"Special" Editions

[Carmine]

My boss had a tan or biege convert doba. I recall the up-top looked rather odd as most aftermarket conversions do.

They are usually adapting the mechanism from another car... God only knows what this Doba is using, although you'd think a B-body ('70) mechanism would be a logical starting point.

The '75 Imperial 'vert that's floating around out there uses the distinctive mechanism from a contemporary Eldorado.

 

[amazinblue82]

2006 Crossfire SRT-6, 1,500 made, AMG supercharged V6 (330HP/310 ft. lbs Torque). What the heck .. what was not to like right?

Plenty if you wanna slog though the C&D piece. The moral: Guess the much maligned Crossfire, even with the hot mill, couldn't turn a sows ear into a silk purse.

Chrysler Crossfire SRT-6 - Road Test

 

[amazinblue82]

The '75 Imperial 'vert that's floating around out there uses the distinctive mechanism from a contemporary Eldorado.

Heck man, even the Imp guys aint seen it for 20 years -- and Imps are all they do.

1975 Imperial Convertible

 

[rapidtrans]

Wow! Now that looks like an excellent conversion. It just "works".

 

[cantflip]

Heck man, even the Imp guys aint seen it for 20 years -- and Imps are all they do.

1975 Imperial Convertible

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There was a rough condition one for sale in Nevada a year or so back... IDK anything about who or when it was built or who bought it. There was a thread... but I can't find it.

2006 Crossfire SRT-6, 1,500 made, AMG supercharged V6 (330HP/310 ft. lbs Torque). What the heck .. what was not to like right?

Plenty if you wanna slog though the C&D piece. The moral: Guess the much maligned Crossfire, even with the hot mill, couldn't turn a sows ear into a silk purse.

Chrysler Crossfire SRT-6 - Road Test

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The older 170 chassis MB SLK's were go karts... the retractable hardtops were full of squeaks and rattles. I don't have enough time with the newer 171 chassis or the Crossfire... but the Crossfire always seemed like too much $$ for what it is... funny how the resales compare, the MB was in many ways a better product with better dealer support...

 

[polara71]

2006 Crossfire SRT-6, 1,500 made, AMG supercharged V6 (330HP/310 ft. lbs Torque). What the heck .. what was not to like right?

Plenty if you wanna slog though the C&D piece. The moral: Guess the much maligned Crossfire, even with the hot mill, couldn't turn a sows ear into a silk purse.

Chrysler Crossfire SRT-6 - Road Test

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I was surprised to see the Crossfire didn't take off. It seemed to be something the masses would have wanted

 

[amazinblue82]

1. Post #2: A running or salvage 1970 Newport 440. A picture of one from anywhere or time, or an ownership story.

2. Post #8. Road-worthy, auto-show "protoype" 1973 Plymouth Aspen, "basically a white 4drhtp Fury with a big blue snowflake on the side, ski racks and huge whitewall snowtires." Only one known to exist via eyewitness accounts.

3. Post #9: The 1969 Fury Snapper, No non-cartoon historical photos can be found, and not one single present-day example.

4 Post #10: The 1969 1/2 Plymouth Diplomat, "which appeared to be a Fury pillared coupe with Sport Fury ornamentation. It is these dealer initiatives and/or regional models that are the most difficult for automotive historians to discover and document." All we have is Toledo OH area dealer did them

5. From other threads: A REAL Fusie and Formal Newport Police Car. We knew they existed. We know WV and Illinois State Police had them, perhaps even NJ. Not a single pic, of one still around today, running or otherwise has turned up. Not even a broadcast sheet or fender tag of one has turned up.

Any info on these elusive C's appreciated.

 

[Carmine]

I was surprised to see the Crossfire didn't take off. It seemed to be something the masses would have wanted

Seriously? When had the market ever wanted one of these bastard luxury tourers? Chrysler TC? Cadillac Allante? Ford (retro) T-bird?

They're all products of euro/American partnerships and they're all failures. Manifestations of CEO egos; done on the cheap, rather than sound product planning and development. They never work. The latest failure is the Fiat 124 that gets smashed by sales of the Mazda version which underpins it.

No one wants a knock-off version of anything, and customers see right through it.

 

[amazinblue82]

i agreed with polara71 and you carmine. polara71 can speak for himself of course.

I had higher hopes for the crossfire at first thought. Never drove one, never owned one .. thought the car had a shot at greatness though. Execution (NO MANUAL) of the product, perhaps the Dion thing (i couldnt take her as a serious Crossfire owner), the price, etc. proved otherwise.

