Yes, the Chrysler K-car was the right car at the right time for a company that had just very narrowly escaped the jaws of death. Yes, most were simple, frugal little commuter cars that moved forwards and backwards and didn’t do much else. But for every basic Aries or Reliant, every sporty Daytona or Shelby car, there was one looming presence even the simplistic K-car couldn’t escape: Lee Iacocca’s absolute insistence that there be a super-padded, ultra-luxury version of the platform. He did it with the Mustang II by introducing the Ghia package, complete with that God-awful padded roof treatment, and when it came time to gussy up a K-car, he went whole-hog on the company’s basic droptop, the LeBaron. What would’ve otherwise been a frugal little convertible was slathered in the most fake of fake wood possible, an option for a Continental kit (which looked like a fistula on the backside of the car) and just because the overall gaudiness wasn’t enough, you got Chrysler’s Electronic Voice Alert, a talkative system that sounded like a Speak & Spell that had been struck in the head with a hammer. If you don’t know what I mean by that, you’ll find out in the video below.
This guy bought this woody LeBaron because…well, he wanted one, and he found a guy selling a few. He asked for no rust, and he got absolutely and utterly screwed over in the deal. He tried selling it on eBay…and yanked the listing when the car was bid up to over ten grand. (dude, you should have sold! –ed.) He got a $500 appraisal to trade it in at CarMax, and didn’t take them up on their generous offer. Instead, with the help of a friend, he dug a 10-foot grave and backed the droptop into it, Continental kit first, and started shoveling dirt over the top. The plan is to leave the LeBaron and it’s Mark Cross leather-bound interior interred for a year…then dig it up and see if it will come back to life. We can almost hear the EVA a year from now: “Why did you forsake me?”
I Don’t know why, but I always wanted a K-Car. I can explain why I like driving odd-ball stuff nobody else has; It’s cool being the weird car guy!
Hope they checked the trunk for human remains…the perfect murder!! 🙂
This guy makes me appreciate Cleetus…God help us!
The 1’s and 0’s got together and refused to flow thru my computer.
Trust me it’s no loss! Does make good landfill!
You might be a REDNECK if…
Hilarious! ,I can think of plenty of cars that should have been buried when new.
i remember that listing for all those le barons
Good way to poison the water table.
no chance it starts, but it will be pre-crushed, so there is a good thing
It’s clay, no water is going to wash through it (note the lack of need for shoring?)…. plus, it’s only a year so if it was keeping fluids in, it’d keep them in that long
I had special ordered an 82 LaBaron and it wasn\’t built to my order, The wrong engine. I was conned by the dealer to reorder another an 83 and he\’d lease me the 82 until the 83 came in. The 82 wouldn\’t start and would diesel when turned off. I returned it when the 83 was due to arrive and the 83 came in with the wrong interior. I walked out and had to take the dealer to arbitration to get my deposit back. I won.
About a year later I got a call from the victim who bought the car and wondered why I got rid of the car with 4000 miles on it. I said the car was a lemon, and they said they had nothing but problems with the car. The last time I saw the car it was on a flat bed with the front wheels splayed in two different directions. That was the last time I looked into purchasing any Chrysler product.
I had a 76 Malibu wagon, bought it from my brother in law, sight unseen. All it needs is a motor I was told. Well, that a tranny, a radiator, etc. He forgot to tell me about the huge dents in the doors, the divers vinyl seat had a dip so deep, my wife couldn’t see over the dashboard.
Hated the car so much, I put it in a demolition derby, got 2nd place, when I broke the driveshaft against a full size Buick wagon. Ohhh that felt so good. Found another wagon, needed a motor , put the good stuff from the derby car in it. Drove it all over the USA