Here's how the Aries and Reliant K-cars brought Chrysler back from the dead
HTML-код
- Опубликовано: 31 май 2024
- In this episode I provide the history of the Dodge Aries and Plymouth Reliant, the first cars sold by Chrysler under their K-car platform. Chrysler nearly went bankrupt in 1978, but with new CEO Lee Iacocca's plea to the U.S. government for a bailout, they had enough money to release their K-car line, a very basic set of coupes, sedans, and wagons that were very cheap and simple in design, yet proved to be a hit with the public, and allowed Chrysler to pay back their government loan 7 years early. The same K-car platform had used the existing Omni/Horizon subcompact as a starting point, and would also be used as the starting point for many other models of the 80s and 90s, including the famous minivans.
When I was a little kid K Cars and Chrysler mini vans were everywhere
Two of my aunts drove Reliants.
And yet, Chrysler is still teetering at the edge of extinction.
Chrysler periodically teeters between extinction and prosperity and always has.
Whenever they're on the edge of bankruptcy they usually come up with a product that saves them and then they get too comfortable and rely on that model for too long.
They're bought out by the Europeans, and they wouldn't want the American "influence" on their stable or rather only kept it on life support as long as it has a benefit to sell for the American market.
They just need to bring back the K car that will fix it.
Back to endangered.
Decades of terrible management after iacocca
These were decent, competent cars. They weren't fancy, but they got the job done. They provided a lot of value for the money, and it was ingenious the way Chrysler was able to churn out so many 'different' models from the same parts.
Funny, that. In 1981, when comparably equipped, a Volvo 240DL automatic wagon was $50 LESS than a Plymouth Reliant. Guess which we bought.
I had one of those knock off.
1987 Dodge Shadow ES Turbo, I factory ordered car with Sunroof.
I got 250,000 miles out of that car never had issue with 2.2 liter turbo engine, had 5-speed Manual transmission.
Still is best car I ever owned.
@@michaelriebandt6754 sweet my mom had an ‘89 ES Turbo 4door with an automatic, power everything and a push up sunroof along with an Infinity Sound System.
The K Car platform made several models including the Dodge Caravan which Lee Iacocca introduced 40 years ago for the 1984 model year
It's wild how such a mundane car had such an impact on a company
Gasoline was expensive
And the cars were cheap
People love Cheap
People underestimate the power of "mundane."
Everybody needs reliable transportation, and most people need to do that affordably. If a company can master that, they'll be very successful.
‘89 Reliant was our first car; wife learned to drive in it. Roomy, super efficient and trouble free. We shipped it to both Europe and Asia on military moves.
Had a 600 for a while. Loved that car! The seats were like sitting on a comfy couch. Sadly, got t boned by a dump truck and the car was totaled.
I remember working at an auto salvage yard in the early eighties,and with every 2.6,and K-Kar automatic transaxle we sold we would say a little prayer that they would make to the end of the 90 day warranty.
what a bunch of crap! Many companies had these cars as company cars and they were dependable.
@@jamesmyers9285 To be fair,I didn't mention the 2.2,or 2.5,they were good engines.I still stand on the 2.6 Mitshuexplody,and the weak automatic transaxles.
@@scottysgarage4393 There is a club for K -Kars,and Cars based on that platform.
The sad part is all the junkyards were loading up with X cars ,Escorts Tempos,and Topazs,Olds diesel powered cars and trucks,the eighties were not a great time for most of the American built cars,what a shame.
@@patrickmcgoldrick8234
The 2.6 had a really crappy electronic carb.
@@mpetersen6 If I remember correctly,they also had oil pump issues were the jack shaft would seize and the oil pump would jam,but that engine so many problems.
The 2.2,2.5 seemed to be better engines and seemed to last.
I live out in the Southwest Triangle and the kids it here are scooping up these K cars, especially the wagons and building budget JDM style cars out them.
