Wow - Chrysler only has 2 / 3 models in production?

[angelatc]

I'm not a car buff. Couple that with the fact that my memory is fleeting at times....I went to the Chrysler site because I couldn't remember the name of their mini-van, which apparently is now out of production anyway. I was shocked to see that they're only making 2.5 models now? The 300, the Pacifica, and a Pacifica hybrid?

Quick - time for bankruptcy again.

[specsaregood]

I'm not a car buff. Couple that with the fact that my memory is fleeting at times....I went to the Chrysler site because I couldn't remember the name of their mini-van, which apparently is now out of production anyway. I was shocked to see that they're only making 2.5 models now? The 300, the Pacifica, and a Pacifica hybrid?

Quick - time for bankruptcy again.

Except you are forgetting that Chrysler is owned by a foreign entity now who owns a bunch of brands. So it makes sense that they would narrow Chryslers offerings.

Not only that, Ford is the same. They announced they are ceasing making sedans and the only cars they are gonna make starting next year are: mustang and focus. They will mainly make trucks/suvs.

[angelatc]

Except you are forgetting that Chrysler is owned by a foreign entity now who owns a bunch of brands. So it makes sense that they would narrow Chryslers offerings.

Not only that, Ford is the same. They announced they are ceasing making sedans and the only cars they are gonna make starting next year are: mustang and focus. They will mainly make trucks/suvs.

I heard they were giving up on sedans. During the bailouts I remember seeing stick-in-butt liberals insisting that the automakers needed to give up on SUVs and trucks if they wanted to be profitable. I knew damned well the only reason that they automakers were making most cars was so they could comply with their fleet fuel efficiency fatwas.

Now I wonder how they're working all that.

[oyarde]

I'm not a car buff. Couple that with the fact that my memory is fleeting at times....I went to the Chrysler site because I couldn't remember the name of their mini-van, which apparently is now out of production anyway. I was shocked to see that they're only making 2.5 models now? The 300, the Pacifica, and a Pacifica hybrid?

Quick - time for bankruptcy again.

I guess I did not know they were making anything but the 300 . Ford pretty well just sells trucks and mustangs . I do not know what all Govt Motors ( GM ) is making now . I have had a modern Impala and it was a good car , small 6 , great power and gas mileage , the newer style malibu might be worth checking on . The newer toyota trucks would not make my list .

[angelatc]

I guess I did not know they were making anything but the 300 . Ford pretty well just sells trucks and mustangs . I do not know what all Govt Motors ( GM ) is making now . I have had a modern Impala and it was a good car , small 6 , great power and gas mileage , the newer style malibu might be worth checking on . The newer toyota trucks would not make my list .

People seem like like the Impalas and the Malibus. The 300's too. I am renting a car this week because mine is in the shop and it's an Altima. I don't like it at all.

[euphemia]

I heard they were giving up on sedans. During the bailouts I remember seeing stick-in-butt liberals insisting that the automakers needed to give up on SUVs and trucks if they wanted to be profitable. I knew damned well the only reason that they automakers were making most cars was so they could comply with their fleet fuel efficiency fatwas.

Now I wonder how they're working all that.

This is why so few people buy American-made sedans. Great fuel efficiency if you consider they are towed more miles than they are driven.

[specsaregood]

People seem like like the Impalas and the Malibus. The 300's too. I am renting a car this week because mine is in the shop and it's an Altima. I don't like it at all.

I rented a Malibu a couple years ago, I couldn't get into the damn thing without hitting my head on the door frame or contorting myself. And I am not an especially tall guy.

[oyarde]

People seem like like the Impalas and the Malibus. The 300's too. I am renting a car this week because mine is in the shop and it's an Altima. I don't like it at all.

I do not like those at all , I rented one once too

[oyarde]

I rented a Malibu a couple years ago, I couldn't get into the damn thing without hitting my head on the door frame or contorting myself. And I am not an especially tall guy.

That is why I like pickups . Comfy .

[angelatc]

That is why I like pickups . Comfy .

Because my car is broken the rental car company had to come pick me up. I was hoping I was getting a truck, because that's what he pulled up in. We have a 97 Ford F150 that runs good. I don't have a garage though so eventually the rust gets them.

[oyarde]

Because my car is broken the rental car company had to come pick me up. I was hoping I was getting a truck, because that's what he pulled up in. We have a 97 Ford F150 that runs good. I don't have a garage though so eventually the rust gets them.

