I was a senior in high school when I was given my own car, which was a used, bright red 1984 Ford Tempo GL . The Tempo had served duty as the “nice car” in the Dennis family from its purchase as new in the fall of ’84 from Al Bennett Ford in Flint, Michigan until being bequeathed to me. This was actually the second ’84 Ford Tempo GL we had in our possession, as the first Tempo we had selected, in a dignified-looking charcoal gray finish with a matching interior, had been totaled against a tree within two days of our ownership. After my mom had recovered and the insurance company had adjusted our claim, we went back to Bennett Ford to see what other ’84 Tempos were left on the lot that fall that were equipped similarly to the one that was now sitting in a scrapyard off Dort Highway. There were two left – one in “Light Academy Blue Glow” (which resembled Crayola’s “Periwinkle”), and one in Bright Red. We went with the latter.
I remember the thought process behind choosing the red over the blue being that it would provide visual “warmth” during the cold, Michigan winter, or some other hooey my mom had come up with. I was #teamblue all the way, both because blue was and is my favorite color, and also because the color of the blue Tempo was very close to that of my new, off-brand Members Only jacket. (How fly would it have been for me to arrive somewhere in a car painted in a “factory” color that matched that of my Members Only jacket?) Anyway, the Tempo was our main family car until I got it, but then this meant that my parents were now going to have to replace it with something else. Both my dad’s retirement and my high school graduation were on the horizon for the early ’90s, and our family had planned to relocate south following both events. We needed something reliable that could accommodate four (five in a pinch) that would also, most of all, be inexpensive.
By that point, I had the Tempo as my own car (which I would trade for a 1976 Chevrolet Malibu Classic), but I was still very much invested in whatever my parents were going to choose next. A family car isn’t just reflective of whomever happens to be behind the wheel at any given time, at least in the mind of a teenager. It is a representation of the family unit as a whole, providing clues as to the socioeconomic status, aesthetic preferences, and fashion consciousness of all of its occupants. Picking out a new family car is like choosing an outfit that your entire family has to wear. When you were a teenager, would you have rather have bought your clothing from, say, a more hip or specialized store like The Gap or Chess King, or from a long-established, value-oriented anchor like Sears?
The Dennis family was always going to the choose the “Sears” of anything and everything. To be clear, I am not dissing Sears, and I have made many great purchases from that retailer over the years. I also always had adequate food, shelter, and clothing provided for me as a child. Let’s just face the fact that many teenagers will tend to skew toward things that are more stylish, trendy, or fashionable than what they may gravitate toward later in life when they’re calling their own shots and paying with their own funds. Getting back to car shopping, my family, like many in those times, was committed to buying something American-branded. My parents initially preferred a new car, as it was expected that this one would need to survive the big move to Florida and beyond, but they later expanded their shopping list to include newer used cars in an attempt to beat the depreciation curve. We consulted with a family friend, Ron, an engineer who was very knowledgeable and car savvy, and after making some phone calls and taking a few test drives, the choices had been narrowed down.
First up was a year-old Cavalier wagon from Applegate Chevrolet. Mom was doing all the testing, since she would be this car’s primary driver, as my dad had surrendered his drivers’ license a few years earlier due to his poor and deteriorating eyesight. She raved about how much space it had, that it was a wagon, and that it would get such great fuel economy. Ron wasn’t impressed with the $10,000+ sticker price, stating that was an awful lot of money for a little Cavalier. It must be pointed out, very lovingly and respectfully, that if the Dennises were thrifty, Ron’s family took thrift to the levels an an extreme sport. (They didn’t even own a television set.) It is absolutely true that this Cavalier wagon wouldn’t have been the best bang-for-the-buck, even if it would have been a reliable, efficient hauler and cross-country vessel. My parents put the Cavalier on the “maybe” pile.
The next stop was Chinonis Chrysler-Plymouth-Dodge, to look at a bargain-priced, barely-used 1989 Plymouth Reliant America similar to our featured car. Here we go. I can remember crossing my fingers as I left for school that day that the Reliant wouldn’t start, or that it would stall, or that it had been smoked in, or that my mom couldn’t handle its driving position, or some miscellaneous reason why this car would be out of contention. Why, you ask? Because look at it. By my high school years, the Plymouth Reliant had been in production for almost a decade with only one restyle occurring for ’85. Its exterior styling screamed “value”, as did the Plymouth brand, in general, by that point. It was the fictional principal Ed Rooney’s car in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, for crying out loud, and if that alone didn’t make the Reliant a loser by association, I couldn’t imagine what its redeeming qualities might have been outside of its low price. This was the kind of used car that better-off, middle-class parents bought for their kids my age, not for themselves.