I had a 1983 Reliant beat the heck out of it,, was a GREAT car.. Id buy another one,, but now own a 2019 300 and a 2018 Ram,,, love them.
I put 86,000 miles on my '83 Reliant in 3 years. My first new car from a dealership. Manual trans and 2.2 engine. No expensive repairs. Nothing wrong with it when I traded it in for an '86 Buick Regal. Now I own a 2018 Ram.
They were the car of choice for suburban high school principals for sure.
It usually is. So far this semester he has been absent nine times. :)
These cars were an essential part for middle class folks to afford, so good on Chrysler ❤.
I owned a 80s model Aries. Best car ever.
Good video. I was waiting for you to mention the 1990's Imperial and New Yorker and New Yorker Fifth Avenue. You did at the end. Chrysler lived on the K car chassis for years and did it successfully too. They had a bunch of cars off that platform. The US Government bought a lot of those K cars too. I used to see them parked at the recruiting office and near government places. They were used in a lot of films as you shared. Things changed with LH cars which got its chassis from the Eagle/AMC Premier and the rear drive Chrysler 300 and Charger and Challenger which got its platform from Mercedes Benz.
I had a 1988 Dodge Aries back in 1995, I painted it a metallic cranberry red. It sparkled, I looked at a picture of it yesterday. There are days I miss it.
Nicely done video! Ford and GM were selling badge engineered cars long before the K car arrived.
GM was famous for rebadging a model as a Chevy, Olds, Pontiac or Buick meaning one model had 3 or 4 badge brands
And they still do!!!
So was Chrysler. Aspen/Volaré and Dart/Valiant all the way back to 1963. That said, they weren't identical like the Dodge/Plymouth Neon that replaced the Shadow/Sundance twins.
while chrysler sold garbage on purpose like gm and ford.
The Lincoln Town Car was distinctive though.
Thank you for reminding me yakoof smirnov was a thing
I thought that's who that was... It took me a second to realize it.
*I liked Iacocca's Mini-Van commercials when he said **_"Buy American."_** While his Vans were built in Canada with Mitsubishi Engines shipped in crates from Japan. His Omni/Horizon utilized German VW crate motors.*
Yep. WW2 never ended.
I was told that they were actually Volkswagen engines.
Also: The Omnis/Horizons were basically French 🤣
First was Canada near Detroit. Second is Babylon USA in Fenton, Missouri. First was Windsor, Ontario, Canada. They hired American commuters. Near Detroit.
@@LionWithTheLamb Volkswagen engines were in some Plymouth Horizon/Dodge Omni models, not in the K's. some of those had the garbage Mitsubishi 2.6 engine.
The K cars were nice drivers and incredibly comfortable
constantly being repaired
Thanks for the Ferris Bueller clip!
My best friend's first car was his Grandmother's 1986 Chrysler LeBaron Town and Country Station Wagon. It had a turbo 2.2L four-cylinder engine, Cream Leather Interior, Cream exterior with wood trim all the power options, and Wire Wheel Covers. He loved the car, and we loved riding around in all that luxury. He took excellent care of the car, put 150,000 miles on the car, stored it after college, and still owns this little beauty.
Chrysler was actually pushing Dodge as its performance division since the early 1980s. I recall the "America's Driving Machines" ad campaign from those days.
The K Car was Chrysler's savior. And Lee Iacoca was the master at putting Chrysler back on track with sales and financially. I remember seeing the Aries, Reliant, New Yorker, and LeBaron all over the place when I was a kid in the 80s. I still sometimes see an Aries or Reliant around.
Can you do a video on the 1987-1993 Dodge Dynasty. I had 3 Dynasty a 1988 1992 1993 and all were cheap and easy to fix and peppy as well.
