Retro Review: 1983 Chrysler Corp. Lineup
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- čas přidán 25. 07. 2017
- K-Cars galore! For 1983, Chrysler was stretching and tweaking the K platform into as many variants as possible. MotorWeek made the trip to Detroit to see what the Pentastar had to offer.
- Auta a dopravní prostředky
This is fun to watch because you rarely ever see any of these 1983 cars "in action". Gone and forgotten even by those of us that were driving in 83. The blue K car wagon was just like one we had. Thanks for the memories MotorWeek. 🙂
I have a fifth avenue now, junk lean burn and spark control
I absolutely loved our 83 New Yorker Fifth Ave with the 318. It survived my teenage shenanigans without fault. I miss that car dearly.
I got good memories of this lineup too. Learned to drive a stick in a brought home before they were on sale Omni[[Dad worked at Chrysler]. Took my last with-the-family vacation driving from Det to Tampa in a Aries Wagon with 6 people{!} Bought and ordered my first new car, an 81 024 black w/sunroof. Brother had a beautiful 2 tone Challenger. Always borrowed my Dad's 84 E-Class for concerts with friends. And his Lancer ES. Best friend HAD to have a convertible, so a Dodge 400 ES got a lot of 420 smell in it{!} Got a BIG ticket racing my buddy's Spirit R/T with my Shelby Charger. By the end of the 80's our family had probably 10 more K ish cars between us. My Shadow ES, Sundance for my little sister, Daytona Turbo Z and a Lebaron Coupe that brother had. My mom had a Dynasty LE that became the concert car[went to Blonde Ambition in that]and my Dad switched to Dakotas after we moved out of the nest, using it to move apartments all the time. Still a MOPAR and hopefully always will be. One day a 72 Roadrunner or a Cordoba will be in my garage...
Wiibaron I vote you for the Cordoba - that rich corinthian leather
lilredexptsc those and mini vans were all they could make then in those days
Yes! I had an 85 5th ave with pillow top leather seats. Had a 318 with the 3 speed torqueflite. That car was a tank
Gary Ruth
I learned how to drive on the same car. I used to lock the power windows and gas my friends on the way home from school.
I'm an 80s kid and I remember seeing these all over the place. They quickly replaced a lot of the 70s era cars in my neighborhood.
This was when Motorweek was a good show now all they want are super cars that most people can't afford. The Chrysler '83 lineup is spectacular. Also a much better show when it was on PBS.
The '83 Chrysler lineup was spectacularly bad.
Also, look alike SUVS, crossovers and trucks. There's barely a difference between any of them.
@@dadgarage7966 it was also relatively good amazingly, seems impossible but it was actually worlds ahead of chevy and ford crap and not way worse than honda and toyota of the time
Our 1988 Aries wagon was very practical, reliable, easy to repair, and long-lived.
Boop boop boop “you’re fuel pump has given up.”
Yeah. Our ‘81 Horizon had fuel pump issues. They always tended to fail while waiting at traffic lights.....or in heavy rush hour traffic...... good times.
People always jump on the comments section and rave about how great these cars were, too. "All cars have problems", they'll say as if these things were even close to Honda or Toyota at the time.
Bah hahahahaaaa. Also true
@@carryfreak5059 Vapor lock or fuel pump failure requiring replacement? Just curious. Was it mechanical or electrical?
@@erickrobertson7089 fuel pump
I have always been a fan of Chrysler and currently have 6 of them. Both of my 2000 Chrysler Mini Vans have been really reliable. Had a 85 Dodge 600 with the same body style as the Lebaron GTS. Really liked that car in the 5 years I owned it. I was a young man back then and always wanted a Cordoba or Imperial from the that time period.
That floppy shift boot had me rolling. XD
Why?
Yeah, why?
I luv it lol
That was 1983 bro
My first new car was a 1983 New Yorker, and it talked. It was always reminding me that "a door is a jar." And then my second new car was a 1987 Chrysler 5th Avenue. I originally wanted the Imperial, but just could not afford it. I love my 5th Avenue, and still drive it to this day. We have been together for 34 years, and I hope it will continue to work and outlast me....