Naturally, my mom loved it. She raved about its great acceleration, how airy and easy it was to see out of, and what a bargain it was at its low asking price. She proclaimed to all of us how it was a “full-sized car”, citing its bench seats as proof of this. I was upset. Suddenly, I felt like every Reliant or Dodge Aries (or any Chrysler K-Car, for that matter) roaming the streets was suspect of conspiracy. That’s right. All 3.5 million K-cars produced over nine model years had it in for me, determined to make me ride in and be seen in the least cool, unfast, dorky late model car available on the secondhand market at that time. Of course, I still had the Tempo, but what was I going to do when we went somewhere as a family? For example, was I going to drive from the same driveway to the same church parking lot on Sunday morning? Well, yes, because I did ridiculous things as a teenager, but that’s beside the point.
About the model year of our featured car, a license plate search returned results that this blue sedan was a 1988 Reliant America. For ’88, all Reliants had the “America” designation, inclusive of a level of equipment that was formerly optional to keep things uniform on the production line, and to keep the prices low. Both the two- and four-door sedans carried a base price of $6,995, which is about $15,800 in 2021, roughly $1,500 more than a new Mitsubishi Mirage. The new ’88 base prices represented almost a 9% drop from that of the previous year’s sedans, and over an 11% reduction in the entry price for the wagon. U.S. consumers loved the value proposition presented by the ’88 Reliant, and purchased about over 125,000 of them that year, the bulk of which (95,500) were four-door sedans like this one. Sales for ’88 were almost 21,400 units more than in the prior year, for a solid 20% increase.
I am aware of the “LE” badge affixed to the right side of the trunk lid. In literature on the 1988 Plymouth Reliant that I could find online, I found it referred to both as the “Reliant America”, as well as the “Reliant LE”, though there was officially just one trim level offered for all three bodystyles that year. I remain confused as to what it was actually called (“Plymouth Reliant America LE” seems like a lot to say for a car like this), but the lack of this knowledge won’t keep me up at night. For me, anyway, riding in a “Reliant America” as a teenager would have seemed as cool as having one or both of my parents playing Neil Diamond’s “America” at full blast from the AM radio’s dashboard-mounted speakers.
Less money spent on a car might have meant more money to spend on us kids, or even some kind of family vacation (which I may write about at a later date), but that’s just not how my parents’ minds seemed to work back then. To get to the denoument of this story, they ended buying a used 1987 Chevy Nova that I’ve written briefly about before, which was probably one of the better cars to grace the Dennis family driveway. Seeing this Reliant on the street in my neighborhood last fall didn’t inspire the same kind of ire as it might have close to thirty years ago. As a working adult twenty years into my career, and with bills and responsibilities of my own, this front-drive Plymouth rather made me respect it for presumably having delivered reliable, efficient, affordable transportation for people who needed a car to regularly get from point A to point B. Ultimately, I’ve come to believe that maybe Mom and Dad could have done worse.
Edgewater, Chicago, Illinois.
Thursday, October 22, 2020.
Never much liked the rounded-off updates to the K-car, including removing the hood ornament and moving the Chrysler emblem into the grille. I suppose this was some kind of Mercedes-inspired move, but it didn’t work.
For an old Reliant, give me a nice, first generation version (maybe even a station wagon) with the much more appropriately creased grille and rear end. Better still, the second year LeBaron convertible, the first year that had the improved top with quarter windows and a glass rear window.
Rear end is an improvement, but up front I agree. This refresh is what cemented the K car as eternally dorky.
There is a purity of design to the originals that got damaged by the defacements perpetrated on the K-cars for ’85.
I remember liking the ’85 restyle when it was new and thinking it was an effective job. Years later, though, I also prefer the chiseled-granite look of the early cars.
One can actually buy a 1/24 scale model of an ’82 Dodge Aries, if one is so inclined! I found one on the internet not too long ago, and before I could an impulse-purchase, my restraint got the better of me.
