No Reserve: 17k-Mile 1993 Chrysler Imperial for sale on BaT Auctions - ending March 11 (Lot #67,728) | Bring a Trailer can't imagine there is much of a market for these. I Can't see it getting up to $10k
I agree, it looks to be in great condition, but it is also everything I don't care for in a car. Is the 3.8 V6 the engine that had the water pump housing that stuck out to the side of the block? I remember the water pump bolts rusting to the housing due to dissimilar metal corrosion and that they were thru holes letting water an road salt in. Always dreaded the replacement of that era Chrysler water pumps. I considered myself lucky if only a couple of bolts snapped off even with plenty of heat applied!
That’s so funny was sharing with a friend that really likes these. As he describes it, a Dodge Dynasty in church clothes.
The 3.3 and 3.8L V6s are pretty decent engines for FWD duty; I've never had any problems with corrosion on their water pump bolts, but I figure, with no maintenance, anything's possible.
Jeff is also in Michigan, land of rot and rust. While I never had any problems with our van with the 3.6 growing up in the desert, I've opened a few that were amazingly crusty and every bolt snapped.
The K-car had pretty much run its course by the time this Imperial appeared in a Chrysler show room. It must have appeared pretty archaic compared to the new LH body Concorde introduced that year.
You can correlate that change with Daimler's purchase of Chrysler, as the cars like the Neon and LH-platform cars, and the full redesign of the minivans were there right off the bat.
But the LH, Neons, and '96 minivans all preceded the Daimler fiasco, which I believe happened in either 98 or 99. They say part of the reason for Daimler "merging" with Chrysler was to raid the piggy bank. The pundits back then were calling Chrysler "the hottest car company" due to all of the new vehicles they were pumping out post-Iacocca. Man when you think about it, Mopar was on a roll between 1993 and 1997.
Interesting. I'd swear they came out post-buyout, but it's possible it was pre-buyout, post-Iacocca. As an aside, if you've not had a chance to read Iacocca's autobio, you should. His dad had an interesting political belief: that he thought the majority of Americans voted according to their checkbook. To say, when times were good, people voted Republican, to reduce how much they paid in taxes, and when times were tough, they voted Democrat, just for the programs that kept people afloat.
Per Wikipedia: 1979 Chrysler bailout[edit] The Dodge Aries, a typical K-Car Realizing that the company would go out of business if it did not receive a large infusion of cash, Iacocca approached the United States Congress in 1979 and successfully requested a loan guarantee. To obtain the guarantee, Chrysler was required to reduce costs and abandon some longstanding projects, such as the turbine engine, which had been ready for consumer production in 1979 after nearly 20 years of development. Chrysler released the first of the K-Car line, the Dodge Aries and Plymouth Reliant, in 1981. Similar to the later minivan, these compact automobiles were based on design proposals that Ford had rejected during Iacocca's (and Sperlich's) tenure. Released in the middle of the major 1980-1982 recession, the small, efficient, and inexpensive front-wheel drive cars sold rapidly. In addition, Iacocca re-introduced the big Imperial as the company's flagship. The new model had all of the newest technologies of the time, including fully electronic fuel injection and all-digital dashboard. Chrysler introduced the minivan, chiefly Sperlich's "baby", in late 1983. It led the automobile industry in sales for 25 years.[15] Because of the K-cars and minivans, along with the reforms Iacocca implemented, the company turned around quickly and was able to repay the government-backed loans seven years earlier than expected. The Jeep Grand Cherokee design was the driving force behind Chrysler's buyout of AMC. Iacocca desperately wanted it. Iacocca led Chrysler's acquisition of AMC in 1987, which brought the profitable Jeep division under the corporate umbrella. It created the short-lived Eagle division. By this time, AMC had already finished most of the work on the Jeep Grand Cherokee, which Iacocca wanted. The Grand Cherokee would not be released until 1992 for the 1993 model year, the same year that Iacocca retired. Throughout the 1980s, Iacocca appeared in a series of commercials for the company's vehicles, employing the ad campaign, "The pride is back," to denote the turnaround of the corporation. He also voiced what was to become his trademark phrase: "If you can find a better car, buy it."[16] Iacocca retired as president, CEO, and chairman of Chrysler at the end of 1992.[17]
His dad started a chain of hot-dog stands that still exist to this day in the Lehigh Valley of PA. Good quick stuff...similar to the Coney Islands of the midwest. http://www.yoccos.com/our-story.html
