1951 Chrysler New Yorker , 331 Hemi V-8, All Original. @ Low Reserve! on 2040-cars

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Junkyard Gem: 1986 Plymouth Horizon

Chrysler imported quite a few Mitsubishis and sold them as Dodge and Plymouth Colts, but the Colts of the 1980s had to compete with the Plymouth Horizon and its Dodge Omni sibling. Based on a Chrysler Europe design, production of the Plymouth Horizon ran in virtually unchanged form from the 1979 through 1990 model years. A simple, cheap econobox, the Plymouth Horizon sold well enough, but was such a disposable car that very few remain today. Here's one that lasted long enough to end its days in a California wrecking yard at age 31. The genealogy of the Omnirizon gets a bit tangled when you go back far enough; the car is based on the chassis design of the 1975 Simca 1307, though by the time it got to Detroit it had evolved considerably. Chrysler was desperate for an American-built economy car during the late 1970s, and the Omnirizon got the job done. The 1978-1982 Horizons had 1.7-liter Volkswagen engines, while the 1983-1986 models came with a 1.6-liter Simca mill as the base engine. The Chrysler 2.2-liter four was an optional Horizon powerplant starting in 1981, and the only engine available from 1987 through the final Horizons built in 1990. This car has the 2.2, rated at 96 horses in 1986. The '86 Horizon weighed a mere 2,100 pounds (about the same as a 2017 Mitsubishi Mirage), and so 96 horsepower made it peppy enough by mid-1980s econo-commuter standards. The interior is right out of the Slippery Plastic With Fake Stitching™ playbook, but nobody bought an Omnirizon for the luxury. This car was basically identical to its Dodge Omni sibling, and both had MSRPs of $6,209 in 1986 (about $13,900 in inflation-adjusted 2017 bucks). You could get cheaper new cars in 1986— the $4,995 Hyundai Excel and $3,990 Yugo GV come to mind— but the Omnirizon five-doors were better-built and had the sales advantage of being known quantities. Even by 1986, the Omnirizon was showing its age (though not as much as the amusingly obsolete Chevrolet Chevette, which was sold through the 1987 model year). Still, it remained sufficiently relevant to sell in decent number for another four years. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. The pride is back! Featured Gallery Junked 1986 Plymouth Horizon View 14 Photos Auto News Chrysler Hatchback Classics

Marchionne to take his sweater and go home after 2018

The end is in sight for Fiat Chrysler boss Sergio Marchionne, who confirmed in an interview with Bloomberg that once FCA's sweeping five-year plan is completed, he'd be stepping down from his post to "undoubtedly" do something else that didn't involve turning around global corporations. That would mean he should finish up after 2018 if all goes according to plan.
"It's as important to walk away from the table as it is to sit down," Marchionne told Bloomberg.
Marchionne has been at Fiat since June of 2004 and is one of the chief architects behind the Italian company's acquisition of Chrysler. Despite his successes, he does sound quite ready to move beyond the auto industry, rhetorically asking his Bloomberg interviewers if there "are other things I like to do apart from this?"

Waymo’s autonomous vehicles are driving 25,000 miles every day

Waymo, the former Google self-driving project that spun out to become a business under Alphabet, has driven 8 million miles on public roads using its autonomous vehicles. Waymo CEO John Krafcik shared the company's milestone Friday while onstage with Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval at the National Governors Association conference in Santa Fe, N.M. The figure is notable when compared to where Waymo was less than a year ago. In November, the company announced it had reached 4 million miles, meaning the company has been able to double the number of autonomous miles driven on public roads in just eight months. Waymo's fleet of self-driving vehicles is now logging 25,000 miles every day on public roads, Krafcik said. He later tweeted out the stats along with a graphic. Waymo has 600 self-driving Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid minivans on the road in 25 cities. It's also adding 20,000 Jaguar I-Pace crossovers and has plans for another 62,000 Pacificas. The company also relies on simulation as it works to build an AI-based self-driving system that performs better than a human. In the past nine years, Waymo has "driven" more than 5 billion miles in its simulation, according to the company. That's the equivalent to 25,000 virtual cars driving all day, everyday, the company says. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js This newly shared goal signals Waymo is getting closer to launching a commercial driverless transportation service later this year. More than 400 residents in Phoenix have been trialing Waymo's technology by using an app to hail self-driving Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid minivans. The company says it plans to launch its service later this year. Waymo's driverless ride-hailing service has received the most attention. But the company is also working to apply its self-driving system to three other areas, including logistics (so trucking), making public transportation more accessible and, further off, plans to work with automakers to make personally owned vehicles. Waymo, and more specifically Krafcik, has never provided much detail about how its self-driving system would make public transportation more accessible. On Thursday, Krafcik teased a future announcement.