Bought a k car

[70 sublime]

We were driving a red 1981 plymouth reliant k car standard transmission the day we brought our first kid home from hospital in 1990
After that had a Dodge shadow that had 300 000 km on it as a second car when we were doing the family mopar mini van thing

Yes I would drive another just as a neat something you do not see any more car if one in good shape came along

 

[MCODECUDA]

When first introduced the Omni and Horizon used engines built by VW. The contract with VW was for a limited number of engines but the cars were so popular that Chrysler couldn’t buy enough of them. Some but not many cars got Peugeot engines. I found that out once when I couldn’t get the correct rear main seal for a Horizon. Another little known change was with the engine balance requiring a different weighted torque converter. Chrysler also changed the transmission input shaft and transmission oil pump so that you couldn’t mismatch parts. Dayco offered a special torque converter to overcome this but if you swapped the transmission input shaft and transmission oil pump you could accomplish about the same thing for almost nothing.

 

[chargervert]

The Caravan had more to do with saving Chrysler than the K car did,but the K car helped.

 

[WileE]

Had several K cars and probably more reliable than any other of the many autos we've had.

The Caravan had more to do with saving Chrysler than the K car did,but the K car helped.

Actually, the K platform initially on the car version was the savior of Chrysler. The K-car was introduced in 1981, and made the company profitable once again. The minivan, also based on the platform, was not introduced until 1984. By the time the minivan arrived, Chrysler already dug itself out.

 

[pjm8047]

I remember picking up my mother and new born brother from the hospital in 1984 with my father in our brand new 84 voyager with the 2.5l . Still the k car platform.

 

[chargervert]

The Caravan was the death nail for the station wagon everyone grew up with.

 

[YY1]

...except it came back as the SUV.

 

[chargervert]

We were one of the few families who never had a station wagon. My mom drove a Charger R/T SE.

 

[moparedtn]

Ours sure did. Looked pretty much like this one:

Family of 6 needed a little room...
Riding in the back of that thing, we begged for Pop to put the window down, even though
the exhaust fumes would about kill us from that 383.


I'm convinced that listening to that thing burble down the highway is where my love of all
things big block Mopar began...

 

[GetX'd]

For the first 20 yrs of my career I always had a company car. I recall at one point the rumor was my company was going to go from GM products to Chrysler - K-Cars. I don’t know how large our fleet was but it had to be in the low thousands. I was in CO at the time and my sister in law was in charge of fleet mgmt in home office in CT. I called her with a point by point plea not to switch to those low powered, incredibly uncomfortable, embarrassing looking rolling pop cans. One of the things I said was “what kind of representation of blue chip does that give our broker clients?” If you must split the fleet and let the loss control and claims adjusters drive them but not sales. Thank God she listened and they instead switched to Ford Taurus which in my opinion was a much better option for us co car drivers. They stuck w/Taurus for quite a long time after the switch.

 

[chargervert]

Ours sure did. Looked pretty much like this one:
View attachment 1651319
Family of 6 needed a little room...
Riding in the back of that thing, we begged for Pop to put the window down, even though
the exhaust fumes would about kill us from that 383.


I'm convinced that listening to that thing burble down the highway is where my love of all
things big block Mopar began...

Just like the car on the Wonder Years television show.

 

[Budnicks]

Not my cup of tea,
IMO they looked like the cars I drew, when I was like 3 y/o
But;
the body & engine looks clean/solid
I never liked any cars of that era much
except the early to mid 80s Omni/Charger/Shelby (to convert to rwd & v8)
I had visions of a v8 Rampage too
I had a 82 Omni/Charger FC, ended up I took the body off,
gave it to my chassis guys son
& made it into an AA/Gas altered instead

I was into trucks/4x4s Power Wagons/Power Rams in the malaise era,
still had my muscle cars too

but I won't judge/deny you
'what you choose' to spend your $$$ on
unless it's woke political crap

 

[Rebelrouser]

Hey mopar gear heads, I know this is a b body forum but I just purchased a 88 reliant k a couple of weeks ago because i was always looking for a k car because that was my first car i was driving in high school (parents car) im 42 fyi and i need some help. B bodies only has helped me a ton in the past with my 71 rr. I purchased it from the original owner with only 33,000 original miles on in. Rust free with a fairly recent paint job on it. Doesn’t need much work other then the fluid and suspension parts. I was wondering if there’s a k car forums out there and im also lookng for some parts. Thanks

View attachment 1651079

View attachment 1651080

I wish you were closer, my retired uncle in Missouri has a couple acres of K cars and Horizons. He was a body man and fixed them as builders back in the day. I drove one myself for several years. Kind of the model T of the 80's

 

[moparedtn]

Just like the car on the Wonder Years television show.

Never watched it, so I went to look it up.
Close - that was a Polara wagon:

 

[440 4 speed]

For the first 20 yrs of my career I always had a company car. I recall at one point the rumor was my company was going to go from GM products to Chrysler - K-Cars. I don’t know how large our fleet was but it had to be in the low thousands. I was in CO at the time and my sister in law was in charge of fleet mgmt in home office in CT. I called her with a point by point plea not to switch to those low powered, incredibly uncomfortable, embarrassing looking rolling pop cans. One of the things I said was “what kind of representation of blue chip does that give our broker clients?” If you must split the fleet and let the loss control and claims adjusters drive them but not sales. Thank God she listened and they instead switched to Ford Taurus which in my opinion was a much better option for us co car drivers. They stuck w/Taurus for quite a long time after the switch.

So it seems like you and your sister thwarted Lee’s efforts to pay off Chrysler’s debts earlier. Possibly helped Ford get some of their debt forgiven?

 

[GetX'd]

So it seems like you and your sister thwarted Lee’s efforts to pay off Chrysler’s debts earlier. Possibly helped Ford get some of their debt forgiven?

My “sister in law” and I didn’t know of any of that and frankly didn’t care. My motivation was purely selfish from the standpoint I didn’t want to be forced to drive one of those pos everyday especially for the miles and Colorado altitude I would have been subjecting it to. Couldn’t have cared less about the corporate economics of the whole thing. I wanted a decent company car not an underpowered pop can. If anyone has a problem w/that send it to the complaint dept.

 

[440 4 speed]

My “sister in law” and I didn’t know of any of that and frankly didn’t care. My motivation was purely selfish from the standpoint I didn’t want to be forced to drive one of those pos everyday especially for the miles and Colorado altitude I would have been subjecting it to. Couldn’t have cared less about the corporate economics of the whole thing. I wanted a decent company car not an underpowered pop can. If anyone has a problem w/that send it to the complaint dept.

WOW! Sorry if I touched a nerve. No slight intended.

 

[mmissile]

Love K-cars. Those and Omni/Horizon, were the best beaters I ever owned.

 

[pjm8047]

Putting new shocks on it Friday morning. Got a dash pad cover on the way too

 

[RemCharger]

Love K-cars. Those and Omni/Horizon, were the best beaters I ever owned.

I got into fixing and driving a few of the K's , ( newer injected ones) and found them to be an extremely pleasant comfortable ride. Paper bag on your head type cars.