Due to my age, I don’t see the issues with cars made between about 1974 and 1985 like some older readers do. “Malaise Era”…sure, I know all about the emissions restrictions, gas crisis knee-jerk reactions, sad and embarrassing power levels, opera windows, vinyl roofs, and so on, and so on, but unlike people who got to see how bad a car could get first-hand, I simply view these foibles as something to reverse-engineer out of savable examples. Some models, like GM A-bodies from the 1970s, get a pass because with minimal work and a power boost, all wrongs can be righted. Other cars, like the offerings from AMC, are saved because of their freak factor. Then you have the cars that were unloved from the second they hit the market. Chrysler’s R-body cars fall into that category. The concept was smart and basically a copy of the formula that worked for Chevrolet: take the current mid-size car (the B-body Cordoba) and make that your new, down-sized full-size car. Make it a four-door, offer a range of engines, shed weight and ta-da, success! Except that Chrysler’s R-bodies had no success. They were visually huge, something that didn’t fly in the late 1970s, were problematic, and had absolutely no power, even with the 360 V8. They were a product of Chrysler’s horrifying 1970s era management, a combination of Lynn Townsend’s “my way or the highway” approach coupled with John Riccardo’s ineptitude and Eugene Cafiero’s seemingly aimless model restructuring. Chrysler barely managed to huff these barges off to fleet sales, and mercifully put a bullet in the program for 1981.
In the early 2000s, I almost went in 50% with an Army buddy on a 1979 360-powered Chrysler Newport that had been beaten to within an inch of it’s life. The car cost $500, and we figured that we’d slap on some cheap paint, make the interior presentable, and use the sled to bomb between Fort Hood, Austin and Dallas. We didn’t make the buy for several reasons, but the biggest one I can remember is that the brake light switch worked the turn signals and the interior lights just like the car in the video. I just thought the car was an ultra-beater…who knew that the Newport might have had those faults from the factory?
I remember these as a kid as NY state trooper cars. You didnt see many around even when they were considered a late model car. Nice looking though.
My ’66 Dart has R-body front brakes on it. They make a good upgrade for earlier cars.
I worked next-door to a Chrysler dealer in ’79-80. It existed as a financial model because the lease on the property was old and very low cost. As for the product, even the salesmen there seemed to think that anybody who bought one of those cars was an idiot.
The video is making me want to rewatch the old Bill Bixby Incredible Hulk show.
Holy cow that was bad. What junk when new.
Next week: The Olds 98 Diesel
Gaaaaaaaaaaaaah!
Next week is going to be bad! Seriously that car is a heap!!! I wonder how they were as derby cars?
My sister bought a 79 New Yorker new. The very under powered 360 engine was the best thing about the car. I have it in a 68 Valiant now. With a bit more hp of course.
These cars had suspension made of used diapers and were for the most part driven by large men that were hideously challenged in the trouser department – here in the UK at least we had RS Ford Escorts and those beautiful “Sweeney” Mk1 Ford Granadas….
You also had the garbage produced by British Leyland… 70’s Jags, Triumphs, and Rovers. All with legendary British reliability.
You got that right ZAD – the famous “Friday cars” spring to mind that fell to pieces because in the rush to get to the pub the so-called workers dropped tools and left whole sections of the cars unfinished and yet they still ended up at the dealers the next day.
But you notice I mentioned Ford cars….
Doesn’t Lucas have on a patent on short circuits?
I’ll admit to actually having had one of these cars. My parents bought a used ’81 model New Yorker for me as my first car. It was the same awful color as the car pictured and to this day I can’t understand why anyone would purposely order a car in that color.
I must have been lucky because I didn’t have any electrical issues with the car and only one or two related to the bad design and quality of the car.
It was the gutless wonder without a doubt, as the 318 was all there was in 1981 but that probably went a long way to keeping a young driver out of trouble.
cool old video..at the end they mention the olds 98 diesel..ya gotta find that video :O its considered one of the worst american cars in history..we need to see what disco hair announcer hasta say 😛