The Chrysler K-Car Club

This area eats vehicles alive.The old X cars seemingly didnt live past the 80s here.The "A" cars suffered door bottom rust out and 3.0/2.5/2.8 engine and trans failures.And what can be said of the J car? Door bottoms,rocker panel,rear quarter rust out.Frame/cradle and lower control arm rust,and the dreaded leaky rear window (which rots the trunk floor and wheelhousings all out).Thrown rods from the antiquated 1.8/2.0/2.2 OHV engine.Frequent Torque converter lockup solenoid maladys,cracked heads,yanked out exhaust manifold studs with the associated coolant leakage.....
And as for Escorts/Tempo...once again the dreaded rust bug got those.
Although I have never seen a Tempo last to a ripe old age/mileage.Seemingly the engine always failed long before that.
Frankly,here,the Spirit/Acclaim cars seemed to have faired well,as did some Shadow cars,and the occasional Aries/Reliant.The poor Omni/Horizon cars suffered from rear trailing arm mount rot,making the cars uninspectable.
This area is tough on cars.Any car that can last 20-30 years is one hearty rig!

I hear the mother lode for K cars (and AMC Eagles) is of all places Maine! They seemed to congregate there and retire.No,they arent all runners,mostly fixer uppers or parts cars, but for some reason Maine wound up with a lot of them.
Used to see ads in "Uncle Henrys" trader all the time for them.

I dont think the cars here are being fixed or repaired,its more like the inspection stations are being paid off to ignore a lot of stuff.Lots of buddy buddy going on.The recent OBDII check engine lights on inspection failure has caused some resourcefulness as well.How they are getting away with it,I will never know.But,I guess maybe some people brag a lot,and they really arent getting away with anything.
Its no different here than anywhere else.Unibody rust still means the death of a car.
Now,an enterprising welder might try to save or reinforce the car, but in the end,its terminal.
I know one guy that had an 89 Chevy Sprint.He drove the wheels off the car.However he was warned at inspection that 3 of the 4 mounting bolts for the rear axle were getting tender....he drove the car for another 2 years all the while the station kept warning him,but stickering it nonetheless.This was 1995.The car finally was retired,but way after it should have been.

My last rant:

Some muscle car people shun us or hate us because we are different. One member dumped us because he was angry that we weren't up to his standards, despite the fact that a few of us do all the work. We won't get in line with them by downplaying our love for the K-car (those of us that really care about them). I've tried building relationships with muscle car clubs, but there is nothing there to unite us. They have the strength in numbers, advertising, interests, and money. So why should they waste their time building relationships with us. They dont' want anything to do with us. Its like the classic car community is almost entirely geared toward performance and mods. I see plenty of clubs ignoring their owners with base models like one with a Plymouth Fury I for example. This does not mean I won't continue to try to work with performance orientated clubs. Whats wrong with being passionate about cars because of its design, shape, or simplicity. The K-car can be anything to anybody, even a performer, and that is the example I am trying to set for this club. This is really how I feel about the matter. I wish more people in the classic car hobby would support the mundane or the different interests. I hope we can get big enough to survive like all the others. I feel in time we will. I refuse to abandon my passion for showing the community that we can thrive with other interests. I know Justin and some of the others feel kinda of the same way. One of our members got into a physical altercation with a muscle car owner that kicked his K-car and committed vandalism for showing up at a K-car event. Its mundane clubs like us that make the classic car hobby affordable to the average joe. There is nothing wrong with driving a classic 1987 Toyota Corolla. I think classic status should be 20 years, not 25 (another opinionated opinion). I advertise our cars as classics because they are, all of them will be 25 verys shortly, and we use this punchline to educate the public about the K-car. I can't wait for my car to hit 25 in 2013. NADA classifies all cars before 1990 as classics, why shouldn't we?

I really think that the K cars key to legit status lies with Lee Iacocca.He is respected industry wide.If he (heaven forbid) did a "Lee Iacocca/K car/Diabetes Benefit Tour" it would make a big dent in the public's opinion of those nutty people who still own/drive those boxy little cars.
If he set up a tour of some major cities,appeared in certain venues,with K and Extended K owners attending with their cars to show/get autographed,and helping out Iacoccas fave charity with donations,I think that could get media attention.However,even Iacocca himself would be the first to admit,why show up in Tampa Florida or Denton Texas if 3 or 4 cars are going to show up,and he winds up losing money on the flight/lodging?
Well,I guess we all could dream.
Anyone ever try sending him a pic of their car to be signed? Or sending him a donation to spur his pen into action?

Its a nice dream. I don't think he wants anything to do with us. But, that would help our cause immensly.

Here there still a decent number of K-car around - big student/old person town so there are almost all just transportation for someone. I do think the nice ones that survive will have affordable collectible status - much like a Corvair or Falcon now. They are definitely a landmark car for Chrysler and the industry as a whole - especially given they really paved the way for platform sharing which is so common today.

Anyway another K-car spotting today.

Dodge Aries Coupe

most people around my neck of the woods dont make fun of my K-cars at car shows, infact most people thank me for bringing them out, and the reason why is because up here the ones you see are all salt eaten. The manager at o riely auto parts loves my cars infact he judged mine at a local show. so when ever i need parts for the K-car he gives me a discount