Lee Iaccoca would love us. We’ve given the K cars more attention here after all these decades than he could ever have hoped for. Um; on second thought, no one could ever give Lee or an Iaccoca-mobile enough love and attention, even if he had very little to do with it, like the actual K car. So we’ll keep at it, as he so richly deserves the never-ending accolades.
There’s also the fact that these pre-facelift Aries and Reliants are getting more than a bit scarce, especially as daily drivers. We’ll have to thank the owner’s grandmother for that, as she kept it in good nick for many years before it was passed on to him, although he has been driving it now for 16 years. Even Lee would have been impressed.
Yes, the K car was already well along its development path when Lee showed up in 1978. What a mess he stepped into; Chrysler was totally on the ropes. But he essentially used the K car as collateral for the government loan guarantees that kept the lights on until the first ones rolled off the lines in the fall of 1980.
And it wasn’t the instant savior he was hoping for, as he was too greedy and had all the initial production too heavily optioned. That didn’t go down well in the teeth of the nasty recession underway. Folks wanted a neo-Valiant, but a basic one, not a mini-me LTD. Lee had some adjusting to do, as that was not really his style (he rather hated the original Falcon).
That’s as deep as I’m going to wade into the K car history, as I’ve done it once before, with this 1983 Aries. I shot that almost a decade ago, and I was pretty chuffed to find a running pre-facelift K then. never mind trying to find an ’81 or ’82; like practically all new American cars back then, the first year or so came with plenty of issues, and they did not generally survive.
Here it is 2018, and as I’m shooting this one, the firts of its kind I’ve seen in some time, its owner comes strolling from across the street with a clipboard, where it looks like he’s been doing some door-to-door canvassing in an apartment building. It’s not just a daily driver; it’s his work car! And as I mentioned earlier, he got it from his dear old grandma some 16 years ago. Dang; I forgot to ask how many miles are on it. probbaly not all that huge a number, as he strikes me as a certain kind of Eugenian for whom a car is a necessary evil.
Well, maybe not exactly evil, but let’s just say…necessary, for when the trip is a bit to long for the ten speed bicycle he or she has owned since 1971. Sometimes a car just comes in real handy, so if grandma is giving away her K car, sure, I’ll take it off her hands. But I’m not going to actually to buy a car. That would cross a sacred line of some sort. Which makes this Aries something of the ultimate virtue-signaling mobile.
Sixteen years? Maybe he said six years. Or sixteen months. I hate to indulge in stereotypes, but this interior is mighty pristine. Turns out some hippies really did take baths back in the 60s. Or maybe he only drives it if he really, really needs to.
Little American cars of this era are really starting to look odd in today’s streetscape. “Classic” American cars were either big and long, or muscular pony cars and such, but this looks like a box Panther LTD that went to see a shrink and ended up at a genuine head shrinker instead. It didn’t exactly solve its personality issues, but it sure whittled them down to size.
They’re shockingly small now, and they have to be the smallest car ever advertised as a six seater. Of course people were mostly still shrunken then too, at a time when widespread food shortages and malnutrition in America (and other parts of the developed world) kept folks undersized and unable to reach their full potential. Fortunately that problem’s now been solved, and the car makers can no longer count on stunted car buyers to keep their cars small. Now asking any more than four folks to get in a Tahoe would be risking charges of abuse of one sort or another.
How did we end up here? Maybe it’s best just to end here too. This Aries is a relic of an increasingly distant era, when cars had very different mission statements. In 1981, this little six-seater compact four-cylinder sedan saved Chrysler. Today such a thing would be a coffin nail.
Mini-me LTD – that is funny. I started driving in 1987, and even then whenever a car took off from a stop in front of us and put out the blue smoke it was almost always a K-car. Sometimes an Escort. It became a running joke to say ‘Chry-sleurrr’ when we saw this. They seemed to be junky when almost new. I’ve hardly ever considered them real cars. I test drove turbo Daytonas and Lasers back then and they seemed half-baked. But at least those looked good. These are just sad. But because they are so rare it is neat to see one still around. I enjoy your articles very much and always start my day with them. Have a great day!
In a era when fuel and space efficiency meant everything, the Reliant and Aries immediately eclipsed their Aspen/Volare predecessors, the Fairmont/Zephyr, and the GM X cars as the leading domestic compacts. While offering the interior volume of a mid-size car. This was an especially impressive feat, exiting the 70s era of overstyled, overweight, and cramped cars, and before the minivans. And most importantly, they proved reliable, without the reputation for rust that plagued their forerunners.
