limited models

Quote: missedhervee

My folks had a new '68 Chrysler Newport that was a real horror show: gutless, cheap materials, unreliable, broke down on the roadside.]

Are you sure it was a 68 Newport? In 1992 at a farm auction I bought a 69 Newport it had no battery in it for $300. Had 60,000 miles on it. Put a battery in it started right up and I drove it in the summer for 3 or 4 years never put a dime into it. Had a 383 under the hood and went like a raped ape, as we used to say. One of the most powerful fastest cars I ever had. It was almost a luxury car, power windows power seats power locks. It was one step down from a Chrysler Imperial. Even had leather seats. I ended up selling it 4 years later for $500 just for the engine. The brakes finally gave out and it cost more than it was worth to replace them. I even took it on a couple of road trips it never broke down once.

Quote: Evenbob

Are you sure it was a 68 Newport? In 1992 at a farm auction I bought a 69 Newport it had no battery in it for $300. Had 60,000 miles on it. Put a battery in it started right up and I drove it in the summer for 3 or 4 years never put a dime into it. Had a 383 under the hood and went like a raped ape, as we used to say. One of the most powerful fastest cars I ever had. It was almost a luxury car, power windows power seats power locks. It was one step down from a Chrysler Imperial. Even had leather seats. I ended up selling it 4 years later for $500 just for the engine. The brakes finally gave out and it cost more than it was worth to replace them. I even took it on a couple of road trips it never broke down once.

Newport? I believe Newport was the entry level Chrysler. My dad had a 66 convertible like Henry Hill drove in "Goodfellas" but ours was red. First family car I remember and why I still like convertibles. Someone stole it for a supermarket robbery. We got it back. My dad insisted it was fast, my mother said it was slow. He had some weird memories of cars so I more believe her.

We went to see the Konvertibles Chrysler had out in 1982 or 1983. My dad looked at them and said the whole car looked like it could fit in the passenger area of the Newport.

Quote: missedhervee

A new, stripper 2021 Chevrolet Spark costs $14,395. The Chevrolet Spark is the cheapest new car you can buy.

Not that you should ... but you could ...

Best month for sales of Chevy Spark was 6,559 sales for June 2016.

Recent sales figures are:
1,265 Jul 2021
1,218 Aug 2021
1,265 Sep 2021

In particular when the same exact number of vehicles are sold in two different months that is the sure sign of an "alottment" out of a limited production.

Of the low cost vehicle which I define as as cheaper than the two perennial bestsellers
2022 Honda Civic/MSRP From $21,900 or
2022 Toyota Corolla/MSRP From $20,075

the bestsellers this year are the

2021 Kia Forte/MSRP From $17,890 and the
2021 Nissan Sentra/MSRP From $19,510

Hyundai/Kia/Genesis seems almost unaffected by the microchip shortage which overall brought sales down about 25% in third quarter from second quarter (down 33% for General Motors).

Quote: AZDuffman

Newport? I believe Newport was the entry level Chrysler.

In 1969 they had the New Yorker, the 300, the Newport, the Imperial. They were all gigantic and they all bordered on luxury cars with the Imperial being the only real luxury one. The backseat in my new port was like a small apartment. I've never had a car with a bigger trunk. I can't imagine any of these cars being slow because they all had huge V8's because of their size. My Newport was what I call a 60s floater car because it floats down the road. The suspension makes any imperfections in the road disappear.

The 300 and the Imperial basically the same car.

Yes EB I am certain it was a Newport: a stripper with a two barrel carb, no AC, no options.

It left me stranded twice, road side.

Compare that to the older early sixties Plymouth Valiant we had as a second car: straight six, three on a tree, solid, never let me down.

In high school we used to go out at night in my buddy's mother's car (doctor's wife): I cannot recall the year, make or model but it was a fully loaded Chrysler sedan with a push button transmission and a big engine with a four barrel: went like a raped ape and held up to all our abuse.

I briefly owned a Dodge Aspen station wagon pre- Y2K and quickly got rid of it: lousy car.

On a positive note, I bought a '65 Chevy II for $100.00 from a buddy; the original owner (his grandpa's buddy) purchased the cheapest American car he could find: six cylinder, three on a tree, zero options.

That car served me well: two trips around the country and lots of miles.

It finally broke down; I called a tow company, the truck showed up, we talked, and I "sold" it to the tow truck operator for $300.00; unfortunately his check bounced.

Come to find out he'd been fired earlier and didn't return the truck; he "jumped the tows."

I learned later from law enforcement that he used the car in California and Nevada as a getaway car; I was told that among other things he robbed a casino.

He and the Chevy were finally run to ground in Winnemucca after a chase.

Imperial was its own line, never quite a division like Cadillac but was not "Chrysler Imperial" until the 70s.

My grandfather had a 66 Imperial Crown he sold to his daughter. Eventually it just sat. Late 70s it was "old" not "antique" so it sat in their driveway for years. Could not sell it. Finally they wanted an Austin-Healey Sprite so her husband says "I will meet your price and you take my Imperial on trade."

"I do not want your Imperial, price is fine."

"Let me say it again. I will meet your price with my Imperial in trade."

"Uh, yeah."

Urban legend is those Imperials were banned from demolition derbies because they were so hard to take down. True Yank Tanks.

Quote: AZDuffman

Urban legend is those Imperials were banned from demolition derbies because they were so hard to take down. True Yank Tanks.

It's not an urban legend. 64 to 68 Imperials we're banned because you cannot destroy them. The frames were so heavy and so well-built you can Ram them all day long and it doesn't hurt them.

"The 64-68 Imperial was the last body-on-frame Chrysler car, and it is crashworthy to a hilarious degree, so much so that a lot of demolition derbies straight-up banned them."

When I was in high school the best car you could own was the late 50s early 60s Chrysler product. They were big they were powerful and they had a huge back seats. And push button transmissions. I had a 1960 Dodge Phoenix for two years, one of the best cars I ever had. You could beat the crap out of it it just kept going. Had a push button tranny and a really nice interior. I loved that car.

Quote: Evenbob

II had a 1960 Dodge Phoenix for two years, one of the best cars I ever had. You could beat the crap out of it it just kept going. Had a push button tranny and a really nice interior. I loved that car.

I got the Dodge in 1966 and later that year I saw a movie on TV called Pillow Talk with Doris Day and Rock Hudson. Tony Randall played a rich guy and towards the end of the movie he's driving Doris Day home in a new 1960 Dodge Phoenix. He goes into this diner and two truck drivers at the counter are talking about the car saying it's a luxury car with all the features a rich guy could want. I was 17 this made my head swell up for about the next 3 months. It's 55 years later and I still haven't forgotten. When you're 17 your car is everything or at least it was in the 60s.

That Dodge was only six years old which is nothing today but in those days it was almost ready for the junkyard in another year or two. Once a car hit 100,000 miles it was done. You could not sell a car they that had a hundred thousand miles on it unless you gave it away. The transmission was going, major engine problems, the suspension was shot. Times have certainly changed.

Remember these commercials? Might be the worst car ever made. Talk about polishing a turd, that's what these commercials are trying to do.

Quote: Evenbob

Remember these commercials? Might be the worst car ever made. Talk about polishing a turd, that's what these commercials are trying to do.

It was actually the right car for the times. Iacocca had people in such fear they did not fix the fuel tank problem. But they probably should have just made a USA version of the Cortina.