(first posted 5/6/2016) Earlier this week, Paul Niedermeyer had written about a same-year E-Body Chrysler New Yorker – a model with which I used to confuse our featured LeBaron. The E was a big K (“Special K”?), but this vintage of LeBaron was pure “K”, all the way. The Chrysler nameplate had once been attached exclusively to large, full-sized cars in the U.S. Eventually, though, distillation of traditional broughaminess into smaller packages became a Chrysler forte. This started with the midsized ’75 Cordoba, which marketing materials and print ads referred to as “the new, small Chrysler”, and was further solidified with the rear-wheel-drive ’77 M-Body LeBaron.
By the time the smaller, FWD, K-based LeBaron appeared for ’82, it reminded me of one of those little mini-wine bottles that could be purchased in a four-pack. “How about a little Riunite?” How delightfully 80’s! After Chrysler discontinued the elegant, rear-drive Cordoba after ’83 (with part 2 of my earlier ’81 Cordoba post to follow soon), it would be another four model years before it would return to the personal luxury fold with a truly stunning LeBaron coupe and convertible. The new LeBaron would again be K-based, and would be designated as a J-Body (as had been the second-generation Cordoba) – but would appear a bit more substantial and thus restore some of the sparkle to its name.
Our featured car helped to hold down the “LeBaron” name in the interim, being one of about 40,000 four-doors produced for the model year, starting at just over $10,000 ($22,000 / adjusted). The four-door sedan was the most popular in the LeBaron lineup for ’86, accounting for better than 40% of just over 91,000 total produced that year over four bodystyles which also included a two-door sedan, a convertible, and a wagon.
As far as my own personal tastes, I’m more of a Cordoba-tini (chilled on the rocks, not up on blocks) or Bloody Mary (made with V8) kind of guy, but a little wine can be refreshing every now and then. More Riunite than Boone’s Farm, the K-based LeBaron was deemed of just enough size and substance for its name by parent Chrysler amid the American cultural excesses of the mid-1980’s. More than a few buyers agreed. Which gets me thinking…what would be the automotive equivalent of Boone’s Farm? Happy Friday, readers.
Downtown, The Loop, Chicago, Illinois.
Monday, May 14, 2012.
Related reading:
- A comprehensive piece on these cars from JPCavanaugh: Curbside Classic: 1986 Chrysler LeBaron – Have a Cup of CAFE; and
- An account of personal experience from David Saunders: Cars Of A Lifetime: 1986 Chrysler LeBaron – Mini Brougham.
The “small Le Baron” was the archetype of the upgrade rental car of the mid-80s from the Chrysler-owned rental car companies, and this burgundy color was very common. Chrysler did up quite a classy front end for this car to distinguish it from its cheaper RelAries origins but it was, after all still a K-Car albeit with such Iacocca touches as boudoir upholstery, satin chromed radio and climate control panels and a rear seat without a view, obstructed as it was by the “Brougham Blind” in the rear door. Nobody would mistake these for luxury cars…not even for Chrysler’s VolAspen-derived, police-car cousin M-Body Chrysler Fifth Avenue which was no more spacious inside, but felt like they were, and looked more the part.
But as a frequent renter who got free upgrades from the plain vanilla K-Cars if available, I never turned one down.
“As far my own personal tastes, I’m more of a Cordoba-tini (chilled on the rocks, not up on blocks) or Bloody Mary (made with V8) kind of guy, but a little wine can be refreshing every now and then.”
Joe, I’m so glad to have read this when so many people are gone from work today. Having my office door open, my laughing at the line above would have not gone unnoticed (and un-teased) any other day! That line is one of your best yet.
Happy Friday!
And an F-150 would be an automotive Boone’s Farm – dress it up enough and it’ll be fit for nearly any occasion. 😉
Ha!! Jason, is it sad that I’m already thinking about the weekend and happy hour?