“All 3.5 million K-cars produced over nine model years had it in for me”
I love this part… 🙂
I lucked out on the parent/car front – my dad basically only shopped Mustangs and T-Birds. Riding in the back seats of those was always pretty cramped, but we were stylish (with the possible exception of his yellow ’80 T-Bird). 🙂
My Dad also, for the most part, had some pretty good taste. The first cars we had were a 1966 LeMans and a 1971 Torino wagon. The car purchase our family made in a situation similar to the writer’s netted a Maroon 1987 Grand Am LE. Since Cadillacs lost their luster thanks to a low-mileage, barely out of warranty DeVille needing a four-digit suspension fix (but with a shockingly lively Northstar engine for such a big, mist-green beast), it’s been a succession of Lexus RXs through their garage – the latest of which I may eventually end up with – RX and garage.
The only two places it really went wrong were both Oldsmobile products. A green-on-green 1978 Delta 88 Royale. Reliable, yes; but not a sporting line on that car; and a 1990 Cutlass Supreme sedan, but that was after I was out of the house.
You bring a good point, Aaron. I’m thinking now what would have been the case if my parents were slaves to fashion and I had to squeeze my taller-than-average frame in the back seat of a coupe or smaller car with at least one other sibling, especially on two hour trips to see family.
Back then, I probably wouldn’t have minded as much, but thankfully, that Tempo (and eventually the Nova) had enough space. These days, if I can’t stretch my legs out even a little on such trips, my knees are wrecked for at least a day.
K-Car, in 1980 – not 1988.
Toyota Nova – definitely in 1988.
‘Rents got it right!
Totally agree. I’m giving them grace-points for the save at the end.
I would pay $15,800 (plus the delivery charge of $1,200 and dealer prep/documentation fee of $500) for a brand new Reliant America LE. Easy to fix, good sightlines for the driver and decent performance and ride. Add in cruise control and a power sunroof…
Dodge, you did this with the Dart and then you cancelled it.
I agree. We had an ’87 Dodge 600, for nine years, and it was a great car. It was parked outside, never rusted anywhere, the silver paint never faded, and it never broke.
While our fam has considerably less fond recollections of Dodge’s 600, in fairness Dad’s company car immediately prior to this was a Toyota Cressida. Talk about a comedown!!
Chess King- now that’s a place I haven’t thought of in, like, 30 years.
For some, possibly accurate, reason I associate Chess King with Merry Go Round, another “hip” clothing retailer.
You know, that sounded right… according to Wikipedia Merry Go Round bought Chess King in 1993. I’m kind of surprised either were still around in 1993.
And Sears has outlived them all! Albeit a little tenuously.
One other store like the others that comes to mind: Jeans West (later JW). They had the finest acid-washed denim in all the land, with which to rock with your Generra Hypercolor t-shirt.
I used to work (2009-10ish) in the Sears offices above the State Street flagship store, which is long gone. They just knocked down my childhood Sears on the western edge of the city last year. Apparently the only full-line Sears store left in Illinois is at Woodfield Mall, and who knows how long that’ll remain.
For a town that once had the SEARS TOWER, a really sad end.
The Reliant equivalent for my generation was a Rambler American. My parents carried the AMC-59 virus known to cause “rambleritus”. People my parents age were mostly asymptomatic to rambleritus, but high school boys were highly susceptible to some terrible effects of the virus. I had a bad case of it myself.
You were right to fear the MOPAR-88 virus. Had your parents caught it, they likely would have been asymptomatic. You on the other hand, could have succumbed to a bad case of “reliantitus”.
Being a star quarterback conferred some level of immunity, but realistically, how many star quarterbacks can any one high school have. Average high school boys have been known to suffer terribly. It is worse than the worst case of acne.
The only known vaccine is for parents to buy a cool car. Despite the proven effectiveness of this vaccine, a great many parents don’t seem to believe in it. They go about their business blissfully ignorant that their no-vax choice could cause a serious infection in any high school age sons.
You really lucked out!
This is so great. I almost feel like you should expand on this into a post.
This brings to mind a buddy of mine whose parents actually had an AMC Matador four-door sedan, and this was in the late ’80s. I don’t remember Bob inheriting this car or seeing him drive it, but this was back when I still really wanted an AMC Matador coupe of my own. Bob wrote in my HS yearbook that year that he hoped I got my Matador, tongue-in-cheek, I’m sure. Pretty awesome.