That last clip is very timely with the new one coming out soon! C:
Finally. This is MY old car. The first (and so far only) new car I've ever owned. A Dodge Aries two door. I kept it going from August '81 through April '95 with over 140,000 miles. Through two replacement sets of shocks and struts, one automatic transmission rebuild, two replacement head gaskets (a weak point on the much hyped 2.2 L engine), three sets of tires, and other things I've forgotten. One huge bright spot was that I brought my newborn son home from the hospital in the K-car.😁
Here for John Voight 👀
I have his pencil.
????
@@chewybunz It’s a Seinfeld thing. 🤣
I love her.
@@a.person7825Costanza got mad at Jerry and made him walk! 😅
Safe to say that Chrysler improved upon the hemi engine since the days of the K car
mopar still has class. chrysler not so much
CAFE standards and cash for clunkers are 2 of the worst things to ever happen to the auto market.
Cash for clunkers just felt really wasteful. The engine had to be permanently disabled (destroyed internally). Okay, we're supposed to be saving the environment, but we're doing so by making people buy new things that require resources to manufacture and filling up lots with deliberately destroyed vehicles. Bravo.
@@Dwigt_Rortugal I feel exactly the same my friend. Every last thing about it felt wrong and extremely wasteful. It also robbed a lot of young or lower wage folks (like myself at the time) of the opportunity to get really affordable used cars.
@Dwigt_Rortugal Cash for Clunkers a forerunner to Obamacare!!!!!!.
@@Dwigt_Rortugal If we only knew then what we know now.
@@Dwigt_Rortugal Cash for clunkers was a scam. It only benefited upper class, wealthy people. All the old rear wheel drive cars like the 1970's and 80's Cutlass Supreme and Pontiac LeMans and Gran Prix ended up in junkyards.
I had a 1984 Dodge Aries station wagon (2.2L), a 1985 Plymouth Voyager (2.6L), and a 1986 Dodge Omni GLH (2.2L non-turbo) & a 1992 Chrysler New Yorker Salon (3.3L).
*The Aries/Reliant had a good ride but the sheet metal was thin. Many mechanics at the time considered them one of the easiest cars to work on. They were quite simple mechanically.
* The Plymouth Voyager/Dodge Caravan was smaller than the recently discontinued Dodge Caravan. I had lots of trouble with the Mitsubishi 2.6L.Top speed for my Voyager was 95 mph.
* My Dodge Omni had 110 hp and topped out at 110 mph. Ran it flat out on the autobahn over in Germany when I was in the Army. 1986 was the first year for the third brake lights on all U.S. cars
* The Salon trim on the New Yorker was a stripped down version with no padded roof and had about a 12 inch shorter wheelbase than the 5th ave. The 3.3L V6 was very reliable. Went over 200K.
Love me a K car! Owned several, but now I have a K car "relative" with my 2001 Chrysler Sebring Convertible Limited, that I bought new. Still looks/runs/drives great at 120k miles.
These cars were everywhere back then. My aunt had a red on red we called "Old Red". So very original. By high school, my cousin had a beige one as his first car.
My father gave me a 1982 Plymouth Reliant K (2-door 4I 2.6L Hemi Mitsubishi engine) that I drove until he sold it to a friend in 1992. I remember trips from San Francisco to Lake Tahoe and even though it was a little slow, I could reach 85 mph without problem. I then drove it from San Francisco all the way to Miami and it performed great. I wish I still have it.
I had an 88 Reliant wagon back then. It rode like a Cadillac. Comfortable seats. Amazing car.
How about the gm w bodies? Olds Cutlass Supreme and Chevrolet Lumina, etc.
mopar or no car
I still have a 1981 Plymouth Reliant K the first year they were made. It is a fantastic car. There are far more K cars around today, then the equivalent GM or Ford vehicles of that generation by far. They truly were well-built vehicles
Thanks for doing this one. I know these cars weren’t the prettiest or the most powerful, but they were solid, sturdy, relatively reliable and easy to fix. My parents owned an ‘84 and ‘87 Reliant sedans (I took my road test on the ‘87). Both were 2.2L automatics and went well over 100k miles each with minimal maintenance…corrosion ultimately killed them. My first car was an ‘85 Reliant SE wagon…2.2L with bucket seats and floor shift automatic. It didn’t get me dates…but I could get me and a bunch of friends around. A crash killed it and I wished I still had it.
