and how we were constantly being told that gasoline would be $4/gallon by 1984 and we’d all be riding bicycles because we couldn’t afford the $50 fillups? Actually, it’s no better now, 30 years later…
In light of these myths, the various permutations of the K cars all make sense. $1/gallon gasoline was bad enough, but people were just about pooping themselves over the prospect of what we were being told about the future. Luckily, that future didn’t arrive for another 27 years, and without the benefit of what was being circulated at the time, these cars do seem odd. But I believe they were a rational response, and considering lead times to plan and productionize things, these were well under way when the price increases DIDNT materialize. Had fuel prices gone up as much as predicted, Iacocca would have been considered a genius. Now, not so much.
Regarding the car itself, during the 80′s and early 90′s, I used to see one regularly parked at a convent near Youngstown, OH. I don’t know if the novitiates actually traveled in the car. I did see the car traveling near the convent, going on and off the grounds, but during the mid 90′s the convent was sold and I have no idea what become of the K Limo.
I don’t see the hate for these cars. When I was a college student in Daytona in the late 80′s early 90′s I used to call a cab company that only had these for my ride back and forth to the airport. Cost the same as other cab companies. I liked them. Offered a nice ride. For what they were they offered a decent alternative to a Towncar. I got to ride in both a turbo and normal aspirated cars and did not notice any difference between the two in the NVH department. I did wonder about the lack of seatbelts in jump seats. Used to love the jump seats in Checker Cabs in Manhattan growing up.
When you get out of the back of a limo, it’s supposed to convey the message “I have arrived.” When the limo is one of these, it says “I have arrived in a K-car.” The car’s utilitarian roots are inescapable. I’m sure they’d make great airport limos, but they’re not CEO-grade material.
This article reminded me of some related Chrysler trivia. I just looked quickly at Chrysler’s website and they appear to have dropped it, but Chrysler did offer an extended wheelbase version of the Chrysler 300 called the “Executive Series”. It is 6″ longer in the rear passenger compartment, which is subtle but noticeable, especially when you notice how long the back door is. It’s not quite a Ghia Imperial limo, but worlds better than the K-limo in my opinion.
My 86 LeBaron Marc Cross Convertible had this Dashboard… I can Vouch for the 2.2 Turbo Having a Whillybird Sound all its own… particularly seconds after stepping on the accelerator… when the Turbo Lag gave way to the OOMPH it gave the car.
I Grew To like the sound, as it told of a healthy and happy though meager and fairly economical engine. And Once you knew when the turbo lag would kick in, it was hard to ever really count on it.
But I felt Styling… Looking at the Chrystal Pentastar, though by 1986 it was Plastic. $450. on a 13 yr old convertible got me 2 years in a LeBaron Conv…
Well, I have one of these + a 1986 Fleetwood 75 Formal Limousine – I love them in spite of their shortcomings. But, I am just a collector – what do I know what the future will say…
I own one just like the one on the picture……I bought it a few years back, and while my daughters were growing up, it was a great fun car for them. They felt to be the coolest kids in town. they alkways asked me invite their friens for ice cream. IT IS FOR SALE NOW! 714-494-3019
I have one that I drive, 1984 Blue with Historical plates in Howell, Mi. Runs great, 138K, for sale to good home. $3400. 810- 225 -1869 phone
do you still the the executive limo, would like to find one. 217-851-0903
OK, time for a fact check – or two. Other than the first two (a Sedan and a limo) all were built by ASC of St. Louis, summer of ’83 to spring of ’86. The cars were built only after being paid for – in advance; no demos available. There were 205 Sedans built for ’83 & ’84; and 1,498 Limousines for ’83 – ’86. Majority of engines were the Mitsubishi 2.6 four. No 2.2 turbos were in Sedans, but for most of ’85-’86 Limos. Original wheelbase of K-Car was 100 inches; the Sedan was 124″ and the limo was 131″. These cars are NOT a ‘stretch,’ but are each made from the front half of a 4 door sedan (cut just 1″ behind the “B Pillar) and the back half of a coupe/sedan (cut 9″ behind the “A pillar” or 2″ beind the “A Pillar, and then welded together with two steel bar supports in the lower body floor pan. The rear doors were fabricated from the original doors (front & rear). There is only one weld around the body of the car, not two as in a ‘stretch.’ I know these items: i am a friend of Bob Marcks (Special Vehicles Projects) who designed the car in the spring of 1981, built it for approval of Lee Iacocca in fall of 1981 in Mica Red, and it was shown at the NAIAS in 1982. My silver Sedan was built in December 1983, at MSRP $19,377.00, and is near perfect at nearly 141k miles: took Second in Class at the Concours d’Elegance 2010. Around town, mileage is mid-20s, on the highway, 28-32 — on regular grade fuel And there are less than 50 Sedans plus 50 Limousines known to exist (Bob Smith, editor, The Limousine Registry, in 2005). OLD CARS WEEKLY on 4 Jan 2007 proclaimed the Exeutive to be one of the few collectible cars of the 1980s. I do enjoy my rather rare car! Thank you.
Sir, Is your limousine for sale –can you find me one?? Thank you Dan Roberts elenor403@hotmail.com
GOT ONE FOR YOU….BLUE
714-494-3019
Got a perfect one for you. White. 59k. Always garaged. Immaculate. None finer in the world. Original. 360-437-9541
They were more of a utility limo, not something one would use for a wedding or a prom or anything where your looking to impress. Alot of the funeral homes in my area used them as did a few shuttle companies. I rode in one once and it was pretty darn nice once you got over the fact it was a k-car on growth hormones.
I remember being a teenager in about 1985-86 and finding about 30 or 40 of these little limo’s around someone’s rural property near Tamaqua, PA. They looked new and absolutely out of place. Never got the story on them though….
Makes you wonder if they seen an early 50′s Chrysler limo or 8 passenger sedan and thought “Hey that would be a good idea”. They should have made it on the RWD Fifth Avenue as the execution probably woulda been better!