I personally (a team I was on) have a "stain" on my record .. all the data (focus groups dug it, execs dug it, employees dug it, etc) looked "right" but the car flopped. $200M+ wasted

I can't talk about THAT one, but I can give a DIFFERENT non Chrysler example, however, that DID think was doomed from the beginning - rhymes with "See Arrow" Needed a V6 at inception, didnt get it till last year of production

When the steam runs out Mopars we might have to take on some other makes "special" cars that totally disappointed us - another thread maybe.

 

[rapidtrans]

The cost and knowing how expensive repair is on German cars steered me away. My salesman owns a Crossfire, stick, convert he keeps trying to unload on me.

 

[Carmine]

Crummy old MB platform, indifferent sub-contractor build quality and electronics were the icing on an ugly cake.

*the chocolate lab depicts the SRT version with spoiler.

 

[Carmine]

Crummy old MB platform, indifferent sub-contractor build quality and electronics were the icing on an ugly cake.

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Now if Chrysler were still being run as a for-profit company back in '05 as opposed to an outpost to amortize MB tooling; this concept designed to run a Hemi w/auto in the Viper platform, handbuilt for $45k, would have kicked ***.

 

[tbm3fan]

I was surprised to see the Crossfire didn't take off. It seemed to be something the masses would have wanted

My guess? Because of the name Chrysler attached to the car. MBZ, BMW could and did sell a car like that for years. Even the Miata, while not powerful, connected big time with the masses.

 

[amazinblue82]

The 2001 Crossfire Concept car. A lot made it into production styling-wise it seems.

Split windows obviously didnt .. the C&D article commented on the production car that it had "blindspots that could hide a Scenicruiser."

I kid ya not -- PD-4501 fix for today

source: Chrysler Crossfire | Concept Cars | Diseno-Art

 

[rapidtrans]

Crummy old MB platform, indifferent sub-contractor build quality and electronics were the icing on an ugly cake.

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*the chocolate lab depicts the SRT version with spoiler.

Bet the dog handles better in the snow!

 

[polara71]

Seriously? When had the market ever wanted one of these bastard luxury tourers? Chrysler TC? Cadillac Allante? Ford (retro) T-bird?

They're all products of euro/American partnerships and they're all failures. Manifestations of CEO egos; done on the cheap, rather than sound product planning and development. They never work. The latest failure is the Fiat 124 that gets smashed by sales of the Mazda version which underpins it.

No one wants a knock-off version of anything, and customers see right through it.

Yes, seriously. I never saw the car the way you do

 

[polara71]

My guess? Because of the name Chrysler attached to the car. MBZ, BMW could and did sell a car like that for years. Even the Miata, while not powerful, connected big time with the masses.

I thought of the Miata while reading Carmines opinion

 

[amazinblue82]

Miata didnt resonate with me (not a roadster guy, car was peppy but slow, i bet it barely weighed a ton and that scared me, etc.. but it WAS cool looking).

But like tbm3fan said, the crowd went wild. Right car, right time i guess ... a modern roadster.

An opinion here on why it was successful:

Miata at 25: How roadster became a sportscar success

 

[polara71]

That stupid retro T bird was also a flop but the PT cruiser..... A Hugh hit ...go figure

 

[tbm3fan]

Miata didnt resonate with me (not a roadster guy, car was peppy but slow, i bet it barely weighed a ton and that scared me, etc.. but it WAS cool looking).

But like tbm3fan said, the crowd went wild. Right car, right time i guess ... a modern roadster.

An opinion here on why it was successful:

Miata at 25: How roadster became a sportscar success

People have always liked this type of car. Before Miata there was the unreliable MGB and TR6 among others in the 60's and the more reliable Datsun 1600 and 2000 roadsters. A good friend had a late 60's MGB and my brother several Datsuns and they were just fun cool cars to ride around in. Power wasn't the attraction in them anymore than it was in the first gen Corvette. It was the nimble, wind in the hair, two seater experience more than anything else. The Brits excelled in these body types but unfortunately didn't excell in the fundamentals like mechanical and electrical.

Should note I rode in that MGB in the early 70's along with an MGA and drove them. Not practical in any sense as an every day car but they were fun as all get out to drive. Always with the top down. I miss them. Also had a high school classmate who had a mid-60's Jag roadster which was also cool.

Oh, and being San Diego, meant year round!