I miss the music
I had two K-Cars, a 1984 Dodge Aries four door and later a 1988 Plymouth Reliant two door I named “Dixie Darling”.
Both were over 10 years old before I owned them. They were what I call “easy driving”, especially on the highway. The Reliant was especially good as it had fuel injection and by 1988 all the bugs were worked with updated interior.
I bought a new Plymouth Reliant in 1981. Although it was not at all refined even by early 1980's standards, it would start on the coldest morning and never left me stranded. I drove it for over 200,000 miles with very little in the way of repairs.
Nicely done, two of my aunts had Reliants and a family friend who passed in August of 2023 had a Plymouth Horizon.
I have to say how much I appreciate your videos! I became exposed for only a short time to American cars - late 80’s to early 2000s so for me this is the perfect channel - cars I knew well and are now almost extinct.
I had a 1985 dodge omni with 2.2 mis engine w/5sp trans. Put 300k w/1 clutch change. 1st new car i ever bought. Would do it all over again.😊
Same here, was my first new car. I had 180,000 on mine when I gave it to my niece. It was incredible shape as it was kept in a garage and kept it washed and polished. Unfortunately my niece didn't keep up the maintenance and didn't change the oil and blew the engine. I felt like crying.
Great cars. I had 6 of them over a period of about 33 years in 2 different countries. Put well over 230,000 on 2 of them with the 2.2 engine. The great flaw on those cars were the outside door handles.
@@aguerra1381you are right about the door handles. Strange enough it always seem to be passenger doors, not driver door!
Ah, back to a true My Old Car episode. Takes me back to the early days of your channel😂
They were good, cheap, comfortable cars for the masses. Growing up we had an 84 Reliant followed by an 89 Aries. My first car was a 1985 Dodge Lancer with the 2.2 turbo, which I really liked. My brother's first car was a shadow with that blue paint + silver trim which looked really nice. K cars were everywhere because they hit a sweet spot in price and features.
My first car, a 1981 Reliant-K wagon with over 100K miles on it. Drove it into the ground. Still saw it on the road for years later driven by the lady I sold it to.
My first car was a 82 Plymouth Reliant! I bought it from my uncle for $250. It was forest green metallic with a lime green vinyl interior,we nicknamed it “Mean Green” good times!
My Dad bought an 82 Reliant 2 door off the show room floor when I was a kid. They also had a station wagon with wood grain that I really liked. Guess Dad was not ready for that. I can't blame him now.
Also, rode with a preacher once to a youth event and got a close up view of the manual shifter and a bench seat. Of course I wound up in the middle. The shifting looked awkward to me but seemed to work ok. I was just trying to stay out of the way. Actually still see a Reliant or Aries out in the wild from time time to time. They look close to the end. Nice video!
my first car was a 84 reliant K wagon, bought it from a police auction $500 in 96 it had the Mitsubishi motor put 100K on that car with only basic maintenance . sold it 5 years later for the same $500 to this date has been the best deal and most reliable car I've ever had
My aunt and I both had K-cars. Hers was one of the first; an 81 Aries 2-dr with a stick shift. Mine was one of the last; an 88 Reliant. After those two cars, my family refused to go anywhere near a Chrysler product again.
We had a 1979 Plymouth Horizon for years. It was an excellent car. No problems.
Back in the 1980s, Lee Iacocca even started in Chrysler commercial's. There was one where he said, "Not bad after having one foot in the grave". In a later commercial "He said his cars are just as good as the Japanese, If you can find a better car, buy it"
That was well done and fun to watch! .... i grew up with a maroon 82'Reliant sedan as a kid and _absolutely_ remember the rear windows that didnt roll down, i have popped that vent window open hundreds of times as a kid.😄
Excellent work here. I don't remember these cars being that popular in the SF Bay Area.
