We’ll go for a rare and exclusive dose of old-school Chrysler today, in the form of a LeBaron Salon Coupe LS Limited edition, of which only 2,257 units were sold in 1980. Being a product from the challenging malaise era days –and Chrysler’s almost collapse days– the LS Limited didn’t perform spectacularly, nor was it particularly advanced in any way, but it was meant to speak to a segment on its waning days; offering formal styling, a traditional RWD ride, and mass-produced custom choices in the Brougham tradition. That, along with plenty of distinctive trim and an eye-catching two-tone paint job that accented the car’s downsized lines nicely.
Not sure how many Chrysler fans remember this special edition of the LeBaron, but what nobody has forgotten is that this baby was born in troubled times. At a time when Chrysler was navigating shrinking cars, tightening regulations, uncertain buyers, and, well, the existential threat of bankruptcy, the LeBaron coupe arrived with new styling, in a downsized package, and was available in one of Chrysler’s rarest limited editions.
Admittedly, special editions have been around since the dawn of the automobile; nothing rare there. However, I’ll be hard-pressed to think of an age that offered more choices of Special Editions than the 1970s, a tradition that may have been waning by 1980, but was still going strong. And thus, the LS and LS Limited.
Chrysler’s LeBaron would be restyled for 1980, with a blockier and more dignified face that carried a waterfall grille, and distinctive-looking amber lights over the headlights. Bigger news were found in the coupe model, which was making its debut in the shorter F-body wheelbase; a move in accordance with the economic mindset of those days. Engine choices, across all LeBarons, were the trusted Slant Six in 225ci and the 318ci V-8. 
For those who wanted something more unique in the coupes, a few choices were available, as told by William Stopford in an earlier post: “The LS Limited was one of two option packages for 1980 in addition to a regular sport appearance package that merely added road wheels and sport mirrors. The other, named simply LS, added a wire grille texture with a mounted “medallion”, as well as non-functional fender louvers (à la the Dodge Mirada), different wheel covers, and bucket seats.”
Of the packages, buyers preferred the LS Limited, even though it cost $600 more than the $350 LS option. This well-kept survivor still carries the package’s wire wheel covers and its sharp two-tone treatment. As for other LS Limited touches, the interior included additional amenities, like a center console, bucket seats, and brushed finish trim on the instrument panel.
This surviving LS Limited still carries another piece of trim on the trunk lid, original in the package, which marketing materials referred to as “trunk dress-up”. For those who didn’t live those days, there was a curious habit of adding such “cargo-related” trim pieces on vehicles’ trunks in the 1980s. I never saw anyone using those in a Cutlass Ciera, and those looked more useful than the ones in this LeBaron. However, I think that it was just a “look thing”. A vestigial, neoclassical item á la the fake continental hump on a Lincoln’s trunk.
Chrysler would recover fairly soon after the 1980 LeBaron’s arrival, but the way the company’s platforms, designs, bodystyles and nameplates kept being shuffled between its divisions is almost impossible to track for the uninitiated. It’s somewhat akin to seeing an actor playing various incidental characters in Law and Order over the years —Wasn’t this a guy a judge, last season?
This is my long way of saying that by 1982, the LeBaron nameplate would move to the FWD K-body platform, while the former LeBaron 4-door M-body would remain in production as the New Yorker/Fifth Avenue, from 1983 to 1989. Meanwhile, the LeBaron name would show up in 1985 in the H-body, and also in the prettier J-body convertible in 1986 –running simultaneously.
Did you follow that? Not sure I did…
24,530 LeBaron coupes were sold in 1980, with the LS edition selling a mere 948 units and the pricier LS Limited 2,257. Not many can’t still be around, and here’s your chance to look at one still rolling (as of 2024). While somewhat shrunken, this F-body coupe did its best to stick to traditional ideas of Brougham glam; a late-Brougham of sorts. Granted, it certainly wasn’t up to par with what had come before it, but nothing would ever be. That aside, and notwithstanding the nameplate’s overuse, if you like your Chryslers in old-school form, this is as unique as they come.
Related CC reading:
1980 Chrysler LeBaron – A Car (And A Company) In Transition
The Most Obscure Special Editions And Limited-Run Models: Mopar Edition, Part IV
Sharp. Very sharp.
Nice to see this rare (per-?) version. Mopar made a special version of the NYer R-body 4 dr around the same time in similar color scheme which was much more appropriate as a true and proper luxury car, this and the later M versions of the Fifth Ave were like putting lipstick on the proverbial pig imo.
I was at peak Mopar Fandom in 1980, and really wanted to love these 2 door versions, but they never looked as good to me as the 1977-79 LeBaron/Diplomat coupe. Even if the car had been more appealing, a Chry-Ply showroom would have been a dead zone in 1980 if not for the Horizon. Chrysler looked like a goner to many people then.
I agree about Chrysler looking like a goner at the time. Back in ’82, I chose to pass on a pristine ’66 Dodge Coronet 2 door for $500 for that very reason. I still kick myself…
The shorty 1980 LeBaron coupe was a forced change to make room for the 112″ wb Cordoba and Mirada. Chrysler was planning for the Volare and Aspen to end after 1980, so the 108″ coupe would need to be replaced or dropped.
I really like the featured car. With that said, and to piggyback off of JP’s comment above, I found the previous two-door, with its hint of a boat tail rear deck and more sculptured rear quarter panels, to be much more attractive, though I do think the restyled 1980 face was an upgrade. I can’t help but think about what a similar treatment as the LS package would have looked on a 1977 – ’79 LeBaron coupe.
Parking it in front of Lebaron Hall was an interesting choice. Nice to see the car in such good condition.
I liked these cars. Quality was spotty, but if you got a ‘good’ one they were usually O.K.. I thought this LeBaron and the Diplomat were about the best answers to GM’s still wildly successful ‘A-Special’ Regal/Cutlass/Grand Prix/Monte Carlo but I guess the market didn’t see it that way. I was also a Mopar fan at the time and a lot of people did indeed think Chrysler was on the way out despite Lee Iacocca and the Federal loan guarantees.
Nice looking car, even it the unusual headlight configuration took some getting used to.
The worst part of the M Bodies was the transverse torsion bar front end. They were almost impossible to keep in alignment.
I see this as the bargain ‘Imperial’ to park next to the late 70s Seville and Versailles. Got the badges and enough presence to pull it off to my eyes … and for much less.
I worked with a guy at Budget Rent a Car in Mobile Alabama. He was our car washer . This was in 1987. He had one of these in the LS limited version. I’d say he was young for the typical buyer. He kept that car in great shape. We rented the Diplomat 4 door at the time. it was wayyyy past it’s prime.
I’m amazed at the profile’s similarity to the 1980 Thunderbird/Cougar – it’s pretty striking.
By 1990 I was 2 years into my own MOPAR repair shop, ‘Hemi’s Independent Chrysler Repair’ and in the following 22 years I never saw a single 2 door ‘R’ body LeBaron in my shop, but it wasn’t long before I had many ‘K’ platform LeBaron as well as Reliant/Aries owners as customers, most of them steadfast customers for next decade until I retired at the end of 2011. I also specialized in service and maintenance of the 1989-1991 Chrysler’s TC by Maserati ‘Q’ body cars, my first one, an ’89 which I still own and drive, now with 307 thousand miles showing on the odometer.