The seller of today’s Nice Price or No Dice LeBaron claims it has been “Babied its Whole Life!” That shows in the ad’s pictures and the low 39,601 miles on the odometer. Let’s see if this fancy pants K-Car can, as a result, command some serious cash.
With the Pontiac Fiero in 1984, General Motors introduced a new and innovative form of construction, comprising a space-frame chassis upon which plastic outer body panels are bolted and riveted. This method of production expanded to GM’s shovel-nose minivans and the Saturn marque’s entire early lineup. Today, only Chevy’s Corvette still waves the flag as a plastic fantastic, as GM has otherwise reverted to more traditional chassis-and-body combos.
That’s not to say that plastic doesn’t play an important role in the contemporary auto industry. But instead of body panels, it’s in the form of vinyl wraps that allow cars to change colors, serve as rolling billboards, and, more generally, create wrapping work that AI won’t eventually make obsolete.
The 2009 Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT-8 we looked at on Monday had an eye-wearing yellow wrap over its more staid black factory finish. It also had a handful of mods, mostly focused on air flow. Based on the comments, most of you hated the mods and, even more, loathed the wrap. The added cost of undoing the tomfoolery put added onus on the $14,900 asking price, which, once the dust settled, ended up in a hefty 76% “No Dice” loss.
Not Jon Voight
One factor driving down the desirability of thirsty SUVs like yesterday’s Jeep is the ever-increasing cost of a gallon of gas. That has shot from a minor inconvenience to a major drain on the ol’ wallet faster than a Mustang loses its composure leaving a car show.
The 1985 Chrysler LeBaron convertible standing before us today represents a response to another fuel crisis: the OPEC-driven supply strangulations of the 1970s. A double whammy during the disco days, constrained gas supplies drove the downsizing of models from American manufacturers, an explosion in sales of more fuel-efficient imports, and, most egregiously, a national speed limit of 55 miles per hour. Yawn.
As a result of these factors, Chrysler laid out a plan for a series of models based on a compact, lightweight front-wheel-drive format dubbed the K Platform. From basic rental-grade sedans to fancy landau-roofed luxury cars and the first American-built convertible since the 1976 Cadillac Eldorado, the K Car chassis spawned a cornucopia of models spanning almost every automotive niche imaginable. The LeBaron even found its way into popular culture, featuring prominently in both a memorable Seinfeld episode and as the “Automobile” in the beloved Thanksgiving season staple “Planes, Trains, and Automobiles.”
The door is ajar
Both the Seinfeld and movie star LeBarons feature the Town and Country package, which notably offered faux-wood siding in the vein of Chrysler’s ’40s models of the same name. This car is the standard edition and lacks that frippery. Instead, it offers handsome burgundy paint matched with a white top, alloy wheels, and lots of skinny chrome trim. That color combination is carried over into the cabin, across a red dash and white leather seating surfaces. Atop that is some faux wood trim (so, sort of like the Town and County), and argent accents on the instrument cluster and factory AM/FM/cassette stereo. One fun feature of this generation of LeBaron is the oddball Electronic Voice Alert messenger. That announces in a scratchy synthesized voice, notifications such as “A door is ajar,” or “Fuel level low.” The system used the same speech chips as a Speak & Spell toy, so you probably can imagine exactly what this car sounds like. Hopefully, that is still functioning. The ad notes that the car has a meager 39,601 miles on the clock, while the seller describes its overall condition as excellent.
The turbo two-point-two
Also excellent is the engine under the hood. The twin vents in that hood make it known that that engine is the turbocharged 2.2-liter SOHC four: the LeBaron’s top option for this year. While it lacks the intercooler that would extract even more power in later iterations, for its era, the 146 horsepower and 168 pound-feet of torque, both available at reasonably low rpms, are respectable.
Sharing space in the engine bay with the turbo four is an A413 TorqueFlite three-speed automatic transaxle driving the front wheels. Yes, that is a bit of a buzzkill until you realize the intended market for this model, as also evidenced by its whitewall tires and subtly pinstriped flanks.
Everything on the car looks to be in great condition, right down to the silver paint on its badging, which most typically gets rubbed off after years of car washes and baking in the sun. The interior is just as nice as the exterior, and so is the engine bay, although the latter could use a bit of detailing to really impress.
A hand-me-down
According to the seller, the LeBaron belonged to their dad, who babied the car its whole life. They also kept it out of trouble, as it’s being sold with a clean title. For anyone with a sense of nostalgia for the 1980s, or someone looking to draw a crowd at the next Radwood, this car would probably prove a hit. That’s, of course, if we find the $12,000 asking price just as show-worthy. And despite this being a “Dad’s Car,” which invites the inevitable expectation of “Dad Jokes” at its expense, the seller demands “Serious Inquiries Only.”
What do you think? Is this excellent example of a fancy K Car worth that $12,000 asking as it sits? Or does that price have you thinking this is no “Le-Bargain?”
You decide!
Butte, Montana, Craigslist, or go here if the ad disappears.
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