Wow!
A door is in fact, a door. Not a jar.
There's no secret chrysler has had financial problems every decade
Yup
No not at all
Not too much in the 1990s it was mercedes pustlhing for that merger
Chrysler did more with less! 💪
@@BeingMe23 Including phasing out the Dodge big-block V-8s formerly made at their Trenton Assembly plant in favor of the 2.2L and 2.5L four-cylinders.
Chrysler Imperial was my favorite luxury coupe back then.
Still looks great!
I owned three K cars and loved them all. Got them all as used things for next to nothing and they never let me down. I knew nothing about cars yet was able to change the alternator and starter all by myself. Try doing that today.
I loved that they had that boxy look so they looked like a small version of a dynasty which was a smaller version of an Imperial. I loved that big American boxy luxury car look. Could not afford one, but I could afford a used K car.
Not only were the K cars real soldiers, but they saved the company.
I love that boxy luxury look too! Which is why I still drive my 1987 5th Avenue. It is aesthetically falling apart now, but I still love it and hope it will outlive me...
That "reminder" voice sounds like an artificial larynx.
It was digitized speech so they would not need a voice synthesizer in the car. They digitized it and compressed it to save space so they could get all that information in the car. They lacked the memory to add other languages, so you had to pick the one you wanted when you bought the car.
Mmmmm-it's coming right for us.
I want that in my car
Sounds like a speak n spell
Awesome video!! It was pretty awesome seeing all those cool cars!! Thank you so much!!
I don't know how good they were, but that imperial is absolutely stunning.
I bought an '83 E-Class for $900 in 1994. I sold it for $60 in 1996.
I guess you both got a deal lol!
Hahahah the K car limo... omg I’m dying 🤣
That was a nice car
This review was truly masterfully written and delivered. This stuff is just killing me every way but literally. If you're going first class, you might as well go all the way. Yeah, go get the Mercedes they were trying (and failing) to copy
I thought I was the only one who could see “cues” and “inspiration” from Mercedes-Benz here and there in the K cars !
If I find a 600 or Charger that still talks... I'm buying it lol. And that Imperial looks awesome 😍😍😍😍 I'd park it next to my 300.
If you find an Imperial, Get a Cordoba/Mirada/Fifth Avenue drive train to put in it. The Imperial was LOADED with computerized gear, EARLY 80s computerized gear! Low production means those components are not an easy find.
The New Yorkers are the easiest talkies to find
@@jamesslick4790 or drop an old 440 V-8i in it.
@@barnabyjones6995 Yeah, I guess one COULD put a B.B. in an M body too!, My original post was mainly a simple "drag and drop" thing, But hey, Any mod that keeps these fairly rare Imps afloat, I not gonna complain! 👍😊
My first car was a Dodge 600 in shit brown lol. Bought it off my dad after he bought it used. It was 11 years old when I sold it. Great first car, but as a teen… not a chick magnet. 🤪 Funny story, as it had the shifter in the center console my buddy thought it was fun to put it in neutral when I stopped at a light. Ha ha! Watched him close after a couple times lol.
They robbed a speak and spell from Toys-R-US
My first car was a 1983 Chrysler Cordoba. Man, I miss that car! I've been thinking of looking for another one and doing a restoration on it.
We used to have a 1976 Chrysler Cordoba. It was so luxurious.
Oh my god, that New Yorker looked like it was going to tip over lmfao How far we have come
What a sloppy piece of FWD crap!
My wife and I had both the K-Car's wagon and the 4-door too, they were both wonderful family cars. Although you had to be right on top of the maintenance, or else! But, All-in-all great American cars.
Sounds like the voice from the Nike jacket Marty wore...."Your jacket is now dry"
About 10 years ago, in undergrad, I bought a 1986 Lebaron from an old lady that had bought it new and garaged it all those years. It had 60K miles on it and was the most mint POS ever, haha.