In terms of the automotive equivalent of Boone’s Farm (and I had to think about this), what car would have been cheap to buy new and make you feel good for a second before giving you a massive hangover/headache? For whatever reason, the Hyundai Scoupe came to mind. Maybe that’s because the last time I had Boone’s Farm was probably around when I last saw a Hyundai Scoupe.
The automotive equivalent of Boone’s Farm? Hmmm….that’s a tough one.
Classy. Reminds me of Madeline Kahn’s car in “High Anxiety.”
I actually kind of like this “Louis Vuitton”-edition Cutlass Ciera. I’ve gotta give props to someone with an otherwise beater and a sense of humor and/or commitment like this. :). To me, this is more “Alizé” than “Boone’s Farm”.
I know many of you cringe at just the idea of this, especially with the dramatic vinyl top. Remember though this car is smaller on the outside at least than a current Corrolla. Chrysler had added 14 inch wheels with lower pressure tires to Improve the ride and Chrysler was doing a good job with seating with these. The boxy contours were easy to park and the new for 86 2,5 was tuned for low end torque and balance shafted for smoothness.
For many mature people adding sport cues such as the Acura ILX, is really not aiming the car at the potential market. There is a market for luxury in a small package and as far as I can see it is mostly unmet. The vinyl top is there to say come check us out. In the same way dinoc was added to Caravans and Cherokees. Comeback time?
With the downfall of Buick into rebadged Opels, there does really seem to be a large market being missed. My mom, who is in her 70’s, really struggles with today’s interpretation of “luxury,” which is stiffly-sprung performance and a lot of electronic gadgets that are not very intuitive to operate. Personally, I don’t see much point in most of today’s “luxury” offerings.
The Buick Encore small SUV is meeting needs for small luxury. The K car would fail today’s crash tests.
Every car from the 80’s would fail today’s crash tests. That doesn’t mean modern versions couldn’t pass them.
On second thought you may be right about the Encore. It does kind of meet the same needs, as it is tuned more to comfort and is essentially a tarted up economy car. It’s even underpowered like the LeBaron. It is pretty small though.
Even cars/cuvs like the Encore or the Verano do not offer things like quality velour and soft riding tires that have a decent sidewall. My Verano has the standard 235/45 R18 tire. The ride would be so much better at the 195/75 R14 size a similar weight Buick would have had in the eighties-nineties. The replacement cost would drop in half and I bet I would have not lost one to a pothole. It is always a mistake to make choices for the clients you wish you had rather than who actually buys the car.
The Encore is too small (to me) to be a Buick. (like Skyhawks of old…) I think there’s still a market for traditional American luxury. The industry has for the longest time has been trying to get everyone on board with “sporty” = “luxury” (I get that there’s a market for that.) But I live in Pittsburgh, PA (slogan: “Come visit when we’re finished!) A nice ride with a nice (old school Buick type) interior is more useful to me as a daily driver than something I can “toss” in the “twisties” – End of rant.
Same here. I wish there was more choice in luxury/near luxury for old school comfort and presence over sporting/handling pretensions that weren’t S class priced.
Cadillac’s XTS has way too much sport stank rubbed on it for being a bone thrown to traditionalists. The LaCrosse is meh, I thought the Lucerne look better. .The MKS is decent and the Chrysler 300c is the only one that has any decent level of similarity to the old school American luxury cars.
However, what I don’t like about it is they needed to give a more definite separation between the luxury oriented (300c) and sport oriented (S/SRT) versions. I wish the 300c could have the same sort of old school float older luxury cars had, that and a hood ornament, and then it would be about perfect. 😉
The modern interpretation of old-school Luxury is a Silverado High Country, Sierra Denali, F-150 King Ranch, Platinum, or Limited, Ram Laramie Limited or Limited, and Tundra Limited or 1794 Edition.
No, because trucks have a certain image that doesn’t match up to old school luxury. Just because they have v8s and live axles don’t make them the true spiritual successor to the luxury cars of yore. An Escalade is NOT “today’s Fleetwood Brougham”, it’s a tarted up work truck.