I do remember Mitsubishi imported for Dodge or Chrysler. Iacocca got that part correct. Who knew the Caravan would be that successful.🚙
For more than a decade all of their front wheel drive vehicles were based on the same platform, yes that includes the minivan
Love your videos fella. Always look forward to them. 👍🏾
My grandparents had an '85 Reliant coupe, bought new that year. It had a 4-speaker stereo radio, but they just listened to the AM elevator music station. Grandpa would "direct the sound" to different corners of the car using the fader and balance knobs. I'm not sure if he knew about FM stereo, LOL. That's my K-car memory. As far as the K-cars' sales success, keep in mind that Lee Iacocca was a pretty good salesman, LOL.
I drove a couple of K frame cars in the 80s as TAXICABS in Honolulu. Those not rolling down windows were constantly complained about. Plus, four passengers, MAX. The fact that they got good mileage was worthless compared to lost income.
My 1986 New Yorker was a beautiful car. Powerful and luxurious, it suffered from oil starvation when cornering. This problem exists with all transverse-mounted engines.
I grew up Mopar. I was a young adult in the 80s and had a Dodge Daytona Turbo. My father had an 83 Chrysler Town & Country. That was still a K car wagon, and not the premium van that replaced it. My much younger sister then had an 89 Dodge Spirit. My older sister had an 89 Dodge Shadow. All 3 were nice fuel efficient cars but under powered. At least my Daytona Turbo and then a Daytona Shelby Z had good performance for the time.
"The Aspen and Volare were the most recalled cars in American History."
The Cybertruck: "Hold my beer..."
Love your content these ads are so so good to see 😂. Keep it up!
Remember seeing Omnis and Horizons in the fall of 78 as 79 models. Looked pretty good, saw many of them. The Omni 024 had some very sharp styling for its' day. Have you done one on the Ford Fairmont? Sure would like to see one. Thanks!
My dad had an '80 Omni when I was a little kid. I remember it like yesterday because it was the most stripped down model you could get with no a/c and vinyl seats that you stuck to in the summer time 😂. It was actually at first a pretty neat little car, it was front wheel drive when few other cars were and where we lived that was great with all the snow. We had it for 8 years and by that time it was well past it's prime and showed its age not just in its condition but in its style. It served its purpose though and my dad for years still commended that little car for its great fuel economy and ruggedness. I still remember towards the end the idle was messed up and it sounded like an airplane when you started it and he had to sit for like 5 minutes and let it "idle down" 😂
I guess I’ll have to sing the music to myself… 😗
I’ll sing backup
My dad had a Reliant wagon when I was a kid. Don't remember the year. He bought it oll an older guy for like $400 and the timing chain broke on it on the drive home. Once that was fixed though, it lasted quite a while. He bought it to replace his 84 Chevy Impala that I think blew a head gasket.
Yeah, agree with the others. Missing your trademark music. Part of what makes your videos fun.
I Love K-Cars Since Before I Was Born In ‘96 NY! 😢😢😢😢😢😢😢
You also capitalize every word, so there’s that.
effing nitwit. want to buy a car?
I was waiting for this video. In 2003 , this Plymouth Caravelle was my 1st car. It wasn't cool by any means but I had a car and for 6 months I was happy about it.
Next car was a 94 Taurus SHO so yeah that was an upgrade 😂
I watch often rarely comment.
But this was well done and no rambling.
P.s. when I think of a car in it's most basic form I think of the shape of a k car sedan.
Oh my slanty six valiant still running great, thank you. 😊
Has dual-fifty air ✌ ❄
It would be cool if you did a documentary on the Honda CRX. Back in the day I had a 1990 CRX DX. I absolutely loved that car.