The perfect compact for the times, if it seems comically undersized, and thoroughly austere today. It is an almost 40 year old design.
We had several of these as work cars in the early 80’s.
Instead of a New World nirvana experience; it felt more like doing penance for the excesses of the ’70’s with 6 folks crammed into a very small box. Make sure to pass around the deodorant stick and fasten your seat belt before engaging the transmission!!
Today, anything less than a Tahoe or Expedition in your driveway, and you’re a wimp🤨🤨🤨
I drove one of these when they first came out. The impression I had was of how “OLD” it felt; frankly it reminded me of my ’56 Chevy, but without the room or power. Handling seemed on a par: what handling?
I rapidly crossed the K car off my list of possible new cars! DFO
You are right about the ‘81 and ‘82 models being all but extinct. I probably haven’t seen one in 15 or 20 years. They are easily identifiable by their pop out rear quarter windows (yes, the rear windows did not roll down). I covered this in my 81 Reliant COAL, but fixed rear windows combined with no A/C (like the one we had) meant for a miserable ride in the back seat during the summer.
It’s gotten to the point where seeing a regular Aries/Reliant is a treat. The survival rate of these has been poor with the upscale versions having better odds. An article at Hagerty Insurance’s website theorized there are less than 100,000 of the K-cars left. Given the newest one is now 30 (the 2019s are out), that’s a sobering proposition.
After Ford’s Panther platform cars, the K-cars were the most popular in my immediate family, with there having been three. They did quite well at fulfilling their intended mission.
I wanted to love these when they came out, but they just seemed so un-Chrysler. They still do. But I have long since warmed to them as a curious artifact of a long-ago era.
That Dodge grill design never looked as good to me as the Plymouth version.
Funny how much people’s experiences with the things differed. I thought they were the worst when they came out – they were ugly (except for the wagon) and cheap looking, while the competing Citation hatchback was rather attractive and the Fairmont was nicely proportioned and was supposedly blessed with European ride and handling. Then the Chevy proceed really unreliable. I found myself shuttling cars around from place to place for Avis and discovered that the Fairmont was only European when compared to the older Ford compacts, its power steering was numb and lifeless, and its 6-cyl engine defined anemic. The K was starting to look better and better. I ended up with one as a rental for a 400 mile trip and came away impressed. Its steering felt decent, its power was ok for the day, its engine was torquey enough to cope with the automatic (unusual among 4-cyl Cars at the time), and it was kind of fun to fling through curves at the limits of adhesion. The seats fit me well front and back. It felt cheap in the same sense as an old Dart – tinny body, exposed screw heads inside, cheap upholstery fabric, really basic equipment, engine that didn’t run well until warm. I could live with that. I didn’t end up buying one new (needed a pickup), but would have if I had to buy an inexpensive American car. Friends that did buy them seemed to either get lemons or love them (or at least respect them).
When you think about it, these had to be really good cars to overcome the HUGE prejudice that American car buyers had against Chrysler in the early 80s. To most of the public Chrysler was a shitty company that built shitty cars that only idiots or Kool-Ade drinkers bought. The good rep that these earned probably laid the foundation for the success of the minivan a few years later.
Funny, but when folks have reasonable expectations of what they are buying, they usually are quite satisfied. People who thought these would be anything but basic transportation were totally dissatisfied, while those who figured it was the second version of the Valiant/Dart and just cheap wheels loved them for what they were. Cramped? Hell yes, they were small cars. Slow? Again, a 4 cylinder and auto from that time never would throw you back in your seat. But relatively cheap and relatively reliable? That was their sweet spot. It hauled folks to and from work, to the grocery store, and through the 4-5 years that was still the expected amount of ownership for a new car back then.
During one of the Army’s periodic efforts to reduce fuel use, the Commanding General of a post I was at ordered all full size sedans parked. The Garrison Commander, a bird colonel, had to swap his full size LTD for a Reliant.
His Reliant was an incongruous sight. The Colonel was a big man and never looked comfortable folding himself into the back seat beside his little work desk and high intensity light mounted on the rear shelf. His equally tall driver had to keep the seat adjusted in a very forward setting to make room for the Colonel. It must have been very uncomfortable, but it the finest Army traditions, appearances were maintained.
Luckily, the CG’s order exempted emergency vehicles. I kept my Plymouth Fury and our fleet received some lightly used LTD’s to replace our Mavericks which were suddenly needed for staff car duty.