6:45 who wouldn't love to pull up to the Academy Awards in that beauty!?!
god i love to hear that car voice!! i remember that when i was a kid! gramma had a new 1984 chrysler new yorker and we tried to get it to say all the words it could
My step dad bought an 83 reliant bran new, drove it for 11 years without any major problems.
the IMPERIAL...yes please!!
I agree. Love the imperial. My first one I owned was identical to the car shown here
They should have issued a 5.9L 360 CID V-8 exclusively for the Imperial from 1981-1983. It probably would have sold better.
Awesome can we please see the AMC lineup for 83!!!
That white Fifth Avenue is really nice. Same goes for that Challenger. Would love to have either one.
Challenger ?
Me walking into a Chrysler dealership in '83.. "Do you have anything that is currently not starting to rust?"
DaleDenton69 had 2 (turismo and Daytona) and neither one had a speck of rust on them even after 16 years of pa winters.
No worst than gm and Ford.
Better ask if they have anything without electrical problems.
It's the salt that ruins metal.
Do you have anything that actually works?
La plataforma Chrysler K de los 80s muy exitosa en México con sus motores 4 cilindros turbos y sus funciones electrónicas. Greetings from Mexico.
El “Magnum” turbo era la sensación! Jajaja. Aunque fuera la misma caja de zapatos que el Dart K pero sabían vender la idea de que era lo máximo. Me gustaban esos coches. Aunque se notaba que era la copia más barata de lo que según ellos copiaban a Mercedes.
The Chrysler E class : "Built to the style of the best handlers from Europe." Cut to a clip of Bambi on Ice .
Aaaaaaw memories of my 83 Diplomat ex RCMP hwy cruiser. Horrible in traffic in Winnipeg 1989. We were truckers that looked like cops so everyone in front of us drove slow! 😂😅
mid 70's till late 80's was a very dark time.
The darkest times are right now because everything is made in China.
How about all the recalls in recent years ?
It's a miracle Chrysler even survived the dark ages from 1974 to 1990. Ford and GM were barely hanging on at times and they were building better cars than Chrysler.
@@scdevon The minivan saved them
The stuff now is nowhere near as bad as 73-88. Those cars were awful in every way.
That wagon is seriously giving me chills, it is the exact twin to my first car.
1983 Plymouth Reliant Custom painted Glacier Blue Crystal with optional wheelcovers and no luggage rack.
1999 I was given a 135000 mile K car at 16 and managed to get it to 160k before I blew a head gasket on the interstate in 2001.
Strange enough I replaced it with a 1980 Dodge Aspen coupe with a 1 bbl Slant six lol
I had that exact charger
I had both an 83 dodge 600, and an 89 Plymouth horizon both with the 2.2 with tourqueflite 3 speed. They were both reliable and economical automobiles. The Horizon was the best car I ever had in the snow. The 600 rode very smooth and was quiet. It is a shame that they have to sell that FIAT crap now.
We can thank Teleprompter Head for that (Obama).
These are great car's. I remember when these were brand new. A lot of them are still around with over 400,000 miles on them. Although, the 2.6L Mitsubshi was problematic. On the plus side. The 2.2L Chrysler Engine is sweet. Then later on, came the 2.2L Turbo and the 2.5L Chrysler engine options. Good running engines.
Emerson Collie Yep. Every surviving K car I've seen has the Mopar motor, not the Mitsubishi. So much for "Superior Japanese" quality!👍
Yep, and you know what's pathetic? Many people in this comment section, will say that "Wapanese r bettah deez carz sux lol" Yeah,..
The problem is where you get your Japanese car stuff. While Mitsubishi sucked, Nissan/Datsun was doing well.
Emerson Collie Had the 2.6L Mitsi in an 86 Voyager. Other than needing a new timing chain (chain, not belt) never gave any real trouble. Ran rich when cold (dark smoke) and was slow revving (very slow revving after 140k or so) but it and the tranny both behaved. AC crapped out and headliner was shit.
Nope, the Ks were very reliable and hard to kill. Japanese cars of the era tended to rust away to nothing within a few years, whereas you still often see 2.2 and 2.5L K-bodies to this very day.