Grandpa had a farmer’s brougham, an 80s Silverado complete with hood ornament and slathered in chrome. It wasn’t his version of a 98 or Electra or even Caprice, he just liked to gaudy up his work truck.
Dominic, I’m adding both “sport stank” and “farmer’s brougham” to my vocabulary. Thank you!
Luxury used to denote mechanical perfection and reliability couple with a nice ride and toys for convenience, then bling arrived on fins and copious amounts of chrome was called luxury, later, car makers decided bling added to an unremarkable base model car was the new luxury later still manufacturers discovered people like to be able to steer their cars with some degree of confidence it would go where pointed and removed the comfort to make them do so.
I found a brand after 150 or so cars that combines a nice ride incredible reliability and excellent roadholding all in the one car, NZ has roads in appalling condition I know that because I drive trucks on them I cant tell if they are that bad in my car.I run 50 psi front and back, no sidewall flex and the tyres last really well
Our neighbor across the street bought one of these back in 86 to replace her 79 rear wheel drive Dodge Aspen Coupe. What a beautiful car, it had the vinyl roof, digital dash, great body style, and comfortable seats. My mom was instantly in love I think mostly by the burgundy color. Our neighbor had the car for years never and had any mechanical issues with it. The LeBaron would be parked in the driveway most of the time when it wasn’t in the garage and people would just stop and look at it, it was a head turner for its time. Every now and then I see one of them out on the road. Great car and good childhood memories of my old neighborhood.
I don’t care what anybody says, I like the these things 🙂
Pretty impressive to a kid in the 80’s.
https://youtu.be/WYGYUtv18Gg
I love it, too, Phil! Man, how we second-graders used to fight over the chance to play with the Speak & Spell that sounded a lot like this! (Ooooo…it even said, “Thank you!” That’s awesome.)
Zoltan is a real stripper.
All kidding side, I actually love these little cars, as I’ve gone on record as saying before. The coupes with the vinyl half-top, wire wheel covers, etc. speak to me particularly. It’s an odd affinity, I know, but I’d be happy to rock one of these as opposed to the standard issue Corolla or Civic. If I could find one in good shape I think it’d make a great 2nd car. I’m a weirdo, I know.
You’re not to weird, The 2dr is a cool interpretation of an ’80s luxobox, It was more “Cadillacky” than a J body for damn sure!
Completely agree with you, MTN – for an older car, why not get a reliable one of these instead of a Corolla or Civic of the same vintage? By the time a car gets to be 30 years old, time is the great equalizer – I’d prefer a nicer interior and seats versus econo-fare. The only potential downside would be with a LeBaron like this loaded with lots of power options (i.e. windows) that might be prone to stop working. Otherwise, why not go for a nicely appointed car like this one, at this age, versus an economy model as a “transportation car”?
And this folks, is what happens when an auto executive has a well stocked liquor cabinet in his office, and is not afraid to use it.
More like it’s what happens when the engineering department is told to make a small luxury car with nothing to work with but a Dodge Aries, some vinyl, and some chrome-plated plastic.
The girls in the Riunite commercial Don’t have any tattoos or piercings. Nice.
I don’t think anyone in the commercials al has any.
I always liked these things, they had some of the most comfortable seats ever put in a production car IMO. BIL had an ’85 model and it was so nice to ride in. I remember Consumer Guide magazine raving on about the new model in their ’82 new car guide, esp. about the suspension upgrades that improved the ride over the lesser Ks.
Wanna know what those suspension “upgrades” really were? Well I’ll tell you. In the mid ’90s I had an ’85 Dodge Aries and my Dad had an ’84 Chrysler Lebaron wagon. When he sent his car to the wrecking yard I swapped out the bigger 14″ tires from his car to mine and Presto! my Aries rode just like his more expensive Lebaron. So it was bigger tires with much softer air pressure ratings (24psi front, 26psi rear, as opposed to 32psi for the little 13inchers on lesser Dodge). How clever of Chrysler!