This Reliant is looking in pretty decent shape, considering it doesn’t have the back end sag that became so characteristic of K-cars once they had a few miles on them.
My parents did choose the K-car, an 83 Aries with a 4-speed manual, no power steering, and aftermarket radio from Kmart. I spent the first 11 years of my life riding in it (not counting the Mazda RX-3, which I wouldn’t remember since I was one y/o when my parents traded it for the Aries). It served my family for 10 years, and had over 220K miles on it when it was finally totaled.
I like reading about positive experiences with cars like these. My overall impression of these cars is that they were well-enough engineered and liked by most people who had them. Stated another way, I can’t recall any stories involving K-cars and catastrophic failures related to any inherent deficiencies.
And ah, yes. K-Mart. Another place I was very familiar with.
Joe, I could have grown up in your household. My parents were faithful MOPAR owners during my formative years, but I could only look across the parking lot in envy at the Olds 98 Regencies and Mercury Grand Marquis’ that dropped off my friends at our upper middle class suburban high school, while I tried to hide my face while exiting my Dad’s Dodge Omni Miser. At least my mom had a broughmy Dodge Aspen SE with vinyl roof (alas, but no A/C and AM radio) which she picked me up in.
The Dennis household was exclusively a Chrysler Corporation family in the 1970s – specifically Plymouths. My parents had a ’71 Duster, a ’72 Fury, and a ’77 Volare. I don’t remember much about the Fury, as it was trade on the Volare when I was really young. The Duster and the Volare were great-looking cars, though – especially the Volare.
To your point, though, it was tragically unhip by the ’80s. It was a pretty car by ’70s standards, and we kept it looking nice, but it developed so much lower body rust. It reminded me a little bit of a person with great features and terrible acne.
Thanks for another delightful trip back in time to the home of the teenaged Joe Dennis. Oh, how everything you say strikes a chord about the heightened opinions we had about cars as teens. I guess I did OK when the worst thing either of my parents owned during that time was the 74 Luxury LeMans sedan my mother bought. At least it wasn’t a Matador.
Chrysler sure got its moneys worth out of both the L body and the K body in the 80s. The “America” version was actually a pretty brilliant way to squeeze every last buck out of what was spent to develop them.
Thanks, JP. My grandparents had owned an early Horizon – very nicely equipped, with two-tone paint, nice upholstery, peppy and with a manual transmission. I didn’t want to like that car, seeing that it had replaced their silver Ford Fiesta (a car I really liked), but the Horizon won me over.
Comparing a later-edition L-body sedan against a four-door K, the Horizon definitely has more cool-factor (or less uncool-factor) than a same-year Reliant, with its hatchback body and some connection to European Chryslers, if only in the sheetmetal.
Great writing Joseph!
Thanks, Dave!
I miss affordable cars with bench seats and column shifts like the K cars, as well as most American compact cars (Fairmont, Falcon, Nova, Valiant class) prior to the mid to late 1980’s. I also can identify with being embarrassed at family cars. I was born in 1964. My father purchased a stripped down (only options were 302 and power tailgate) 1970 Fairlane 500 wagon in December 1969 and kept it until March 1981 (with around 250,000 miles) when it was traded for a 1981 Escort wagon (we couldn’t afford the Fairmont, much less LTD wagon). I was ashamed in middle and junior high school to be dropped off in that car but now I am ashamed of how I behaved and would love a modern day version of the 1970 Fairlane 500 or 1970 1/2 Falcon (except I would get an automatic, not the three speed manual).
I feel that last sentence. I think that in general, as kids, it’s not quite as solid in our minds that parents (and other adults) have hurtable feelings, too, about things like that.
I also think, though, that the cars we experience as youths are inextricably tied to the people we associate with them. My dad’s yellow Duster wasn’t fast or really all that cool by early ’80s standards, and it really was a stripper (black vinyl bench seats, no air, AM radio, and probably with the slower Six, etc.). I liked that Duster because it made me think of my dad and spending time with him.
Our associations permeate so much of our experiences of inanimate objects. That’s my theory.