Long live the K cars!
The Mirada is going to be a collection worthy classic very very soon. They drive and ride nicely, and had V8 power available, which of course means the ambitious can beef them up to their hearts desire to make quite a retro muscle car. Chrysler corp made some REAL CRAP, but they also at the same time made a few cars that were really quite well built and lasted. Being all over the place on design ideas and quality control is what put them in trouble in the first place, and then again years after this. It's great to offer a variety of products for people, but they all had to be good to retain a reputable brand name, and Chrysler has had perpetual issue with that.
Production totals for 1983:
Chrysler Cordoba: 13,471
Dodge Mirada: 5,597
The 1983 Mirada CMX would be totally collectible these days!
@@ClassicTVMan1981Xit is
When I take a gander back to 1983, this goose was relieved to be only half wrong
Horizon was the car we took driving lessions in HS, with a full load, I remember having to floor it up the hills, was such a dog lol.
Our 81 Horizon with the 2.2 ran great. It wasn’t meant to be a heavy hauler.
Red green would love these K cars
In Canada, there was also the Plymouth Caravelle E-body sedan and K-body coupe; while the coupe didn't make it over here in 1985, the sedan did to fill the void left behind by the Chrysler E-Class sedan. I think the Caravelle K-coupe was not brought over here since our Chrysler-Plymouth dealers already had the Chrysler K-LeBaron coupe.
I I hope to see the 83 lineups for American Motors and General Motors as well!
I've always rooted for three underdog Chrysler.
I'll never forget the hemi big tire aries i saw back in the 90s
My first car was my dad’s 1989 Dodge Omni, which was very similar to my dad’s 1981 Dodge Omni. Beast of a car - felt indestructible. Felt cozy but only got 25 mpg. Thought I was going fast in it, but wasn’t actually - there was just zero sound insulation.
Yes!!!! Thank you for uploading more line up videos!
Hahahaha the handling of those things. That suspension! 😂
I had an 82 NY 5th Ave w the 318. It was an extremely good car that was on the road 20yrs in my family. It did eat 1 computer, and a set of diff bearings, but the engine was never apart, everything still worked, the interior was perfect, and it had very minor rust when I sold it. And when I did, it was because the trans was worn out and the $1,400.00 quote I got for a replacement seemed too high for a car that age.. However, the guy I sold it to, for a paltry $700.00, put a used trans in it and sold it for $2,200, to a lady that drove it 3 more yrs after that before she took on a telephone pole, and lost! Chrysler made a lot of $ on the M body platform through 89. It still is 1 of my favorite cars that I've owned.
Adam - $1,400 to rebuild or replace a (probably) 904, or (maybe) 727? That seems high...
I lol'd at that floppy ass shift boot at 2:00 lol
Why?
I had an '86 Caravelle e-body wit the 2.2 turbo. On 94 octane it was a rocket!! What a sleeper it was, I could blow any 80's v8 away at the stoplight track and did:-)
I am from Ukraine. I want to say that in 80s journalists talked much better than now in USSR as well as in USA.
My Dad bought an E Class new in 1984, first new car we ever had. It had the Mitsubishi 2.6L, and yes it had the voice lol. After the timing chain went after 8000km and had a new engine dropped in under warranty, there was never a problem with it, till after 13 years and a hell of a lot of kms on it, a rod went. Wasn’t even rusty!
Beautiful boxy comfy machines.
I still like that Chrysler New Yorker. Comfy seats and cushy ride never goes out of style.
My first new car was an 1982 Dodge Mirada 318. Best American car I ever owned. Zero problems for the six years I owned it. I traded it in on a new 88 Thunderbird. Biggest mistake I've ever made. The Ford was in the shop all the time and suffered head gasket failure at 32K miles resulting in a cracked block. I can still hear the squeaking ball joints that Ford said were lifetime lubed.
Digging that background music.
Best enjoyed through the Chrysler Imperial 's audio system!
I absolutely love that Imperial and Fifth Avenue.
I still drive my 1987 Fifth Avenue and love it too...
