(first posted 12/12/2016) This rebadged LeBaron coupe shared a name with a Rolls-Royce and, in one way, echoed another Rolls-Royce. The Camargue coupe ended production just a year prior to the Phantom’s launch and both the Chrysler and Rolls-Royce had a distinctive body draped over less expensive sedan mechanicals. Both were also looked up to as the prestigious coupe flagships of their lines.
In Mexico, the Phantom was often equipped to a higher level than US-market LeBaron coupes and offered an impressive array of niceties like power-adjustable leather seats, digital instruments, and talking computers. It was the closest thing Chrysler offered to a Rolls-Royce and was one of the most luxurious cars sold in Mexico, a market at the time devoid of any German luxury brands.
Of course, the Camargue and Phantom otherwise shared nothing in common, especially not their appearance. The Camargue was regal and imposing but, to many, ugly. The Phantom, however, was regarded as the most beautiful Chrysler in possibly decades.
The Phantom competed with the Ford Thunderbird and Mercury Cougar and the popular Chevrolet Eurosport, another rather unique Mexican market model. While those rivals offered V6 and V8 engines, the Phantom was only ever offered with turbocharged four-cylinder powerplants: the 2.2 Turbo I and II and 2.5 Turbo II.
Unfortunately, Mexican consumers didn’t receive the pretty convertible. What they received instead, however, more than made up for it. As the Dodge Daytona was not sold in Mexico, a Phantom R/T was launched in 1992 and sold alongside the Spirit R/T.
The Phantom R/T initially came with the 2.5 four-cylinder Turbo II engine with 175 hp, mated to a three-speed automatic. This was then replaced by the Spirit R/T’s 2.2 four-cylinder Turbo III, boasting 224 hp and 217 ft-lbs and mated to a Getrag five-speed manual transmission.
The R/T trim continued in the uglier, facelifted 1993 Phantom but was withdrawn for 1994. In the still rather closed market of 1990s Mexico, the Phantom R/T (and Spirit R/T) was second only to sports cars like the Corvette in terms of outright performance. The Phantom line was an excellent, image-building flagship for Chrysler, its elegant lines a marked contrast from the preceding rectilinear, K-based Magnum coupe.
Chrysler de México also publicized their attractive coupe quite prominently, including this commercial where a young couple is terrorized by a ghost.
Chrysler’s marketing tagline in the early 1990s in Mexico was literally “Chrysler engineering”. The launch of the Viper and the continued use of ever more powerful turbocharged engines helped the company’s image, and thousands of Spirits and Shadows poured out of Chrysler’s Toluca factory.
The Phantom was one of the last K-car derivatives to be manufactured, with production ending in 1994 as with the LeBaron. They may have been the same car – rorty R/T aside – but the different environments in which they were sold resulted in two very different images. In the US and Canada, the LeBaron was pretty but unexceptional—another rebodied K-car, popular with Floridian rental fleets.
But in Mexico, the Phantom was a rather special, big fish in a small, restricted pond. That market was changing: the Mexican government partially reversed their anti-import decree in 1991, with automakers allowed to import 15% of their total volume if their trade balances were positive. This increased further with the ratification of NAFTA and this resulted in more and more car companies returning to Mexico.
Had this governmental action occurred in, say, the early 1980s, the Mexican market would have seen the potential return of the German luxury brands during the Phantom’s run. Perhaps posing more of a threat, the tech-crazy Japanese would have brought their own highly-specified, turbocharged coupes with talking computers. While the Phantom was a good car, it wasn’t perfect: turbo lag remained a problem; Chrysler’s manual transmissions were notchy; reliability and build quality were so-so. In a market with greater competition, the Phantom likely wouldn’t have been as popular. But in Mexico, the Phantom was one of the closest things to a Rolls-Royce.
White Phantom photographed in Santiago de Querétaro, Querétaro; gray Phantom photographed in Colonia Roma Sur, Mexico City.
Related Reading:
CC Driving Impressions: 1992 Chrysler LeBaron Convertible – Turning Dreams Into Reality
Curbside Classic: 1994 Chrysler LeBaron LE – The K-Car’s Final Stand
Mexican Mopars, Part 1: 2017 Dodge Neon and Vision – Hi! Again
I believe the Camargue ended production in 1986. You may be thinking of the Rolls Royce Corniche (a nicer looking Rolls coupe in my opinion) which ended production in 2002, one year before the Phantom (VII) made its debut.
Yup, to me the Rolls Royce Corniche convertible is one of the most elegant, regal, beautiful convertible coupes ever made. Even by today’s standards (any Era).