Really good video as always. The Plymouth Caravelle is actually on the "E" platform. Along with the Dodge 600 and Chrysler E Class and New Yorker. Also, the replacement for the Mitsubishi 2.6 was the Chrysler 2.5, which was a stroked 2.2 liter. The 2.4 came later, in the Stratus, Cirrus, Breeze, Caravan, and Voyager.
All the E platform was, was just a stretched K platform. Zero difference otherwise.
My '86 Plymouth Caravelle SE was a great little car!
My favorite is the one John Candy drives in Plane's, Trains and Automobiles
Love your episodes. Please do another episode on Saab, maybe the Saab 9000 which was Saabs entry into the up market executive car segment. The 9000 was part of the Type Four platform in conjunction with the Italian automaker Fiat Automobiles. Fiat retailed similar derivative versions as the more basic Fiat Croma, the luxury-themed Lancia Thema, and the sports-oriented Alfa Romeo 164
Having rented a K car in the early 80's, I could not believe how cheap this car felt. It kept reminding me of the car you would wait 10 years to get in the Eastern Block. And then hating it and being stuck with it.
liked and subscribed, very good content my brother!!!!
I remember the Shadow/Sundance. Had a s a rental one weekend……you could remove the key while doing interstate speeds…engine ran fine, you could just freak out the passengers by removing the key. I can’t remember if you needed to install the key back to shut off, it definitely a freak out passenger
Moment! My diss first “
Semi new vehicle was a rental least turn in for a &7Aries LE….decently equipped…only thing missing was cassette player, cruise and bucket seats. It was my treat when I drove to the weekly shopping trip. I would drop him off at the entrance and park as far away as I could……that was over 35 years and one shattered Fibonacci ago!
👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾!
A K-Car video with all the trimmings here: Factual, with a few things most people don't actually know or remember, with a Barenaked Ladies opening and a classic Axel Foley moment; both in tribute to the ugliest bricks-on-wheels car ever built with lousy dependability and the worst mistake the U.S. Department of Defense ever made buying a fleet of them! 🤪!
6:37 That Aries station wagon, in that color was my ride from 1993 to 2008 when I gave it to a friend who drove it until 2008. It blew its head gasket at 6-7 years old. Then reliably after that every 2 years. The Iron block/aluminum heat engine was not a good idea.
You missed that George Costanza had a K car that he bought because he was told that it belonged to Jon Voight.
the bite marks on the pencil in the glove box could prove it.
@@kirkericson2722But the owner card read "JOHN Voight". Jerry pointed that out. AHAHAHAHAHA! 😆😆😆😆😆
When the K Cars first arrived, they had one on display at K-Mart. The fit and finish was deplorable; even the badges were askew. In 1989, my work lease was a Dodge Lancer, which was a pretty nice car, comfortable, peppy and reliable.
Thank you for the great content.
Didn't realise the 93 Plymouth Sundance I had was a K car originally. Maybe that is why I had no problems with it and was one of the most reliable cars I had....and the AC blew cold until I traded it in for a Nissan in 2010.
Greetings from southern Ontario Canada in the 1987 chrysler kcar the 2.5 litre engine was optional as my parents bought theirs without ac it lasted 15 years before being sent to the junk yard
My grandparents had a reliant. I Don't know the fine details on which engine they had or how many miles they had on it before they traded it off but considering that they owned an Acclaim and two spirits afterwards, I would take it that they liked it. The acclaim and spirits I remember quite well. They weren't anything that a car enthusiast would be crazy about but they were simple transportation cars that were quite comfortable and affordable. The only problems that I remember was that the head gaskets seem to last somewhere around 125 to 150,000 mi. Not bad but not the best. The torqueflite 3 speeds were bulletproof.