Ugh, that horrible rubber boot for the gear lever. Manual transmissions were a complete afterthought.
No they weren't. Most of these cars came standard with one. Even Minivans had them at first. Yep that rubber folded boot was in millions of these cars...
Yeah, I think it looks really cheap. Looks like the gearshift got jammed through an accordion
I about had a hear attack after seeing that, I was laughing so hard.
@@grabber_blu_angel I'm glad you got a laugh out of my joke. The shift boot just looked like that to me
It was tough and that’s the way it was..
My first car was an '87 Plymouth Reliant wagon 2.2 auto. A perfect first car, I could have rebuilt it myself with hand tools in my driveway.
Yep. I had a 1984 Dodge Aries wagon. Could even change the timing belt out right in the drive way without even jacking up the car.
Had a 1982 Plymouth Reliant and 1988 Horizon. Horizon had electronic carb problems. The air-fuel mixture was so lean, it would stall or surge. And the steering rack would leak. A coworker gave me the Horizon. What a rust bucket. The plastic headlight trim cracked up. the water pump vanes corroded away. The engine finally over heated and knocked holes in the pistons. The car was money pit. It may have been free, but I paid for it through repairs.
Dodge Rampage are highly sought after and damn rare!!
Love the RWD offerings.
😔
I want that voice alert system. My BMW doesn’t even have that feature.
That dodge 600 gear shifter looks like a giant Atari controller!!
The first car I ever drove was an 84 Chrysler E-class, it was such an easy car to learn to drive on. However, it never talked, and it had the sad 2.2l 4 cylinder engine (not the turbo)...poor thing barely made it up a hill.
Beep beep beep, "Your car is already rusting"
DaleDenton69 my turismo was rust free when I owned it 16 years after it was built and after 16 years of pa winters. Guess I shouldn’t of neutral dropped the auto trans into oblivion and junked it.
Actually K cars aren't all that rust prone compared to any other car, In fact vastly superior in rust resistance versus most 1980s Japanese cars.
Faux Craig Singhaus sad but true😂
I laugh at this every time I read it
James Slick I would agree I lived with them and noticed it.
My grandparents had a Dodge Aries K Car wagon in white which they had a Dodge Aspen wagon with woodgrain trim before trading in for a brand new K Car wagon.
Aww man. I briefly had a dodge Aries wagon a couple years ago. Needed too much work to keep on the road, but the few times I was able to drive it, it handled like a mini Lincoln Continental. Also, my parents in the early 90's had a 1985 LeBaron GTS with the voice alert system and digital dash.
I saw a pretty mint Dodge 600 for the first time yesterday. I have to see a talking LeBaron every single day.
A Charger with a four cylinder is the ultimate sacrilege.
The Charger Turbos (especially the Shelby Charger) were faster and handled better than the old iron Hemi chargers of yore.
They smoked the Camaros and Mustangs of the era as well.
Would love to get a Dodge Diplomat in police spec.
Thanks for posting these, though it should be noted that the optional V8 for the M-bodies (New Yorker Fifth Avenue, Diplomat, etc.) measured 5.2L (318 c.i.), not 5.7.
What are you on about? The fastest Diplomats had a 0-60 time around 12-13 seconds with a top speed of 121. In comparison: Corvette: 0-60: around 7 seconds, top speed of 150mph, base model 911: 6.1s and 152mph.
There was no 1983 Corvette, so I don't know what you are talking about. However you are right, I was looking at theoretical specs, official top speed is 140mph for '84, 0-60: 7.0 secs. On the other side, the Porsche specs are right. Any 930 911 (even from 1975) could do 150. '83 and '84 930s could do above 170mph.
Right, the 1984 Corvette went on sale in March 1983!
hot damn! performance division!! 94 horsepower! be still my beating heart.
I owned several of these fine autos.😃
I've liked the looks of the Chrysler New Yorker Fifth Avenue especially with the wire wheel covers as the Chrysler Imperial & the Dodge Diplomat. Chrysler had better looking cars in the 80's even though in 1983 I was in high school I've always loved luxury cars the best.