Another advantage of the LeBaron was rear seat headroom and egress. A true three “box” design may currently be out of fashion, but have you tried to ride in the back seat of a recent Chrysler 200 or Nissan Altima??? Talk about punishment.
Ouch!!!?????
Another contributing factor as to why SUVs are so popular!!
Totally agree! Hate most new sedans because of their sloping “fastback” style roofline. Give me a tall boxy roof any day. One of the reasons I love my Focus wagon so much I think.
Even the sedan and 5-door hatch versions of the first-gen Focus had comfortable rear headroom. Their doors were only slightly shorter than the wagon’s.
When you look at them all together it’s clear that late as it was to the US market, the 5-door hatchback was clearly designed first and the others derived from it.
Making the Lebaron out of the K-car was pure Iacocca magic. One of the lesser known differences between the two was the upgraded instrument panel. Unlike the downmarket, two square gauge standard K-car IP that was also used in the Lebaron-equivalent Dodge 400, the Lebaron got its own nice, big, rectangular speedometer, with a smaller fuel gauge below and to the left. Add the great, old-school, hard, shiny plastic steering wheel, and it’s pure brougham nirvana. The only drawback was that the convertible had a plastic rear window. Sadly, when the glass rear window arrived in 1984, the shiny plastic steering wheel was replaced by a more pedestrian, soft-plastic A-frame.
A friend’s Dad owned one of these, until it was totaled in an accident. Never did get a chance to ride in it though. I always thought the vinyl on these was done in an unappealing way–too much of the rear windows were covered, resuling in an unbalanced look.
These were everywhere back in the day. I never really thought of them as a fancy, Broughamy dressed-up Aries/Reliant which is really what they were! I knew many folks that drove these cars forever and loved them.
What would by an automotive equivalent to MD 20/20? LOL!
I think the automotive equivalent to MD 20/2 would be any modern Lexus, as both will leave you with a 2 day hangover.
Jacked-up brodozer painted all-black-everything.
I liked these a lot, because of the pure essence of “Broughamification” it held. My father had a big part to play in my selection of my first car (I was young, and, he was paying for half my car). I ended up with a 1989 Plymouth Sundance “Highline”, aquablue metallic with white walls and a chrome trunk rack. But I REALY wanted a LeBaron, in burgundy!
This looks like some homemade 3rd world special.
I hate the K-Car sedans. It looks like something Lada would have built in the 90s for the manager of People’s Tractor Factory No. 403 if communism hadn’t collapsed.
It was like Chrysler was so resentful that American carbuyers wanted smaller cars that they deliberately made them miserable and mediocre to try and entice them back to land barges. And of course it featured Iacocca’s Vegas-bordello fake “luxury” esthetic he crammed into every product.
Except that Chrysler had no real landbarges at the time to go “back” to. Yes, the M-body was old-school, but it wasn’t large like a B-body or Panther.
The LeBaron GTS (what were they, running out of names?) was a more thorough if more “European” effort. It just had a lower survivorship rate because it attracted a younger clientele who drove them more and harder than the K-Brougham crowd.
This thing looks almost as ridiculous as the K-Car “Executive” Limousine. They did seem to be pretty popular back then,though,even in supposedly sophisticated Northern California.
Mid 90’s Mazda 626/MX6 hubcaps (or knockoffs) on a gussied up K-car…..the antithesis of American Brougham…I don’t know what’s more embarrasing. At least the Mazda had forged a solid reputation of it’s own
I wish TV adverts didn’t have to read between the lines and could say would they really meant:
“Riunite – generation after generation, the first choice of underage drinkers”…
Really felt old after seeing Joe’s post. The Riunite ads I remember are radio spots with Buffalo Bob Smith (Howdy Doody guy) where he sings an early Riunite jingle to the tune of “Howdy Doody Time” – it’s a hoot! Left Chicago back in ’83. Only saw early K cars when I worked on Michigan Ave. Like that maroon one though. Really amazing how that one platform saved Chrysler.
Actually was thinking Boone’s Farm rather than Riunite; I guess the latter is what underage drinkers drank on special occasions…