I drive an 04 pickup I bought in 2011 . It was a one owner with about 80k on it . I probably have 176 on it now , it has been a good one . I retired about 3 1/2 yrs ago so I do not drive as much . I am kind of actually hoping to make it last to summer of 2025 then buy another used one . That would get me the same 14 years I got out of muh previous Chevy truck .

[Anti Federalist]

This is why so few people buy American-made sedans. Great fuel efficiency if you consider they are towed more miles than they are driven.

LOL - The two best selling sedans in the US are the Honda Accord and Toyota Camry. Both are made in the US, the Honda in Ohio and the Toyota in Kentucky.

The best selling vehicle, by far and away, is the F-150 Ford.

[Anti Federalist]

I heard they were giving up on sedans. During the bailouts I remember seeing stick-in-butt liberals insisting that the automakers needed to give up on SUVs and trucks if they wanted to be profitable. I knew damned well the only reason that they automakers were making most cars was so they could comply with their fleet fuel efficiency fatwas.

Now I wonder how they're working all that.

By stuffing tiny, premium fuel only, ultra high compression (which increases NoX emissions which is why diesels were killed by Uncle Sucker), twin turbocharged engines into full size truck and SUVs.

By mating them up to 8, 9 and 10 speed quadruple overdrive transmissions.

By hobbling them with "auto start/stop" systems.

And by killing off all the rest of the fleet, outside of metrosexual movers like the Prius.

All of this is thanks to Uncle Sucker.

There are so many options for personal transportation out there now it is staggering.

I'd say 80 percent of it, from 1500 HP hypercars to 100 mpg plus diesel/electrics to "retro" designs that leave off all the safety and computer nonsense to ultra compact and cheap "$#@!boxes" like the Tata Nano, we are not allowed to have, thanks to Big Mother.

[Origanalist]

By stuffing tiny, premium fuel only, ultra high compression (which increases NoX emissions which is why diesels were killed by Uncle Sucker), twin turbocharged engines into full size truck and SUVs.

By mating them up to 8, 9 and 10 speed quadruple overdrive transmissions.

By hobbling them with "auto start/stop" systems.

And by killing off all the rest of the fleet, outside of metrosexual movers like the Prius.

All of this is thanks to Uncle Sucker.

There are so many options for personal transportation out there now it is staggering.

I'd say 80 percent of it, from 1500 HP hypercars to 100 mpg plus diesel/electrics to "retro" designs that leave off all the safety and computer nonsense to ultra compact and cheap "$#@!boxes" like the Tata Nano, we are not allowed to have, thanks to Big Mother.

This is why I'm going retro with everything, piss on em. I sold my 81 F-150 stepside shorty to a buddy because of too many vehicles. Now my work rig is a 1973 dodge van with a 318 and a three on the tree, I love it. My motorhome is a 79 chev with a smallblock 400, old school stuff I can work on, runs like a dream. People in their newer rigs get pissed when I pass them on the road with that old van, cracks me up.

If you ever see me in a Prius, please shoot me because my mind must not be functioning anymore.

[axiomata]

Jeep Gladiator 2020

[specsaregood]

Jeep Gladiator 2020

And they say its going to come out with a turbo diesel option the 2nd half of the year.

Add the ranger coming out, then the bronco and bronco II the next year, its gonna be a good couple of years for suv/trucks.

[Anti Federalist]

This is why I'm going retro with everything, piss on em. I sold my 81 F-150 stepside shorty to a buddy because of too many vehicles. Now my work rig is a 1973 dodge van with a 318 and a three on the tree, I love it. My motorhome is a 79 chev with a smallblock 400, old school stuff I can work on, runs like a dream. People in their newer rigs get pissed when I pass them on the road with that old van, cracks me up.

If you ever see me in a Prius, please shoot me because my mind must not be functioning anymore.

I'm a 1993 F150 myself, for my own work truck.

Now, the papers may say 1993, but the engine and drivetrain is 1973.

300 cid I-6 - single bbl Carter carb, points and breaker (when needed, I swap out a Davis Unified for the winter) and all mechanical/vacuum controls.

[Origanalist]

I'm a 1993 F150 myself, for my own work truck.

Now, the papers may say 1993, but the engine and drivetrain is 1973.

300 cid I-6 - single bbl Carter carb, points and breaker (when needed, I swap out a Davis Unified for the winter) and all mechanical/vacuum controls.

Nice, 73's are better looking though...

[Anti Federalist]

Nice, 73's are better looking though...