Too bad wire wheels are history now. Personally I love them. Total class
I've had a few K convs. All were smooth quiet great on gas and comfy. Ten times prettier than the ugly plastic bubbles they make now
Your lucky.i want a Chrysler fifth Avenue
@@calebproductions5970 You can't have mine that I've had since 1987 and I love this car...
@japanwatchconnection driving anything old makes me feel better driving some modern over computerized plastic bubble would depress me😂😂😂
Love that Imperial!
back in 1987 I purchased my first new car, an 87 Plymouth horizon 4 door hatch, very pretty little car, black with red interior, fit and finish for the time was good, lots of mechanical problems from day one, it had the 2.2 American made 4 cyl, carb problems, clutch problems on the 5 speed manual trans, finally got everything straightened out but was a pain in the ass,
@japanwatchconnection if i could go back i def would have, i was young and the price was right but big mistake
Loved the Cordoba, Imperial and Diplomat. Sad that Chrysler is gone.
the electronic voice guy sounds like he's drunk
I always thought he sounded like a very old cigarette smoker.
Reminds me of my Texas Instruments Speak & Spell I had when I was a kid.
More like high on dope.. Oh I forget, dope is sacred.
I love the background music!
I remember all of these vehicles for that year. The turbo engines hadn’t come out yet. I knew of the Chrysler executive sedan but never seen one, but I came close to buying a Chrysler executive limousine.
I have a 1983 Chrysler lebaron mark cross town town and country I love that baby
Great video
The CV boots on those K/E cars tore if you looked at them funny.
Having the most front wheel drive car models than any other brand is nothing to brag about.
back then it was
@@retrofirebirdgt5302 What is so brag-worthy about front wheel drive? It is garbage.
Voice recognition in the early 80s WOW!!!!!!
It doesn't recognize your voice, it just makes a voice instead of an alarm when something goes wrong. Getting good voice recognition technology would take several years.
Those little rwd Challengers were pretty cool. Made with Mitsubishi I guess.
Right idea, wrong name. The Challenger name was almost tarnished by that fiasco. Thankfully that won't happen again.
I had that Dodge 600.
It refused to die.
Made it past 200k.
I remember my aunt’s Aries K. My mom and dad visited them across country and my aunt found out dad restored exotic cars as a hobby. Her Aries was making a horrible noise for it being 2 years old.
Dad: checking oil “When was the last time you changed the oil?”
Aunt: “Change the oil?”
🤦♂️
The big 3 made some real SHIT, with GM leading the way.
I like the Chrysler e classes
I picked up my new classic car from a friend of mine on August 1, 2019, it's a 1983 Dodge Aries 2 Door Sedan
That aries logo brought back nightmares. The K car was such garbage, I still remember accelerating up hills in that thing while losing speed.
i didn't know you could get an E-car with manual transmission, I always assumed they were only available with automatic.
The turbo 2.2L was available for these starting in 1984, but that was also the last year for the E-Class sedan since buyers balked at the very sight of a lower-cost Chrysler-brand sedan; it was then replaced here for '85 by the formerly Canada-only Plymouth Caravelle, though just the sedan made it over here but not the coupe version since we already had the Chrysler LeBaron and Dodge 600 coupes.
I'll take a 5th Ave with the Diplomat cop spec suspension and a new Hemi and 8 speed auto!
Actually that would be a badass build project!
dodgeguyz I had a Diplomat police car with a high output,240hp, 318. That old car was a lot of fun to drive.
@@ussenterprise5364no you didn't. The '81 - '84 model used a 165 hp/240 lb-ft 318 with a Carter ThermoQuad.
The '85 - '89 Fury/Diplomat AHB used a 175 hp/250 ft-lb 318 with a Q-Jet.
Installing a newer SMPI 5.9 Magnum or 5.7 Hemi changes the equation considerably.
See, these cars seem FAR better to me as a Brit, than the shit my country produced from the 70's till I'd say the 90's.
Capn Autismo As a American, I object lol most of these are non existent here. I see more foreign cars from the era on the road than these turds