That “red vs. blue” battle when your family bought the ’84 Ford Tempo is reminiscent of a similar tussle in our family. When my folks were preparing to order their ’65 Valiant, they liked the blue, but one of my sisters lobbied for red. When that got nowhere, she semi-seriously suggested they compromise and get it in purple. Well, Plymouth didn’t offer a purple – and besides, my parents were the ones actually buying it – so blue it was!
I’ll count my blessings that my parents were early converts to imports and liked cars that were fun to drive. The 66 Mercedes 250S may have been less reliable than the Valiant but it was a lot more fun,as was the BMW 2000. Even the first generation Honda Accord was sporty compared to the appliance like later models.
My parents were pretty active people. Several clubs, square dancers and frequent campers. They used a pull along trailer towed by a Ford conversion van. I convinced them that they should have a smaller vehicle for local trips and save the van for towing duties.
When my maternal grandfather passed away, they used a small inheritance to purchase a
Reliant wagon. Their first new vehicle in over 3 kids and 50 years of marriage. It served well to haul themselves and lots of stuff over the next several years. They were off on a camping trip when my brother borrowed it to go to work and turned in front of oncoming traffic. Totaled the wagon. My brother never drove again. It was replaced by a Voyager mini-van. That’s what my father drove until we stopped his driving at 94.
Bruce, thanks for this. I got a little sad when I got to the end of the Aries wagon, given its history with your parents. I hope your brother was alright, otherwise.
There is at least one first- (or second?) generation Chrysler minivan in my neighborhood that I’ve been meaning to take pictures of. Perhaps on one of my evening walks.
It’s always sad when a parent needs to stop driving. My dad gave up his license willingly, thank goodness, but my maternal grandfather held onto his like the dickens.
Another great write up Joseph. It reminded me of the movie Adventureland set in 1987. In Canada K cars were everywhere it seemed and I like most teenagers hated them. We used to refer to them as Grandpa & Grandpa cars.
My grandfather’s last car, bought new in the 1980s when he was well into his 90s. The end of the line after more than a half a century of buying a new Packard then full-size Chrysler every five years. The K-car was the perfect vehicle for a 95-year-old guy cruising around Tampa. The four cylinder engine kept him out of trouble.
I would absolutely trust a 2.2L-equipped K-car to cross the Howard Frankland bridge. Just enough pep to keep up with traffic, and to your point, not too much power with which to get into trouble.
As the child of owners of an ’83 Reliant, I can understand where you are coming from. However, their dark gray Reliant was around from ’83 to ’88, accumulating around 115,000 miles, and traded on a new ’88 Tempo two-door.
For the early part of my teenage driving years, it was said ’83 Reliant, ’84 F-150, or ’85 LTD Crown Victoria. Being a torque and V8 addict at an early age, the CV spoke loudest to me. However, the Reliant could boogey when appropriately coerced, upshifting to third gear at around 57 mph if ones foot was appropriately planted.
Thanks for bringing all this back! It would interesting to know what your parents thought of your trading the Tempo for the Malibu.
I have read many times that Chrysler’s 2.2L four cylinder could scoot, in relative terms (which was what late-Malaise era performance was all about).
I suppose I could have been more clear that the Tempo-to-Malibu wasn’t a direct swap of car keys. When I was finally done with all the persistent stalling problems from the Tempo’s 2.3L HSC engine, I put an ad in the Flint Journal. With that money and maybe $300 more, I bought the Malibu.
I learned very quickly, however, how a 350 V8 can eat up my weekly income in gas bills with all the cruising I used to do around Flint. Moving solved that problem, as I was determined to get a different car for college.
I’m going to use that over-worn expression: “I feel your pain”. For me it was a stripper Fairlane, and then later my dad’s stripper ’68 Dart. Really?
1967-69 A-body…one of the best platforms of the era, especially a post sedan. Light, stiff, and tough.
I was born in 1962. There must be something wrong with me that I was never embarrassed by the “stripper” cars my parents drove.This consisted primarily of Mopars from 1956-2003 with a few non stripper exceptions like the ’56 Savoy, the ’63 Belvedere,the ’67 Sport Fury and strangely, my mom’s ’89 Acclaim which was loaded in a way that made the aforementioned cars look like stripped base models.
If my parents had brought home an ’88 Reliant America, I’d welcome it to the family, understood their reasoning for getting it and would have driven it happily as I did on the rare occasions I needed to drive any of their cars for whatever reason. My dad would have taken great care of the Reliant and it would have stayed in the fleet for years.