Yes, yes they are.

This one I may not be able to save, too much rust.

I'm in the market for a nice 1965-1975 F100 4wd.

[Origanalist]

Yes, yes they are.

This one I may not be able to save, too much rust.

I'm in the market for a nice 1965-1975 F100 4wd.

If I wasn't so far away I would keep an eye out for you, good luck.

[Anti Federalist]

If I wasn't so far away I would keep an eye out for you, good luck.

I'm willing to travel/ship if the deal is right.

You see something like this around town for sale, I'm interested.

[Suzanimal]

I'm willing to travel/ship if the deal is right.

You see something like this around town for sale, I'm interested.

My dad had that truck. It's name was Nellie. He let me drive it for a bit when I was a teenager but he took it away when I kept running out of gas. The gauge didn't work and I was suppose to check the gas with a stick but I kept forgetting. Cool truck. His had a red interior.

He ended up taking me to an auto auction to buy a car with all the money I had managed to save ($200) and we bought my Chevette. It had rusty bullet holes all over it. I looked gangsta as $#@! drivin' that thing.

[fedupinmo]

I rented a Malibu a couple years ago, I couldn't get into the damn thing without hitting my head on the door frame or contorting myself. And I am not an especially tall guy.

My experience with the Impala was the same... and I drive a Honda Fit. No problem getting into the Fit.

[Chester Copperpot]

Except you are forgetting that Chrysler is owned by a foreign entity now who owns a bunch of brands. So it makes sense that they would narrow Chryslers offerings.

Not only that, Ford is the same. They announced they are ceasing making sedans and the only cars they are gonna make starting next year are: mustang and focus. They will mainly make trucks/suvs.

Dont forget that Ford makes that non-hybrid car that gets 75mpg. Its made in the US but sold in Europe because its not allowed to be sold in the USA

[Anti Federalist]

My dad had that truck. It's name was Nellie. He let me drive it for a bit when I was a teenager but he took it away when I kept running out of gas. The gauge didn't work and I was suppose to check the gas with a stick but I kept forgetting. Cool truck. His had a red interior.

He ended up taking me to an auto auction to buy a car with all the money I had managed to save ($200) and we bought my Chevette. It had rusty bullet holes all over it. I looked gangsta as $#@! drivin' that thing.

I had a 1969 F100 with bed was all shot up like that, miss that truck.

Chevette, Vega, Citation, Yugo, Pinto (although Pintos were actually pretty advanced for their day), Justy, Chrysler K cars...the $#@!boxes Uncle Sucker no longer allows you to have.

The $#@!box, Fondly Recalled

https://www.ericpetersautos.com/2017...ndly-recalled/

By eric - March 21, 2017

The late and very great Brock Yates coined the term.

$#@!boxes.

They don’t make them anymore – not really. Modern economy cars are not $#@!boxes.

A $#@!box is something like an ’80s-era Ford Escort or – even better – a Hyundai Excel or Yugo.

The Chevette is a contender. A Citation even more so.

No one makes cars like that anymore.

Things on four wheels with the hearts of worn-out lawnmowers and embarrassing names like Champ and Protege and Aspire (the car that hopes one day to be a car).

If you missed the ’70s and ’80s, you missed out.

Zero to 60 times in the 15-30 second range, with top speeds around 85 mph. God help you if you hit something. Or something hit you. Three-speed automatics and four-speed manuals, no overdrive. Doors that closed with less solidity than the bi-fold metal dividers you find in single-wides. A speedometer and a gas gauge, nothing more.

They leaked; rust began to bubble before the warranty expired. They sputtered and stalled. They made pathetic sounds and looked even more so.

Modern economy cars are nothing like that.

The least of them can reach 60 mph in about 9 seconds and most will do at least 115 on top, which is more speed than most late ’70s muscle cars had.

They come standard with air conditioning and are fitted out with a complete set of instruments and almost always not-half-bad stereo rig – usually with a CD player and four speakers.

They are far from $#@!ty – or even boxy.

Some are nice enough in their own right that you’d think about buying one because you like it, not because you can’t afford something better.

You have to be at least in your mid-30s today to understand how utterly the landscape has changed. Old enough to have driven or at least seen a Datsun B210, a Toyota Starlet, Subaru Justy, an early K-car or Plymouth Champ.

Those were $#@!boxes.

Thirteen inch steel wheels and four lug hubs and the cheapest, skinniest tires this side of a Pee Wee Herman’s bicycle. So underpowered that top speed runs and 0-60 times were both more or less the same things. The finest Soviet bloc materials on the inside; carpets if you were lucky.