We had several of these as company cars when they were new. I called the “The Soviet People’s Car”. I was not impressed, obviously.
They seemed to meet only the absolute minimum requirements to be called a car, designed by a committee with a five year plan to meet. No style, no frills, no comfort. No nuthin’. The car would stall at traffic signals if you didn’t disengage the A/C. I tore more than one dress shirt sleeve on the ragged door trim when getting out of the car. The wheels were tiny and the brakes had to be tiny enough to fit in those tiny wheels. The engine was rough enough you thought a cylinder was dead, and the power you got didn’t disprove the theory.
As someone mentioned above, K-cars seemed very much like pennance for our parent’s wild and beautiful cars of the 60’s. Very much a hair-shirt experience if you’d been ferried around in a big Pontiac or LTD as a child. These seemed like they were built by an house-siding manufacturer who’d gotten a good buy on some tractor engines and decided to go into the car business.
The Chevy Citations for all their many flaws and compromises seemed much more solid vehicles.
Still, the Reliant was what was needed for the times. Interest rates were sky high; gas was expensive. The people I knew who bought them at the time considered them as ‘snacks before dinner’. They were too hungry for cars to wait any more (as their old cars had all rusted out) but they didn’t want to have a huge car note when wages were stagnant and interest rates were high… so a quick cheap
burgerReliant to tide them over for a few years till things got better. Sure, some people grew to like them, but some people also grow to love White Castle burgers. That doesn’t make them good.“Sure, some people grew to like them, but some people also grow to love White Castle burgers”
HaHaHaHa! I love the analogy. But you gotta admit that a decent cheap burger is more satisfying than a better meal that has been badly prepared (ie – GM X car).
Count me as a lovers of those little White Castle sliders. My bad taste doesn’t extend to liking the K-car though.
I’ve mentioned before my family’s relationship with a Chrysler dealership, which resulted in our endless stream of Mopar products from the mid 70’s up through the early 00’s. The K-Car era coincided with my mid teens until…well, whenever it finally ended. My first exposure to one of these was before I was of driving age, and it was a highly optioned Reliant SE 2-door with two-tone silver and gray paint scheme, upgraded interior with fold down center armrest, etc. It was a loaner car, as were all of the K’s that I drove back in those days, as we never owned any (except a couple of late 80’s and early 90’s New Yorkers, which loosely qualify, I suppose). I hooned around my family’s property and the adjacent farm roads in it a bit, and I kind of fell in love with it. To my young sensibilities it looked and felt like a 2/3 scale Monte Carlo. My grandparents actually bought one of the first New YorKers (I think an ’83), replete with Mark Cross leather and all the fixins. These cars seemed so novel at the time, with their downsized take on classic American sedan virtues. They were crude by today’s standards, but in the context of the time an E Class New Yorker was in many respects the more modern, more sensible alternative to a Town Car or DeVille. In this same way that SE 2-door really was the more enlightened alternative to a Monte Carlo, etc. They would spit and sputter, they had these crazy electronic cooling fans that would run on for several minutes after the car was parked, the steering columns would vibrate and shake at idle, but for a minute or two they were “The New Normal”.
It wasn’t until my mother traded in her ’79 TC3 for an ’82 (Mitsubishi) Dodge Challenger that the lightbulb went on for me that there was a whole world of refinement in small cars that I’d never realized existed. I still have a soft spot for the K’s, but let’s face it, had it not been for the Japanese today’s Chevy Cruze or Ford Focus might very well still be a clattering, cardboard panelled wheeze-box.
Was the ability to carry 6 people really a key consideration for small-car buyers in the early ’80s? The bench seat was touted as an advantage, and not just by Chrysler. I realize this was before the era of minivans and crossovers, but there were many 3 row wagons for sale at the time, including some from imported brands, and those would allow for much more comfortable accommodations for six (or seven) passengers. I can’t imagine anyone who wanted room for six buying a K car.
That, sir, is a great question. I remember this period, but I was in my early 20s and single at that time, no kids, so the idea of carrying 5 passengers never occurred to me. I did grow up in a family of 6, and we always had a wagon for use to haul everyone at the same time, up to when the older siblings could drive. From that point on, we would take 2 cars rather than 1 when everyone went somewhere as nobody wanted to be jammed in together.
I suppose that a large family of lesser means would consider these acceptable for hauling 6, but nobody that I can recall ever would even think of doing so. There were so many larger cars available for slightly more, plus the used market, that it would not really seem to be a point of consideration. To me, it just seemed more a marketing ploy to imply a larger interior.