My idea of cool cars must be really messed up. One of my dad’s “stripper” cars is the car I drove today–his former ’79 St. Regis which I’ve now owned for 26 years. It needs repainting terribly, but still drives good. Still not embarrassed to be seen in it. 🙂
Patrick, you make great points. I’m not sure if I was being “shielded” from other comments, but I was halfway expecting someone to write what an entitled, ungrateful POV from which I had written this (which was partially tongue-in-cheek), but it didn’t happen – at least to my knowledge.
I did recognize that it was great and unnecessary that my parents did give me my own car (any car), even if the Tempo never idled right and could barely keep running at stop lights without me slipping it into neutral and revving the engine.
I’m sure most of my ire directed at the possibility of a low-rent Reliant in our driveway was psychologically tied in my mind to other associations related to family stuff.
The truth is that as a forty-something working adult, I’m all about thrift, thrift stores, saving money, and getting the best value for what I make so I can enjoy more of the other things that are important to me and will (hopefully) have some left for when I actually need it later in life.
I always liked the looks of the St. Regis, and the other Chrysler R-Bodies. It’s always a big “what if” for me in terms of their timing and Chrysler’s fortunes at the time. I’m glad you have yours from your dad.
My first attempt at a reply was a wordier version of what you saw that just vanished in the ether when I hit post comment. No task taking, just a bit of bewilderment on my part because as a kid, if my dad was bringing home Mopars, they were all cool. We really had great luck with Chrysler products in those years. I have cousins when they were teenagers who would try to get their parents to let them out a block away from any destination because they were so embarrassed by what their parents drove.
My parents also gave me my first car, a ’67 Sport Fury fast top with a 318. My mom had just replaced it with a brand new ’79 Omni because gas just shot up to a dollar a gallon and I’d wanted the ’67 since I was eight years old which everyone in the family knew. The car was mine under the agreement that I’d learn how to maintain and work on it. People made fun of me for years driving it and more so when the movie Christine came out. I drove it for 13 years until a freak accident at home ruined it when it slipped out of park, rolled down a long hill in my parents’ front yard and hit an oak tree. If I knew then what I know now about bolt on subframes, I could have saved it. Parts of it live on in my ’68 Fury VIP also a fast top.
When my dad got the St. Regis, I thought of it as the no nonsense younger brother of the more glamourous beauty queen Sport Fury. When I bought the St. Regis from my dad, it ended up being an unexpected way of testing how dating someone or how long a potential girlfriend would last when I pulled up in it. At the time, it was sporting my dad’s repaint in the original colour and the vinyl top was still excellent. Those who were embarrassed to be seen in it didn’t last long. They also were spending too much time trying to get me to buy a new car. One lady did not and we’ve been together over 12 years now. Other people over the years made fun of me for driving it but it also hauled my paintings to shows with ease and sometimes it would be the car that made the long 21 mile one way commute to the day job in the snow and ice where more modern cars did not. An art league I was a member of wanted to use it for an “art car”. They got to find out that to never suggest that to me again. That St. Regis has outlasted every car I bought to put it in the category of semi-retired pleasure use only. I owe it a full restoration as it now has rolled past 278,000 miles.
Your next to last paragraph is also me, just switch it to approaching sixty something retired librarian who is all about getting the best value so I can enjoy other things that are important to me like having an art career. Plus I can fix my old cars myself and not make car payments. 🙂
Patrick – great job! I am primarily a L-M guy but always admired the fullsize Mopars(I even had a 77 NYB for a spell). I think those R-bodies are pretty nice, and they definitely stand out today. I mean, when was the last time you seen a St. Regis? most people would have to think back pretty hard. I was bummed out about 6-7 years ago when an ’80 Gran Fury showed up in our U-pull here in ABQ. It was a former GOV car repainted in two tone blue with blue cloth interior. It was sitting somewhere for a long time and was pretty sun baked, but it was straight and solid- what a shame…..
In my high school years, the family car was a stripper ’67 Chevy Bel Air. When it came time for the next new car in the early 70s, my brother and I found out that the big Chevys were too long to fit in our garage. We lobbied and convinced our mother to buy a ’73 Monte Carlo — talk about stylin’!
