M is in the house

[sixpkrt]

On Thursday another car found it’s way to the shop. I’ve been looking at this car for about a week before pulling the trigger. It was priced pretty fair to start with, but after some additional negotiations with seller, we came to an agreement on the price that we were both happy with.

Overall, the car is pretty solid, as can be seen in the pics. The interior is in very good condition, the power windows work, as does the Chronometer clock, radio, lights, turn signals etc. The headliner is drooping and is really the only flaw I noticed with the interior. The body overall is rust free, but it does have a sun faded trunk lid from being parked under a car port for a number of years. The tires and rims on the car don’t look too bad IMO. The seller did include the original wheels with covers as part of the sale, and the tires on them are just a year old.

The 318 4 barrel recently turned over 100K and is original and it appears to have been well maintained. I don’t know how I’m going to like having a whopping 155 horsepower under my foot, but at least it’ll get great gas mileage compared to the other rides.

After driving the Lebaron around the neighborhood, it drove well and was pretty responsive. Even the lean burn didn’t have any hiccups to speak of.

And having a “little” car in the fleet is a change of pace. It might take some time to grow on me to really appreciate it.

 

[1978 NYB]

Very nice car!

 

[sixpkrt]

....sharing a few more pics....

...and one more of a hose pic..

 

[1978 NYB]

Fender tag(s)????

 

[sixpkrt]

 

[Newport 66]

Nice driver!! Congrats, you did well!!

 

[furious70]

Really clean for one of those!
Time for the 5.7!

 

[sixpkrt]

 

[Mr C]

Love M bodies. Stone axe reliable. Not fast but you will always get there.

 

[mrfury68]

Nice score of a really clean ride. Nice color too. It does not look like a 100K mile car. Have fun.

 

[71Polara383]

That thing is pretty sweet!

 

[saforwardlook]

Those are one of my favorite vehicles and I even got one for my mom many years ago when it was new.

The 1978-9 318-4 bbl was a really good package too - and rest assured, it wasn't in any way a lean burn fuel system calibration at all - it was fully stoichiometric and fairly rich off idle with a minimum of EGR (exhaust gas recirculation) to ensure good driveability and reasonable performance. The package could have been a little better on the low end if Chrysler had been willing to tool up a smaller runner intake manifold to provide faster intake charge velocities for better low end torque, but settled on a 360 manifold to save cost for that limited year offering. Is your car an original California sold vehicle? That package was usually used only in California but could be had as an option in other cases. The 360-4 bbl package was also a very good package calibration and offered exceptional performance and smoothness too with the same basic calibration strategy. You couldn't go wrong with either one. All that was "lean burn" was the electronic ignition controls in the box mounted on the air cleaner - and none of that had anything to do with anything lean burn in truth.

But I am biased, since I developed both calibrations because I was fed up with the crap the proving grounds fed California so we did our own and the chief engineer, Dick Goodwillie in that period, really liked the package after driving one compared to even the Federal 318-2 bbl package, so he gave us approval for the 4 bbl 318 and 360 calibrations for California - no 2bbls were sold in that state in 1978-9. The 318-4 bbl package was standard in California and the 360-4 bbl package was the only option in the M body. Both were also used in the 1979 Cordobas and Magnums in California.

Enjoy Tim!

 

[rapidtrans]

Love M bodies. Stone axe reliable. Not fast but you will always get there.

And a very comfortable ride.
Always liked the looks of these. I think it’s the quarter panel and C pillar detail.
The car has the right stance for those wheels and tires.

 

[traintech55]

Nice car, my 1979 was black with a red interior. The road wheels you bought from me would look real nice on it.

 

[bluefury361]

My recently passed friend Jim found this clean 6 cylinder 88 Diplomat and swapped a 440 into it. Heck of a sleeper.
Looks like it could have been built that way.

]

 

[bluefury361]

Love the original 15 X 7 wheels and covers. I vote they go back on the car.

 

[bluefury361]

HOSE.....!

 

[Fratzog]

Nice score. The car looks remarkably solid for an unmolested example. Is it a southern car? I also vote for going back to the original rims. Sell the aftermarket ones to finance the headliner repairs.

 

[Sport Fury 67]

Hey Tim, very nice! I always wanted one of these as well. You will have the most stylish car in the hood with those taillights and the cool rectangular luminescent opera lights.

Not really a triple pickle, more like a triple olive....looks like it should be in a martini glass.

Our family car was a 1979 Dodge Diplomat wagon, maroon with the same interior in red. Dad was a fan of fuel economy so we had the slant six. I would have like to seen how it drove with the V-8. Compared to the rest of your fleet, this is a small-er car.

Have fun. Can we assume you and Wyatt are planning a 360 upgrade ; )

 

[71Polara383]

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