I also thought that despite the Chrysler LeBaron’s 1987-1994 model had unpredictable reliability. It cannot be denied that the cars shape was more well executed than it’s competitors. I also personally loved the digital dash, looked like Star Wars….
“Unpredictable” – that’s a good way of putting it. I think the K-car era was the peak of the Mopar Quality Lottery (“You’ll either swear by it, or at it”); there were some incredibly rugged ones and others that…weren’t…and there seemed to be none of the get-this-engine-not-that-one predictability you’d see in Fords.
nlpnt
I like you’re comment saying some where rugged, and others were a POS.
That is the feed back given by those that owned these cars.
Ironically, the people that I knew that said the LeBaron was rugged, tough, and somewhat reliable are the ones that bought one used & all beat up (a beater). Folks that purchased one new, or newer constantly complained about the minor problems that were constant- the build quality & engine etc. Go figure…
I see Fred’s point, but I like the Camargue comparison. It was meant to be a futuristic design and a technological showcase for Rolls Royce, rather like this LeBaron.
By contrast, the Corniche’s design was a bit retro even when it launched in 1971. It looked like a pretty straightforward convertible derivative of the Silver Shadow, which dated to 1965.
Having said that, Fred is right that the Camargue was a polarizing design. This LeBaron was generally well-liked.
david42
For so many years now, I simply cannot say where I fall in regards to the Camarouge.
first I totally understand that the large, heavy, unique coupe was meant for a very very small select client base (Super rich folks). It was designed from the start to be a collectors edition. It was not an ugly car per say, but did not flow as good as the instantly internationally recognized Corniche Convertible.
It looked like a masculine “Mans” coupe for sure, especially with the macho militant interior design. The tilted front grill I’m still undecided if it worked or not in the overall execution. From the rear the Camarouge looked like a lazy design by today’s standards, but would have looked futuristic by the late 70’s standard. The truth is like you said, it’s a polarizing design.
I do know that the final 1986 model, Rolls only pumped out I think like 25 Camarouge coupes (I think), all with “Red” interior. Each one was a collectors edition that sold for $175K back in 1986. Adjust for inflation and that would be a car worth $393K in 2016. All where sold out every single year of production. so someone loved these ultra expensive coupes.
I don’t understand your point, Fred. I was comparing the Phantom to the Camargue.
Sorry William. It was I who was confused.Somehow when I read this sentence:
“The Camargue coupe ended production just a year prior to the Phantom’s launch [and both the Chrysler and Rolls-Royce had a distinctive body draped over less expensive sedan mechanicals.]”
My brain completely blocked out/ignored the second part of the sentence which I put in brackets.
When I read Phantom, I automatically assumed Rolls Royce Phantom which debuted one year after the Corniche coupe ended production….my brain refused to register and associate Chrysler with Phantom!!
Talk about automotive prejudice on my part!
So sorry for the mix up…my mistake, I get it now.
Interesting piece. I never knew about the Mexican anti-import regulations, so it’s interesting that this car was seen as so much more prestigious than in the U.S. and Canada. I’ve always liked these LeBarons, especially the coupes, which were much rarer here.
As a Bentley Corniche owner I find any comparison here to the Camarge or any other Rolls to be insulting. The LeBaron was a hellaciously awful peice of crap. With so many made…….
It is almost never seen anymore because they are almost all recycled by now.
Who cares? It was only the nameplate, and a little tongue in cheek at that…
Why post a photo of “The Car”, a hellaciously crappy TV movie about a boxy looking car (from hell) that runs over people? Or is this your Rolls with the Monte Carlo transmission?
Michael Rabinowitz
I agree
It’s like comparing a cheap Citizen’s $55 watch to a hand crafted Rolex Presidential time piece that retails for like $40,000.
To even think to compare a Rolls Royce/Bentley (of any era) to a Chrysler LeBaron is a crime in of itself. The world knows that the Bentley in your pic brand new was about $200K, a brand new LeBaron base model could be purchased for around $11K in 1987.
All you’re doing is reinforcing the stereotype of RR owners as being pompous, show-off self-important xxx xxxxs. If you can’t read properly and understand in what specific and very qualified ways the author is (rightfully) making the comparison, than perhaps you don’t belong here.
Seriously, we already knew what a Corniche looks like. But now we know for sure what Corniche owners act like.
When I saw the National Geographic special documentary. Where Nat Geo obtained access to the factory to show how a Rolls/Bentley is made from start to finish .
I was so amazed at the fine details to create the wood, paint job, leather, and overall fine craftsmanship of building these expensive beauties. you should check it out, you will be amazed!