Growing up in a mostly blue collar suburb in the same era, the median dad’s car was a Chevrolet of some kind, always four doors, and usually 307/PG. But my dad opted for a strippo, three-on-tree Rambler, a neighborhood dad bought a new Simca, and another drove a Corona. Yeah, we’d rib each other with our eighth grader’s sense of the various cars’ merits, but deep down we admired them all.
I really want to drive a car with the three-on-the-tree, but I’d be scared to break it! It’s one of those pieces of automobile-related Americana I feel I need to experience at some point.
I had a 1970 Nova with the three-on-the-tree and it broke regularly. That is, if you weren’t careful, something in the linkage would ‘pop out’ and you could no longer shift with it. The solution was to put in the clutch, pull over and kill the engine, then pop the hood and manipulate the linkage pieces until they meshed properly again. Had to do it a lot at first but over time got very good at avoiding it. I never fixed it and sold the car for what I paid ($350) after driving it for a couple of years. Yes I made sure the buyer was aware of this and any other quirks it had. Considering it sold the same day I put the sign in the window I probably should have asked more for it.
Our family’s ’67 Bel Air had a 3-on-the-tree. I learned to drive in that car and am glad to have had the experience. But floor-mounted shifters are more fun. Ours never jammed, but I remember it being a common problem.
When we finally talked my dear old mother in law into retiring her driver’s license, her only condition was that “you take my car: it’s a good car” Said car was an 84 Reliant, 4 door, vinyl bench, 2.2 with an automatic. It was sitting in Santa Cruz, CA and my home was in Denver. By the time I reached Denver, I was appreciating most things about the car. Didn’t care for the auto or the bench seat, but it moved out OK and surprisingly enough, that chassis dynamics were good….not great, but good. Her cheap tires were a limiter. Months later, I replaced the steering wheel with a fat leather one from a Daytona…..that helped a lot, at least i my mind! We kept it a couple of years. If it had A/C it might’ve stayed in the fleet. I really liked the crisp styling. My choice would be a wagon with a stick shift and fuel injection: the 84’s computer controlled carb worried me.
My mother had a different “America”…a 1987 Omni. I liked it…she had it almost ten years, 200,000 miles, and replaced it mostly because she wanted something with air conditioning. (Sadly…I could not talk her into the GLH at the time…)
WOW! This brings back memories. My first car was a 1981 Plymouth Reliant. The car was Tan with Tan Vinyl Bench seats in both the front and backseats. My grandmother bought it new and drove it until she passed away and then my parents decided to hang onto it for me and then my younger sister to drive as our first car after we each turned 16.
Your article reminds me of an embarrassing time in the spring of 1992 when I had to ride to school in the middle of the front seat between my mom and 11 year old sister because my mom discovered her van had a flat tire. Since the back seat was full of stuff and my sister was getting dropped off before me she got to sit by the window and I was stuck in the middle. I remember me and my sister had to spend a while waiting in the reliant for my mom while she made arrangements for someone to come and fix the tire on the van and that I was convinced that everyone we passed would notice there was a teen boy riding in the middle of the front seat between his mom and his younger/shorter sister and couldn’t figure out if it would be worse if people noticed all the junk in the back seat and thought we were hoarders or if they didn’t noticed the junk in the back seat and thought I was choosing to ride in the middle of the front seat between them.
I remember when my mom finally joined us in the driver seat I felt squished between them and then my mom had to spend a while pumping on the gas pedal and turning the key before she could get the reliant to start up because it had not been driven for a while and that I kept hoping she would give up trying to start it and wait until someone could come and change the flat tire on her van before driving us to school.
As an adult I know it wasn’t that big of a deal having to ride in the middle of the front seat of the reliant between my mom and younger sister but as a 15 year old I had the same feelings of embarrassment that you had about riding in your mom’s reliant.
I think that was the last time I ever rode in the middle of a front seat in a car or station wagon since 6 months later I had my drivers license and was driving myself everywhere in the reliant.
William, thanks for sharing this. Wow! I understand about adverse selection against the middle seat on a car bench. It seems inextricably tied to being the “littlest” or lowest on the totem pole, even when that’s not necessarily the case.
I like that you made peace with the Reliant as it became your first car. To be clear, my family never owned one – we had just test-driven it.