I think that a “six passenger sedan” was just one of those benchmarks that were commonly used and expected by customers. Like the ability to load a 4×8 sheet of plywood in the back of a station wagon. Not that many used them that way but everyone felt better that you could if you needed to.
It was also their way of saying “this little K car is just as functional is the big Malibu or LTDII that you are trading in because it’s a gas hog.” Most standard sedans had been considered 6 passenger cars going back to the Chrysler Airflow. It was just what everyone was used to in a “real car”.
Yes because these were being sold as a FULL SIZE CAR! (as were the Falcons, the Valiants, the Corvairs, the Larks, and the Ramblers before them).
In a world before mandatory seatbelt use the six adult passenger car could carry four or five kids in the back seat (one sits forward, one sits back) and another two or up front. If you’re in a carpool to get kids to school, these are the important numbers.
Six adults. A real car. A fewer number of seats made the car just a toy — like those Toyotas, Datsuns, and Mazdas that only ever seated five.
My Mom replaced her 72 Valiant (318, auto, AC) with an 88 Reliant. She drove it for 10 years and never had an issue except for the AC compressor (replaced under warranty). After she passed, my brother took it over and drove it until 2015. He replaced it when the under side go so rusty his mechanic said he was afraid to put it on the lift. It served our family well
This is either a neo-Dart, or a proto-Corolla (for folks who weren’t ready to buy a foreign car). Either way, it’s good, basic transportation for people who don’t particularly care about cars. It was very adequate for what it was.
These seemed like a better car than an X body at the time, but that didn’t last. The 2.2 engine didn’t age well and by 1990 or so most of them had so much rod knock they sounded like diesels.
I spent the 80s and 90s driving imports and trucks so I gladly missed this era.
I’ve heard of the 2.2 liter being referred to as the ‘slant six’ of the 80s. My dad had a 2.2 liter that reached 350,000 km with no issues. It may have come down to following proper maintenance.
Like practically all new American cars back then, the first year or so came with plenty of issues, and they did not generally survive.
Sadly all too common.
Here’s one for sale 🙂
This is hilarious. Being available only in 144p just adds to the experience.
This clip was popular a decade ago.
10 years in real time is about two entire generations in Internet time.
I love that.
“Over 85% of Aries owners have a fixed address.” Classic.
I had one of the earlier K-car variants, a base model 2 door Dodge.
2.2/Holley carburetor Mopar 4 cylinder engine (not the VW block 1.7 engine), 4 speed manual transaxle, factory air conditioning, cloth & vinyl bench seat, factory AM/FM radio, Baron Red exterior with tan/gold/brown interior…..and no other options..
As long as I kept the front tires at the maximum recommended air pressure, the manual steering was not bothersome. I cannot recall if the brakes were power assisted or not.
The powertrain seemed peppy enough for the time period, noticeably faster than the 3 speed automatic transaxle models, .an alcohol burning dragster when compared to an automatic Escort, Rabbit or Cavalier of the same time period. #IIRC the fourth gear ratio was something like 0.97, which gave a slight “overdrive” ratio for strain free, 75 mph Interstate cruising.
The factory A/C worked well, even in the drenching heat & humidity that New Orleans residents are forced to endure during our 8 months of “Summer”. I don’t recall the small A/C compressor dragging down the engine’s power all that much.
The car seemed well put together and reliable. I brought it back to the dealer only once, for a carb adjustment. The non-clear coat paint required waxing every 3 months or so or it would start turning dull and “chalking up”. The price to pay for a non-peeling clear coat, so prevalent in this time period! A small exterior, I could easily wax it on a Sunday afternoon.
With the manual controlled bench seat ALL the way back; there was just enough legroom for my 6-1, 48 Long suited self. Sitting higher off the ground than most small cars doubtlessly contributed to the adequate legroom and comfortable seating position?
When I got tired of it, an alert co-worker quickly and quietly snapped it up, at my asking price, for his college age child. Several other co-workers were upset with me for not giving them “first choice”.
Perhaps not an exciting car (what was in this time period?); but a comfortable and reliable car that did what I asked of it.
Well put! Obviously, Eugene’s climate is more ideal for the preservation of older cars. I don’t think I’ve seen a pre-facelift K-car in at least a decade, maybe longer. The few I do see every now and then are later model Reliant or Aries, oddly enough usually uplevel “LE” versions.
There is truly something to be said about these very “core” K-cars and the time period of lifestyle and values in America that they represent. For better or worse, it’s an age I don’t think will ever return.
