Tuesday, November 14, 2023

Automotif CDXXXVIII...


Here's a Chrysler LeBaron convertible with an almost miraculous lack of dents and rust.

The V6 badge on the fender combined with the hidden headlamps mark this Flash Red ragtop as a 1990-1992 model.

For '87 and '88, you could get the LeBaron, based on the K-car platform like virtually every other Chrysler product at the time, in coupe or convertible form. The original engine choices were the normally-aspirated SOHC 2.5L Chrysler four-banger, or the 2.5L turbo or intercooled 2.2L Turbo II. 

The former were gutless and the latter two needed to be revved more than the typical Chrysler buyer was likely to do in order to develop any power, to say nothing of the fact that a peaky turbo four and a three-speed automatic transmission go together like chocolate and onions.

So for the 1990 model year Chrysler offered the SOHC 3.0L Mitsubishi 6G72 V-6. While its 141 SAE net horsepower didn't match the 150hp 2.5L Turbo... to say nothing of the 175hp 2.2L Turbo II ...the greater usable torque at suburban cruising speeds more than made up for that for the car's target audience.

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