The issue isn’t whether the Rolls is worth its lofty price tag; no one is impugning the fine craftsmanship or the attention to detail. (Well maybe the “The Car” comment is, but we’ll ignore that.) The author was not making any pretense of a quality comparison. A common name and a high (for the extremely constrained market) status were the comparison points, which hardly sounds like a crime to me.
On the other hand it seems a little “criminal” to get such an attitude about it, as our resident Corniche owner seems to have.
Talk about throwing rocks in a glass house. British cars weren’t exactly renowned for their build quality or reliability. Probably why nearly all British car makers are now owned by the Germans (Rolls, Bentley), Chinese (MG, Lotus) and most ironically the Indians (Jaguar, Land Rover).
If you read the article correctly he is saying it was the nearest car the country had to a Rolls during the import “ban” . “Nearest” being a “country mile”from the Rolls
LOLROFL.
I think this is a real Rolls, but is so close I can’t tell.
This kind of blows my mind. A LeBaron R/T makes so much more sense than a Spirit R/T. I wonder why Chrysler didn’t sell them here in the US? Too close to the Daytona, maybe?
The Phantom R/T – Lebaron R/T would have cannibalized the already low sales of the top performance Daytona models. That’s probably why they weren’t sold here. In the early 90s, the Daytona was already looking pretty long in the tooth when the Turbo III engine debuted.
Attending college in the mid90s in Las Cruces, NM (just 30 miles north of the Mexican border), I saw several Phantoms driving around locally. One guy who lived in my dorm room had the exclusive Phantom R/T (pre facelift) with the Turbo III engine and 5-speed manual. I have a soft spot for Turbo Mopar… and there was some serious lusting after that car.
25 year import ban for the R/T models is expiring soon… hmmm….
I always figured they used Phantom to avoid using the French-sounding “LeBaron” (Cinco de Mayo is about kicking the colonial French out of Mexico… I think)
They used Phantom to go along with Spirit and Shadow. They had a model name theme going on, like VW’s wind theme.
OK, that makes sense. Bonus, I learned that VW isn’t just making up nonsense words for model names, as I had suspected.
Or kind of like Rolls’ theme…
I like this explanation! I wonder if this was a deeply passive aggressive as hell swipe by Lido, the one who left Ford with the quieter-than-Rolls LTD marketing legacy… What better was to say eff you than by having your marketing BECOME the Rollers?
Of all the places to put the “Intercooled Turbo” lettering – on the rear side window frame???
The 84- 86 Dodge Daytona had the Turbo badging on the black trim under the window on the doors.
Putting the Turbo III in a LeBaron always sounded like a good idea to me (and a good swap idea, though I doubt the things are easy to find here).I suppose the argument against would primarily have been to protect the Daytona, true, but I don’t know how much sense that makes. A 224-hp LeBaron would have been a legit rival to the Thunderbird SC, Cougar XR7, Grand Prix GXP, and perhaps even the Riviera/Toronado. And those cars didn’t preclude the existence of the turbocharged Probe or the Fiero GT.
Interesting-looking thing. I’m of a mind that the U.S. LeBaron coupe was better-resolved, stylistically, but from the front, the Phantom (especially with headlights exposed) looks sort of like the offspring of a J-body and a Fox-platform Cougar.
Er…what difference do you perceive between a U.S. LeBaron coupé and a Mexican Phantom? Aside from trivial name callouts and badges and wheel selection?
That body style Chrysler sold _relatively_ well here in Austria when it was new. All tongue in cheek R-R comments aside, I suppose here it offered a kind of a poor man’s alternative not to the R-R but to Mercedes’ SL / SLC or SC (particularly the convertible version). And it’s true that you can’t kill good ones with a stick, I still encounter them on Viennese streets from time to time.
Some times US imports appear on UK Ebay for little money ,mostly with roof
problems but still sell quickly.
Remember that MOPAR had the biggest presents in Europe during the 80-90s than the other 2 manufactures due to being a more Euro design with FWD 4 cyl engines etc. .
Why did Chrysler back down to 2.2L from 2.5L for the Turbo III?
In the US and Canada this engine only ever made it into the Dodge Spirit R/T and only for two years, 1991 and 92. These are far rarer than I realized – only 191 were sold in the US in model year 1992. All R/Ts were built in Mexico.
Simple: the 2.2’s shorter stroke was much better suited to the high-RPM sweet zone (and it was very sweet) brought on by the 4-valve head and big turbocharger.
(the 2.2 TIII was available in the upper North American markets in the ’91-’92 Spirit R/T and the ’92-’93 IROC R/T).