Photos from the CC Cohort by Guillaume Vachey.
As soon as I saw the image of these two Américaines, I was transported back to the mid-90s. Never mind that they carry French plates. So, not quite a location I would have trotted back then, but there’s no way these two won’t reawaken those now-distant 1990s memories in my head.
As some may recall, each of these carried great hopes for their makers on their debut. Each looked quite sharp, featured FWD platforms, and seemed to signal that the long malaise era was reaching its end.
You may be wondering what the Chrysler Vision name is all about, as you may remember this specific visage as the Eagle Vision. It’s all part of a 1990s effort when Chrysler felt its new US products were good enough to compete in the European market. As such, the LH platform showed up under the Chrysler banner and Vision name carrying the company’s 3.5L V6, tuned to 208HP.
FWIW, Chrysler wasn’t alone in its European ambitions, with some of the new Cadillacs also finding their way into the Old Continent. Indeed, the following ’98-’04 Seville would even sell in RHD form in the UK amidst a push by Cadillac to break into the EU market.
Those European exploits were rather star-crossed for both makes at the time, in particular for Chrysler. But that’s beyond today’s post. For the time being, we can see that some folks took a liking to the looks of these Américaines, even to this day. Thus, giving us a neat 1990s snapshot, all in the same driveway.
Related CC reading:
Curbside Classic: 1992-1997 Cadillac Seville – A Forgotten Contender
Américaines , more appropriate with an ‘e’ at the end for ”voiture américaine” .Voiture being a feminine word. Please feel free to correct my English next time. I often have to modify the google translate result myself.
Indeed, it should be feminine in French as you point out. Thanks. Curiously, in my native Spanish cars are male. Whoever thought of adding gender to objects in these languages surely left a legacy prone to funny goof-ups for ages to come.
I’ll always remember the gender from this movie I saw as a kid, La Belle Americaine. My parents took us to a lot of old European black and white films at the local “art house” theater when we were young.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Belle_Am%C3%A9ricaine
The car referred to by the title was a modified 1959 Oldsmobile convertible with six headlights.
By the way, in Russian the most common term for car is a word like “machine” and it’s feminine. But the more formal term is similar to “automobile” and it’s masculine. Go figure.
Tip my hat, to those that passionately keep these less mainstream autos on the road. In spite of the extra cost, and patience, involved. We all benefit, with their preservation.
For the Cadillac to have survived, lets hope it has a HT-4900 (most of the bugs resolved) or a later Northstar (again, enhanced reliability).
As for the Chrysler, as long as it does have the 2.7 litre V6 (which I’m not sure was available for this car), the odds are much better.
The Chrysler 2.7 was an awful motor! Owners were lucky to get 100k out of them before the water pump leaked into the oil, or something else went wrong.
Typo on my part. I meant to say, “as long as it does not have the 2.7 V6..”
Mine was over 125K with no problems at all when the Sebring was totaled. But A Chrysler certified mechanic told me it was vital to keep the oil clean. Changed it every 3k.
There’s a good local car show in Normandy near my French House at Javron les Chapelles.In amongst the French cars you would expect was a small American section, a couple of Mustangs, a Camero, but also an immaculate bronze and white Edsel. I can’t remember which year but it did have a 410.
I had the opportunity to tour Brampton Assembly shortly after the Chrysler Vision was launched. In talking to a fellow working in the plant, there were so many differences between a Chrysler Vision and an Eagle Vision that the plant considered it to be a fifth car line they were producing along with Chrysler/Dodge Intrepid, Chrysler Concorde, Chrysler New Yorker/LHS and the Chrysler Vision and Eagle VIsion.
Though there was not a ton of differentiation between the various brands that sold the Chrysler LH platform (Chrysler, Dodge, Eagle), I thought the Eagle Vision was hands-down the best looking of the three. I think it was also the poorest seller. Still, it was a mighty impressive car in its time.
Those Cadillacs were also impressive cars in their day, at least until the Northstar engine started acting up. Sadly, these two exemplify the trend that affected far too many U.S. cars – appealing in the showroom, but money pits as they aged.
It’s so sad the STS was so hopeless, as it remains a very fine-looking machine even now, with a subtlety in proportions and detailing that one just does not associate with American cars from the early ’70’s-on (and until many, many years later, and even then, not-so-commonly).
Perhaps not so surprising this one lives on in France, where they love a car that’s a beautiful and complex design of great capability – that often isn’t working.
Chrysler sold about 50K per year in Europe in the 90s and 00s. They had an assembly plant in Austria.
Is the output of the 3.5 correct ? In North America that motor produced 214 horsepower.