The buying public was tired of the bloated Torino, Satellite, and Malibu by the end of the 1970’s. When the Rabbit, the Omnirizon, and the Fairmont showed up, many new car buyers saw them as “efficient” cars. After muscle cars and brougham cars, the trend was that it was cool to have an efficient car.
So it was trendy to have a car that could seat six, have a bigger trunk than expected, and have an engine that didn’t waste fuel. Folks liked these little square cars. They were seen as modern, clean and efficient. Performance wasn’t good, but “Hey – I’m getting 35 miles a gallon!” – became the new cool. My new car was designed by a computer! What an incredibly groovy thing to say down at the disco! Front-wheel drive? WOW!
This small car is easy to park. It is easy to get around. Look at how easy it is to see out of them! Compared to what came before – these cars were amazing.
We like new things, even when the new things are smaller. It is just fine back then to be seen in these cars. Because they were new and different from what came before them. Those bloated brougham cars looked wasteful, heavy and silly – they looked old-fashioned.
The X-cars turned out really, really bad. So, the K-cars, the Escorts, and the new Toyotas and Hondas were looked at in a way that is difficult to imagine, if you weren’t around back then.
That car is almost a dear ringer for this 1983 (I’m guessing) Reliant I spotted a few months ago. I’m assuming 1983 because it has a Pentastar hood ornament, which was eliminated the following year, and as you say not many of the earlier ones survived.
This is an ’81 or early ’82 model. Vent pane in rear window is narrow, indicating the rear windows do not roll down. Also, rear wheels are more centered in wheel wells. Wheelbase went from 99.6″ on ’81 and ’82 K-cars to 100.3″ on ’83 and ’84. The roll down rear windows on the 4-door models was phased in as a running change during the ’82 model year.
I guess it must be an ’82, then, since it has the Pentastar emblem on it. The ’81 had the old Plymouth logo, didn’t it?
As I’ve mentioned before on this site, one of the best cars we ever had was our dolled-up K car (’87 Chrysler New Yorker).
We bought it used in 1992 (I think).
We liked it so much that we got the engine rebuilt in it when our mechanic recommended that we do so.
It finally reached the end of the road (so to speak) in 1998.
This is what I like about CC; I’ll read articles on cars that I’ve never been fond of, just to read about the insight. As usual, I like to read the comments, as well.
The K-cars were definetely the right car for the time. The “snacks before dinner” analogy is spot on; some buyers undoubtedly sensed a shift in trends and buying, but didn’t necessarily know where it was going. I mean, you had the AWD Eagle–a forebear to the SUV–and cars were evolving in style from barges to much smaller cars, and trucks weren’t yet the status symbol that they are nowadays. The two door personal luxury coupe was still doing well, but even with that, you sense that the market was evolving and a two door vehicle in any configuration wasn’t practical enough for the family person that was on par with the “go go go” attitude of the 80’s. The station wagon was on its way out. And boom, there hit the minivan; a favorite of soccer moms and the admittedly outvoted family man.
Ah, the coverage of these cars is what brought me to this site ages ago as a reader. I have owned 7 post 1985 facelift versions in almost every configuration (sedan, wagon, 2.2, 2.5, 2.6, carbed, FI, buckets, bench, column shift, console shift, auto, manual, etc….) My first car in 1994 was a 1985 2.2 auto 6 seater sedan. I just recently scrapped an ’88 sedan once the trans and engine bottom end went out in the same week. I still get asked by friends if one of the few Aries they see about town is mine. “No, not mine but I know the owner!” is my answer. I get that they have flaws. Yeah, they are kinda crude. However, my love for these cars is purely sentimental and every time I drive one, it takes me back. Many good memories with these cars.
if K cars Plymouth Reliant and Dodge Aries were made mainly to save Chrysler from bankruptzy, then you knew what’s the target and overall said the aim was well done
This is a common misconception. These cars were in development well before things went completely bad at Chrysler. The L body Omni/Horizon hit showrooms as 1978 models and the K was the logical next step. Chrysler (and the rest of the industry) was reacting to the 1973 oil shock and 1975 (i believe) CAFE law that was to go into effect in 1979. The cars in development for 1978-82 model introductions were the biggest new product investment Chrysler had seen since the 60s. Lynn Townsend’s lack of product investment during tight times in the early 70s almost killed the company before the new stuff could come to market. If the K body had not been so far along by 1980 the whole thing might have ended right there.