The sad thing about the most notorious episode of the Malaise Era is that Chrysler actually put out some very good cars, given the constraints of meeting emissions and crash safety standards. But the simple fact is that most of them didn't sell well. The irony is that the much-maligned Omni/Horizon cars were strong sellers, even if they weren't memorable, not unlike the Chevy Chevette and the Ford Escorts of the time. Since Chrysler already had the tooling at their Brampton, Ontario plant, and whatever it couldn't do, the contract with AMC at Kenosha could handle, as of 1982, they still continued with the M-body cars (Chrysler Fifth Avenue, Dodge Diplomat, Plymouth Gran Fury) which were limited to four-door sedans. All had the 318 (5.2 litre) V8, usually with the Carter TQ four-barrel, the Rochester Quadrajet from '85 onwards,
Lee Iacocca saw to it that the F-body (Aspen, Volare) and the ill-fated R-body full size cars (Chrysler Newport and New Yorker, Dodge St. Regis, and for 80-81 only, Plymouth Gran Fury) were discontinued ASAP. The J-body personal luxury 2-door coupes (2nd generation Chrysler Cordoba, Chrysler Imperial with the ill-fated fuel injection, and the Dodge Mirada) were allowed to go on until 1983. Many of the lines carried over to "extended" K-cars, which gradually grew into the Y-body Chrysler Fifth Avenues and Imperials of the late 1980s and early 1990s, the "flagships" of the Chrysler FWD passenger cars.
It looks like a car designed in Minecraft.
They all did. Most cars were boxy in that era.
Next my old car...AMC Spirit. I owned an 81. It was an amazingly fun POS.
6:49 GM did that with the windows on Malibu.
You are correct. It was all the G Body sedans in the 1980's: Chevrolet Malibu, Pontiac Grand LeMans and Bonneville, Oldsmobile Cutlass, Buick Century and Regal.
I bought a beat up k car when I was a student. Paid $240 for it. I drove it three years with no exhaust. It hit a curb and the steering wobbled even driving strait. I never even checked the oil once. One of the front brakes leaked so I pinched the line with vice grips and drove it anyways. It wasn't a good car but it always worked and got me around
Nice BNL sound bite!
My dad had a reliant with vinyl seats and I remember me and my brother played find the hubcaps that kept falling off on the side of the road. Later on the muffler fell off and it sounded like a motorcycle.
I remember these things being everywhere when i was a kid. My parents had one and were many kids first car in the 90s as a hand me down when the parents finally got rid of these things and got something better. I have a 89 Daytona now with a 2.2 so not sure if that’s the same platform as these
Those cars were economical, had zero maintenance issues and were fun to drive.....very fun to drive. Edit: Every K-platform sold in my area had the larger Mitsubishi engine......
Grew up in an '86 Reliant, and the boxy 80s aesthetic is what my brain automatically associates with the word "car". Is difficult to find anything nowadays that doesn't look like a hideous, rounded-off boat.
I had a 1981 Plymouth Reliant and a 1985 Dodge Aries.
I learned to drive in dads 88 Reliant 2.5 and my 1st car (in the year 2000) was a hand me down 85 Reliant 2.6. I look back on it, a 15 year old k car!? What was I thinking?! Well i got 3 relatively reliable years out of it and it lasted me through college. It was a gas hog though, the mikuni carb always ran rich and 15-21 mpg was the norm depending on the wearher. It also couldnt pass emissions (so i drove with an R sticker and never got pulled over haha) but it was amazing in the snow. In the end the timing chain guides began to fail and that did it in. $1000 repair on a car worth scrap, easy decision. Goodbye hemi Reliant. I drove it into the junkyard.
I remember them. Nice proletarian transportation, like their semi-import Plymouth Horizon. Today everyone is stuck without simple transportation, stuck with new car/insurance at +$1000. I'll take all the safety improvements in the 21st century, but put cranks on my windows, analog gauges, and get rid of all those electric actuators doing stupid things.
My Dad bought 1984 Plymouth Reliant K with 4-Speed Manual Shift.