All the crashworthiness of a brightly painted cardboard refrigerator container. If you hit something, you’d feel it. Hit a tree , and it would be the very last thing you’d feel.

But they did have their charms.

With early onset tire squeal came an opportunity to hone your driving skills.

Anyone who spent some seat time parking brake U-turning a Starlet has one up on a driver who hasn’t had the experience. Without ABS and with barely marginal stopping power, one learned all about following distances and planning ahead.

You kept a can of ether in the glovebox to hose down the throat of the single barrel carb when the little son-of-bitch wouldn’t start on cold mornings. A rag in the glovebox to wipe down the fogged-up windshield and a roll of duct tape under the seat at all times.

You kept sweats and other warm extra clothes in the trunk, too – because either the heat didn’t work or the car was so drafty it didn’t matter if it did. In summer, you were shirtless – layers of electrical tape keeping the seat springs from jabbing you in the balls too much.

A friend in high school had an especially wretched little Subaru. Reverse crapped out, but the forward gears still worked. So we would Fred Flintstone it out of the 7-11 parking lot.

But as much as we cursed it, it gave us lots of story fodder.

I can’t think of a single modern economy car that’s memorable in the way the old stuff was. They rarely break down and none of them are dangerous. Few are unpleasant to drive. They have AC, adequate stereos. Decent seats. More and more of them either have or offer GPS and satellite radio.

Driving cross-country in one would not be like crossing the Atlantic in the 16th century aboard a rickety, scurvy laden Golden Hind.

But I doubt we’ll have anything much to say about them 20 years from now – and that tells me we’re the poorer for it, somehow. Especially today’s kids. The $#@!box Experience has come and gone like real Coke with cane sugar, lawn darts and catalytic converter test pipes.

Brock would grok this.

[angelatc]

A friend in high school had an especially wretched little Subaru. Reverse crapped out, but the forward gears still worked. So we would Fred Flintstone it out of the 7-11 parking lot.

My friend's Dad had a penchant for buying other people's beaters. He had 5 daughters and 8 cars. Every car had something wrong with it, so the errand you were running dictated which car you would take. Couldn't take the convertible if rain was in the forecast. The Lincoln had no reverse, so she always had to get to school early enough to find a spot where she could pull through.

But I doubt we’ll have anything much to say about them 20 years from now – and that tells me we’re the poorer for it, somehow. Especially today’s kids.

Indeed. I saw kids look incredulous when several of us adults relagated tales of driving in cars with huge rust holes in the floorboards.

[angelatc]

I'm a 1993 F150 myself, for my own work truck.

Now, the papers may say 1993, but the engine and drivetrain is 1973.

300 cid I-6 - single bbl Carter carb, points and breaker (when needed, I swap out a Davis Unified for the winter) and all mechanical/vacuum controls.

I know you don't do Fedbook, but their classifieds have lots of old Fords. I don't know how to rebuild cars, but this looks like it has potential, no?


This one looks decent, too:

[Anti Federalist]

I know you don't do Fedbook, but their classifieds have lots of old Fords. I don't know how to rebuild cars, but this looks like it has potential, no?


This one looks decent, too:

The $#@! brown '76 I could work with, assuming the frame and running gear are in good shape. It's 4wd.

The blue '73 I'd steer clear of. It's in nice shape on the surface, but 2wd only and that huge 460 cid, smogged out 70's vintage V8 is a massive fuel burner, in addition to looking like it's burning oil based on the exhaust, unless that's being caused by the carb issue they mentioned.

The 460s were prone to leaky valve seals which would cause oil burn.

[pcosmar]

Lots of them out west,, and many nearly rust free. (Minor surface)

I know of Yards FULL of Ford and GM within a few miles,, Parked iron in various staged of neglect.
With nobody doing jack $#@! with them,,, and likely will overprice them,, which is why they accumulate.

I will keep an eye out for something in derivable shape.

[angelatc]

The $#@! brown '76 I could work with, assuming the frame and running gear are in good shape. It's 4wd.

The description in the ad is cut off. Here's what it says"

What you see is what you get. Had been sitting a while. 82k original miles. I picked it up from original owner. Inline 6 turns freely by hand. 3 speed on the tree. Has rare factory jump seats instead of the bench seat. May trade for? $400 cash. Less

He actually has it at $350 now. It looks rough - looks like at least 1 door is missing.